Tim's tales of Triumph heaven (2)!

Blimey, its all getting a tadge exciting!

2012-01-08T02:45:00.000-08:00

Just spent two days over with Dave Picton working on the GT6, amazed at how little we managed to do!

Anyway, thought it might be an idea to record the various conditions of the 3 cars:

GT6 MK2
Well its mostly painted, the exterior side of the new bonnet gets done tomorrow morning. Dave and Corry (Dave's painter) have had to do a lot of shaping and bashing to get the new bonnet into the correct shape. In primer, it does look superb and once painted will look very nice. The body tub looks superb, the paint finish that they have acheived looks very nice. Dave built up two new doors and fitted new exterior sills, by doing this he has acheived very nice gaps around the crucial door/sill area, this aspect of the car has always been disappointing. Shockingly Dave found that the previous company to have done sill work to the car did'nt bother completely welding up the various panels around the A post part of the cars structure. I am furious about this, a nasty side impact would have meant the car would have folded up and meant damage to me around the leg area, nice eh! I will not state who did the work as that could be libellous, however the guy who did the work used to be a friend of mine!
Most of the car is now back together, just needing the rear indicators, sunroof, door weatherstrips, door cards, number plates and the front lights fitted. Dave will also 'waxoyl' the car before I take her home. I have just laid the carpets into the car and fitted the seats over these at pres. as I wish to lay some sound insulation material into the car.
The car looks superb just sitting on axle stands at Dave's premises, the royal blue paint looks nice and deep and has polished up very well. The small amounts of chrome on the car look really good, I reckon it will look better than at any other point that I have owned her in the last 28 years!

When home I intend to strip down the front and rear suspension. I have just bought some GT6 front suspension units from Dave. These will be cleaned and powder coated, polybushed and installed. I will also take apart the rear suspension and re-bush that set up. As the CV shafts were one of the first Canley Classics units I will take these up to Dave Pearson (So many Daves in the Triumph world) and get those examined.

Spitfire mk2
I am slowly (Umm, that's a total understatement, 'shockingly slowly' is more apt) working through the new engine installation. I just need to bolt on all the ancillaries and source a few parts: bigger rad, pacet electric fan, water pump, air filter system. Also on for fitting 480lb front springs, need to get the car to handle better!

2.5Pi mk1 (SU)
This old cars just keeps going, however will need some localised repair welding works for the next MOT. Also the overdrive is playing up, I have a spare solenoid to try first, so will fit this after that? Still love driving the old car, getting on for 8 years of ownership now, ownership of the car been a total gas!

I should post some pics of the cars, will do when I remember to charge up the batteries for the camera!

Finally, the Focus ST has now done 127,000 miles, still going strong!

Another one nearly gone!

2011-12-25T01:57:00.000-08:00

Been thinking about this year and all in all its not been a bad year.

Obviously the biggest disaster was the smash up of the GT6. Dave Picton is now finishing the car, and is making a great job of her, it will definitely be better. I hope to see the car on the 28th.

Probably the worse moment was seeing all the CT crews start off for the 10CR, the first one I have missed and from what I have observed, the best one. Finance issues (GT6 repair money) meaning that I could not afford to go. Talking with Dave Kent who is my 10CR co-driver we will def. be on the next one.

The Little Spitfire goes from strength to strength and once I have the new engine running I look forward to driving that car, should be a giggle.

My Triumph plans for 2012 obviously include the RBRR. I will also take part in the HCR, hopefully with Doug and Katie again, I had a great time last time with them-laughing is so good for you! Then up to Scotland for the IAE, I hope to take the GT6 and really give it a go to win. Mike and Matt Helm have won the last two, time for a change! I will also take part in the CT Autosolo mini series using the Spittie. No money for a LSD this year, but I will look at other ways of making the car competitive-lightness? Of course as many have realised, honing one's driving always helps!!!

So far this Xmas the best thing was watching TOTP2 on BBC2 the other night. Simple reason for this was watching the retrieved footage of David Bowie performing 'The Jean Genie', a wonderment considering the tepid footage that TOTP has provided over the years. There has been a lot of interest in this Bowie performance on the news and within the press. What was really marked about the TOTP programme was how rubbish all the so called current music of today looked in comparison to Bowie (Mark Radcliffe who was doing the voice over, stated that the footage had 'Raw Power'- spot on Mark and a nice Iggy Pop link), the most derisible being the Maria Carey/Justin Beiber film they showed, excrement or what-Maria is so sexy-er yes she is if you are into synthetic baby dolls who look like they have had a bit of surgery. Talking of so called 'Singers', here's one who was talented-Amy Winehouse was shown from 2006 dueting with Paul Weller, total class and very sexy-Amy that is!

We could really do with some new product from Mr Bowie at present! Want some good music from 2011??-PJ Harvey's record 'Let England Shake', The Horrors 'Skying' (How good is that, all a bit shocking an English band (other than Radiohead), that actually has some 'space' within the music) and Magazine's 'No thyself'.

Biggest downer of the year, simple, the so called 'Riots'. That was'nt rioting, that was just violence and shoplifting, shame on those who took part. I hope that the people who did this act look at what is happening in places like Egypt and feel ashamed when they see what is like to be really downtrodden.

Also, how nice to see the Murdoch empire getting some severe grief at present, after years of The Sun and 'giving the people what they want', its brilliant to see how corrupt an organisation it seems-take them down! Does anyone miss 'The News of the World'?

So 2011, yeah not that bad!

Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run and all that! Part One

2011-11-12T01:58:00.000-08:00

On the eve of the RBRR announcement within the November edition of Club Triumph's bi-monthly magazine 'Club Torque' I thought it would be good to describe my antics on the 7no RBRR events that I have taken part in since 1998.

To say that the RBRR has been life changing is an understatement, through taking part I have met some of the nicest and most interesting people, many have gone on to become very good friends. Since 2004 I have been the main organiser of the event, a role that I feel honoured to undertake for Club Triumph. When entering in 2000 I mentioned to Derek Pollock, for years the main man behind the event that if he needed help I would be pleased to help, from this it was decided that I would help out in 2002 with a view to taking on the main role in 2004. Blimey, from this small acorn I become Club Triumph's Secretary in 2005, another role that I feel honoured to do. Now, I can say that CT and the RBRR have dominated my private life!

We expect the magazine which will contain the Announcement, Entry Form and event description to dropping through doorsteps this weekend. By writing about my experiences I hope to encourage some reading this to attempt an event that I consider to be the best on offer to Triumph car owners throughout the world.

