Visitors to this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed will be treated to the sight of a recreation of John Cobb's famous 1933 Napier-Railton. Rather than the original's Napier Lin XI aero engine, however, the replica uses a brand new Cummins diesel engine.

Accurate in every dimension and angle, the replica swaps the real car's 530bhp 24-litre 12-cylinder motor for a 6.7-litre turbodiesel. The new engine normally produces 300bhp when used on trucks, buses and military vehicles, but for the Napier-Railton replica it has been tuned to 500bhp.

In 1933, the real Napier-Railton could lap the Brooklands circuit at 143mph, so the new model should be able to match this and possibly even go faster. The Cummins replica incorporates a modern cooling system and suspension technologies.

For this year, the Cummins Railton project will only be on static display. Terry Clarke, the creator of the project said: "We have a number of potential plans for the car once it is complete. We certainly hope to run up the hill at Goodwood in 2012. Running it against the original Railton car would also be interesting, however we would need to find an alternative location as the Brooklands track is no longer complete".

Cummins has a long history in motorsport, dating back to the 1930s when the 1931 No. 8 Duesenberg Indianapolis 500 car also raced at Brooklands, Surrey during a European tour by company founder Clessie Duesenberg.

Alisdair Suttie - 29 Jun 2011