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By
DAVID PIKE
The most fascinating part of the Delage D8 was its engine design.
Although it appeared to be a straightforward front mounted water-cooled
straight eight of 4.05-litre capacity developing, in standard form,
76kW, it had some interesting features. It had a cast iron block and
cylinder head which assured it a long life. The crankshaft was machined
from a solid billet and ran in five main bearings. To eliminate noise,
Maurice Gaultier, the designer, devised an arrangement of pushrods and
valve springs to operate the two valves in each cylinder. It had a
five-jet carburettor and a four-speed gearbox.
All of this was mounted within a pressed steel
chassis with worm and nut steering and vacuum-servo-assisted
cable-operated brakes. Suspension was achieved using very flat
semi-elliptic springs and friction shock absorbers. A later
modification replaced the friction shock absorbers with more
sophisticated dampers. Customers were offered the choice of three
wheelbase lengths varying from 330cm to 361cm.
In initial performance trials, a light
two-seater body was fitted and the car broke several records
during this trial phase. However, Gaultier was interested in
obtaining better performance and as a result he modified the front
suspension to overcome steering short comings. The result was a
rapid improvement in performance. The Delage started out as a
concours d'elegance winner at fashionable resorts, inspiring the
best French coachbuilders. Suddenly it was a formidable sporting
machine. The glamour car had developed a racing pedigree.
The performance improvements raised the original
top speed of 129km/h to a guaranteed 161km/h, a rare performance
for the period since it could also accelerate from 0 to 96km/h in
23 seconds.
The D8S model had a power increase to 88kW at
3800rpm and on the D8SS permissible revs were raised to 4500
enabling a lift in power output to 108kW. In Gaultier's D8, D8S,
D8SS and D8SS100 Louis Delage, long regarded as a man of style,
had created a car in his own image. The big straight-eight had
some smart coachwork, rather flashy by some standards, but not as
vulgar as much coachwork of the late 1930s. In the end Delage was
forced to sell out to Delahaye.
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