1998
I entered this my first RBRR at a late stage, the RBRR was not so popular in those days and one could enter right up to 2 weeks before the start. I managed to rope my good mate Diz Stoner in as a co-driver and started planning for the event, the first part being to attend the Drivers Meeting at The Plough pub in Crews Hill. This was an eye opener, especially getting to meet some of the regular RBRR entrants, many seeming to be very friendly one or two seeming to be a bit weird (this has not changed!!!!).
Come the event I had done a fair amount of preparation work to my GT6, the only concern being that the temperature gauge seemed to read that the car was running very hot, this proving to be bogus. Getting to the start was fun as the bottom hose started to weep (good prep eh!), luckily Six Spares (I wonder how Bill Livingstone is these days) used to be around then so a quick diversion was made to Twickenham to buy a set of hoses and then onto the start. On arrival the Car Park and Signing-In office all looked to be fun, a heady mix of good cheer and panic, something that is on show at every RBRR.
Leaving The Plough we got into the swing of the event and soon reached Blyth Services, driving into the services to be met with most of the entry already there, many cars did seem to have their bonnets up, a few up in the air with legs dangling out on the tarmac surface!
We signed in and got going both agreeing that the set speed limit should be 70mph, no need to speed as the event was a 'Reliability Run'. In life one has a few moments that can change the course of how its all going and I encountered one of those just as we went past the cooling towers beside the A1 at I think Wetherby. In the rear view mirror I became aware of the some yellow headlights with many a set of dim Lucas headlights tailing behind. This being a yellow a TR3A driven by Andy Flexney, he was being pursued by 5 or 6 big Saloons all doing speeds considerably higher that our paltry 70mph. This was a wonderful sight and sound, the exhausts of the cars echoing that marvellous noise that old cars especially six cylinder cars make at about 4000rpm, to say that I was entranced is an understatement and to show that a GT6 could match this speed we joined in, bloody good fun! Diz reminded me that the event was a Reliability Run and if we were not careful we would have problems, so I backed off at Scotch Corner.
The rest of the event was great fun, the car going well and no real issues apart from the need to replenish the oil every so often, I had rebuilt the engine back in 1991 and she was starting to use oil.
I recently read on the CT forum some advice given by Darren Sharp in that one should be careful in who they choose to be a Co-Driver, my 1998 experiences underline that fact. Diz is one of my best mates, we have been friends since 1983, he has owned two Triumph cars, a mk3 GT6 and a TR6, yet we fell out on the event. At a RBRR control we went our seperate ways for 15mins to reduce the tension that had been building for sometime and all was good after that, but it just goes to show how one should be careful about the choice of co-driver, probably the most important part of the planning before the event. Diz admitted after the event that he had not enjoyed the experience and would not attempt the RBRR again, he remains to this day one of my best friends and a real buddy, however the RBRR did test our friendship. I think this also cured him of a like for old cars, since then he seems to have bought moderns!
By the far the best aspects of the event were the scenery, the roads that we used and the biggest factor the camaderie amongst all crews, fantastic stuff!
So the 1998 RBRR was a real eye opener and considering the fact that before the event I was only going to do one RBRR I realised that I was hooked!. As soon as the event was over I was ready for the next one in 2000, the only downer being the 2 year interval!

1998 Control list
Blyth Services, A1
Bishops Garage, Corbridge
Edinburgh Airport
BP Garage, Perth
Thrumster Garage
Seaview Hotel, John O'Groats
Macrae and Dick Garage, Inverness
Morrisons Garage, Stirling
Gordano Services, M5
Lands End Hotel, Lands End
Honda Garage, Dorchester
Fleet Services,M3

Total Mileage 1920.

2000
As soon as the 2000 form came out I got my entry in fearing that an event that was so good would be quickly oversubscribed, strangely to my way of thinking not the case!
Once again, I was using the GT6 (At this point I only owned one road going Triumph) and for this one I had roped in another old friend Richard Arthers, another of my old mates who had Triumph experience having owned a mk1 Vitesse and a mk2 saloon.
The Drivers Meeting was attended and apart from a few Control changes and that the we were going to Wales, the event looked similar. By going to Wales, M5 use was reduced, for sure the worse part of the 1998 event.
Yet again, the start atmosphere was superb, in fact the whole event was brilliant and I found it much easier than the 1998 run, obviously down to the fact that I knew what to expect and we had prepared to a better standard.
Mechanically the only bad aspect of the RBRR was that we lost overdrive, later found to be a worn out inhibitor switch. The event was again dominated by big saloons dashing past quaking the GT6 in their wake, again impressive. We had pulled over in a lay-by on the Forest of Dean section, but found sleep was impossible as it seemed that most of the Triumphs were being knocked down a gear to increase the noise and wake us up, this is obviously not the case, but it felt so at the time! It must be pointed out that a good 15 min kip does wonders when the old eyes are shutting!
Best parts of the event were definately seeing 60 or so Triumph cars being used, the roads being dominated by the cars. I cannot describe how good this is to see, usually the only time one sees lots of them together is parked in a field, simply put, cars are meant to be used!

Controls
Blyth Services A1
Bishops Garage, Corbridge
Edinburgh Airport
BP Garage, Perth
Seaview Hotel, John O'Groats
Conon Bridge Hotel, Conon Bridge
Morrison's Garage, Stirling
Oswestry Services, A5
Gordano Services, M5
Lands End Hotel, Lands End
Dartmoor Lodge, Ashburton
Fleet Services, M3

Total mileage 1906.

2002
For this my 3rd RBRR I teamed up again with my old mate Richard, as previously done using the GT6. The whole event was once again superb, the car went very well and apart from the addtion of some fluids nothing was done to her. The driving was as usual spirited,especially in Scotland and Wales. Entry was larger than previous years, it seemed that many were starting to realise what a top event the RBRR is for Triumph cars.
Once again the event went through a nice section of Wales, using the glorious A466 from Monmouth to Chepstow.
Mention should be made of possibly two of the UKs best roads that has featured in nearly all the RBRRs, these are the B871 and the A836. Long sections of these are single tracked and one can see for some distance making it possible for one to get a good lick of speed up, its like driving a rally stage!!!! The drive along this road was memorable as I was harried by James Elliott and co. of Classic and Sportscar in his mk1 Pi, they made mincemeat of us.
Richard did a great job driving the GT6, in fact he drove more than me, I really enjoy being driven in my cars by someone who knows what they are doing. The GT6 really is a great car for the RBRR, its small and compact yet has gearing that makes long distance driving a piece of cake. Richard was at this time a really good driver and within the first 500 miles was handling the car with aplomb. One of the overlooked aspects of the RBRR is that one really does get so in tune with the car, its ironic that maybe some of the roads at the end are not as good was those encountered in Scotland, just as one can really drive the car the road quality peters out!

The 2002 event was entered by Martin Randle using his white TR7 after completing the event in 2000 in his mk1 Vitesse. He came to the conclusion that it was sad that we had to wait for 2 years for the next RBRR so came up with the basis of an event that morphed into the 10 Countries Run.

Controls
Same as 2000

Total mileage less at 1899?

