The Ford 289 Gurney Weslake V8 Engine at Le Mans

Comments · 95

• JC

  @JC-gw3yo · 5 months ago

  A glorious time in racing that will never be repeated.. The Anglo American  experience

  16

• JO

  @johnnorth9355 · 5 months ago

  Men in sheds. You have just got to love them.

  12

• GR

  @grahambell4298 · 5 months ago

  No mention of the fact that Gurney got the idea for these heads from a young Cosworth company and its Formula Junior engines. Formula Junior was an entry level single seater class using 1 litre engines based on production cylinder blocks, but you could fit special cylinder heads. Cosworth designed heads for the Ford Kent pushrod engine that had a much straighter inlet port than the standard heads. When Gurney saw these at a race meeting he could see why this made the Cosworth engined cars the fastest and turned his thoughts to doing something similar with the small block Ford V8. As for the heart shaped combustion chambers, they were already something of a Weslake trademark by that time.

  37

• ST

  @stevefowler2112 · 5 months ago

  Not 289's, the block was based on the new for 1968 302 engine, except it had a special 4 bolt main block and was bored to 305 cubic inches to be at the 5 liter limit.

  5

• JO

  @johnmunns5964 · 5 months ago

  If anyone wants a brilliant read "Lucky All My Life" an autobiography of Harry Weslake. Brilliant book, brilliant man.

  3

• PA

  @paulblouin6955 · 5 months ago

  There were the racing team heads and the commercially available Gurney Weslake heads.  The guy who rebuilt my Lotus Seven after a wreck was buds with Gurney.  Gurney gave him a rim to replace a broken one on my Seven.  He gave him a factory Toyota race engine for his Lotus Seven he built from scratch.

  2

• RO

  @roberthammond6942 · 5 months ago

  Catching this presentation first thing in the morning with my morning, coffee, very inspirational, reading the comments in the dicing in the slicing of who actually did what to whom it doesn’t shadow the words of these men did in any way shape or form we all stand on the shoulders of GiantsIt is the development of mankind.

  1

• PA

  @paulblouin6955 · 5 months ago

  Harry Weslake's father ran a business selling heating gas to apartments. Harry Weslake grew up inderstanding the measurement of gas flow.  He was more into motorcycles.  He was given lots of credit be the project manager for the design of the 426 Chrysler Hemi.  I'm more of a Keith Duckworth fan.

  1

• IA

  @ianwynne764 · 5 months ago

  Thank you. I always assumed that Weslake was American. Have. a lovely day.

  2

• RO

  @rogermason5833 · 5 months ago

  In 1968 the Le Mans rules limited max engine size to 5.0L  So the 7.0L Ford was outlawed and the 289 GT40 was the only option if they wanted to continue to run Le Mans. I'm sure they would've stayed with the 7.0L if they could've, but instead they were left with a need to squeeze some more power out of the 289. Gurney Weslake heads was the way to do that.

  26

• MA

  @markl1911 · 5 months ago

  I can remember seeing ads for the heads in the back of car magazines back in the day.

  16

• TR

  @TryToBeReasonable · 5 months ago

  However it came together it worked.  The Ford small block dropped a bomb on the Offenhauser at Indy with the 255 CI DOHC version and Ferrari and Porsche at Le Mans with the Weslakes in 1969 and1970. What a decade.

  4