The Sunbeam Matabele was a British 12-cylinder aero engine that was first flown in 1918. The Matabele was the last iteration of one of Sunbeam's most successful aero engines, the Cossack.

Design and development

The Cossack was a twin overhead camshaft V12, with four valves per cylinder. The Matabele fitted this with two of the blocks from the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

, using

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

instead of the Cossack's

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

. The Saracen's bore was slightly larger at 122 mm (from the Cossack's 110 mm) and with the same stroke of 160 mm this gave a capacity of 22.4 litres (1,370 cu in). Ignition was by four

magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

s (two per bank), with twin

sparkplug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/air ...

s. A propeller reduction gear of 1.63:1 was fitted.

Variants

;Matabele II A simplified engine was developed for non-aircraft use. This avoided the propeller reduction gearbox and had a single magneto per bank, rather than the duplicated magneto and sparkplug systems usual in aircraft for reliability. This engine was aimed at the developing market for racing

powerboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

Applications

The Matabele was tested successfully in a DH.4 from May 1918. The only order for the engine, however, came from France, where the engine was used to power the Nieuport-Delage NiD 30 airliner.''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'', 2600

Sunbeam 1000 hp

The Matabele engine is best known today for having powered the Sunbeam 1000 hp

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

car, the first car to exceed . After taking the land speed record at with the

Sunbeam Tiger The Sunbeam Tiger is a high-performance V8 version of the British Rootes Group's Sunbeam Alpine roadster, designed in part by American car designer and racing driver Carroll Shelby and produced from 1964 until 1967. Shelby had carried out a ...

, Segrave realised that his small, lightweight racing car would be inadequate to hold the record against the aero-engined leviathans now appearing in the contest. The S.T.D. Motors team was short of funds and so little new development was possible. A pair of Matabele engines were found in the Sunbeam works at

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, previously from a powerboat. The Sunbeam 1000HP has 4 magnetos per engine,National Motor Museum guidebook, Beaulieu these would appear to be Matabele I, rather than Matabele II. On 29 March 1927, the Sunbeam became the first car to exceed . Although loudly trumpeted as the "1000 HP" Sunbeam, the actual power was somewhere around . The installation of these engines was somewhat unorthodox, necessitated by the limited funds for new work. The rear engine was started first by compressed air, then the front engine was started through a mechanical friction clutch. Once synchronised, they were locked together with a dog clutch for the record attempt. The car's last run was a demonstration circuit at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfie ...

, running at slow speed on only one engine, with this dog clutch disconnected.

Specifications (Matabele)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. . {{Sunbeam aeroengines Matabele 1910s aircraft piston engines