2004

Umm, a new co driver as Richard by this time had buggered off to Australia, so I managed to press gang a mate from work called Howard Riddell. Howard grew up driving Minis and Morris Minors so I felt he would be cool behind the wheel of the GT6. This he was, however as being a bit larger than me at 6ft 1in tall he did struggle, GT6s are really made for those of 5ft 8in and weighing 11 stone! Yet again the big saloon was dominating the event, however my GT6 seemed ok and it seemed that a number of other GT6 owners had decided to join the fray!
This was my first RBRR as the main man and boy did it seem different, the whole event being a bit nerve wracking. I can't really remember any of the driving other than the GT6 did very well. We had a number of new controls at Avon Heathh Country Park in Dorset and the race circuit at Goodwood. To get to Goodwood we used the old A30 from Salisbury to Stockbridge and beyond before dropping down to Winchester and taking the A272 towards Petersfield and the B2141 to Lavant. These roads were great and gave a last thrill before the end something I felt missing from the RBRR. However of course we then had to endure more of the M25, still a traffic jam is a great place to get some kip!
At this time I had bought the 2.5 so was well aware how cool and suitable for the RBRR that car would be, still can a saloon keep up with a well driven GT6, umm, the answer is probably yes!

Controls
Blythe Services, A1
Bishops Garage, Corbridge
Edinburgh Airport
Inveralmond Services, Perth
Seaview Hotel, John O'Groats
Conon Bridge Hotel, Conon Bridge
Morrison's Garage, Stirling
Oswestry Services, A5
Gordano Services, M5
Lands End Hotel, Lands End
Dartmoor Lodge, Ashburton
Avon Heath Country Park, Ferndown
Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit

Total mileage 1931

2006

Blimey I think I was starting to get the hang of this event. Basically get some sleep before the event and use a car that has been well used before, in the words of many a fool, simple stuff! Er no, the GT6 did not behave very well. the rocker gear was showing alot of wear and needed constant adjustment during the event, as the engine was always warm it was a bugger of a job, but hey hey we finished!
I'd roped my younger sister Judy in as my co driver, however as she had young kids at this point she was not sleeping that well and seemed to spend the whole event asleep! Judy being a respectful type was very concerned about how she drove the car, I told her not to worry she could rag the arse of the thing, she did not need a second invite! My main memory of the event was seeing Dave Langrick chatting her up at one of the stops: David, she is a married woman!!!
Yet again the RBRR proved to be a top event and Judy told me weeks later that she thoroughly enjoyed the event, this was marvellous as my family had started to worry about my urge to undertake the RBRR every two years, at last a family ally!
By this time we had started to use the Pimperne stop that was run by the Southern group of the Club and jeez did they do us proud, the cakes were superb. In fact, looking at a few of the CT regulars I am now worried about this as many seem to have carried on eating the cakes and are starting to show the results of this activity!
The biggest shame about the 2006 event was that we could not use Bishops Garage in Corbridge, the event had out grown this atmospheric place, a real pity. To make up for this we managed to get the owner of the pub next door to Bishops to use his car park. This was fine apart from the fact that the owner was celebrating his Birthday on the Fridaynight of the run, something he forgot to tell me and decided to go out on the drink, by the time we all rocked up he was shall we say inebriated, not a help! Anyway no one seemed to notice, however yet again we did block the whole road up again!!!
All in all a good event and some valuable lessons were learnt about organising an event such as the RBRR.

2006 Controls
Blyth Services A1
The Angel Inn, Corbridge
Edinburgh Airport
Seaview Hotel, John O'Groats
Conon Bridge Hotel, Conon Bridge
Morrison's Garage. Stirling
Lancaster Services, M6
Gledrid Services,Chirk, near Oswestry
Gordano Services, M5
Lands End Hotel, Lands End
The Dartmoor Lodge, Ashburton
Pimperne Village Hall, Pimperne, near Blandford Forum
Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit

Total Mileage 1965

Part two in a day or so.

2011-11-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

Sometime since I last blogged, so as sitting at home recovering from a minor operation I thought I'd better type something!

The GT6 is at Dave Picton's establishment being repaired following the June incident. My word this whole episode has been an eye opener, no more driving of the old cars unless covered by an agreed value policy! Dave Picton was very helpful and helped to get my insurers to agree to a higher value than originally offered, however the salvage percentage of 30% was a bit strong.

Anyway enough of the boring stuff, the car has been nearly fully rebuilt, as well as the rear panels and wings and new bonnet the car has now received rebuilt doors and new outer sills in an attempt to tidy up the poor gaps that existed at the door/sill area of the car. I cannot state who did the previous work on the car in 2005 as the work they did was at the best poor, at the worse dangerous, some of the A panel works not actually being welded together!!! Dave has made this all good and the car will look better than before, probably ride better as well!!!

The car will feature a new bonnet from Fitchetts, after talks with Dave I decided it would be nice to do a similar mod that he has done to his mk2, that being changing the hinge design to attempt to make the car look sleeker. This will result in the car not having a front bumper, in my opinion this will make the car look better balanced as I took off the rear bumpers fitted to the car in 1984!

When I have the car back I intend to fully rebuild the front suspension, this will include refurbishing the suspension turrets and wishbones. I last did this in 1989 (!) and must admit I have been surprised how well the wishbone bushes have lasted, I used Triumph Tune Shore 90 rubber bushes, when I last looked they seemed fine. I will replace those with Superflex items.

Then its time to tear down the rear suspension, and clean that all up and maybe look to improve the interior of the car, fit a decent carpet set etc.

For the recent CT Historic Autosolo at Bovingdon I was forced to use the 2.5 and she did me proud. I won the Triumph saloon Class C, beating Steve Radley in his similar car. I was doing very well up until lunchtime, however the afternoon tests seemed a bit more intricate. Steve would have beaten me had we done a 5th and 6th Test.

I have just fitted a new head to that car, Roy Burrell cleaning up a 2500S head that I bought years ago from Andy Pearce, his porting work looks excellent. I made a mistake and supplied him with the wrong info concerning the compression ratio, so I will have to take the head off the car and get him to skim it a bit more to acheive the correct ratio of 9.5:1. However with this head in its incorrect staet the car does feel livelier, what a car it is!

I used her for the recent Oxford MC Autosolo at a Silverstone car park, however I did not do that well, coming 6th out of 7 in the Historic class. Andy Martin winning in his Vitesse, Joe Welling in his rapidly improving Spitfire 1500 coming 2nd. I think it is fair to say that the Triumphs did well impressing many of the other competitors. I did encounter a problem with the servo as the seal for the vacum pipe failed, this was remedied on the day using insulation tape. As the car is fitted with a Lockheed type 8 remote servo I fear that sourcing a seal will not be easy.

The only recent snag being that I have had to change the starter motor, this being made very difficult by the 631 exhaust manifold on the car, in fact it was a pig of a job! Next up for the car is sorting out some of the corrosion that is starting to come through and also fit the door furniture that I lazily have not fitted since the bodywork was done in 2007!!!! Next years plans are simple, use her and take part in the RBRR in the car, if ever a car was made for the RBRR it is this one, its 27mph/1000 4th gear in overdrive making the event seem relatively easy!

