Grand Prix Rejects

So I came across this picture of what is apparently the Monza-spec Brabham BT26 (with an ickle Ron Dennis standing behind it). That's not the interesting bit here; I'm looking at the black piece attached to the underside of the rear aerofoil, which in turn is attached to a piece of metal cable. What I'm told is that this is...well, a primitive form of DRS; the cable is attached to the throttle and tilts the wing at a certain level of travel; assuming the thing just above the cable attachment point is a return spring, it would tilt back to the original angle of attack when the throttle travel drops (ie. through corners and under braking).

I'm told there's information about this in a book called "Brabham Ralt Honda: The Ron Tauranac Story". As I'm loathe to buy things since I'm a relatively poor student, I was rather hoping someone here had a copy of the book, and would be able to confirm this is the case as an actual, citable source. If you do - in some rare piece of luck - have the book, I would be immensely grateful if you could perhaps scan or copy the extract. I'd offer a favour, but all I can really do is offer you a space on the acknowledgements page for this particular project. If not, don't worry, I'll just take the hit and buy it myself.

Thanks.

It's in the stacks of the library at my university (joys of a copyright library, access to every book published in the UK and Ireland!). I can order it in to campus and scan on the relevant pages if you want? I'm going to presume that's what you want. Will have it by Wednesday I'd say.

Edit: have it ordered, here's the evidence that it's available and I'm not spoofing!

shinji wrote:It's in the stacks of the library at my university (joys of a copyright library, access to every book published in the UK and Ireland!). I can order it in to campus and scan on the relevant pages if you want? I'm going to presume that's what you want. Will have it by Wednesday I'd say.

Edit: have it ordered, here's the evidence that it's available and I'm not spoofing!

You absolute hero, thank you so much! Yeah, scans of anything to do with the BT26 would be amazing; you get a special spot on my acknowledgments (and possibly a pint should the occasion ever arise).

Thanks again, shinji!

Ataxia wrote:

shinji wrote:It's in the stacks of the library at my university (joys of a copyright library, access to every book published in the UK and Ireland!). I can order it in to campus and scan on the relevant pages if you want? I'm going to presume that's what you want. Will have it by Wednesday I'd say.

Edit: have it ordered, here's the evidence that it's available and I'm not spoofing!

You absolute hero, thank you so much! Yeah, scans of anything to do with the BT26 would be amazing; you get a special spot on my acknowledgments (and possibly a pint should the occasion ever arise).

Thanks again, shinji!

No worries, glad to help! Hope I can get what you're looking for.

shinji wrote:It's in the stacks of the library at my university (joys of a copyright library, access to every book published in the UK and Ireland!). I can order it in to campus and scan on the relevant pages if you want? I'm going to presume that's what you want. Will have it by Wednesday I'd say.

Edit: have it ordered, here's the evidence that it's available and I'm not spoofing!

Mildly off-topic but which uni would that be? That library sounds pretty damn good

takagi_for_the_win wrote:

shinji wrote:It's in the stacks of the library at my university (joys of a copyright library, access to every book published in the UK and Ireland!). I can order it in to campus and scan on the relevant pages if you want? I'm going to presume that's what you want. Will have it by Wednesday I'd say.

Edit: have it ordered, here's the evidence that it's available and I'm not spoofing!

Mildly off-topic but which uni would that be? That library sounds pretty damn good

Trinners for winners my good man!

Its probably a similar system to what Jim Hall built his Chaparrals with. The wigs didn't work off the throttle though, the Chaps ran an automatic gearbox, and the "clutch" pedal was hooked to the wing. On the straights a driver would hold in the clutch, flattening out the wing, then when he went to (left foot) brake for the corner, the pedal would snap the wing back to max attack. It was great on paper, until the wings failed, and worse the gearboxes could rarely hold the 7 or 8 litre Chevy engines Jim was fond of and often failed.

check this Chaparral with it's early DRS system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsNPg6gGkJA

shinji wrote:Trinners for winners my good man!

Oh, we're a Trinity James Allen are we? Seeing as I'm still throwing darts at my CAO handbook and a map of Ireland I now feel obliged to interrogate you about the place.

takagi_for_the_win wrote:

shinji wrote:Trinners for winners my good man!

Oh, we're a Trinity James Allen are we? Seeing as I'm still throwing darts at my CAO handbook and a map of Ireland I now feel obliged to interrogate you about the place.

Depends on what you would be studying, but in general:

Pros
Great campus
Great location, bang in the middle of Dublin city centre
Ranked as best university in Ireland
Vast array of societies
Mostly sound people
Mostly strong undergrad teaching
Copyright library, thanks to 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty!

Cons
Some facilities (computer labs, couple of buildings, sports) not up to scratch compared to UCD
Poor administration
Swarms of tourists
Some elitism among students

Any questions PM me, I remember the stressful CAO days!