UNSUNG HEROES #78 - The Cummins ''Diesel Special'' IndyCar

[@dougdanzeisen9608]

Absolutely, the Cummins special was and remains a wonderful part of motorsports and Indy history.

[@johnfaulk7775]

I love the look of these cars! From a time when every car was unique!!!

[@9rjharper]

This is so much more interesting to me than any super car could ever be. Just personal preference and priorities. In my late 30s, so I don’t really fall into the young crowd I guess.

[@gregmoody622]

In 1931, a diesel powered car driven by Dale Evans ran the entire 500 mile distance without making a pit stop. He also finished 5th.

[@bernardausterberry9795]

I assume this wasn't Roy Rogers wife.

[@grahamquigley8818]

The Offenhauser engines were no short change, similar horsepower to the Cummins. This car was better for so many reasons .. offset flat engine, turbocharger, aero wind tunnel testing, lower ride height ... very clever car for its day.

[@patk8417]

I loved it when they had" run what you brung "in all forms of racing. Eliminating that concept got rid of any innovation that might have been present!

[@tarstarkusz]

I really don't understand why anyone interested in cars and car racing generally would not be interested in this because they are too young. 1952 was well before my time, but it is still an interesting piece of history and interesting in its own right.

[@peterhallock9486]

I'm 74 and have fond memories of Indy and run what you brung. The best competition in the world..

[@guidogos6031]

Love this short history lessons. But I am a little older and just loved history lessons in general.

[@geraiswaiya2347]

I believe the Class 220/221 "Voyager" high-speed trains use Cummins V12 turbodiesels. They produce a powerful, resonant roar under load, and the turbo whistles add to the symphonic growl.

[@alistairshanks5099]

The period movie that Cummins made about this car is fun to watch and while full of back slapping and hyperbole it does show just how much money was put into the project for that time. Just the casting work alone to transform a truck engine into a much lighter unit would have been a big job not to mention that they turned a vertical engine on its side. The other benefit of the diesel of course was that its fuel is more energy dense than petrol and the fuel injection, even at race speed, meant their fuel economy was better than the lighter cars. The other Indy car that sticks out for me is the "Penske Beast" of 1994 that used the magnificent Ilmor/Mercedes push rod engine instead of the common DOHC units of all the other teams so they could use the higher boost pressures that were allowed for that engine type.

[@dannycalley7777]

A.S. ...............years ago I read the Ilmor plant had a 1and a half inch pushrod ?????? ..........to meet the pushrod requirement

[@ingvarhallstrom2306]

It looks absolutely brutal. It should've won on looks alone.

[@joebeutner6538]

i agree....absolutely beautiful.....

[@doylebrockman8225]

This is badass! Workhorses rule!

[@garymellor5100]

What a story. Brilliant.

[@agoogleuserguy8020]

I wish new cars had presence and style of classic racecars

[@delahayenator]

Great! Heard Bobby Rahal talk about this car in an interview and looked it up. Nice doc about this special car.

[@harleydan2423]

Winning the race isn't everything, just think of the knowledge gained from the experience and you'll see why Cummins engines are the best out there today. Have one in my truck, lot's of power and easier to work on than other engines.

[@michaelmays9292]

They broke the speed record i think 138mph in that 1952 race

[@306champion]

Thanks for this video mate, like you I love the old diesel. Especially the real ones with pushrods, injector pumps and bags of torque.

[@zedtap4528]

I think not many no about this but when they learnlor this they wii have more respect for cummins

[@robertrishel3685]

Great video! It surprises me that no one has built and campaigned a diesel rally car. It seems like the high torque delivery of the Diesel engine would lend itself well to rally…? I think it would be cool to see an Audi or VW TDi rally car in WRC.

[@ianmurray246]

Just seen story on this car from Cummins very informative

[@JerseyDevilBM]

I just discovered this series when I watched your review of the Michelin Mille Pattes PLR so decided to sample this as well. Good job on both! Just to clarify the qualifying process at Indy that seemed to confuse you a bit: the classic process spread qualifying over two weekends, four days total. But only cars that qualified on the first day were eligible for the pole position (unless there were extenuating circumstances such as rain). As a result, multiple times cars that qualified later actually set times/speeds faster than the pole-sitter, but were required to start behind previous-day qualifiers. That happened in 1952, when Fred Agabashian put the Cummins Diesel on pole with a one-lap record of 139.104 and four-lap record of 138.010. A week later, the great Bill Vukovich went 139.427/138.212, eclipsing both Agabashian's marks but would start 8th, while later in the day, Chet Miller hit 139.6/139.034, setting records that would stand for the next two years - but he started 27th. None of that diminishes what Clessie and his brother Don Cummins, their crew and Agabashian accomplished, though. It's a crime that the American Auto Association banned diesels, because it's likely that the lessons learned from this outing might have made the car a solid challenger the next year. It's speed was undeniable. I'm not into front-engined Indy cars, but I had a friction-engined toy of this car when I was a child and always thought its wind-tunnel-tested (a first for Indy) design was attractive in a way that other roadsters were not. Thank you for this eye-opening look into the past!

