The Silent Screamer - Andy Granatelli’s gas turbine car run at the 1967 Indy 500

[Music] this little red racer with its quiet ways created the biggest blast and all the long and noisy history of motor racing it happened at Indianapolis for the last half century most major auto engineering developments found their way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but during the fifties the latest developments were slow in reaching the speedway aircraft developments have long been applied to land vehicles on the salted bun a3 you go in a straight line and can use a parachute to stop but where a car had to maneuver had to drive through the wheels the familiar piston engine still held sway one aircraft development the turbine engine had been tried but none had succeeded in making the starting lineup Anthony Granatelli director of the famous STP racing team set out to change that as he put it through the year stores have had their problems and I just feel that in all the time back in 1952 just as eager were Andy's brothers Joe and Vince Co designers and builders Granatelli brothers drew on a circle of associates in the aircraft and space speed Space Age experience and techniques were essential in Andy's plans he wanted the car to be an innovator and he wanted it to be successful then came the break and II learned there was an industrial turbine engine that would do the job all the things we needed for our race car acceleration the acceleration economy those are unknown unheard of in turbine power unlike a jet which gets its forward motion directly pushing the heated air out behind the turbine engine forces it through a turbine wheel which turns a shaft the very essence of the turbine is balanced precise even rotation with few moving parts and close tolerances give the turbine its smooth operation and tremendous reliability the engine can burn almost any flammable liquid but it's normal diet is kerosene the fuel is ignited by a unique device called the glow plug a plot developed as an outgrowth of aircraft igniter research in collaboration with the engines manufacturer unlike spark plugs and igniters the glow plugs firing end has the coil that glows white hot to start fuel burning and provide dependable continuous power finally the right engine how do we harness all this torque how do we make a car handle the technical support that we need a box section plane of aircraft designs the engine must hang out like a wing on an aircraft the driver must hang alongside this means centreline construction wishbone backbone type the frame is the most complex aluminum structure of its size ever built an important safety feature centreline storage of fuel in separate rubber line cells within the main frame wind tunnel test several body shapes were studied to achieve the best aerodynamics with special attention paid to ground effect the compression of airflow between the car and the surface of the track beam even a new shape called ellipse variant was arrived at and began to take form in fiberglass four-wheel-drive means extra weight but it also means vastly improved handling and far more efficient use of the engines torque I think we've built the car finally that is the safest car loan you wish going back home type construction to stand a 30 g head-on crash the fuel kerosene contained right smack down the side of the car in the frame and the course fall though drive because I'm handling second to none after three long years of painstaking development the car was revealed to the public [Music] now all it lacked was a driver and they wanted the best he wanted Parnelli Jones then he asked me if I was interested in driving and I felt at that time that the carpet had back a response and like the acceleration but I he told me that I'd take the test right in Phoenix in getting a good honest evaluation of it when I jumped on the accelerator and I was really impressed and I didn't even care about getting back more than mother audible yeah and then I don't much well I got you loving your nap Begleiter so again Christian training at Indian accent whether it was very important and we didn't get very much running in but I 162 and I said I certainly wish that I'm being arrested been driving the car the car had been built to conform exactly to the US auto club rule I guess you wanna bet USAC officials perform a technical inspection to make sure [Music] illegal there and we'll accept it now we want to check the front end your suspension your transaxles here your arms I can see nothing wrong with this place I also want to check the flap the flap installed since the Phoenix tests added aerodynamic braking to assist the four-wheel disc brakes I want to compliment you on the design and structure of this chassis this is one of the finest cars way in the gear and as pleased as Andy was buyers Burlingame management's representative on the project the flat proved itself in practicality and the process of preparing for the race began [Music] the month of May is devoted to practice learning how the car handles in the turn fine-tuning the chassis adjusting the car to the driver the challenge the best and equipment of the top drivers Jimmy Clark and Jackie Stewart of Scott Graham Hill of England Dennis home of New Zealand yuck him rent of Austria and Lucien Bianchi from Belgium : Chapman who's rear-engine Lotus designs help them the reign of the front-engine roadster takes a look at the shape of things to come it's a sleepless hectic time as 90 cars and 61 drivers compete for 33 starting position technical experts help the teams get the cars in top trim as qualifying trials draw on where the pace despite some gear problems due to