This Sixties racing engine started life as a firefighting pump. First run in 1951, the Coventry Climax Featherweight (FW) four-cylinder instantly exceeded expectations. It produced 40 hp at 4000 rpm while weighing just 180 pounds, complete with the pump it powered and a carrying frame. But the FW’s specifications won wider attention when Climax exhibited it at the ’53 Earls Court auto show. Cyril Kieft, builder of Kieft Cars racing machines, requested a version for his lightweight sports racer, and Climax boss Leonard Lee agreed to allow the development of an automotive version, the FWA. This got a tougher forged-steel crank, a higher 8.8:1 compression ratio, a distributor ­ignition in place of a magneto, and twin SU carburetors. Those changes raised output to a claimed 71 hp at 6000 rpm from 1.1 liters of displacement. At the ’54 24 Hours of Le Mans, the FWA-powered Kieft Sports lasted more than 10 hours before ­retiring with a broken axle. The fire-pump engine was racing. Read ...