I am presently fitting the revvy 1300 engine and gearbox into the Spitfire, the old engine and box have gone to Dave Picton as part payment for the GT6 works. I am not a fan of the 1500 engines and hope that the 1300 engine will be more suited to the intended use of the car. Talking of the cars intended use, this years plans have been scuppered by the GT6 accident. So next year will be hopefully busier and I will get to use her in a number of Autosolos. One event I will enter is a HERO event called the Throckmorton Challenge, this being an single venue event featuring a number of tests, 19no I think and 3 or 4 regularities. This will mean that I will need to purchase a Brantz Tripmeter, the International Pro 2 's' pro looking to be the one to buy. Talking to fellow CT member Alan Petit who is an experienced Historic Rally man this event looks like it could be fun, be good to enter a Triumph team!

On the hope that the economic situation in the UK may one day improve I would also like to use the Spittie for some sprint events in the next couple of years. As with everything in life, money is the governing factor!

In early September I attended the start of the CT 10CR at The Plough, some of the cars taking part looked superb and everyone taking part looked to be full of beans and excited! To say I was upset not to be taking part would be understatement, that event being the first major CT event that I have missed in 13 years. Ellis Stokes and his team seemed to have organised and found the perfect scope for this overseas event that offered both challenging driving and a nice bit of social fun. I will be on the event in 2013. Talking of Ellis, I see that he has seen the light and bought a semi complete mk1 saloon that will take the running gear of his 2500TC ('The Red Bus' as christened by Andy Pearce), that poor car at the end of its use.

Looking around at the Triumph culture in the UK, I see that TR5s are still commanding high prices. One for sale at present that has been sympathetically modified by a northern TR expert is on the market for £35,000, blimey!!! Reckon having 3 useable Triumph cars like mine is a better bet, at todays prices I think I would make £18- 20K for them? Also, it looks like GT6s are being hyped up in price, the front of 'Classics' magazine having a nice mk3 on its cover and stating within the mag. that values are going up to over £8,000 for a decent example. Blimey, where will it all end, probably when oil runs out, in fact will all cars devalue overnight?

On that sombre thought, I'll bugger off!

27 years!

2011-06-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

Well, what can I say. My GT6 is presently a shorter vehicle than it was. Last Sunday on the way to drop Herald parts off at Richard Brakes house, whilst in traffic light queue in Brookwood, Surrey I was hit at I think about 30mph by a young girl in her 2 year old Fiesta. This pushed me into a BMW 3 series. The resulting carnage being a very badly damaged rump, damaged wings, bent boot floor and a mangled bonnet. No panel at the rear end is salvagable. The picture of the bonnet does'nt show the damage very well, both the inner arches are damaged and the NS inner arch has sprung away from the bonnet and the whole top panle has dents. Both wings are kinked and the door gaps have closed up. Luckily the roof line is ok, damage there would almost certainly make the accident unrepairable. After the accident all I could say was '27 Years'!

The irony of this accident being that I was thinking that the little car seemed at its best since I bought the car in late 1983 just moments before it happened.

To say I am gutted is an understatement, this week has been particulary trying. I have done so much in the little car, been all over Europe in her and driven roads all over the UK, the car is such an integral part of my life. A few friends have stated that they consider the car to be a proper Club Triumph car, a massive compliment and a statement I cherish, to show this point, no GT6 has done more RBRRs: 6no.

I had the car taken home after the prang and she is currently sitting in the garage looking awful. Dave Picton of Picton Sportscars is popping over later today to have a look at her and will then provide a quotation to fix the little car.

I must thank so many who have contacted me with kind words, so thanks to James, Dave, Dave, Jason, Craig, Alex, Dale, Ellis, Tom and Dave. Also, James Cooper, Richard and Hilary Brake who came out to make sure I was ok, all within minutes of the accident. They really helped and were very kind.

Obviously my concerns are that I can get her fixed. I must admit when fixed (?) I will be very wary of driving her, this whole experience has really brought it home to me how much I value the car and how much I would hate a 'total loss' situation. Many people have said, well its only a car! Er, no it is'nt, it's far more important to me than that. I imagine many reading this will understand that point of view.

I hope that many reading this do not think I am attempting to glorify the prang in some ghoulish manner, its just that many have requested information. This blog is mainly about my Triumph motoring, this is obviously a low point.

Here comes the weekend!

2011-05-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Umm, the last posting states 04/05/11, I overwrote a posting I had as a draft but decided was rubbish so wrote a new blurb. Therefore it should read 29/05/11.

Found this bit of Martin Randle (my co-driver for last year) and me in the GT6 from last year's event, car sounds good eh! (I think Mike Charlton filmed this footage-thanks Mike).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OCQep4L8Ws

Right oh, Scotland here we come!

Er, Scotland here we come?

2011-05-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Spending sometime getting the GT6 ready for next weekend's International Auto Ecosse as organised by the Caledonian Classic Historic Motor Sport Club, must say that I am thoroughly looking forward to that event. For me last year's inaugural event ended in a disaster owing to wheel bearing failure and a 18 hour AA relay trip home. Very galling as I was very near the top of the event's placing.

The GT6 seems to be running fine, in fact that the other day I had a little tussle with a modern 911 on the Chertsey by pass, when the 911 inevitably went past at some speed, the driver gave me the thumbs up and seemed surprised by the pace of the little Triumph. The car really does seem to have a sweet spot at 5500rpm and makes a gorgeous noise at both the exhaust and at the carbs. Those stub stacks I fitted have made such a difference creating a nice bit of extra power.

MOT'd her the other day, a pass not being a problem with no advisories, so all good there! So hopefully the GT6 is ready to go to Scotland.

Other great news is that I have sold the Herald to Richard Brake's daughter Jessica. Jessica has just had a little incident in her Herald 'Mildred' and needs a car to replace her. The Coupe will fit that bill and I must say I think Jessica has a bargain.

I had hoped to go to Duxford today, but a number of things have conspired to make that awkward, so I will stay at home, fiddle with the GT6 and watch the Monaco GP. The GP season does feel abit phoney what with all the overtaking aids, however one real stand out has been the quality of Brundle and Coulthard's commentary, authoritive without being all nerdy!

Absolutely gutted to see that one of my favourite singers Gil Scott Heron has passed on, I just love some of his music: 'The Bottle', 'The revolution will not be televised', 'Home is where the hatred is' and 'Pieces of a man' having such strong lyrical messages. First got into his music back in the early 80s and have continued to enjoy, must admit I found last years 'I'm new here' a bit difficult, but still well worth a listen and just chuffed that he could still make music. Scott-Heron had been a frequent jailbird (drug busts) and had massive problems with drugs so the last 20 years for him cannot have been easy, hope he has now found some peace.

On the subject of music I have been thrilled by this year's releases by P J Harvey and Radiohead, nice that quality music is still being made. Been interesting to see that Adele has been such a hit in the States, her lyrics being so English. I like her and admire her stance on celebrity, just need reading that she will never use her music to sell products for corporations-refreshing in these days of sell out and the chasing of the dollar at any expense.

Another long weekend

2011-05-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Been nice enjoying another weekend of 4 days, and have done a few of the jobs that I want to do to the Spitfire before next Sunday's Oxford MC 'Bocardo' Autosolo that is once again being held at a Silverstone car park.

