MEWS readers who have followed Mike Sayers’ fascinating articles on the design and build of this Delage Grand Prix engine will have been impressed with the progress on display at a recent exhibition. Well on the way to completion; one major part - the gearbox - is needed.

Why the Delage? On a visit to Brooklands Museum Mike was

impressed by the engine of a 1927 Grand Prix Delage which resides in the museum’s Jackson Shed. He decided that this was to be the project to follow his wonderful models of the engines of the iconic Bentley 3-litre and the 4.5 litre supercharged. Like the Bentleys the Delage engine would be made using conventional machine tools.

Delage chief engineer Albert Lory designed the straight eight engine for the 1926 racing season which developed 170 hp at 8000 rpm, really high revving at the time. The exhaust pipe ran alongside the driver at elbow level, and twin superchargers mounted on the engine’s near side pushed heat into the cockpit. At Brooklands, a pan of cold water was kept for driver Cooling during pit stops. Even so, Delage did win its first race of the season that day.

Lory went back to the drawing board. For 1927 the exhaust system was moved out of harm’s way, and twin superchargers were replaced with a larger front-mounted blower. The radiator was raked and the engine offset to lower the body, resulting in one of the lowest frontal areas of any GP car.

In 1927 every race Delage entered resulted in easy victory: the Grand Prix de l’Ouverture together with the Grands Prix of France, Spain, Britain and Europe. Lead driver Robert Benoist had won every one of them, becoming the first ever world champion driver.

Despite this success, Louis Delage closed the racing department to concentrate on manufacturing. The team cars were sold. Delage was forced out of his company in 1935; he died, penniless, in 1947.

Engine photo by John Arrowsmith.