Vintage Thing No.157 - Vat 69
VAT 69 caught my eye in the car park of our hotel after the 2022 Exeter Trial The 92nd Exeter Trials people's choice for Spirit of the Event went to Hughie Walker and Angus Frost with their Austin 7 special VAT 69. Their climb up Simms was a tremendous crowd pleaser and finishing one of the wettest Exeters in a machine without roof, doors, sides and windscreens was nothing short of superhuman. From a distance, VAT 69 could be mistaken for a GN special that had eaten its greens. Through the trees and rain it sounded a bit like a vee twin but those cylinders are at the widest vee possible - 180 degrees. This is an engine whose barrels have fallen out. They dislike each other so much they can't be in the same engine compartment. They are horizontally opposed. That power bulge down the side is for the driver's feet I like flat twins. The layout is still relevant today in modern cars for packaging reasons. The term horizontally opposed sounds earnestly belligerent but 180 degree...