Bee deel Cre oe) | HOW THE MK1. CREATED THE LOLA LEGENDCHAIN GANG FRAZER NASH JHE so-called ‘Chain Gang' Frazer T Nash spots cars of the 1920s {and 1830s are among the most adimired ofthe era, Most examples ‘wore sporting road cars but their ight ‘weight and keen handling made them Immediately fevoured for racing — ‘Something of which marque founder Archibald Frazer-Nesh, known as Archie, ‘was very keen. He fs quoted as having ‘sid duting the early 1920s that he “Iwed for racing’. ‘Ninety years later the Frazer Nash sports cars still an enormously popular recing machine. These slondt, uptight bolides retain a keen owners’ club and ‘Stil drave sufficient interest to justify manufacturer of eyclecars The cyclecar is a now long forgotten ‘avenue of motoring development A simple, ightwoight conveyance haltway between amotor car and @ motorcycle, the cyclecar phenomenon was short- lived but ithelped launch the careers of ‘Archie Frazer-Nash and Henry Morgan Inthe Uk, and Et.ore Bugatti over the Channel, Historian Sam Clutton offers somo amusing context on motoring of the petiod when he professes that “in 1809 motoring was not papular. and ‘was only indulged in by 2 few of two classes, the rich (with big cars) and the mad (motorcyclists) “The cyclecar sought to bring motoring WORK ON THE CHAIN GANG Quirky quite like no other car on the road, the Chain Gang Frazer Nash inspired a devoted band of followers who still maintain their love and dedication to the car to this day, as Andy Swift reports stand alone races at Vintage Sports Car Club events, One of the cars keenest exponents is James Baxter, the ‘Yerkshireman having ounes, prepared ‘and competed aboard a huge number of diferent Nashes, and usually very successfully. As proprietor of Tip Top Enainooring, his workshop currently houses two examples, one his own and ‘one eis rebuilding for @ customer. Researching the Chain Gang Nashes requires onc to delve all the way back to the absolute genesis of motoring inthe UK. As young men, Archibald Frazer-Nash and Ron Godfrey had been ingpited by the very earllest motoring ‘endeavours, with Godfiey’s frst sight ‘of @ motor car having been the 1896 Emancipation Run from London to Brighton. The pair later came together 23 engineering apprentices and eventually joined forces to found GN, a 48 tons 10 the broader public by re-using broprietary motorcycle mechanical decorated with simple timber, aluminium fr even wicker bodies. Ths b recipe lowerad the barriers to entry for manufacturers as well as drivers and in 1910, GN produced is fst cyclecar. The front-mounted engine, rudimontary chassis and chain drive to the rear whee's set the template which enjoyed 3 continuous lineage through to 1939. IIs no surprise that the combination of torquey motorcycle engine and light weight led enthusiastic motorists to enjoy this type of car — an irony for something Intended to motivate the masses. ‘The Chain Gang Nashes were Introduced after the demise of GN, “when Archie Frozer-Nash set out on his own. He retained tne ehaln dive layout but adopted the new Plis-Power motorcar engine ~ a naturally aspirates 1500 cc pushrod four-cylinder design which was to be shortived, though that engine designation was to set a pprocecent for the vast majority of the Chain Gang cars produced over the nowt \docade and a hat. DIEHARD FOLLOWING While there were tweaks, the general ‘arrangement settled upon by Archie Frazer-Nash was retained right up to 1939, when the final Chain Gang Nash was produced. By that stage, the company was focused on its activities importing and rebadging BMWs, out the Chain Gangs attracted a diehard following, even ifthe cars were technologically obsolete by the late 1930s. Baxter is forthright about the cars’ shortcomings: “They're really very crude {and most engineers are appalled when they see them. The transmission was. ‘outdated even at tne time. The cars are ‘udimentary ~ you could produce a full now chassis for maybe £250 today” Inconcept, though definitely not execution, the Frazer Nosh might be best compared to today’s Lotus Else or Caterham Seven, These modern cars share a similarly fanatical devotion from their owners and exist almost solely for the purpose of driving pleasure and, don't let another owner see you with ‘the root up! 464 Most engineers are appalled when they see them” Save for Just two examples, all 400. ‘odd Chain Gangs produced in period ‘were open-topped sports cars. The