Atlantis 1/20 Midget Racer M110

One of the most exciting of all sports is midget auto racing. On indoor or outdoor tracks, the screaming engine roar, close driving and fighting for position is really thrilling. Midget race cars have a 72 inch wheelbase and 41 inch tread. Most are powered with small Offenhauser engines built especially for midgets or modified Ford V-8 60 engines. They were called V-8 60’s because they were 8 cylinders and 60 horsepower.

Midget auto racing began back in the mid 1930’s. In those days they used such motors as outboards, stock car engines and motorcycle engines. Then Leo Goosen designed and engineered the famous four cylinder 97 cubic inch Offenhauser engine. This engine had all the features of the bigger Offies except for two valves per cylinder instead of four and it became an immediate success.

After World War II ended, midget auto racing boomed. In the 1960’s the Offies were run at 110 cubic inches and midgets using stock car engines were limited at 150 cubic inches. Many of the old Ford V-8 60s still appeared although Chevy II and Falcon engines had gained wide acceptance. These cars have changed very little in the last few decades. Most have chassis made of chrome-moly tubing and lightweight sheet metal bodies.

This Atlantis Midget Racer has the body style of the popular Frank Kurtis design of the 1960’s. The wheelbase varies on midgets between 66 and 76 inches. The horsepower is anywhere from 140 to 170 depending on state of tune and speeds up to 140 miles per hour are quite possible if geared for it. These cars are normally run on a quarter-mile oval track but they are frequently run on half-mile tracks and even tenth-mile tracks for indoor competition. They have also been known to run very well on road racing circuits where they have given sports-type cars a real race. Midget racing still brings in large crowds in Australia and New Zealand where it is called ‘Speedcar Racing