BLOW YOUR OWN

Better late than never

Thumbing through my back copies of OBA in spare time is a rewarding pastime, even if only to relish at the magnificent photos or follow the life experiences of Edgar Jessop. Blokes of my vintage can remember when young fellows like Terry Dennehy were burning up the bitumen at Bathurst on his first Honda 250 twin while the rest of us contemplated dropped valves, broken rings or ogled at back copies of Playboy centerfolds in the pits. So, to my reason for writing. OBA issue 50 Letters, has one entitled ‘The Bronze Age’, in which Bruce Anderson Qld. asked for some feedback.

I am now many years retired, but as a consulting metallurgist on metal castings, particularly defect analysis I had a close connection with the motorcycle fraternity for quite some time. Firstly, even back in the thirties, the casting technology for producing sound castings in cast iron, bronze, and aluminium was quite well established providing correct procedures were followed. The Specific Gravity from heaviest to lightest is Bronze 8.80, Cast iron 7.87, Aluminium 2.70. I actually have a 1934 copy of an original film showing the Bugatti car company foundry casting Aluminium heads for the type 59 racing model. Nobody can say they didn’t know what they were doing. The original liner Queen Mary launched in 1936 had three bronze propellers weighing 18 tonne each. They made four to have one as a spare but it was never needed. Good quality.