SOLVED: WTH # 276 - 1931 Stevens-Whippet/Duray Special w 16-cylinder 2-stroke engine

[sixtee5cuda]

For one point, specify the year, name, builder, and engine type of this old race car

[sixtee5cuda]

Up!  Easy Expert point?

[Ecnelis]

Looks like something from Indy 500. Miller Special?

[sixtee5cuda]

Car was photographed at the Indy 500.  Not a Miller Special, not a Miller engine.

[mekubb]

American ? Based on production car ?

[sixtee5cuda]

There is an American production car connected with it, but I doubt it provided more than the bare frame.

[D-type]

Studebaker?

[Jean-Marie H]

Leon Duray in the Duray Special at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1931.

Whippet/Duray engine but in fact a Miller 220

[sixtee5cuda]

Because Jean-Marie H knows what the car is, this is

LOCKED

The engine in the car in no way resembles anything every constructed by Miller.

Research some more, and tell me about this wild engine to earn your point.

[Jean-Marie H]

From a forum about Indy cars :

"I believe your photo is of Californian Kelly Petillo in Nov 1932 at Oakland Speedway.(His second AAA start)"



"His car appears to be Leon Duray's 1931 Duray Spl underslung Stevens:Whippett Duray 2C engine driven by Duray at 1931 Indy 500 which proved to be Duray's last AAA start after failing to Q at Indy in 1934.
edit: There were two Duray cars, the sister car was #44
Yes, it's Petillo at Oakland in 1932, but he was already a AAA driver since 1928, and a regular winner on the West Coast. The Duray car was fitted with a Miller '220' engine by this time, Leon having given up on the 2-stroke 16-cylinder. Actually, the second car was built for Cliff Durant in 1931, and had the same engine at the beginning, but also a Miller '220' by 1935."

I also have  find informations about a V16 Duesenberg engine.

[sixtee5cuda]

Jean-Marie H gets the point for including the correct answer in his post.

The car is the 1931 Stevens-Whippett/Duray Special, powered by a supercharged 16-cylinder 2-stroke engine of Leon Duray's own design.  The engine overheated after 6 laps of the 1931 Indy 500.

I also saw information about that V16 Duesenberg engine (or was it Packard?), which was at one time offered on ebay.  The ebay engine may have actually been the Duray engine, with no connection to Duesenberg or Packard.  The cylinders did not appear to be arranged in a V.

Precise details of the Duray 16 are not easy to find.  The Indianopolis News in 1931 described the engine as being 2 parallel rows of 8 cylinders.  Each pair of side-by-side cylinders shares a connecting rod bearing.  One cylinder exposes the intake port, the other exposes the exhaust, as they travel downward together.  Each pair may also have shared a common combustion chamber.

[sixtee5cuda]

Another description of the Duray engine:

As described in the September 1931 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, the engine was comprised of four cylinder blocks, and the crankshaft had eight crankpins, with each pair of bores linked to one crankpin. In the paired bore, the pistons moved up and down in tandem, below a single combustion chamber. At the base of the stroke, one piston uncovered the exhaust port, while the other uncovered the intake port, all fed by a gear-driven supercharger.

[ropat53]

Leon Duray's mechanic was L. H. Miller and probably this has caused some kind of confusion that led to believe there was a connection with Harry Miller, plus the V16 engine.

[Jean-Marie H]

Thank you ! 

[Allan L]

Another description of the Duray engine:

As described in the September 1931 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, the engine was comprised of four cylinder blocks, and the crankshaft had eight crankpins, with each pair of bores linked to one crankpin. In the paired bore, the pistons moved up and down in tandem, below a single combustion chamber. At the base of the stroke, one piston uncovered the exhaust port, while the other uncovered the intake port, all fed by a gear-driven supercharger.

Apart from the fact that there were eight pairs of them the twin-piston/cylinder two-stroke as described was not uncommon. Puch motorcycles and Trojan cars used one pair of cylinders in that layout and in 1930 the Z racing cars used four and in 1934 Zoller six pairs.