Australia is home to the only surviving 1914 Delage Type-S grand prix car in the world, and thanks to a world-first feat of technology this much-loved centurion is still on the road.
In 2014, when the engine block cracked and water met oil, the Delage ground to a halt and was consigned to a mechanic's workshop in Castlemaine, 130 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.
Delage engine
Photo: The cloned engine successfully installed by Grant Cowie. (ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper)
With no replacement parts or original drawings to go by, and with few people having the traditional manufacturing skills, pre-war motorcar engineer Grant Cowie looked for alternative ways of rebuilding the complicated 16-valve engine.
"I knew that to use the traditional method, which involves a wooden pattern, would be prohibitively expensive and with such a complicated casting it was possible it would take several attempts to get it correct," Mr Cowie said.
The history of the Delage
In 1914 just three Delage Type-S cars were made for a premier race in Lyon, France
World War I began a month after the race and racing in Europe came to a halt
The Delage Type-S cars were sold to the US, then in the 1920s one of them was brought to Australia to race
The car was driven by some of Australia's earliest race car drivers and was owned by motor racing legend Lex Davison
He decided that using digital technology to clone the original block would be the most accurate, efficient and non-destructive method to get the car back up and running.
The trouble was, a repair this complex had never been attempted before.
Recreating the engine block
Using powerful lasers, the engine block was scanned inside and out, saving thousands of hours of pattern making, with months of work done in a few days.
The scan data was then used to digitally repair the cracked engine on a computer before a sand mould was created using a 3D printer.
More:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-27/saving-the-last-delage-type-s-grand-prix-car/8310958
