Harry Weslake was born in Exeter in 1897 to Henry John Weslake, a director of Willey and Co, gas engineers, whom he would join from school.
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17 Facts About Weslake
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However both his parents died shortly after, and with no link to Willey's, Weslake left and set up a workshop with 3 others in Exeter.
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Weslake worked on the larger SS engine, which Motorsport Magazine described as.
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4.
Weslake was involved in the development of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine for both aircraft and tank usage.
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Weslake designed the cylinder head for the overhead valve version of the BMC A-series engine that was used in the Morris Minor, the Mini, the BMC ADO16, the Austin Allegro and the Morris Marina and received royalties on each of these engines manufactured.
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Weslake acted as consultant to Facel Vega for the development of its new 4 cylinder engine to be used in its new Facellia model.
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The Rover Company employed Weslake to develop a new head for its 3-litre engine, the final development which was used in the Rover P4 110 and the Rover P5.
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In 1953, Weslake were given a patent for a unique layout of having valves provide a weak and rich mix to enable high compression ratios to be used without pre-ignition or pinking of the charge taking place.
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Weslake would go on to work as a consultant for Coventry-Climax, by advising them on port design for their FPF engine that was used by Cooper and Lotus Formula One teams.
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In 1970, Harry Weslake agreed to develop a V12 engine for Ford and JWA, the operator of the John Wyer sports car team.
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The initial design was signed of for further development by Ford and JWA, however the relationship started to falter after Weslake's push to use the engine in F1, and poor tests in a modified Brabham BT39 and a Gulf-Mirage M6.
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However, with Ford's racing budget being smashed after the 1973 Oil Crisis, Weslake took JWA to court to try and reclaim the development costs, which JWA settled out of court.
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Weslake Engineering went on to design a series of successful motorcycle engines during the 1970s were used in early shifter karts.
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Weslake developed a variety of two stroke and four stroke engines:.
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16.
Harry Weslake died in 1978 while attending the World Speedway Championship at Wembley.
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Harry Weslake was awarded the Segrave Medal in 1976 for developing the four-stroke speedway engine that Peter Wheeler won his World Championship on.
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