I went to the MotoGP races this past weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and this was in the museum......

 

Cutting edge technology in it's day.

 

Wow - it was a supercharger failure that spoiled his day. I don't think turbo technology was as up to speed in those days (Superchargers were common on 20's and 30's high end race & luxury cars). Really too bad they could't come up with something like that again. Of course, now it would have to meet emissions standards as well...

 

LOL, Check out Audi.......

 

I would really like to look more technically into what would be the major difference between a blower and a turbo. Besides the obvious parasitic drag of the blower. I cant imagine that the forced induction is all that different.

 

October 2003 Car and Driver magazine ran an article on Cummins at Indy and he started running the cars in the 1930s as they didn't have enough other entries. The rules allowed the diesels to run but they could not "win". In 1931Jimmy Doolittle was on the Cummins pit crew. That year the car finished 13th and fuel and oil cost for the race was $2.40. The race consumed 31 gallons of diesel and 1 quart of oil.

In 1934 a two stroke aluminum Cummins finished 12th and the engine siezed up solid when it was shut down. That was the last two stroke Cummins built. In 1952 a Cummins won the Pole Position but failed to finish the race due to the supercharger getting plugged with rubber dust from the track. He was in 5th place when he pulled out of the race at about 175 miles into it.

 

In 2006 an Audi Diesel won the Le Mans. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/5085664.stm