Weslake in Rye, Sussex

[KerryS]

We made a short visit to Rye in Sussex today and was reminded about the name of Weslake and the involvement in engines, both cars and bikes. There is a short history on Wiki of what the company and Harry Weslake achieved. As far as I can tell the name still lives on in Rye as the name of an industrial estate.

I had forgotten that he designed the cylinder head for the BMC A-series enine and got a royalty on every one!!

Perhaps most famous, though, for the 3-litre V12 for Dan Gurney's Eagle car in the late 60s.

[pistonbroke]

Fantastic engineer all started with his love of bike engines and his experiments with gas flow , he used a gas meter to test the throughflow . His autobiography one of the most interesting  books I ever read .

Famous for work on Jaguar  BRM Norton  Coventry Climax Ford RR trucks tanks bikes planes boats you name it Harry sorted it  

[KerryS]

Is that "Lucky all my life" by Jeff Clew? That's what came up in Amazon.

[pistonbroke]

Is that "Lucky all my life" by Jeff Clew? That's what came up in Amazon.

The very one , pricey though  

[stephenh]

Think he was quite famous for work done on Norton 'bike engines.

In fact, unless my memory is playing tricks, didn't he do work on the engine of the 2.5 ltr. Vanwall F1 engine many years ago?

[KerryS]

Yes and yes. Check Wiki, tells all, well perhaps not all.

Book is on Amazon wish list now. Thanks, Bernie.

[Davep1]

Interesting thread -

My Westfield was originally built at Westlake developments by, and for, one of the main engine design engineers / director - the late Brian Lovell.

He built it for sprinting, before he moved to Scotland in the early 90's.

Dave.