The Amilcar CO was a production two seat racing car, very much in the mould of the contemporary but larger Bugatti Type 37, designed by Edmond Moyet and put into production in time for the 1926 racing season.

Power came from a development of the Amilcar C6 models 1094 cc / 67 cui six cylinder motor which in this application featured a twim cam hemi head, crankshaft running on roller bearings, dry sump lubrication and two stage Roots supercharger which added up to over 100hp.

Despite costing more than the larger capacity Bugatti Type 37 it is believed 40 CO’s which were capable of over 170 kmh / 10 mph were built.

During 1926 it is said that the C6 and CO models recorded over 70 victories with works driver André Morel leading the way winning the 1100cc race (Gran Premio del Vetturette) run concurrently with Italian Grand Prix and Charles Martin finishing 4th overall and first in the 1100cc class in the JCC 200 mile race at Brooklands.

Indeed an even faster single seat MCO variant of the CO would continue winning 1100cc events well into the 1930’s with Le Havre Amilcar agent José Scaron being a regular winner.

Seen in these photographs is the 1926 CO, first registered in the UK on October 24th 1938, driven by Matthew Blake at Prescott.

Thanks for joining me on this “Supercharged Six” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at Shaun The Sheeps Land Rover. Don’t forget to come baahck now !

08/02/15 Thanks to Tim Murray for pointing out the 1100 cc race at Monza was run concurrently with the Italian GP over the first 40 of the 60 laps run for the Grand Prix and that Charles Martin did not win the JCC 200 mile race at Brooklands as originally stated.