Engine builder, Steve Farkley, is recreating a new "NOVI" Indy engine in his shop on Gasoline Alley in Indy. The supercharged engine will live in a new, Farkley built, '56/'57 Kurtis style Indy roadster chassis equipped with, mac miller built, Kurtis 500G bodywork for the correct period "look". I'm working on that great NOVI tail fin to finish it off.
This is gonna be a great car!

For those not familiar, the red #29 is what the finished car will look like.

For the young'uns out there who never had the privilege of hearing a Novi at "full song" at Indy, you really missed out. The Kurtis Novis of the later 50s were beautiful, like Mac's red photo, but the Granatelli versions morphed into just plain ugly. Some at Indy described one of Andy's nightmares as "the python that swallowed a piano".

I wish i could have heard one of those cars run around the speedway.My Dad always tells me you could here a Novi on the backstretch over a car running on the front stretch.
I remember being in Novi Michigan and seeing a real Novi motor and all the details.Sounds like the city was pretty proud of that motor!:thumb

I lived about 3/4 mile east of the backstretch in the 60's. From my house I could tell by the sound when a Novi was on the track.

Here's just a little bit of a teaser.

http://www.milleroffy.com/novi.wav

Bobby Unser qualifying the Novi in '63.

Thanks to NoviVespa of TrackForum

For more latch onto a copy of Fleetwoods Indianapolis 500 CD (FLP4007S). They have a web-site where you can get all the Novi and Offy sounds for $12.95 or so.

I spoke with a gentleman a couple of years ago who has a Novi chassis that he vintage races with a Maserati V-8 engine. He says there are no authentic Novi engines in existance. What happened to them? I've seen an STP museum piece with a wooden mockup engine in Talladega, AL. Tell us more about the engine in this car.

buck, there are, at least, two running NOVI engines. One is in the original 1941 modified Miller-Ford chassis and one is in a late 40s FWD chassis. I have seen both of these cars run. Chuck Fausel, who has the Maserati V8 car, is correct that there are no running NOVI engines available on the market.
Between 1941 and 1966 there were approx. 30 Winfield/NOVI engines assembled, but never more than 5 running engines at any one time. I doubt that there were ever enough pieces made to build 30 complete engines as later assemblies were built using pieces from previous assemblies. How many crankcases and cylinder blocks were actually built is unknown to me.
These engines were rather prone to catastrophic failures which might explain the scarcity of parts to restore any existing engines.

The new NOVI recreation engine uses all of the same design concepts of the original including the 90 degree V, barrel crankcase, machined from a large aluminum billet. The cylinder blocks are from Ofenhauser midget engines whch used the same basic design as the NOVI. The supercharger is a new casting using original Miller designs for a great vintage look.

When my dad first started taking me to he Speedway in 1980 i immediately fell in love with he stock block chevys. Dad and some of the 'veterans' always talked about the Novi. He said it was the loudest and yet sweetest engine he evr heard there. He had no doubt i would have loved it more than the stock blocks. I will have to check out the audio when i get home. Thanks for the link!

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Pretty cool.

I vote for these to be the new Gold Crown car