basic architecture's a 22-nch-wide ‘steel chossis formed from longitudinal parallel C-section steel beams, bridged periodically by cross: members. Up front is that proprietary four- cylinder pushrod engine, with power transferred to the road via that fiendish mechanism of whiing chains and sprockets. Bodywork is aluminium — or leccasionally see! - over a simplo ash > ee‘ABOVE The enous Nts’ sngle-seaee Using the Saisey Wash ace, the car fame, The henabrake and gearlever are Baxter s currently undertaking a full ‘There were several aiferentjoints located outside the cockpit, supposedly restoration on one Nash and the nature employed within the frame, but they | to.create 9 more sporting drive, ond of tho roquired work immediately allsutfer a degree of movement a5 a | that means only the passenger's side throws up questions about provenance result of the body twisting on chassis: | features an opening door. {and what it's appropriate to retain ot renowned forts torsional igi. | Today, even the youngest ofthese during the restoration. The ash frame Over many years, this leads to sloppy cars is 8S years old and that means not was eriginaly installed under a design joints, putting edeitional stein into ‘only i It wal past ts intended Ife span, feof perhaps 20 years. This means an aluminium skdn which was never but tis also liable tohave received —_the timbers themselves are prone Intended to be a stressed member. all manner of mosificatons and ‘0 detoriotation, but particulary the This leads to fatigue inthe metal wnich aintenence. Or, 8 Baxter succinctly tenonjoints which secure the timber _eventually causes fractures round the puts "You're forever repatring ‘mombers. fa car ends up suflering from Joints which are extremely cificut 10 somebody else's bodgel” woodworm, the frames can turn to dust. repair. On many cars. Baxter has found that the Jomts themselves have not been repaired, but instead affected strips of aluminium have been cut ot wth new sections farted. Ths has seived simply to move the weak points othe skin further out, resulting in cracks in diferent places. Tris perfectly lustrated on the example curently in Baxter's care In alscrete areas, the umber and lumicium have deteriorated beyond repair so new members have Boon Inserted, wth joint replicating the originals, Certain areas have been re- skinned, trough orignal matertal has EIT been salvaged and retained wnerever bo rasa ack ta GN ope Tn Dav Lo f posse, This pariculer example had Sper a eset MeVSCEmeetg in 2013 had @ ceallop installed where the > cane a0| 0 CHAIN GANG FRAZER NASH passenger door would have originally been sited. Baxter took the decision to return the caro period specification ‘and a new door has been formed, using new and salvaged timbers and a small section of rash aluminium, This kind of ‘changes typical of the modifications which have crept into so many of the ‘cars during their lfetimes, depending ‘upon each owner's whim Having experimanted with his ov panel-beating tools, procured through ABOVE Te a r ost Rastorations, Baxter now sub-ets neal formed doo ‘Boulogne Bevo i cure rotor cinceegnertiocte te teiye: al Pore one a Dien ceicee near GG Mechanically crude it may be, but a Chain orginal bodywork and those which Gang can still generate significant bills” goes Vane Den uated of all. All panels are individual to Involved inthe restoration ofhs father's THE ANNUAL RAID ‘each specie car and certainly not Nurburg Nash — one of ony terchangeable —these are all hand- Due to the car's importanc This is a surprise, but he explains that crafted cars and each is cubtly citferent; original panols wore retaines with the anything up to 150 Nashes take in even If unintentionally Rely and Garrett bill for labour alone coming 1047 eye annual ‘rads into mainland Europe. A stil employ tracttonal techniques ‘watering £15,000. Mechanicelly crude tradition since the 1960s, these raids ‘and each panels hand rolledonan it maybe, but Chain Gang can st result in anything up to one third of English wheel, Tre most dificult ofall generate significant bills, all Chain Gang production thrashing ‘are the wheelerches, with the panels Being true sporting mo through the Alps or the Dolomites in transitioning from concave te convex. Nash has historically boon Convoy, it is an activity wich harks vathin their length enthusiastic road div fon back o the cars’ great suecess in the The more original materiala customer track When the