Engine Punk

The Triangle Skinner Special awaits its turn in the paddock at sunny Wiscombe Park this year. The Triangle Skinner is yet another special to which John Bolster introduced me with his classic book Specials . It seems incredible to me now that it began life as a 1931 Morris Minor and the side valve version at that, which was built to sell at £100. Nowadays, it sports a straight eight Hudson engine of 4168cc. Little remains of that 847cc Morris Minor. It was rather a special Morris Minor, for it was a publicity stunt that used special steel cylinder blocks albeit of the same 57 x 83mm dimensions as the iron production variety. These allowed lubrication pressures of 70 psi and had a bevel drive for a vertically mounted supercharger. Equipped with a Powerplus blower and single seater bodywork it was campaigned by Bill van der Becke (who is also famous for the Becke Powerplus, which used a Wolseley ohc engine) and was officially sanctioned in a weak moment by Sir William Morris himsel...