In the first of a two-part series Michael Oliver examines the history of turbine-powered racecars. With the emergence of jet and turbine engines during and immediately after the second World War, leading automakers, like Chrysler in the US and Rover in the UK, began to look at the feasibility of using a turbine as the power unit for a mass-produced car. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, someone was going to think of using one in a racecar. A…

Howmet TX, 1968 BOAC 500.
Photo: GP Library