I was told a tale by an old timer, okay he's only a year older than me, about a 1200 race car here in Texas. He says that the thing would spank this GT-1 Corvette in the twisty bits at
Texas World Speedway. Everyone watching commented that once they got on the front straight the 'Vette would walk away though. This was not the case. The 1200 would just continue to rev all
the way to turn one and stay in front. I have no first hand knowledge of this so I cannot personally vouch for the story. Doing the math shows that with a 1:1 fourth gear, 3.90:1 ring and
pinion, and 68" circumference tires, at 10,000rpm yields 165 MILES PER HOUR! Yikes! Well, it's food for thought at least. Have a day. Tim

I am not doubting the story but it is more likely the car was running a 5 speed to perform like it did. I have owned and raced several A12s that saw 10,000 rpm at times. The engines are very
tough but require very careful preparation to make them hold together for a decent length race using those sorts of revs. It should be noted that it would be normal to strip an engine after
racing and replace components. I have a vintage 1200 prep manual from Japan that outlines some of the things done to engines at the time. Pistons were forged and had fully floating pins.
Valves were waisted and the exhausts could be sodium filled to increase durability. Rockers were lightened and polished to relieve stress risers. Rocker shafts were stronger & thicker walled
and rocker posts were steel and more solid. Valve caps were alloy and later titanium to get lightness & strength. Double or triple valve springs were used. The cranks were carefully prepared
by polishing and tuftriding and the oil ways were enlarged and modified. Rods were also polished and lightened. Rod bolts were larger and stronger. Main caps were steel. Bearing clearances
were enlarged and the mains were grooved for oil retention. Oil pumps were higher volume and pressure. There were oil coolers for the engine , gearbox and diff. The key to the revs was the
extensive lightening of the engine parts to allow the motors to spin so fast. The flywheels were very very light steel, not cast iron and later on were aluminium. Even the front pulleys were
alloy and different ratios to stop the over speeding of the waterpump and when fitted the alternator. I don't think it would be worthwhile building a screamer A14 or A15 as the bore & stroke
ratio does'nt lend itself well to big revs. The factory A12s were homolgated to 1298cc to take the best advantage of the 0 to 1300cc class they raced in. That is why the L16/18/20 were more
popular in the bigger classes in the "olden" days.

when building my engine we were going to put the triple valve springs in place but I opted for the more street friendly version and so I only have double springs on the A15. This is because
it is N/A as the Queensland laws changed after the engine was finished being built. My engine builder used to build A12's for a drag racer that would rev to 10 000 and the scarey thing is
that they used to dump the clutch off the line at 8000.
Anything is possible to do to an engine.

REMEMBER the only limit to your engine mods is the size of your wallet.

My dream is a top fuel 4 cylinder (preferably using an A series block but it may melt)
Sweet dreams all.