GN 200 Mile Racer

THE MIDDLE CHILD

The GN 200 Mile Racer was my second car.

My accidental discovery of CycleKarts, as the Stevensons defined them, occurred when I was looking for ideas to build a GN – something I had idly fantasized about since my teens. The time was now! (then) but I chickened out and found more sensible inspiration in the Peugeot Quadrilette. 

Building the Quadrilette bolstered my confidence and I plunged in to a GN next. At this time it was hard to imagine that I could inspire folks outside my immediate circle to build cars and I imagined, with the end goal of a small racing group, I would probably have to build most of them.

I picked the 1922 200 Mile Racer, a special version of the GN put together by Godfrey and Nash with their own build, more powerful, 90° twin in it instead of the usual JAP engines.

In retrospect, I can see that I initially pursued irrational, devout worship of my inspiration car. The car debuted sporting a sort of two speed transmission with a go-kart clutch (because Comet had gone out of business; not yet resurrected or cloned; I gave my second Comet to another builder that couldn’t find a transmission), band brakes and wire and bobbin steering. The clutch could not deal with the early Gittreville track and blew up. The goofy two speed rig had wound itself up to the point of twisting the back of the frame into a pretzel. Before all that drama, the car plunged off on our first ever pirate road run – the inaugural Gordon Bennett – in torrential rain. We had never driven the public road course in cyclekarts; that would have been “unfair” (and perhaps alerted the authorities)… Toward the beginning of the loop was a precipitous twisting decent. Kids, do not try wire and bobbin steering. Let me tell you. There are very good reasons why superior systems were developed. My first cyclekart NDE (near death experience) (there have been several since). Wow, that was some scary ride. Couple the rather vague, unpredictable steering with instantly glazed brakes and one might wonder why I hadn’t worn diapers…

The car was pretty though. 

The engine was cooked up from junk. Rejected 5” aluminum disks from work stacked up with slices of PVC plumbing. Foam cylinder heads and defunct yard equipment spark plugs.

After the mangling, I cut the back of the chassis off and converted the car to (very limited) rear suspension. Notably, with our groups’ first use of symmetric belt drive. The Peugeot had started with quarter elliptic front suspension because it was easier than figuring out the transverse spring – remember these were early days! The discarded quarter elliptics from the Quadrilette were grafted to the rear of the GN. The galloping motor block was eventually tamed with a home brew damper. Seating position was lowered.

The car was getting prettier.

The pretty car also got rack+pinion steering. It was the most reasonable way to get out of the box (coffin) I had created with the wire and bobbin blunder. 

Some work may or may not have been done on the engine and the car was getting darn fast. Mind you, it still couldn’t stop without making careful prearrangements half a mile ahead. From time to time this pilot resorted to one of the most elemental type friction brakes: gloved hands on the rear tires. When the right “brake” fades, switch to the left.

Fast is like a drug and this gateway led me on to my next child: Bloody Mary.

The beautiful middle child bounced around foster homes. Each home in turn tried to get a handle on the brake problem… it’s complicated back there.

The car remains beautiful. I may be biased but I know I am not alone in that opinion. Watching the GN at speed is a real treat. Driving her is even better.

The brakes remain a problem (best ignored).

by Johnny

SPECIFICATIONS: Sixth Edition

Chassis No.: 901
Overall Dimensions: 106″ overall length, body width at seat 22″, width at radiator 9″, height at scuttle 28.75″
Weight: 260#
Wheel base: 74″, ground clearance 4.75″ (under seat)
Track: Front 34″, strong positive camber (it works); Rear 30″ (it works!)
Wheels/tires: Front 140×17 with 2.25 Atlas tires; Rear 140×17 with 2.50 Golden Boy Trials tires
Frame: Main frame is thin wall 1″x3″ steel
Bodywork: Aluminum with poplar nose
Suspension: Quarter elliptic front and rear; rear has restricted range and large friction damper
Steering: Rack&pinion
Brake: Hydraulic, 8″ disk
Engine: 1100 cc, 90° twin, shaft driven double overhead cam, four valves per cylinder. Incredibly, this engine was made from PVC, aluminum scrap and foam
(Clone with usual Slyme Dawg mods…) External starter or “the rope”
Transmission: Comet clone to jack shaft, #41 chain, two wheel drive – always!

A few thoughts from GN foster parents and campaigners

Magic Man

My wife told me that if I started another cyclekart build within the next 3 years, she’d light them all on fire. So I immediately thought of a loophole and asked JD if he had any projects laying around that needed the Robert Duvall ‘Days of Thunder’ treatment. He offered the GN and I about shat myself. Since the first time I watched that beautiful machine gracefully slide through the corners at Teiton V, I knew she was the ultimate (at least to me) example of a Cyclekart. 

I made the trip down to the mother land and there she was, on blocks covered in spider webs needing a gentle touch. I took her home, thrashed for a couple of weeks and had her ripping around the neighborhood with nothing but a shit eating grin on my face and a pull cord in my hand. I knew it was good, but had no idea it was this good. 

She ran hard in a few events during the ’22 campaign with moments of brilliance, but the aforementioned brake issues plagued her and she never reached her true potential. 

She will return to her former glory and show these young karts what an ol’ dog can do.  

