Allison Dragster Special
Year:
1950’s
Manufacturer:
Bill Grant, Tokoroa, New Zealand
Number Produced:
1
Specifications:
Liquid cooled V12 aircraft engine Single overhead camshaft per cylinder bank Four valves per cylinder
Description:
This Dragster is powered by a V-1710-81 Allison engine out of a Kittyhawk P40 fighter plane and develops 1200HP. Bill bought the engine ex RAF for seventeen pound ten. It had only run 100 hours and had been fully reconditioned. This was certainly the way to put the pressure on other competitors with conventional engine powered dragsters! Cockpit was extremely tricky to get into and you had to slide in somewhat like a snake
Additional information (and noted photos) kindly provided by John Skene
Bill Grant’s dragster - An Alison V1710 V12 piston engine in a ‘vintage’ 1950’s dragster!
That looks suspiciously like a DC-3 aircraft control wheel to help the driver hang on.
This V-1710-81 Alison engine from a Curtis P40 aircraft developed a ‘solid’ 1,200 horsepower and no doubt was a handful on the dragstrip.
Of interest is the quite large supercharger featured at the rear (front) of this WW2 era engine and featuring a ‘non-aviation air intake’.