issue of suspension hugely competitive Alpine Trials duting Wishes to retain, gonerally tre more setups raised, Baxter eevisee the 1930s. It also neatly lustrates the expensive it vill be as salvaging *Many owners don't wart :o lower thelr kind of driver who buys ~and has (old sluminium is much more labour cars toomuchin case they car"; got_ always bought ~ a Nash, intensive than rolling new Baxter was them onto a ferry” For those who do wish to achieve » ‘ABOVE The Chin Gera ansisson, separated rom the cabin abe only bya single pice of pend is ot fox Le fat-neartat The propstat ives in he bevel bx, ith the chen cive transmission bebind82 CHAIN GANG FRAZER NASH ‘minimum possible ground clearence fn thelr Nash, the suspension does allow for 3 degree of adjusiment, but the car's sump is its lowest point and the risk of rupturing it during enthusiastic roed driving is an ever- present threat. Those keeping their cars predominantly for track work might permit themselves alittle more latitude in thet respect The suspension design 's simple but clover, Compared to similar cars of the period, the Nash has very short cchassig rails. i's almost as ifthe chassis steel was reelly expensive,” quips Baxter. Quarter oliptical suspension is employed front and ‘ear, effectively hung off either end of the chassis. The chassis stops level with the radiator atthe front, with, leaf springs protruding forward and spanned with a cranked beam. This ‘actually means the minimum possible amount of steel ~ and therefore weight — Is employed in the enassis. This lack of weight can make the front end quite skittish and Baxter confirms that the weight dist actually surprisingly rear balanced at about 40/60 front to rear, depending upon the individual car & revised layout, known as the Shelsley Walsh axle, was experimented with in Period and this layout was employed fon the famous Nortis single-sester which Baxter formerly owned, andl in which he enjoyed great sucess in hilleimbs. It involved the substitution of the quarter-elliptic springs for half-elliptic units, mounted to the side fof the chassis rails, rather than on top. By moving the springs outboure ‘and pivoting them at the front of the cchessis ral, the Shelsley Walsh axle did help mitigate any propensity for front axle tramp. Inileu of a bottom radius arm, a Hartford damper is employed both damping and articulation. This {s the kind of clever engineering of which Colin Chapman would have boon proud — ompleying one item to perform multiple functions. The damper is Integral to the setup and the car would simply drop to the ‘ground without ution is F SPRINGS, ‘Adjusting the suspension is done predominantly with those leafs ‘Adding or romoving ingividua ffects stiffness ~ the greate ‘number of leas, the sti Up. Asa general rule, the heavier the car, the more feats it w employ. Furthermore, ste! be inserted into the spr the ride height, These o through the cart springs; is barely 2 10-minute job, meaning the car up for use in off05 OF drop It for track use. val always be constrair vulnerable sump and how wishes to use his or her Nas! Frazer Nash employed varous In the Chain Gang cers, BOVE Te fer beam aie ark the Ts To Enc all were of 1500 ce four-cylinder pushrod arrangement, a small number ‘of which were fitted with suoerchargers by the works in period. That remains the case today, though there are several Cars running streight-six AC motors. ‘Though these are effectively special, ‘many were converted in the period and so are permitted to partake in vintage recing, Baxter confirms that the AC engine Is pethaps the nicest balance of power o grip emong any Nash, having dtiven several dovm the yeas ‘The original engines from Plus Power. Meadows, Anzani and Gough — a Frazer Nash specie design ~ are robust, with many stl cunning, even as they proach their cantenary. Brand new parts are available off-the-shelf and theic relatve ubiquity and simplicity ensures they are easy to run [BELOW The short chases as ar cut of atthe hota Hote ne 99 to wosyo in tte lower tere eight, and the integrator dameerABOVE Or Seon Prk in is Frazer Nosh TT Rpca overtaking Nast Pugs ater Fazer Mash BN, £328 te VSOC Pomeroy Tony “There's nothing staring about the engines and thoy were shared vith ‘ther marques in the perio’ Baxter. “We run them on pump fue! = theyre much lke any other engine of the era” This means no tightening plains Francis, maxing expensive toolIng mote practical