Stuart Hilborn - Hilborn Fuel Injection founder has passed away.
While talking to a friend of mine on the phone in the USA this morning, he tells me Stuart Hilborn, the innovator, designer and name behind the world famous Hilborn mechanical fuel injection system, has died aged 96.
In 1995 when I was working for a race team based in Greenwood, Indiana, I actually met `Mr Hilborn' when he came to see Merle Bettenhausen who worked in one of the race team owners car dealerships, which was situated out the front of the race shop. He, and Rick Mears had come to Indianapolis for a `legends dinner' along with Merle, and they spent the afternoon in the race shop and checking out the huge car collection in the building next door.
When he spoke to me, and on hearing my NZ accent, he talked about Bert Munro at Bonneville - which Hilborn annually competed in post WW2 using it as his `testing ground' - and his home built roadster cracked 150mph in the late `40s, after all the `experts' told him he was wasting his time! That`s bloody fast for that era and the gear they had to work with. A true pioneer, a very clever guy, and another one no longer with us.....
