Dunedin Street Races - revival meeting January 1984

[Roger Dowding]

From the programme - Sports Car race - Race 2 #76 Crowe Special.
Correction ;
This not the Crowe Special It is a FURI with Jaguar power, Furi 2 - as confirmed by Warren Bennett, son of the builder Jim Bennett. was raced a bit in the South Island by Jim and Thelma Bennett raced a different model of the Furi with a V6 engine





Some information from Jim Bennett and his son Warren - copied below from South Island Motorsports Facebook page
Jim Bennett ;
" I had this car road legal by 1979. At that stage it was powered by a Mk 7 Jag engine bored to 3.8 and fitted with Chrysler Valiant pistons to keep the compression low enough to supercharge. I later fitted a 3.8 block when the Mk7 split a bore. In this image it is still running with the MK 7 cylinder head and 1 3/4 SUs. The car did a low 15 sec run from memory. I was using the Moss gearbox and started in 2nd gear. Buzzed the tyres too much on the fastest run. Some years later I ran it in a flying 1/4 with a short run up and was a little quicker than Norman Masters Lister Jag replica and at a Bethunes Gully hillclimb piped Alistair Gilmore's Lister Jag replica. I drove it to most events and towed my wife Thelma's Furi 6 on an A bar on several occasions. It fullflled my ambitions in my attempt to build a "poor mans" Ferrari. On an engine dyno it was putting out 200 BHP at 3000 rpm and at 4500 RPM the needle on the Dyno was off the end of the scale which would have been somewhere around 300HP. About then detonation set in and although the ignition was cut the engine continued to diesel until the throttle and fuel were cut. Needless to say the engine was not in a happy state.

More notes from Warren Bennett, Jim’s son

Original motor was 3.8 jag yes. A 4.2 was fitted later in its life. Supercharger off Commer 2 stroke diesel Truck...

And more about the Commer TS2, that provided the supercharger ;
Jim Bennett
They were a 2 stroke diesel with the supercharger used to force air into the cylinders in a similar way to GM 2 stroke diesels. I think the design was of German origin with 6 pistons opposing in 3 cylinders working through rockers and 12 conrods to a crankshaft under the cylinders, a design also used in some heavy diesel ship engnes I believe."


Thanks to for the information on the Crowe Special on the thread.