Re: Red McMillion speed run

Skip Wrote:
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> Back around 1980 my family and I rode behind the
> Hillcrest Climax at Mt. Ranier. The engine's owner
> was riding in the same car, and he started getting
> very concerned as we cruised along the flat
> tangent before the hill . . . I will swear we were
> doing 30 mph at least ! Owner kept looking out
> window looking for parts. It was quite a ride! !

Skip, take no offense but I'll say a flat no to that. It may have seemed like you may have been going pretty fast especially if you could hear the exhaust, but no way. Drivers too small, and gearing much too low.

I rode that engine many times in '67 & '68 while she was still in regular service on Vancouver Island and her comfortable speed was up around 11-12 when she had settled out from her infamous
bounce that occurred somewhere between 6-10. I had said earlier that the Climax was good for a lower speed only and still hold to this. If you look at the cast trucks on the 10, you can see in several places where they had cracked from incessant bouncing and been welded up. Most were very poorly balanced and made poor road engines.

Besides at Hillcrest, I had a lot of time on the 10 while volunteering @ MRSR and can tell you that she never came close to that speed. Double the piston speed from a fast 15 mph & you'd likely end up with something mechanically impossible.