[@kermitefrog64]

The diesel is an incredible engine. I have a Mercedes Benz W123 240d 4 speed manual and no turbo. Even though it takes a bit to get up to speed once she gets on the highway she keeps right with the traffic.

[@jimbot.4539]

Well if you are dipping into indycar I got some good cars you could look into. The Mallard front engine roadsters driven by the mad lad Jim Hurtubise who had had his fingers put into a position where he could grab a wheel after having had them burned, the Smokey yunik side car, or the Pepsi challenger AAR eagle. Also for an interesting read look up Rodger Ward lime Rock formula libre race where Rodger beat factory road racing teams in a dirt car on a road course.

[@AlexandreMonteiroSilva]

OHH I want to drive it in Simracing! Is there some mod avaliable?

[@trwsandford]

Nice job on this. Thanks! I watched a documentary on this car years ago. Think about it, if they had done a cold air intake up away from the track, they could have won. It didn't break, but a simple air ducting issue caused it to air starve. The poor little #28 had the automotive equivalent of asthma.

[@bobyoung1698]

Think of how much progress might have been made with diesel powerplants if they hadn't outlawed them in the early 1950s.

[@HSGAutomotive]

Even without the development they deserved, diesel power was still enough to utterly dominate Le Mans in the LMP1 era after all

[@ghost_racer9953]

Nice video mate✌️

[@justcarcrazy]

Loves me some diesel! This car could have had us all going down to Distillate Alley at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Alas...

[@wayneyd2]

I'm glad to learned Audi was not the first. I Just wish there are more diesel race cars.

[@codiesdad717]

I love the front engine roadsters. The Cummins Special ran the year I was born.

[@ppercut]

would love to see it on the salt flats

[@Ndw1995]

I wouldn't be surprised if it had 800-900 ft lb of torque

[@Vincent_Sullivan]

Regarding the question of how much torque is produced by the engine of the Cummins Special... You state the horsepower at 430 at an engine speed of 4500 RPM. It is a simple calculation to determine the torque under those conditions and it is 501.9 Ft Lbs. The torque of course will be lower under most operating conditions and may even be a bit higher under certain specific conditions but 500 Ft Lbs. would be a good ballpark number.

[@6rimR3ap3r]

I can only encourage the wish for way, way more variety in racing series and regulations. On the other hand I would love touring car series to be way more linked to the actual production cars, not carbon shelled aero monsters.

[@HSGAutomotive]

Yeah, and if anything diesels in touring (unless there already are and I've missed it) would make a ton of marketing sense considering how relevant to production cars that series could be

[@michaelmays9292]

Crazy a plugged up Turbo done it in the 1952 Indy.

[@justcarcrazy]

5:40 I'm not saying this was the highest torque of the engine, but for the engine to produce 430hp @4500RPM, it would be producing ±502lb.ft at that engine speed. 550lb.ft may not be unrealistic.

[@michaelisola6328]

Love this car and that era of Indy cars !

[@andymb601]

You should do the Caterham Veritas RS3, I know it was on Top Gear but it's not very remembered

[@jamesford2942]

Maybe the driver sandbagged but the tires were the limiting factor. If he had started out pushing it too hard he would have shreaded the tires before being able to set the record.

[@lawrencemarocco8197]

A big problem is that the tires of the time could not stand up to the weight of the diesel.

[@OHW313]

Why did the engine weigh a whopping 750 ppunds !!!?!

[@jareknowak8712]

DieselGate in Indy!

[@michaeldelaney7271]

Great to see the Cummins get some attention. Too bad NO variety is allowed in today's Indycars or Grand Prix cars for that matter.

[@Lydia.LaMar0]

You're right about rules at Indy. They took something with endless potential & ruled it into a GM & Honda proving ground. I lost interest when that happened.

[@Telecasterland]

Pole winning record-setting when up against petrol. The only reason it didn't win the race is they didn't screen the intake so the turbo got a ton of junk in it.

[@gchampi2]

Also the first turbocharged car in F1. How? The Indy 500 was a qualifying round of the F1 world championship from 1950 to 1960. That's why Alberto Ascari, the 2X world champion, was at Indy in 1952, with a factory Ferrari. Ascari finished 31st, after a hub failure on the 40th lap.