for made engineering concerns as their market is not limited to the 400-0180 Frazer Nashes. ‘Naturally, the most fascinating aspect ‘os tnese cars remains that deeply 4G Power is transferred to the road via a fiendish mechanism of whirling chains and sprock degradation of engine internals, os one sight 20¢ on pure racing cars of the ssamie period running on methanol fuel Baxter is currently rebuilding a Moacows engine for one of the Neshes inhis care, He has been able to obtain the cam timing kit fom Blakeney Motorsport, whose proprietor Patrick Blokenoy Edwards has also produced patterns to cast new Meadows ‘aluminium erankcases and iron oytinder blocks. As part of the rebuild, o new Crankshaft has been provided by Laystall Engineering of Wolverhampton ‘and the conrocis by Robson Engineering of Coventry with the: parts being manufactured by Farndon Enginearing and Phoenix Engineering, Inperiod the Meadows engine was ‘most prolifically employed by Les igiosynerate transmission — one wich Baxter describes as “outdated, even when the cars were in production” The layout wes @ legacy of GN's cyclecars and their motorcycle enginos vinich ‘mace chain dive the simplest form of transferring drive to the wheols. ‘The Chain Gang tansinission seems borderline terfying when viewes through modem eyes. Belng effectively a transaxle layout, the propshaft spine at engine speed, s0 anything Lp to 5,500 rpm depending upon hich engine is fitted, immediately underneath the cabin, This i inked to ‘a series of chains, all spinning at rood speed. The whole affair Is separated from the passenger compartment by a single plece of plywood. Evidently not for tho faint of heart! ALANA ITEMS CHAINIGANG:ERAZER NASH, OS ‘The propstiaft spinning at such speed brings ite own problems. “Fares don’t often occur but when they do, i's Usually atthe engine end and that tums the car into @ pole vaul” he continues. Gulp! “The other thing to remember is that the propshatt must therefore be balanced and that’s something that many people forget. The clutch is at the font of the cor, meaning thet de-clutcning causes the prop to stop spinning, The original Cluich is unreliable and most cars were converted to a proprietary Borg and Beck unit This is nicer to use, more reliable and requires no adjustment There does, however, seem to be 6 ‘general move towards reverting cars to thelr petiod specification ~ and that means many have been converted back to using the recalettrant Frazer Nash clutches once more, The propshatt feeds into a tinal crive ‘bevel gear. This Isa crown wheel and pinion arrangement used to turn the ive trough 80 degrees and onto the: counter shaft The later is suspended fon housings xed to the chassis rails either sice ~ another clever example ‘of one item doing two jobs. Here the ‘counter shaft also serves to suspend the bevel box itself. >CHAIN GANG FRAZER NASH ‘The bovel box is kept €00! by splash Jubrication from a one-inch bath of oil in the sump ofthe casing, An inspection hhaten atthe top of the casing enables the driver to keep an eye on his oll level. Any surplus vil simply spill out through the bearings and serve as ‘general transmission lubrication. ‘Bohing the counter shat sts the rear axle. This isa fixed unit with no ifferontol and festures four sprockets, vith thick chains as outputs. Each ‘of these isthe and so the entire assembly is rotating at road speed at all ‘umes. Each chain is linced to a sprocket fon the counter shaft Different gears are solacted Via double-cogs on tne counter shaft, meaning three gear trains willbe rotating idly at any time a gear Is solected and the ear is moving. AS Baxter identifies, this means fist geor Js constantly spinning like mad, with the cher gears not fat off the same velociy. Some cars will experience dearee Of slack in one chain or another. 