Sorry about the title of this entry to my Blog, this song's title seemed apt. BTW its a great song by Paul Weller that featured on his last lp 22 Dreams.
Spent the other Monday at Silverstone taking part in the MGoT TD and I had a blast.
I was going to use the GT6, but the high chance of rain led me to take the saloon, what a wimp eh! I think we had 23 Triumph cars there amongst the 120 or so. Many of the usual CT TD stalwarts being present, Nigel Eden in one of his TR6s, Paul Michelmore in his rapid Spitfire/GT6 hybrid, Andy and Kevin Martin in Andy's Vitesse, all the Dolomite Sprint chaps, Ellis Stokes out in his 2500TC, Dale Barker in his increasingly fast Herald, Keith Dandridge in his glorious GT6 and Dave Picton and James Carruthers in their mk1 saloons. Nice to see another mk2 GT6 present with Tim Walker in his nice red mk2 example. Many had burnt the midnight oil to get their, especially Richard Brake who bought along his venerable Spitfire mk3 that is fitted with a 2.5 Pi lump. Richard spent the whole preceding w'end working on his car, good effort.
As with all MGoT events we had a 20min. session each hour with a 1 hour break for lunch. The first session was a compulsory 3 lap convoy run behind a pace car that everyone taking to the track had to do. We were asked to follow the line of the pace car as this would give a pointer to the correct racing line. After the second lap this did seem a bit boring, but was useful when we came to do our free sessions. I took Richard with me in the car, possibly not the best thing for either him or me as we ended up chatting about the car as we were going around, we should have been studying the track and attempting to work out the lines!
The sessions were good fun and certainly were fast. Silverstone is a weird place as it feels massive, as it is not enclosed one tends to loose the impression of speed, this can be a problem! On my first session I was following a Dolomite Sprint along the tsraight and feeling happy at the way the old car was managing to hold onto this car, the driver missed the braking point and promptly drove of the track, me being a complete numpty did likewise. Now the Dolomite driver had the good sense to let the car drive itself out of the outfield area, not me, oh no I decided to attempt to wind some lock on. This was ok on the tarmac that covered most of the area, however a strip of astroturf exists about 10m off the track, and my steering input resulted in high speed oversteer, bloomin' worrying, the old pulse rate certainly went up!
I must say the old car did really well, she ain't the fastest Triumph, but she certainly handles well and with smooth inputs can be made to hustle along. The last two sessions of the day were marred by heavy rain this coupled with a failing AC Delco fuel pump made me decide not to attempt these sessions-a wise decision I think.
All in all despite the cold conditions, again Silverstone proved to be one of the best TDs I have done. Thanks to all CT friends who helped to make the day enjoyable.
It was a good thing that I did not take the GT6, I went to start her last weekend and the blasted fuel pump failed. Luckily I had picked up a fuel pump repair kit from Canleys when I was up there on Saturday, this was duly fitted and all was well. However for the GT6 I think I will fit a modern electric fuel pump. James Carruthers kindly sent me a mail showing a HUCO pump, this looks to be exactly what I need, luckily I still have a filter king that can be used to moderate the pressure. I can then use the re-built pump on the saloon-until I one day re-fit the pi kit!
http://www.fastroadcars.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=29
I will also take the opportunity to re-route the fuel pipe up and around the bulkhead, I have never understood why Triumph saw fit to fit the fuel pipe around the front of the engine block.
Next up is my first Autosolo on the 11th April at Bovingdon, this is being run by the CSMA, to say I am looking forward to this is a understatement. I believe a few other CT types are taking part, should be a fun day. I fully expect it to be freezing, after all Bovingdon is an aerodrome so its time to break out the thermals! Best thing about Bovingdon is that the war film that featured De Havilland Mosquitos '633 Squadron' was filmed there, the opening shots of that film show the stretch of runway we use. The only job I need to do to the GT6 is fit a new brake pipe, check the ignition and balance the carbs. I drove the little car the other day, what a great vehicle (Even if I say so).
In fact April is shaping up into a great month: CSMA Autosolo, the HCR, The WCR40 and the release of a new Paul Weller LP, 'Wake up the Nation'. Something I am thoroughly looking forward, I bought 'In the City' by The Jam back in 1978 and have bought all of Weller's LPs since then, back then I could not have imagined that I would still be buying his music 32 years later with the same enthusiasm. The music mags are saying that this new one is as good as anything he has done before, not many artists of his importance are still producing quality records 34 years after starting-McCartney, Townshend, Davies, John, Bowie have all stopped making relevant music. The only one still making important records is Bob Dylan who is now into his 48th year of recording and look at the influence he has had upon the world of music. Well done, Mr Weller! Have a look at this site I found, it states the obvious to me!
http://www.whymusicmatters.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment