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AERO CARS

1963 DIAMOND COLLECTION

Whether it’s the power source or the aerodynamics, aircraft and automobile technology entwines to create this category’s unique machinery

Words Jack Phillips

THE WORD ‘AERO’ MEANS A lot of things to a lot of people. In the early days it meant bolting an aircraft engine into a car and hoping to tame it. In the 1950s it meant aircraft manufacturers trying their hand at racing – and in Matra’s case, winning in Formula 1 and at Le Mans.

A decade later wings were trialled – often in error – but this R&D work set single-seater racing, sports cars and road-car manufacturers on a course for going ever faster.

In the 1980s aero flipped, to pull cars onto the floor rather than push them along. Today it is a delicate mix of both – all of which is being marked in the Aero category.

Among the cars is Robin Tuluie’s Menasco Pirate, a Riley-based special powered by an aeroplane racing engine. On a similar theme is the prop-driven Leyat Hélica, known in period as ‘the plane without wings’.

Also running is Penny Howat’s remarkable 1926/30 Hispano-Suiza/ Delage, which combines an early racer with a 27-litre Hispano-Suiza engine, like those being used by the Great War Display Team aircraft.

BELOW Leyat’s propeller-powered Hélica was once a vision of the future.