The Dork-O-Motive Podcast hosted by Brian Lohnes is a research driven, story fueled, mechanically stoked look at the machines, people, and history that make up the modern mechanical world. Whether it's the stories of the men and women who have done amazing things in racing, the machines that roar around tracks and shape the Earth, or some bizarre mechanized history, Dork-O-Motive is here to bring you the story in a fun, well-researched, and informative way!
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The Dork-O-Motive Podcast hosted by Brian Lohnes is a research driven, story fueled, mechanically stoked look at the machines, people, and history that make up the modern mechanical world. Whether it's the stories of the men and women who have done amazing things in racing, the machines that roar around tracks and shape the Earth, or some bizarre mechanized history, Dork-O-Motive is here to bring you the story in a fun, well-researched, and informative way!
This is an opening story on the methods of supercharging large engines in aircraft during WWII. This story handles the basics and is an opening chapter in what will be deeper dives in the future.
In 1955 General Motors put on a show called Powerama which was dubbed as the World’s Fair of Power and it was incredible. Bulldozers, tractors, dump trucks as swimming pools, show cars, and more. 2.2 million people attended the show over the course of a month...and it never happened again. This is the story of that show.
The history of the famed Liberty V-12 airplane engine, a 450hp beast from WWI that gave rise to the idea of American Muscle. A patriotic effort and an engineering marvel, it was the best engine in the world when it was developed.
This is a historical documentary about the history of Hydrazine in drag racing. Hydrazine was the most dangerous fuel drag racers ever handled and it’s use with nitromethane was incredible in the 1960s .
Nitromethane is the world’s most powerful racing fuel but it’s history and how it came to be may actually be more fascinating than its chemistry. Nitromethane was first made in a laboratory in Germany back in 1872 and as you’ll find out, it’s history goes far beyond the race track.
This is the story of the WWI Liberty Truck and how it came to exist in one of the great national crash engineering programs of all time. A nation totally unprepared for war, an industry ready to support the cause, and the best minds in the trucking world did the job.
The story of the creation of the Wingfoot Express 2 is one of perseverance, dedication, mechanical skill, and pure guts. It was a giant rolling science experiment designed to not only break the world’s land speed record, but also break the sound barrier.
This is the story of a company that is one of the most incredible in auto racing history. An operation known for making small engines for fire pumps, for manufacturing forklifts, and for creating marine diesel engines would become the most dominating F1 engine builder of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
This is the story of the fastest car in the world in 1906, the Stanley Steamer rocket. It’s a wild story full of amazing people, engineering, and feats of big time bravery.
The history of the famed Novi V8 engine that competed at the Indy 500. The most powerful engine at the speedway for decades, it never won. Why? How? The answers are here.
The story of the outlaw invention of nitro funny cars in drag racing, their interesting start, and how a few rebels with wild ideas changed the sport forever.
The history of the Offenhauser four cylinder engine, a power plant that in different forms, dominated racing in America for decades. The people, the machines, and the technical prowess behind it all.
The history of land speed racing is marked by some of the most innovative, interesting, and oddball vehicles ever made.
One of them belonged to Art Arfons and was known as The Anteater.
This is the story of three men.
Three men who through their own bravery, creative approach, and lifelong obsessions, created the industry of oil well fire fighting.
The man who pushed Garlits to be better, to be faster, to be more relentless than he ever knew he could be and who forced him to a lay a foundation that would build into drag racing immortality.
This is a look back, 90+ years back into the history of speed to check out the exploits and impact of the amazing racing tractors created by the Allis-Chalmers company in the 1930s that literally changed the world by racing and chasing land speed records.
The Dork-O-Motive Podcast hosted by Brian Lohnes is a research driven, story fueled, mechanically stoked look at the machines, people, and history that make up the modern mechanical world. Whether it's the stories of the men and women who have done amazing things in racing, the machines that roar around tracks and shape the Earth, or some bizarre mechanized history, Dork-O-Motive is here to bring you the story in a fun, well-researched, and informative way!