The biggest job being the fitment of the roll over bar that I bought from Dave Pearson, this being a hard used Aleybars Clubmans type bar with a fixed diagonal, exactly the same as the one fitted to the GT6. Aleybars were bought in the mid 80s by Safety Devices, the UKs largest roll over bar/cage manufacteur, the only problem with this bar (as the one in the GT6) is that the tubes are of a too small diameter for some types of competitive motorsport, however for 'solos, sprinting etc it would be ok. I was going to get the bar blasted and powder coated by my brother in laws company in Colnbrook, but decided that for now she will be fine in her slightly scratched matt black finish.

The other jobs I have done are fit some 330lb front springs and larger diameter wheel studs. Fitting these studs is a pain as one has to take the brake discs off the wheel hubs to get the things into place, obviously necessitating taking the whole hub assemby off the stub axles etc. The picture above shows the car before the 330 springs were fitted.

The car looks better as it sits nice and level now, however I am not too happy with the front handling as it feels light at speed. I aim to fit the Canley Classics tubular front wishbones I have in the shed, some 480lb springs and will polybush the bottom wishbones, hopefully this will tie the front end down. Using the top wishbones I hope to be able to dial in some negative camber, 1.5 degrees being a starting figure.

One of the other things I dislike about the car is the way the rear end can be deflected when a small pothole or road irregularity is hit. To this end I think a set of Jigsaw's adjustable radius arms fitted with some nylon bushes I have may cure this problem. These radius arms seem a good idea to enable me to get the suspension checked to see how straight the car is running, I am not sure about faffing about with the standard system of shim use at a wheel alignment garage. A better fix will be the use of some Canley CV driveshafts and lower wishbones , I have a set of rotoflex vertical links to go with these. This would necessitate the welding of the wishbone mount onto the chassis and the radius arm mount onto the heelboard. At present, this is outside my budget so I will have to wait until next year to implement these changes. Of course whilst at it I might as well fit a LSD diff!!!!

A first for this weekend was that I drove the car without the soft top on her, at first I must admit I felt a bit self concious, but after a bit I must admit I quite liked driving her like that.

Yesterday was spent at Prescott hillclimb track watching a round of the Paul Matty Sportscars hillclimb series. I went along with my old friend Jon Stevens in his recently purchased AMG Merc CLK, this being one of the fastest things I have been in as it develops about 350BHP, what a car! Some of the cars at Prescott were truely mouth-watering, lots of Gould single seat hillclimb cars that featured Hayabusa engines and some very nice old Lotus single seaters. As ever I was attracted to the historic saloons, a couple of very nice 105 series Alfas, Mini Coopers and Lotus Cortinas. Also 3 Frogeye Sprites were taking part, be interesting to see how the Spitfire would cope with them! All in all a good day. One of the stand out events at Prescott is the VSCC event that is usually held in August, this always features lots of excellent old cars, Bugattis, Bentleys, Rileys etc. I may have to wander on down to watch that event. Excuse the lack of photos, forgot the camera!

This week entails a day working on Sptfire next Saturday in preparation for Sundays 'solo. Also I must start getting the interior out of the GT6 ready to pull the gearbox so as to enable the fitment of the new clutch I have bought from Canleys. The IAE is coming up fast!

Nothing to report on the Saloon, head still with Roy.

CSMA Autosolo and other mumblings!

2011-04-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

A busy Triumph time at present.

Last weekend was the first event in the Club Triumph Autosolo Mini Series, I entered using the GT6 and shared the car with James Carruthers.

I started well even with the timing being well out-something I could not work out as she ran perfectly well to Bovingdon from Chertsey? I had to advance the ignition by some 8 degrees, very strange. After the first Test I was leading the Class B Historics and all the Club Triumph cars. After that it all seemed to go awry and as I sort of expected, Mike Helm started to claw back the times and eventually acheived the best Triumph times. Paul Hughes showing some demon oversteer beat me to win Class B Historics.

All the Triumph drivers did very well, James Cooper, Joe Welling, Andy Martin and James Carruthers all showing that they are fast drivers and will be competitive this year in the series. I have decided that I must use the Spitfire, so will now attempt to get that ready for the forthcoming Oxford MC Bocardo Autosolo at Silverstone. At present only 5 Triumph cars are entered for that event, I hope we get a few more?

Anyway, well done to Mike Helm for beating us all, he's some driver!

Otherwise I have to change the Clutch on the GT6 for the June 'International Auto Ecosse' , I have ordered the parts from Canleys and hope that they will arrive tail end of next week. The car did disgrace itself at Bovingdon when the starter solenoid packed up, so I had to fit another one this week. I have stated this before, but I really enjoy driving the GT6, its such a good old thing, and after 27 years, driving her is second nature.

I have now taken the head off the 2.5, I need to measure the depth from the block surface to the top of each piston at TDC, these figures will be given to Roy Burrell who is preparing the 2.5S head I bought years ago from Andy Pearce. On stripping this head I found that it has Chris Witor 'penny on a stick' stainless steel valves, bronze guides and A series oil seals. Roy is going to do a minor bit of combustion chamber work and reduce the height of the head so I can run a 9.75:1 compression ratio. He will also fit hardened exhaust valve seats to prevent valve recession. The head I have taken off is showing up to 1.5mm on some valves, still not quite up to the 2.5mm that Craig Gingell's head has shown!!!

Then its back to some 10CR work for the car. I took James Cooper and Richard Brake up to The Plough the other night and they were laughing at the state of the door furniture all held in place with split pins and the like. Also the front passenger dear locking mechanism has failed, this results in the driver assuming Chauffeur duties and rushing around to open the door for the passenger!!! 10CR co-driver dave Kent has told me that he will pop over and help put the doors back together with me, he recklons I am a lazy sod, not wrong there Dave!!!

Also I have started to price up the cost of fitting the Lucas pi gear back on the car. I have decided that I do not want to use a Lucas pump, so will go the way of many a PI owner and fit a Bosch pump and gubbins!

By the way I love the photo at the top of this posting, James Carruthers took the photo, I like the way it is out of focus at the front and clear at the back.

HCR and all that!

2011-04-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well that was interesting, had a fun night's driving with Doug and Katie. The old car went well, apart from running abit rich-well in fact very rich! Jeez, fuel is expensive eh!

The event seemed quite weird. It started at about 06.30 when I missed two calls from Doug and Katie that would have told me that Doug had blown his Passatt up near Manchester. Doug was driving down from JOG where he had dropped a nephew off who was undertaking a bike ride to Paris in aid of a charity that supports Hodgkinson's disease. So it was arranged that Katie and I would meet up with Andy Martin and Michael Stern at Andy's house and then we would go to pick Doug up at a motorway service area. This ended up being Hopwood services on the M42. Anyrate we made the start venue at the Old Stone Trough, poor Doug looked shattered after his antics-still these Foremans are hardy creatures!

