PAG 24, page 19
Sporting Hero’s & Vintage Specials
By ‘Gear Gnashing Neil’
‘Tarkus’
Reader and Brooklands Builder Mike Meakin has sent me details of an unusual special that he spotted in the car park at a Vintage Meeting recently held at Curborough. Not a ‘Vintage Special’ but certainly of interest due to the rather unusual powerplant. Yes… It’s a much modified BMW Boxer. I’ll let Mike describe in detail the features of ‘Tarkus’
Ian—I don’t have the snail mail address for Neil and haven’t had a response by email. Could you please forward the attached for him to look at in connection with his ‘Sporting Specials’ section in PAG. —
(We’ve sorted Gear Gnasher out as far as his correspondence goes— We gave him several Chinese Burns and he promised to behave in future and keep his email ready to receive messages—Algy and Crackleport)
‘Tarkus’ is a completely home-built one-off special. The owner (an engineer) based the engine on BMW R100 ‘Boxer’
components, but using three cylinders, mounted on a new crankcase and triple throw crank. From the photo you can see the standard alternator/points front cover attached to the front of the machined crankcase. Each cylinder is fed by a Dellorto, slide carburetor. (Goodness only knows how the oil from the two lower rocker boxes gets back to the sump !)
The observant will note that the offside (lower) cylinder is actually upside down i.e. pushrod tubes above instead of below.
Quite apart from the inordinately wide front track, the front suspension is by double tubular fabricated wishbones, with springing taken care of by a single, coil-over unit
sitting horizontally in the centre of the car,
behind the upper cylinder, nestling in a huge machined-from-solid alloy frame. Input to the spring/damper unit is by diagonal tubes running from the base of the home-made front hub
carriers, with provision for changing springing rates by altering the angle of the upper cranked fixings (very F1) Steering is rack and pinion and front brakes are inboard disc. The fly-off handbrake is externally mounted.
Substantial rollover hoops are part of the
chassis of the car, inbuilt head restrain pads nestling inside the hoops.
Presumably the car is registered as a tricycle, there being no front number plate ——Some outfit !!!
Regards
Mike Meakin
Thanks for the info Mike. BMW 1500cc !!!! Bet the ‘Brooklands Boys’ fancy a bit of that !!!
From one Tarkus to another—
—Bet all you long haired rock fans know what Tarkus was…. Yes, It was the mythical tank like
creature featured on the cover of the second album by Emmerson, Lake and Palmer.
Bit before my time but I have managed to find a picture of the beast. Can’t see the similarities myself but there you go.
Don’t forget you can keep in touch with me at Neil_2_you@yahoo.co.uk Gear Gnashin Neil