a faulty piece of material Parnelli pushes to speed up well into racing range 164 165 166 miles per hour it looks good it's a happy crew that awaits qualifying trials first day of qualifying drivers drew lots the nights of war and parnell Eastern is too far down the line for his number 42 appear on the pylon it will be a long wait I knew that the car wouldn't be an extreme qualifier because I knew the other fellows could put to the Nitro and and out horsepowers quite badly with the nitro high-energy nitromethane fuse used by piston engine cars qualifying speeds were running very high but Parnelli didn't do so badly using his normal fuel his first lap speed was 160 6.48 to qualifying speed is the average of four laps 166 point four eight two again one sixty five point eight nine nine one sixty five point four four one for an average of one sixty six point oh seven five the turbo car finally qualified sixth in the field of 33 in the front row were Gordon Johncock Dan Gurney and on the poll with top qualifying speed of 168 point nine eight - Mario Andretti Parnelli wasn't too worried about his starting spot I thought that when the race started when they took their nitro out their speeds would come right on down past mine nothing left before race day except pit practice where the pit crews rehearse routines to minimize the time that will be spent on each of the two mandatory pit stops during the course of those 500 miles three STP specials and three Wagner Lockheed cars will be in the lineup more qualifiers from one sponsor than ever before Memorial Day 1967 dawned overcast and damp but gray or not the time was a man [Music] [Music] after the traditional parade and payslips bringing the cars up to speed and starting order the pace car pulls into the pits and the race is on [Music] Jones makes his way high on the outside out of the groove he takes gurney now John [Music] now he gets angry let's replay it for a closer look and ready down shifts to multiply his torque gets the jump on the field but damages his clutch [Music] I really didn't have the intentions of passing all them fellas but they all started going into the groove I'm sitting out there I can't get down anyway on my side back off and follow two or three other what we all say it was behind me so I thought that I might as well go past two or three of them and to see what the outcome is after I get out of the corner relatively easy course I strike there behind that ready and we actually gain on the right to turn to in the same way and move out to the fencing which is wide open for me and so halfway through the first lap for Nellie Jones has slammed his turbo car into first spot [Music] it looked easy from there [Music] race became a battle for second place and then for the second time in Indianapolis history completion of the race is postponed because of rain a clear day for the restart with the cars in the order they were running when the red flag fell Marnell lost his 13 second lead on Dan Gurney because of the restart and the race is on again [Music] it looks like a repeat of yesterday's parade until on Jones 51st flap and associated light back down into the group and I tell it what they spend the automobile to keep them running over I thought that I really never lost control of the car during the spin of course I come out and point it in the right direction and was able to continue on [Music] Parnelli broke track records on almost every lap and broke them easily for some the race is too predictable but it's not that bad the turbo car is suddenly overdue down the main straight on 196 lat with seven and a half miles to go the car lost power the wheel [Music] I tried my passenger car down the highway all of a sudden this one out just like that [Music] and then on the 200 flap [Music] we had looked like certain victory for Parnelli Jones and the STP turbo prize now became a third win at Indy for AJ Foyt it was a victory not just for POI it was a win also for the coyote car which he designed and for the tires which carried him those 500 miles to victory [Music] [Music] midnight so I've already felt that many many times and I don't feel any worse than I do but I really feel sorry for parkour they don't know did you have gone get on his breast despite the disappointment the turbocar team was aware of the importance of what they've done today I Drive make sure by being a new version of this car here turbine engine is the most reliable ever wouldn't it be nice to have a car that the engine would run for 10 20 years without ever touching it it's smog free long superbly and cool weather it's exciting because it's tomorrow [Music]

Channel: Fabulous Fifties

Views: 133,938

Keywords:

Id: UXAT9-WGmhY

Length: 17min 37sec (1057 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/CantTouchThis707]

Very cool video. I’m actually old enough to have seen that car in a race. It was my first IndyCar race and it took place at Hanford Speedway. I was probably about 7 years old and I distinctly remember 2 things. First, the turbine car made a whoosh sound when it went by compared to the other cars that roared. The other thing I remember is getting scolded for watching the balloons that were released at the start of the race, a la Indy.

[u/slonobruh]

Mr. 500!

[u/ilikemarblestoo]

That's a shame it died with 7 laps to go. The sound it made was so cool.

Also, AJ only won because like what 5 people spun out on the last lap? Or were none of those guys on the lead lap.

[u/Prozaki]

Damn they raced this with kerosene inside? Guys back then were maniacs

[u/jfodor]

I never knew that this car even existed. I thought this was a great piece of 500 history.