Once up in Lancashire, Katie drove the car for the first time for a mile or two to get used to the car, as the first part of the HCR was a Test, and Katie was driving we thought she had better drive the old car. Considering that her only experience of a saloon was driving Fred Slezak's mk1, to come 4th in this Test was top stuff-well done Katie. The event then consisted of driving around the UK attempting to get to all the Counties and venues indicated upon the listing that Dale Barker had given us. We were shocked to see that from Barnoldswick we had to visit various reservoirs that serve Manchester and Lancashire, then go to Nottingham and Lincolnshire and end up in Shropshire at Telford-blimey!! Once we had visited the Reservoirs, time was short so we decided to skip Notts and Lincs and get to Telford, which the car did with ease, in fact we were the first car at Telford! the car was not pulling full revs, so I had taken off the restrictive aftermarket air filter, this released some air and gave us more power. Bloomin' nice to see Dave Kent up at Telford, he's good lad is Dave really keen on CT events. Also withn him was his faithful dog called Brandy, she looks abit older than when they took part in the HCR last, but is still going strongely.

Doug and Katie had alternated the sleep up to this point, however Doug was still knackered so it was decided that Katie would drive and I would nav. This next section was great fun, trailing down to A483, A470, A479 and A40 towards South Wales, we had to visit various Castles on the way, all accomplished with ease. Katie was throwing the old car around with verve and seemed to be having a laugh! Before leaving Wales we used a great RBRR road, the A466 from Monmouth to Chepstow, for my mind one of the great UK roads if driven in the middle of the night. So far it had all been a bit weird, Katie when not driving, she had been 'flat out' on her iphone and had bathed the car interior with blue light from the device, and Doug kept waking up and appearing like some spectral vision in the back (Doug as many know is a big unit and takes up alot of the rear seat space),I started to think the 2.5 was haunted! Also for most of the night we had been experiencing a methane problem, reckon Doug had been at the scotch pies when in Scotland. One of the issues with the car is that I had put new door window seals into her, this caused the front windows to fall out of their guiding mechanism, making it tough to push the windows up or down, gotta say I wish I had sorted this problem out. Sound affects were added using the squeaky passengerr seat belt reels, yep, we were aboard the 'Fart Express'! Next was the M4/M24/A12 section to finish through dusk.I fell asleep at this point and was surprised to find out that whilst asleep Katie and Doug had been having fun, the car had gone up to highly illegal 3 figure sum. This car is fitted with a 28% J type overdrive and 3.45:1 diff, this results in 112mph at 4K in overdrive top-mile eater eh!

When back at Woodbridge, Katie drove the car in the second test, she has obviously got these saloon cars worked out as she came second on the timed section, however for the distance part of the test she could not see the cone and slightly mis-judged the distance from the bumper to the cone resluting in a 5th or 6th place. It was fascinating to see the car being thrown about and I had no qualms about letting her drive the car like this, the car sounds good. So that was the 2011 HCR, I have now done all of them and must say I do enjoy the event. Back in 2005 I found out about a 70/80s CT event called the 20 County Challenge, so we decided to run the event in 2005. The HCR is a evolution of that event. Dale Barker has now organised the last 4 number and has decided that a rest is needed. Ellis Stokes, Mike Helm and Andy Martin will organise the 2012 event, be great to see more CT types taking part.

After this event I have decided that I must sort out the cronic valve seat recession the car is suffering from. With this in mind I have taken the 2.5S head I bought from Andy Pearce to Roy Burrell this morning and have asked him to stick in some hardened valve seats, reduce the depth of the head to raise the compression ratio and do some mild porting. The head has stainless steel valves, bronze guides and A series valve seals. Should give the car abit more go, this should help on the forthcoming 10CR.

One mistake I made for the HCR was to take too much stuff, the boot was full!!! 3 up with this load made the car feel sluggish, 'turn in' was affected by this mistake. I will attempt to do the 10CR with a lighter load-I hope Doug may try this next time!!! It was good fun doing this event with the Foremans, they are a funny pair, at various points it was difficult to drive and concentrate as we laughing so much! Next year, I imagine Katie and Doug will be using their mk1 saloon, I will miss their company. That car should be something!

Next up is the CSMA Autosolo, I have entered using the Spitfire, however I would like to use the GT6 so will spend tomorrow working on that car. A few jobs need to be done: 1. Rebuild the clutch master cylinder. 2. Change gearbox mounts 3. Fit new propshaft 4. Change diff mounts 5. Re-fit the interior. A busy day then, so reckon I need to get some sleep!!! This edition of my blog does not seem to like paragraphs-I will sort this out asap-sorry!

HCR: A hard days night!

2011-03-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend sees the running of the Club Triumph Historic County Run (HCR), as organised by Dale Barker and Andrew Martin. This event improves every time it is run and I must say I am looking forward to the weekend.

For this year I have entered the event with Doug Foreman and Katie Foreman, obviously we will be using the 2.5 saloon. This is now running very nicely, James Cooper popped over and after scolding me about not tightening the link bar we managed to get the old thing running very nicely. I have reverted to the use of a mechanical fuel pump as I would like to use the HUCO electric pump on the Spitfire. It has been great fun using the Saloon, owing to its high gearing it is able to 'mix' it with moderns on the M25. I always get looked at weirdly by some as I go steaming past, its almost as if some think that one should not drive an old car at modern day driving speeds?

For the HCR Doug will be sharing the road driving with me, however Katie is to drive the 'Tests'. It will be interesting to see how Katie does, she is very experienced at competitive driving in Heralds and GT6s, however the big saloon is a larger machine and she may find it a bit bulky. However as I have found out at Autosolos, she has a talent that should enable her to make light of the saloons larger dimensions. Hope so, as Doug and me did the best time on last year's HCR test!

I have been driving the Spitfire recently and I must say I have enjoyed the experience. A new exhaust should be winging its way down to me soon, so I will hope to fit this before the forthcoming CSMA Concorde Autosolo at Bovingdon. James Carruthers is sharing the car and I welcome his opinion on the car. James is very good at being able to analysis a car's performance and identify improvements. Bit worried about using the present engine as it has a long stroke Triumph 4 pot at present, it would be prudent to fit a rev limiter! When taking part in these 'solo events, one's attention is fully taken by looking for the next cone position and thinking about the line one should drive. To worry about the engine speed is an unecessary problem and will result in slightly slower speeds. I understand that alot of CT members are taking part in this event and I look forward to meeting up with lots of friends and ultimately beating them!!!!! James has started work on his mk3 Spitfire which has the potential to be a fast car, he hopes to get her up to Scotland for the IAE.

I have also entered the Oxford MC 'Bocardo' Autosolo, this will be my 5th Bocardo and I hope to do well, looks like the main 'Historic' competition will be from Mike and Matt Helm as not too many CT members are entering. Oxford MC run a superb event, the whole event being well streamlined and easily understood by entrants new to the event.

Whilst talking about Autosolos, I cannot wait for the CT event to be held at Bovingdon, this will hopefully build upon the very successful 2009 and 2011 events. Its great to see so many CT members having a go at competitive Club motorsport.

So off we go, the next 7 months offer some superb chances for fun and fast driving in the old cars, excellent!

Where does the time go?

2011-03-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

A rather belated posting.

