Aug
20
Written by:
The Commish
8/20/2010 2:31 PM
A little over two years ago Joel Young of Phoenix, Arizona came up with one crazy idea.
He decided to build a Bonneville race car, powered by a full-race, turbocharged Ford flathead that started life in a Model T and go after a Southern California Timing Association V4F class record.
Last year he accomplished that goal, setting a new standard for vehicles powered by stock block, American –made flatheads. With an average speed of 160.116 mph, he completely shattered the old record of 99.448 mph.
But before the ink was dry in the record book Joel was already seeing red, i.e. a red S.C.T.A. cap that indicates membership in the vaunted and revered Bonneville 200 mph Club. Joel Young wanted to add his name to a list that includes drivers like Art Arfons, Craig Breedlove, Malcom and Donald Campbell, Gary Gabelich, Don Garlits, Andy Granatelli, Donald Healy, Phil Hill, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Richard Noble, Mickey Thompson and Bobby Unser.
And he wanted to join driving his Sanderson Ford/Matrix Machine Special, a car once widely known as the Thermo King Special, one of a handful of 'Corsair' streamliners built almost four decades ago by engineering students from the College of the Redwoods in Northern California, under the direction of Bob Haveman.
This particular Corsair, built in 1971, was originally powered by a blown diesel engine taken out of an industrial refrigeration unit. It's last hurrah was in 1979 when it set the new F/DS record at 199.019 mph. Then it was retired.
"The car was in museums for awhile," said Young, "and then bought and sold a couple of times over the years. It was destined for the scrap heap but we decided it might be fun to give the Corsair one more chance at glory, so we tracked it down and bought it and started the renovation process. That was a real adventure, that’s for sure."
As a result of three decades of total neglect the Corsair had to be completely rebuilt. Young, master fabricator Tom Brawner, Brad Taylor and Dennis Cling spent months resuscitating the car with maximum straight line performance and safety as their goal.
"We had to make a roll cage and replace a lot of pieces that were rusted out, or just worn out and broken," said Brawner, "while keeping as much of the original car as possible. It really was a well thought out design, but adapting it to run with the turbo flathead and meet the safety specs of today was like building a ship in a bottle."
Then there was the powerplant.
"One thing you have to remember," said Young, "is that the Model T engine originally put out about 20 horsepower. It had three main bearings and they called the crankshafts 'bent wires' because they flexed so much. To go fast on the salt and to set a record we wanted over 150 horsepower. So we went to work and came up with an engine that runs pretty good."
Starting with a block from a 1927 tin lizzy he added two more main bearings in the girdles, a custom crankshaft and installed a Garret T04 turbocharger, the same one that came off the old record-setting Thermo King diesel engine. The custom head features titanium valves and with a high lift cam, Haltech engine management system and a healthy dose of methanol the bored and stroked 194 c.i.d. four-banger showed almost 180 horespower on the chassis dyno.
That was more than enough power to set the record last year on the 100th Anniversary of the Model T Ford.
But membership in the 200 mph club was the new goal. And the only thing holding him back was the original, Jack Knight transmission.
Built in Merry Old England back in the early 60's the two speed overdrive gearbox and ridiculously low 4.87:1 final drive ratio just wouldn't let the car use all the horsepower Young had so painstakingly created.
So for Bonneville 2010 the semi-retired owner of Matrix Machine in Tempe, a small, still family owned shop specializing in hi-tech, military-spec machining, placed a call to Nick Sudzum of B&R Machine and Gear in Tennessee toward coming up with a solution. Young's plan was a custom built ring and pinion so he could use an old Hewland five-speed gearbox salvaged from a 1990 Indy Lights Wildcat -- with a final drive ration of 1.857:1.
He also had Ed Iskenderian grind a new cam for the engine, with Isky himself, still into racing and especially Speed Weeks at Bonneville, personally supervising the order.
After B&R delivered the new ring and pinion and the Hewland transaxle was mated up everything was buttoned back together and they tested, tweaked, checked and double checked before packing up and towing north to Wendover, Utah last weekend
And on Monday, August 16, 2010 Joel Young became an official, recognized member of the Bonneville 200 mph Club.
His first run, on Sunday, was aborted due to a sensor problem. The second run was 198.111 bu only because he was told not to exceed 200 since he wasn't rated for that threshold yet. Then, on Monday, he was allowed to open up the throttle on his back up run and clocked 205.290 over a measured mile. The combined average speed was a record-setting 201.700 mph.
The question everyone asks when they hear about this feat is obvious: Why all the work, effort and money on a race car powered by a Model T Ford?
Like Henry Ford, Young is a self-taught mechanic/tinkerer/engineer who never graduated from college. He modified and developed his Bonneville engine without any cutting edge CAD systems, design programs or virtual engineering methods; the way old school hot rodders still work. He also believes in doing business according to the best practices and examples Henry Ford set for America, building his own successful business according to those principles.
And he's simply, admittedly, unashamedly obsessed with the Ford Model T.
Young has always owned and driven various versions of his favorite car, all meticulously rebuilt or modified, on both the street and on the track in competition. His loyalty, affection and respect for the Model T and blue oval brand truly knows no bounds.
And now, as the owner/driver of the world's only 200 mph Model T -powered Bonneville streamliner, he's got an official Bonneville speed record, and a cherished new red hat, to prove it.
Copyright ©2010 The Commish