À vaincre sans peril, on triomphe sans gloire.

I love this kart. 

Earl Upgrade

The GN is my favorite cyclekart.  No question.

I fostered it at a Tieton weekend and bonded with it immediately.

I’m not much of a driver, but the car is surprisingly predictable considering how loose the handling can get. 

Some magical combination of skinny tires, long-ish wheelbase, pretty good power, low CG…I have no idea what it is, but it’s great.

Even better than that though are the interesting little nuggets of hand-made detail on dang near every inch of that car, and the fact that it’s always pretty dirty.

If you are ever offered the opportunity to take it around the track, don’t hesitate….just remember to bring “the rope”.

Gunnar Veen

Sorry Johnny, I’m just not coming up with any distinct memory of the GN or how to describe it other than it being one of the early beauties that is always up in the mix, fun to drive and exhilarating to be in. 

Editor’s note: Gunnar, true to his roots, drinks heavily on CK weekends

I think I recall it not having great brakes, but maybe that’s another car or all the cars? 

Editor’s note: that is all the cars but especially the GN

Turn radius is OK on a race course but not great in the obstacle course… or maybe that was another car. I know I’m making it sound forgettable, it’s not. I get driving it and Bloody Mary a little confused. I don’t recall if this is the car I always beat up my knuckles in or if this is the one that leaves me with bruised hips.  I know I had some fun times in it, that is for sure!

Editor’s note: it’s Bloody Knuckles and the Peugeot is the hip destroyer

Gunnar drove the two – all time – EPIC orchard battles in the GN – he is modestly pretending he doesn’t remember… 

Jaques LeMans

I fear that anything I have to say will lack the eloquence that is deserved.  I loved my time with the GN and it is hard to pick between it and the Peugeot as my favorite to drive.  The first time I raced on the streets of Tieton and slid the back end while coming around the corner on lap one entering into the town square was definitely a  highlight.  I could almost feel the surprise and excitement of the gathered onlookers (very much an impression that the cars were much faster than they had anticipated).  The other big memory (and it plays into the brake comments) was the last time I was in Tieton racing in the Campbell.  Every lap felt like a suicide pact between me and the car, but there was no letting up (despite the loud bang and lock up the first time I tried to hit the brakes with any force).

I can also say, even though it is hard to pick between the two for favorite to drive, the GN is definitely the better looking (no disrespect to the Peugeot).

Ciccio La Palma

This recollection was ghost written for La Palma by Chris Shelton of DRIVINGLINE. It is an excerpt from the article YOU HAD ME AT HELLO: RUINED BY CYCLEKARTS AT TIETON GRAND PRIX published September 14, 2015.

… another generous offer that changed the scope of my journey. … Johnny gave us a seat in one of his spare cars, an interpretation of a teens-era GN cycle car, the full-scale inspiration for the cyclekarts. This invitation raised eyebrows. Most praise the GN for its power but some expressed their concerns about its handling. Observations of the GN at speed run the gamut from a benign spookiness to flat-out terrifying.

You see, while every kart employs some sort of front suspension, the GN is one of the few karts endowed with it in the rear. And given the confines of the car’s size and its creator’s prior experience designing rear suspension (which was nil until the GN), it’s probably safe to assume that the GN doesn’t boast the perfect rear-roll center or spring rate. And one could make the case those are critical components for a car with a good 80 percent of its weight on the rear wheels. But stability be damned; I was here for the pucker factor and a wily ride sounded perfect. I’m probably more Baby Huey than Hurley Haywood, so I jammed myself into a cockpit designed by and for a man hardly more than half my heft. I fit, albeit barely. But, once in, I came to the conclusion that I’d probably cut off my feet if they got in the way of me driving this thing. Cyclekart, you had me at hello.

Then something happened at the end of one fast straight. Even at the best of times cyclekart brakes are the worst, a consequence of trying to stop a car from the rear when all of the load transmits to the front. And the GN is extra special because that brake is a tin drum. And as I later learned, its mechanism was way out of adjustment. Little brakes and lots of hubris hurtled me into one corner just a little too fast for conditions. Faced with the potential of rolling over or the guarantee of driving straight into hay bale, I turned the wheel. Then something magical happened as I entered the corner: the rear briefly and ever so gently tried to pass me. I tried it again at the next corner, although this time I jammed my foot back in the throttle as soon as the back stepped out. The car whisked just a little bit sideways around the turn.

Then it dawned on me: that was the spookiness and terrifying feeling that people talked about! It was a drift! A beautiful, spontaneous, and effortless drift! Haha! Move over, Vaughn Gittin Jr. Forget Hurley Haywood; I was Mr. Hyde! That we came in fifth of seven cars in the second heat was of no concern; I was there to play real-life Mario Kart, placing be damned. Results of the Grand Prix Finale that followed aren’t posted, but I passed my fair share of drivers in the 21-kart field. And I didn’t crash, either. So I had that going for me.

GALLERY

oh, geez, some really, really, really bad behavior from me toward the end of this… GN was doing its typical lurk, identify a weakness/sudden pounce thing… I wish there was a photo of my favorite passing move of all time on Cagno’s FIAT mid-stream during the, one-time-only, extended Gittreville course. That was ultimate sketchy cycle kart fun. OK, probably better no photos.