The last couple of weeks have been very busy, mainly getting stuck into work or work for the car club. Therefore the cars have suffered. I have done nothing to the GT6, she is still in the garage waiting the fitment of a new gearbox mount and other bits and pieces in the vain hope of curing the vibration that started just before the 2010 RBRR.

On the subject of the RBRR, bloomin' overjoyed that all the entrants have managed to scrape together a staggering £50K for MIND. Last Saturday was the CT Annual Dinner held at a Hilton at Milton Keynes, we presented the cheque to Rachael fom MIND and I think all had a great evening out. As is the way with CT social evenings, many seemed to enjoy having a drink, many matching the intoxication of Rolduc on the 10CR!!!! Mentioning Rolduc, I am really looking forward to the 10CR, talking with Ellis it looks like he will have done the usual high standard job and be able to offer us some superb driving roads. I have done all of the previous 3 official CT events and the inaugural event in 2003 and have enjoyed them all. However the last one was special, luckily I had teamed up with Dave Kent, if anyone wants to do an event with someone who knows the way to drive these long distance events, get Dave to co-drive. We were 'blessed' with dizzy problems and I am sure that without Dave's never say die attitude the 2.5 Pi (SU) would have been shipped home. I hope to have been able to prep. the car better this time, however finding time for the cars these days is getting increasingly difficult-Dave bring the spanners!

On the subject of the saloon, I am a bit down hearted at present, I cannot get the car to run that well. Underload she just does not want to 'rev out', quite happy when in neutral? I have decided to go back to basics with her and fully tune the car, starting with a compression test, valve clearances etc. I have just taken delivery of some new carb spindles and butterflies from Andrew Turner, the fitted butterflies have those awful anti-run on poppet valves fitted. Othewise the car is fine, she passed the MOT test the other day, this followed an evening of welding by James Cooper around the base of the 'B' post, James is a top bloke and bloody keen!

The Spitfire is proving to have been an inspired purchase, bloomin' fantastic little car that cannot help but bring a smile to one's mouth when being driven. I have yet to drive the car with the roof down, however I used to feel a little self concious when I used to drive my previous convertible with the roof down, this was my first car a Vitesse mk2, still older now and it does seem that as one gets older one starts to not give a toss! I have entered the forthcoming CSMA Autosolo at Bovingdon and will be sharing the car with James Carruthers, it will be interesting to see how we do-can I cope with a car that handles but is not as fast-a worry! The Autosolo events start to come thick and fast as the Oxford MC 'Bocardo' event at a Silverstone car parkis due in early May. I have taken part in the past 3 'Bocardos' and cannot wait for this event, always slickly organised and lots of superb machinery! I have number of jobs to do to her, these include fitting some nylon bushes to the radius arms and the roll over bar I purchased from Dave Pearson, I also need to drop the front of the car as she is a tadge high at the front. As previously written I bought the car from Dave Picton, boy oh boy I saw his latest creation at Stoneleigh. This is a gorgeous mk2 GT6 that has a 2.5Pi lump in her-fit a nicely tuned revvy 2000cc engine Dave-you don't need torque. Dave has fitted deep dished 6J wires and de-bumpered the front and rear, this coupled with strategically placed driving lights creates a mini Ferrari 250SWB look, this might sound crass, but the car is in my opinion the best GT6 I have yet to see. The stance is correct and some of the details such as cream writing for the number plate letters/numerals are inspired (These 'plates' coupled with the maroon paint give off a slight pre-war Alfa look), nice one Dave! I will take some snaps soon and post on here, she really is a beauty. I have always thought that the mk2 GT6 was Triumph's best looking car and this one re-iterates this opinion.

Here are a couple of poor pictures of the Spitfire!

2011!

2011-01-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

Jeez, how did this happen-2011, my fiftieth year on the planet! Some sage stated that time goes quicker and quicker as one gets older-he's not wrong!

Car stuff:
Just spent 3 sessions working on the cars and I have managed a few tasks as follows:

GT6:
Stripped out the dashboard and gearbox tunnel to enable access so that I can change the gearbox mount and renew the seals on the speedo drive. All very simple work, I have stripped this part of the car alot of times over the last 27 years and I reckon I could do it with my eyes shut! Whilst working I noticed that the Clutch master cylinder had dropped all its fluid over the carpet, so I took that off and will re-new the seals once these have purchased from Canleys. I also took the opportunity of cleaning back the bulkhead around the base of the master cylinder and painted this with Finnegans No.1 and then some matt black paint I had on the shelf-not too worried about appearance at present. One day I will strip the bulkhead and paint properly.

Whilst working on the car, James Cooper popped over in his Mk1 GT6. He had just done a engine swap and was complaining that he had no real power, we firstly carried out a compression test (All ranging between 155-165psi), then suspecting carburation issues we did all the usuals, cleaned out the carbs and balanced them. Nothing seemed wrong. James had re-set the timing and the AC Delco dizzy seemed ok, must admit I did not rate the plug leads as they seemed loose. James has a spare set so will fit them and check the valve clearances once the engine cooled once he got home. Like many of us, James has too many Triumph cars and is spread too thin (Bit rich coming from me eh). However he is a man of discernment and owns a royal Blue mk1 Pi saloon, this used to be owned by Bob Maddocks and did the 98 and 2000 RBRRs. Since purchase, James has put sills on both sides of the car and made many other bodywork repairs and once re-painted it will look the bees knees. It was painted the other month, but was rushed by the paint shop that James chose, nice to report that they have agreed to paint the car again. Whilst chatting in the garage having a cuppa, we struck up a nice deal, James having the spare mk1 bonnet that I have and me getting a set of early mk3 GT6 seats. These will be used in the Spitfire-out of period, but alot better at holding me in place compared to the poor condition mk2 seats presently within the car.
It is nice knowing that James and Richard Brake are fairly local, both are resourceful people and always willing to help out when problems happen.

Spitfire mk2
Had a list of jobs to do on the little car, the main ones being:
A) Fit mocal oil cooler
B) Fit stick on number plates
C) Tale out the CD player
The first job seemed to be going well, I had bought a kit with pre-cut braided hoses and casually decided to fit the oil cooler where I fitted one to a Spitfire 1500 I worked on years ago-this was great until I attempted to attempted to fit the smaller hose, too blasted short. Therefore I moved the rad backwards towards the water radiator and upside down as this seemed to be the only way I could fit the kit-why are oil coolers always a pain? The GT6 has rubber hoses and I think I will go back to using those next time, never had a problem with rubber hoses in 25 years. Many will question the use of a oil cooler, I think they are essential and definitely help increase the longevity of an engine
Number plates: Blimey, this job went well! The car looks so much better with the regular sized plate stuck across the bonnet -'E-Type' style. Dave Picton had put a small stick on plate onto the car, in all the time I have known Dave I have not known him show such a lack of taste-I think I know why though!
CD Player: This had been put into the car by the guy who owned the car before Dave, god only knows why as it is impossible to hear the thing especially with the wheelbarrow exhaust that presently is under the car. Now I am partial to soul music and do like the strong vocals of the late 50s and early 60s singer Wilson Pickett, but someone had jammed a Pickett compilation CD into the machine and everytime I started the car I would get a blast of the first track, 'If you need me', I started to get really fatigued by this track. Also the CD player seemed to be controlled by some form of higher entity (Maybe, Wilson coming back to haunt me), everytime I hit a bump in the road the volume would go up, or worse still if switched off it would switch itself on, got to say I have started to loathe Wilson! I would not have minded but the CD player only wanted to play that one track-why? Listening to music has always been a major pleasure of mine and when driving the Focus, I always have my ipod connected to the stereo, however in the old cars I find it impossible to listen to music so none of the old cars have radios or the like.
Whilst under the dashboard I cleared out some extranous wiring, all old cars seems to have this stuff, reckons bodgers during the 70s using scotchlocks are to blame, reckon many a car hit an early death owing to these devilish pieces of plastic and metal.
I also changed the throttle cable as the old one did not seem that progressive, making it difficult to drive the car smoothly at low engine speeds.
I also had a good look at the carbs, paying particular attention to the float chambers, these had a fair amount of crap in them, so I will fit a small fuel filter.

