Engine Punk

If Mr Jo-jo does not still exist, something very similar ought to be created. Photo provided by Phil Peters. Back in June 2008 I waxed lyrical about Mrs Jo-jo , probably the most highly developed of all Brooklands Austin 7s. Last week, Phil Peters got in touch about Mr Jo-jo. He'd been given a photograph of it by an elderly friend and neighbour and liked it so much he's put it on his blog . In his search for info on Mr Jo-jo he found my comments on the distaff side of the equipe but all I know about Mr Jo-jo is what I've been able to glean from The Austin 7 Source Book by Brain Purves, in which a copy of this very photo appears. Mr Jo-jo was an Austin 7 Gordon England Cup model, Gordon England being an aviation pioneer and Austin 7 racer who subsequently offered his own sporting bodies on the baby Austin chassis. The Cup model was a very neat Austin 7 two seater introduced in 1925 and named either after the Goerges Boillot Cup at Boulogne or the Rudge Whitworth Bi...

I think part of the secret to Mrs Jo Jo's success is the low seat height Mrs Jo Jo belongs to the same equipe as the Salamanda Special. Both are Austin Sevens but have been modified along different lines and at different times. Whereas the Salamanda Special is a modern interpretation using authentic materials and with a wonderful eye for detail, Mrs Jo Jo is a real piece of Brooklands history. Mrs Jo-jo's engine room The trick with whispering up significant horsepower gains from an Austin 7 engine seems to be to connect a blower to it, often of an equivalent capacity. In this case a Powerplus vane supercharger pressurises the little engine and it would seem a cruel thing to do to it if it didn't keep coming back for more. I've heard whispers of 60 bhp from a blown 747cc Austin 7 engine so that's a very healthy power to weight ratio. This one of the joys of an event like Wiscombe - you can get up really close to items of interest Wiscombe was its firs...