's possible to slightly stagger the rear axle to take up this slack but i's 2 delicate balancing act The dogs are held in place laterally by a paralol key drive but they ere spinning all the time. The dogs are ccastelated, withthe fernale holes being Slightly larger than the male equivalents ‘to enable them to mesh more easily “This fects extremely counter.intuitive to {an engineer brought up on constantly ‘maintaining tight tolerances on any moving parts. In spite ofthis, the dogs 108 5 sexo Vase Tepe eras Rost view whitey bonged ois ter, orig a special are fairly unforgiving and require road {and engine speed to be delicately ‘matched for smooth changes Wir so many moving pars, and ony the final drive bevel geo being neatly Contained in a casting, the transmission zone Is extremely messy, with most ‘excess oll landing in the undertray ‘The whole environment needs to be lubricated after every day of criving, wath most owners usin an oll can, erated led and, hough some cars run a hand pump. Chain libe is ecommer rater unusually, a relatively Cll can be the best solulion as it tends to attract the least amount of general ‘etritus to the chains. LUBRICATING THE CHAIN Baxter recommends Link Life and deseribes the potential domes petils of lubricating a new forthe fist time, “Link Life s 2 which turns to oll as it heats SCC Pomeroy Tphy hood. Tis snot wu istdlbiaihasedA I eSEh SEES RRL ahaa EE Se Dest mottiod le to heat up the grease. inva saucepan and dunk the chains in that... tend to use the Aga at homet” He continues, “Ones the chains are fully lubsicated, suspend them above the pan overnight and allow the ‘off Into the saucepan. The grease will st again, roady for re-use — it wil happily go through multiple heat cycles.” It's fortunate for domestic harmony that Mrs Baxter ‘comes from a familly steeped in Vintage motoring activities. The unique Chain Gang transmission offers the Nash a similarly inimitable diving experience. The stooring is ‘set up with just a single turn lock tollock and the reer will beak away uicky but the locked witferontial ~ or more correctly the non-existence of fadifferential - means that sides are ‘colght quickly and controled easily, Baxter cites them as fantastic tools for learning car control skis. Ws immediately noticeable when excess to al omerseeing a Frazer Nash on the move that the rear track is significantly narrower than the front. This the result of that fixed rear axle: the narrower the track, the loss serub there is on the outer tyre uring comering.Itis possible, states Baxter, to spake out the rear wheels to widen the track and cedain single-seat Frezer Nashes do run a broader rear track and wider wheels. He confirms thet this gives altla more outrignt ‘tip anc! also reduces oversteer. For those owners who wish to kecp thelr cars predominantly for enthusiastic road use, retaining the narrow track ang revaling in the resultant oversteer bolance is considered the most entertaining solution. ‘further benefit ofthat fixed rear axle ‘and narrow track's have on braking. Early Chain Gangs wore fittes with a foot-operated drum brake on one side of the vehicle and ‘a handbrake on the ether. This was re effect Rean Lo Se PY nove Goran Lome rn ten Bg seater tre Goxcwood Rev CHAIN GANG FRAZER NASH 59 made possible because the axle was 30 short ft was capable of dealing with the torsion of single-sided braking along ts length, Later cars feature full broking _systems acting upon both ends of the axle, but the early layout hignlignts the determination o reduce weight end ccomplexty inthe cars, Despite the machines’ advancing vyeats, is never been casio: to keep a Nash in top concition. The Frazer Nash Cor Club, which holds the trademark to the brand names for both Frazer Nosh ‘and GN, now provides an enormous number of spare parts which can be bought atthe click of a button via the club's wobsite, These parts are intended for standard cars, though, and the club dosn't guarantee th producing big power. ‘Clu mombers not only gain accoss to this vast array of authentic replacement bits but also the club's newsietto has been running since the 1950s as. n for specials nae the Chain Gang Gazette. To illustrate the breadth ofthis resource, Baxter shates an old article which detals all the diferent timber joints used in forming the cere’ bodes and how to replace tham, The club also has access to a uniber of the works? drawings and that means spares can be menufoctured a8 close to period specification as possible. ‘While the cars have now exceeded! their design life by over half a contury, they remain as beguiling as ever for their devoted owners. Their eceentric esign means spociallst care Is needed = and that’s where hard-won knowledge ‘ane experience counts. W's a fact that {evs exist quite as they left the works but each car has a story to tell and the majority of cars are @s authentic and ppatinated a¢ one might ever dare hope for a well-exercised 85-year-old sports ‘cr, There's 9 very good chance thay wll stil be raiding the high Swiss passes in another 85 years’ time. GE |