10 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

A mention of the Novi engine was made in another thread a couple of days ago and I was surprised that some here had never heard of it, as famous and notorious as it was at Indy during during the '40s through '60s. This great photo popped up on Facebook this morning, originally posted to the Indiana Racing Memorial Association's page:



"Novi origins. Leo Goossen, left, Fred Offenhauser, and Bud Winfield check out the supercharged Winfield V-8 of 1941. Mounted in Rex Mays' Bowes Seal Fast car, it would start and finish second in the 1941 500. Designed by Leo Goossen, first Harry Miller's and then Offenhauser's draftsman, this engine would become the powerplant for the Novis over the next three decades."

Initially the Novi produced 450 HP from 167 cubic inches. By the middle '60s, when the engine powered Andy Granatelli's STP-Novi racers, power output had risen to a claimed 837 HP.

It is believed that only five Novi engines were produced and all are still running today.

[John Streisguth]

Legends of the Brickyard, for certain.

[Cheater]

Automotive geniuses, all three off them.

But the giant of the three was Leo Goosen, who was very likely the only person in the 20th century to be employed full-time as a racing engine designer. The long list of successful engines he either designed or had a hand in designing is unparalleled!

[beardogracing]

Leo Goosen.
 
Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Leo's family moved to Flint where he grew up. Taking a job with Buick, he soon had the opportunity to work as a draftsman in the racing department where he rubbed shoulders with Louis Chevrolet and Bob Burman.
 
Eventually moving to California, Leo took a job with Harry Miller and Fred Offenhauser in 1919. By 1920, Leo was making significant contributions to the Miller racing engine. The next year found him designing complete Indianapolis race cars and Jimmy Murphey's 1922 victory at Indy with a Miller 183 engine brought a flood of orders to Harry Miller, Leo then engineered a completely new chassis for the Miller 122 with which Milton won the 1923 Indy 500.
 
After Harry Miller declared bankruptcy, Leo went to work for Fred Offenhauser, scaling up the 220 Offy to a 225 and in 1934 laid out and detailed the immortal Offy midget engine. Art Sparks had Leo design the engine and chassis for his Indianapolis entry and it broke the track record that year. In addition he designed, laid out and detailed the engine, the entire chassis, and four-speed transmission for Louis Meyer and Rex Mays.
 
In 1940, he co-designed the Novi supercharged V8 engine. All drawings, layouts, and calculations were made by Leo in his home and on the same drawing board on which he had laid out the original Miller 183.
 
Goossen laid out the transmission in 1942 for Lou Moore's successful Offy powered front drive Blue Crown Specials. Leo then spent the war years in engine design for the US Army.
 
Then in 1946 he co-designed, laid out, and detailed the Novi front drive race car chassis, which was original throughout. In its first appearance at Indianapolis, it broke the track record.
 
When Fred Offenhauser sold his business in 1946 to Louis Meyer and Dale Drake, Leo became the chief development engineer for Meyer & Drake Engineering, the position he held for the 19 years of that firm's existence.

[MattD]

It's been awhile since I read my Offy book, but I think it explains how USAC kept changing the rules until the Offy was finally not competitive with the engine designs of the late '60s. The Offy was probably the best-designed racing engine ever produced and probably has won more races in the US then any engine not based on a stock block.

 

The old Indy roadsters are some of my favorite cars and I am working on several for the guys that race here to play with. I am in the middle of moldmaking for the old AMT 1/24 Watson Roadsters. These fit easily on a Dynamic inline chassis and make for fun racing. Pics someday!

[Cheater]

Another pic of the same car and text from the IRMA Facebook page mentioned earlier.

 

 

"Novi origins: Rex Mays, Bud Winfield and Ralph Hepburn, in the car, pose with the 1941 Bowes Seal Fast Miller, with a new, supercharged engine designed by Winfield. Hepburn's entry is identified has having a Novi engine.

 

Rex Mays would drive another Bowes car with a similar engine identified as a Winfield. After the war Lew Welch had Frank Kurtis build front wheel drive cars around these engines, and named the cars, Novi. Hepburn finished fourth in this car, and reportedly put a block under the accelerator pedal, so he wouldn't inadvertently unleash all the car's raw power in a race situation. Mays finished second with his Winfield."

[Steve Deiters]

I was at the Speedway the last day the last Novi took its last lap. It was driven by Greg Weld who unfortunately stuffed it into the third turn wall after a couple of laps. 
 
I have to say as it got up to speed on that fateful last pass across the start/finish line it was the closest thing a screaming banshee that I have ever heard at a race track. Have never heard anything close to it since. It was the end of era.

[Cheater]

Everyone who ever heard a Novi run in anger always talked about the incredible sound...

Wish I could have heard it, that's for sure.

[Ramcatlarry]

Much more info in "Novi V8 Indy Cars 1941-1965" from Karl Ludvingston Library Series. Includes roots history from the 1920s of origins with the Miller race cars and early Ford racing efforts.

 

The sound can be compared to the later Ferrari F1 howl. I was also at Indy for the last run of the Novi. No proof, but I suspect these were the first American V8 to exceed 7,000 RPM... or the blower noise made it seem so.

[Buffalo 66]

I recall that homeboy, Jim Hurtubise, drove the Novi (occasionally into walls). He seemed to prefer engines out front where you could see them.

 

Best exemplified when he lined up to qualify for the Indy 500 and only had the sponsors beer in the rear engine bay. Isn't that where the trunk should have been?

[MattD]

I recently bought a rough Novi resin body. My intentions are to clean it up and add some detail. I might then make a mold and cast a couple bodies to build and race with our Watson Roadsters. Classic Indy cars.