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StarLight Garage presents an exclusive and extreme hand-built car, the Packard Bentley "Mavis" from 1930. More powerful than a Bugatti Veyron and the size of a bus.
This car is like a Dragon, it spits flames and hot air and weighs 2.4 ton.
The Packard-Bentley "Mavis" is a vintage racing car built by VSCC (Vintage Sports-Car Club) member Chris Williams. It is powered by a 42 litre Packard V12 developing 1500 bhp (1100 kW). This engine is a Packard 4M 2500 from a World War 2 PT (Patrol Torpedo) boat.
The car debuted at the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power in July 2010, and is planned to become a regular appearance at VSCC events alongside Williams' other Bentley special, the Napier "Lion Bastard". When interviewed about it, Williams claimed the car has been light-heartedly criticised as the "biggest automotive waste of time, money and engineering expertise ever built".
The car is based on a 1930 Bentley 8-litre chassis, although it is highly modified. The car also has 24 exhaust pipes, however it is only has 12 cylinders (with each cylinder at 3.5-litres), contrary to some rumours; this is because the engine is a twin-port design.
It has 'knife and fork' rods, four-pole magneto ignition and a supercharger the side of a dustbin, which runs at 2.4 times the speed of the engine. It breathed through a Holley 1685F aeroplane carburettor that used giant diaphragms to counteract different air pressures and inverted operation.
The inlet manifold diameter is about six and half inches, that's bigger than my house's septic tank system. It's got three fuel tanks; the main 52-gallon tank and header and scavenge tanks."
The steering column is offset and angled to allow it to clear the huge engine block, and the fake torpedoes strapped to the side of the car are actually oil tanks.
The dashboard is primarily aircraft specification, there is the famous Packard brake-horsepower indicator, which goes up to 2,000bhp. Over here we've got the fuel-tank and fuel-pressure gauges.
The starting system consists of a trembler coil that gives a whole sheet of sparks into the distributor so something will catch somewhere and that's activated with two buttons on the side of the main binnacle.
"There's the dual magnetos for each bank of cylinders and these switches are their over rides, plus various advance and retards and ignition checking systems. The fire button under the steering wheel is actually a fire button off a Spitfire.
With the matt-black paint and v-shaped grille, the large size of the car means it drew much attention at its first event. With the amount of torque produced by the engine (2000 lb ft, 2700 Nm), the rear tyres can be made to create large volumes of smoke upon launch, whilst the 24 exhaust stubs emit clouds of smoke and streamers of flame. Unsurprisingly, the car is a very popular spectator attraction, both static and whilst being driven.
Specifications
Type: Bentley Packard monoposto
Tested: 41.8-litre Packard V12, four-speed Bentley C-type gearbox and a Bentley Speed Six rear axle running in reverse
Power/torque: 1,500bhp @ 2,400rpm/ 2,000lb ft @ 2,400rpm
Top speed: 160mph approx
Acceleration: N/A
Fuel economy: 4 gallons per minute at full chat
Photo © Steve Walker
OTHER VEHICLES ARE HERE
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