Hugh Dunsterville creator of the Freikaiserwagen
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Hugh Dunsterville, RIP.
Engineering trailblazer Hugh Dunsterville, creator of the original Freikaiserwagen hillclimb special – the first British mid-engined single-seater passed away on 12 November, just six weeks short of his 97th birthday.
Back in 1936, he had just sat for his engineering degree at Bristol University (but not yet graduated), when David Fry of the famous chocolate family suggested that they should build a hillclimb special together, with Dunsterville supplying the know-how and Fry the money.
They bought a three-wheeled Morgan from a Bristol scrapyard for its engine and independent front suspension and a GN cyclecar for its chassis and chain-drive transmission. Dunsterville then placed the engine of the former in the middle of the chassis of the latter.
Because he’d actually built the car, he was permitted by Fry to be the first to drive it ‘in anger’. This took place at the Backwell hill-climb near Bristol on 25 July 1936.
he resulting book – FREIK: The Private Life of the Freikaiserwagen – was launched at Shelsley Walsh in July 2008 to critical and popular acclaim, and sold-out in just 9 months.
While preparing the slightly-extended Second Edition, it was realised that not enough had been made in the First Edition of the fact that the Freikaiserwagen had been Britain’s first ever mid-engined single-seater racing car – 10 years before the first Coopers, and 24 years before the first Lotuses were given mid-engines – so the text was revised accordingly.
The Freikaiserwagen name owes its lasting fame to the fact that on 11 June 1949, and with just 1100cc, a further development set a new outright-record at Shelsley Walsh – beating Raymond Mays’s record in the fastest-ever 2-litre Works ERA.
But the claim-to-fame of the original's creator, Hugh Dunsterville, lies in the part he played in changing the design of single-seater racing cars for ever.
Engineering trailblazer Hugh Dunsterville, creator of the original Freikaiserwagen hillclimb special – the first British mid-engined single-seater passed away on 12 November, just six weeks short of his 97th birthday.
Back in 1936, he had just sat for his engineering degree at Bristol University (but not yet graduated), when David Fry of the famous chocolate family suggested that they should build a hillclimb special together, with Dunsterville supplying the know-how and Fry the money.
They bought a three-wheeled Morgan from a Bristol scrapyard for its engine and independent front suspension and a GN cyclecar for its chassis and chain-drive transmission. Dunsterville then placed the engine of the former in the middle of the chassis of the latter.
Because he’d actually built the car, he was permitted by Fry to be the first to drive it ‘in anger’. This took place at the Backwell hill-climb near Bristol on 25 July 1936.
he resulting book – FREIK: The Private Life of the Freikaiserwagen – was launched at Shelsley Walsh in July 2008 to critical and popular acclaim, and sold-out in just 9 months.
While preparing the slightly-extended Second Edition, it was realised that not enough had been made in the First Edition of the fact that the Freikaiserwagen had been Britain’s first ever mid-engined single-seater racing car – 10 years before the first Coopers, and 24 years before the first Lotuses were given mid-engines – so the text was revised accordingly.
The Freikaiserwagen name owes its lasting fame to the fact that on 11 June 1949, and with just 1100cc, a further development set a new outright-record at Shelsley Walsh – beating Raymond Mays’s record in the fastest-ever 2-litre Works ERA.
But the claim-to-fame of the original's creator, Hugh Dunsterville, lies in the part he played in changing the design of single-seater racing cars for ever.
That story's gone a bit funny in the copying and pasting.
The full obit is here http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/obituaries...
The full obit is here http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/obituaries...
jamesatcandsc said:
That story's gone a bit funny in the copying and pasting.
The full obit is here http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/obituaries...
Thanks James - not sure what happened to my copy and paste.The full obit is here http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/obituaries...
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