Halford Special

The Halford Special was a Grand Prix racing car of the 1920s, built by Frank Halford. It was one of the most advanced British-built racing cars of the mid 1920s and had some racing success.

History

In 1925 Major Frank Halford bought a crashed 1923 Aston Martin (chassis number 1916) and installed an engine of his own design to compete at Brooklands and in the 1926 British Grand Prix. He removed the Aston Martin body and replaced it with a two seater body of his own design.

The AM Halford Special first raced in 1925 but the narrow Aston Martin radiator was too small. A wider and deeper radiator was fitted and the car renamed more simply the Halford Special. Two engines were built. Each had an aluminium block and crankcase with six steel liners, with rubber seals at their base. Bore and stroke were 63 mm and 80 mm giving 1.5 litres, the Grand Prix formula for 1926. The cylinder heads were cast iron with two camshafts, twelve inclined valves, and two 12 mm plugs per cylinder.

Following aircraft engine design of the period, the engine is narrow with two magnetos mounted behind the engine [cite book |last=Bolster |first=John |authorlink=John Bolster |title=Specials|publisher=G.T.Foulis & Co Ltd |isbn=978-0854291335] . The first engine developed 95 bhp and the second 120 bhp. Drawing on his aircraft design skills Frank Halford’s first design showed that he proposed to use an exhaust driven turbocharger, but this was unreliable in tests. When first raced at Brooklands in the 1925 BARC in August, the car appeared with a two litre Roots-type supercharger mounted on the front of the crankshaft.

Frank Halford raced his car twice in 1925 and 12 times during 1926, then he sold it to Captain G. E. T. Eyston, who would later hold the Land Speed Record, to race during the 1927 season. Captain Eyston achieved fourth place in the French Grand Prix in 1927 in the Halford Special

In the 1930s the Halford Special was dismantled by a new owner, Viscount Ridley. The first engine was fitted into a Bugatti Type 35 and the second engine was put into a speedboat that sank soon after. The engine spent the following two years at the bottom of a lake. The present owner of the Halford Special traced the original parts in the 1970s and re-assembled the Halford Special back to its original condition [cite book |last= Jenkinson |first=Denis |authorlink=Denis Jenkinson |title=Directory of Historic Racing Cars |year=1987 |publisher=Aston Publications |isbn=978-0946627080] . The Halford Special is currently kept at the Grand Prix exhibit at the Brooklands Motor Museum and is still used periodically in Vintage Sports Car Club, and other, events for historic racing cars.It is sad to say that on Saturday 26 April 2008 the car was involved in a racing accident at the VSCC race meeting at Silverstone during practice & has sustained quite a bit of damage,fortunately the owner/driver was not hurt too badly

Racing History 1925 to 1927

References