[@michaelbyrnee9584]

You gotta love the Stude as a lap car in the 1952 race....or maybe you don't, but either way, it seems so weird!

[@harleylif1929]

430 lb. feet of torque at 4500 rpm would be 368 HP at the same RPM and at 6000 rpm HP would be 491 hp. That much HP at 4500 would be lots compared to gas engines but it was the torque that made this car so fast with the weight it was. If not for the turbo getting clogged with tire rubber I am sure it would have won the race. After setting a new track record for the indy that year. It was much faster but it kept destroying the right front tire so they ran it slower then it could run.

[@TheSilverShadow17]

Diesels are attractive for that very reason which is the performance they give at a much lower rpm which consequently means they experience less wear n tear than the average petrol engine. Plus the fuel efficiency to boot. And the main highlight of diesels is of course the torque. Torque matters a lot in more ways than one especially in motorsport.

[@kennedysingh3916]

I've seen it in magazine years ago.

[@mkoronowski]

Was the turbo an Elliot centrifugal?

[@robertdubard7959]

Why does it say #78 in some places, but the pictures show #28?

[@HSGAutomotive]

Episode 78

[@TheGel69]

in most recent years Audi and Peugeot have won Le Mans, Sebring and other endurance races with diesel engines

[@enterBJ40]

Really?

[@fm2dmax]

10:08 diesels- banned. WHY????

[@HSGAutomotive]

Story of racing, lol. If it wins, ban it. Fan cars, this, etc etc

[@Expressoo22]

it was #28

[@GR1MRACER]

Why are Brits call people who like cars Petrol Heads. Here in the US call our selves Gear Heads.

[@Rollingzoku89]

You answered it already. They're from another country lol. So they use different terminology.

[@alexgherghiceanu2094]

Petrol head sounds better tbh

[@londonalicante]

A gear head can be someone who likes gear. Not necessarily someone who likes gears and engines. For example an amateur rock guitarist who can't play that well but spends loads of money on amps, guitars and pedals is a gear head.

[@MrOlgrumpy]

So old,can't beat it,? outlaw it

[@John1Brady]

So... 430hp at 4500rpm = 502tq yeah HP = TQ x RPM / 5252

[@waynemuehlenbein2281]

Oh, them pesky old mechanical issues . . . ? 😄

[@dwightbrown2808]

I believe it was on the pole for the race. I wish they would change the rules to require front engine cars again, Indy and F1 have gotten a bit boring really.

[@HSGAutomotive]

Absolutely, how cool that would be to have something totally different in the world of open wheel racing again

[@bryanfranks1378]

I believe that front engine cars should be Allowed not Required but should be able to run !

[@HSGAutomotive]

@@bryanfranks1378 Nissan and Panoz both ran front mid engine endurance prototypes at Le Mans after all

[@dwightbrown2808]

@@HSGAutomotive It might be cool if they were allowed a liter or two more displacement. I loved the diesel cars that won at Lemans, anything for variety and outside the box thinking. The front engine layout would also tend to lead to more transfer to production cars as mid engine cars will probably continue to be only for at least semi-exotic sports cars. just a thought. BTW I drive a front engine corvette :-)

[@ralc4883]

Is it true that this car had no wiring?

[@bryanfranks1378]

No it couldn't be true , It had to be able to run a starter through wires to a battery and wires for the glow plugs .

[@Vincent_Sullivan]

@@bryanfranks1378 I think it could be true... Indy cars of the era usually had external starters that use a battery on a cart. You can see the external starter engaged to the starter drive on the car on the right side of the photo at 6:39 in this video. The starter is electrical and you can see the orange Anderson style electrical connectors in the cable that connects the starter motor to the battery cart. Once the engine is started the external starter drive is mechanically uncoupled and the starter and battery cart are wheeled back to the pit. There is also a photo of the car with a small low slung cart next to it on the right hand side. I suspect, even though it isn't hooked up, that this is the battery cart. Also not sure if this engine had glow plugs. If it did, they also probably ran off the battery cart. On the other hand, if Cummins wanted to simplify things (always good on a race car!) perhaps there were no glow plugs and they got it started with a shot of ether or something similar. In any event, in theory it would be quite possible to build a Diesel race car of the era that had no wiring. I am not say this was the case with the Cummins car, just that it would be quite possible.

[@danallen7367]

@@bryanfranks1378 Cummins never used glow plugs it’s a 100% mechanical engine. Even up into the 90’s no wiring is needed to run a diesel with a mechanical fuel pump.

[@karlsanderson8127]

@@bryanfranks1378 the old diesel engines run on compression so once its started you can remove the battery and will still run