Monday, August 22, 2005


Oh for a supercharger!! Posted by Picasa

Mike Cole working on his B Posted by Picasa

Richard planning his lines. Posted by Picasa

CastleHill paddock Posted by Picasa

Fixing the Diff at Silverstone Posted by Picasa

Long time no blogging

Blimey I cant believe that I haven't posted anything since June and its now August.
So what's been happening well Broken engine/Silverstone/fixing the B/Castlehill.

Broken Engine.
So I had a slight problem with the B. I broke the timing chain. Fortunately it happened when I was starting the car rather than at 6000rpms. The immediate damage appeared to be the chain and the lovely aluminum timing cover. At this point I then had to travel to Turin on business for two weeks leaving the car in a non working state was not pleasant. Off I went to Turin which was hot. I did manage to find a couple of bits that had been used in the Italian Job which was fun.
Also on that fateful weekend Tom Withers was over in his midget and we went for a spin in it and then Tom decided he was going to demonstrate some of the driving skills needed for Autotest. And promptly broke the diff! The midget was duly raised up on axle stands and left on the drive. Body count was 2 dead mg's 1 alive and I was going no where near kate's midget!!

Silverstone.
When I came back from Turin(no work comments on this blog) Silverstone was the following weekend and the car was still in bits. Tom had managed to clear his midget off the drive by changing the diff for a recon one from Summit. Richard Withers, Tom's father had very kindly agreed to let me double drive his car at Silverstone and I was set to drive Kates midget in the autotest on the Saturday. Tom drove over to our house on the Friday morning to pack up the cars and load anything extra into the Golf which I was driving up. Off we went. Nice drive and found a good camping pitch in the competitors camping area. We managed to create quite an enclave with Iain McDougall-Bell as well and also Ian Tapner . Weather at this point was good.
Friday we spent wandering around the stands and drinking a few beers, watching a bit of racing. Very nice time. It was after the BBQ that Tom and I decided to take Kates midget out to "practice" for the Autotest in the morning. We drove over to the nice empty carpark at the gates of Silverstone and I decided what I need to try was a doughnut in the midget as the B does them very nicely. 1 doughnut later and I had blown the diff. Got on the radio and asked Kate to come and rescue us in the golf. The response on the radio was controlled!!
Saturday morning I spent with Ian under the midget changing the diff for a 4.2 that we found on one of the stands(£35). Got the car ready for the sprint and calmed Kate down enough for her to compete the following day.
Sunday was WET WET WET. Actually it was really wet, so wet it felt like you were being hosed down from a firehose. The sprint was really a waste of time as it was almost too wet to drive in. But needless to say Richard and I both did one timed run in his B and called it quits. We went back to the campsite and packed everything up and got wetter. Then headed home.

Fixing the B.
I managed to get all the parts needed to fix the B and Tom came over and we dialed in the cam shaft without taking the head off the engine.Which with hindsight probably wasn't the right thing to do. As the car isn'tt quite perfect. It is still quick but not A1. We did it correctly and took our time over it and didn't rush and checked and rechecked everything before we moved onto the next step. A good day and lovely to have the car drivable again.

Castlehill.

Long drive down to Cornwall for this hill climb but a hill worth traveling to. Kate and I had decided to compete on both days of the weekend and this was great fun.
Saturday was a bit wet but good practice. And then a few beers in the evening with friends, which is always good.
Sunday and it was close between Richard, Mike and myself however Mike beat Richard by 5/100thss of a second. Well done Mike and never mind Richard.Ii was off the time buy about a second and a bit. (cam not quite perfect, should have taken the head off)
Nice drive home on the Monday which only took about three hours compared to the five and a half it took to get down there.

Next?
Next is Wiscomb hill climb which I am not competing in as I think the B is also losing compression so I am not going to push it and I will save the engine for Castle Coomb at the end of the season instead. But I will be spannering for Kate as she attempts the hill for her first time.
Photos to follow and thanks for getting this far!