I took the car down to the New Years Eve lunch that CT member Nick Jackson organises at a picturesque pub in Woodford, near Salisbury. I met up with James Carruthers in his megasquirted 2000 and James Cooper in his mk1 Pi saloon just of the M25 at Chertsey, and took them down one of my favourite roads the old A30 that runs from Popley to Stockbridge and onto Salisbury. I have a theory that Triumphs should always be driven down single carriageway A roads when one gets the chance, the A30 along this stretch really does hit the spot. Coming out of Stockbridge, there is a sharp right hand turn on a nice inclined bit of road, the little Spitfire went round the corner and up the hill very well and I think surprised both James in their faster saloons.
James' 2000 is turning into a real beastie, I helped him purchase this car and have always had a soft spot for the machine. Megasquirt seems to have transformed the car, I must get him to let me have a drive at some point. When he purchased the car the previous owner was worried that James was going to thrash the nuts of the thing, well I think it is fair to say that he has/is!
Its fascinating to see what lots of CT members do to their cars, all seem to be in a constant state of modification, some like James' 2000 turning into impressive machines.
Got to say the NYE lunch is always very pleasant, a great opportunity to have one final drive and meet up with CT friends before the end of the year. I was pleased to see Nick Jones and his family in his recently acquired 2.5Pi mk2 plus Alex Chandler in his 2000 mk1 and Mark Bland in his very nice early 2000 mk1. That was the first time I have seen Alex's car and it just goes to show what can be done with enthusiasm, a top car that needs to be used on next years RBRR-are you reading this Alex?
On the way back James, James and Alex seemed to enjoy chasing each other up the A303, what a great sight, 3 mk1 saloons being driven with verve! The little Spitfire's top end is not all that great, so I stayed back and cruised home, a nice relaxing way of ending a day out and about.

Back to the Spitfire, I like this car, reckon its a 'keeper'! The car is looking better sitting on its 5.5J solid steels and correct number plates. I will post some pics soon, just need to take the camera out with me!

Next Year and Ford Focus ST

2010-12-19T02:08:00.000-08:00

I am presently sitting at home and looking out of the window I see that we have approx. 5'' of snow-bloody horrid stuff. Snow always makes me laugh as it does seem to affect the speed of drivers on the UK roads, some people get so worried. Anyrate enough moaning!

I have been thinking about next years motoring plans and what events to have a go at in 2011. At present the following come to mind:
March: Oxford MC Bocardo Autosolo @ Silverstone (Spitfire)
April: Club Triumph HCR (2.5) and CSMA Autosolo (Spitfire)
June: International Auto Ecosse (GT6)
July: CT Historic Autosolo (GT6) and Warwick MC Autosolo (Spitfire)
August: 7oaks & DMC Autosolo @ North Weald (Spitfire)
September: Club Triumph 10 Countries Run (2.5)
October: Oxford MC Autumn Autosolo @ Silverstone (Spitfire)
Plus I also hope to have a go at the two MGoT Track Days that CT will be invited to participate in.

Regular readers of this Blog will know that my company car is a Ford Focus ST, a car that I can honestly say is possibly the best everyday vehicle I have ever used. The car is a 5 door model and has no extras at all, no tracction control nothing is a blast to drive. The car has now done 100,000 miles and apart from a one new driveshaft replaced under warranty has been extremely reliable. I am not sure how much longer I will have her as she was due to be replaced last March, luckily for me my employers have stopped leasing new cars and told me to stick with the Focus for another year until March 2011. I have been reading in the motoring press about the new ST that is due at the end of next year and I do hope that I can manage to get one of those. The only issue being that the new one will dispense with the characterful Volvo 5 pot lump and be fitted with a 4 pot Ford engine. This will mean no more 'Quatrroesque' 5 pot induction roar at engine speeds over 3,000rpm-not sure if I will be able to take that! All my work colleagues take the mikey out of the ST, but where else can you get 230BHP for such little money, it makes cars like Audi A3s, Golf GTis and the like seem over priced. I'd love a Focus RS, but these are outside my budget and only have 3 doors which is not acceptable to my employers.

So next year will be hopefully an interesting time, with lots of change in my motoring life.

The next use of my cars will be when I attend the informal New Year luch that CT member Nick Jackson puts together down near Amesbury in Wiltshire. This is always a nice little meeting and I hope that Nick's efforts are rewarded by a good number of people pitching up.

Spitfire mk2: Plans

2010-12-05T03:19:00.000-08:00

I took the new car out for a drive the other Sunday when I popped over to see fellow CT member, Richard Brake. An interesting drive in the car that brought about the following list of tasks, many that follow on from my thoughts that I stated within my last Blog posting:

1. Sort throttle cable, the action is not at all smooth.

2. Change the exhaust to a single pipe system. I will probably go for something like the Canleys Sports system, this type is fitted to my GT6 and whilst louder than the standard exhaust it does not 'boom' like the old SAH/TriumphTune twin box types.

3. Buy a hardtop. Had a long chat with Dave Pearson at Canleys about this and I have decided to order a Honeybourne Mouldings fibreglass example, the all in price of £395 is considerably cheaper than restoring a steel unit. Honeybourne do the hardtops in two colours, these being white or black, I think that black will look better. Mike Banks has a wedgewood blue steel hardtop on his car that certainly looks good, I have always thought that 'roundtails' look nice with 'bubble' hardtops.

4. Fit a rollcage: Luckily, Dave Pearson has one of these that needs repainting. Once I have it I will take this to my brother in laws place to get it powdered coated, probably light grey as not too intrusive. This cage is not the correct diameter for current racing regs., but as I will only be doing Club sport in the car, I am sure it will be fine.

5. Suspension:

Front: The front shock absorbers are Spax, that seem to have the very low bottom mount. I have some AVOs that will be put onto the car, I have found a company called Franklin Springs that sells coil springs of all types, so will fit a set 480lb items, hopefully by fitting these I will raise the front to give the car a better balanced look. I have also got a set of rose-jointed arb links and a set of tubular top wishbones, these will all be fitted to the car. I have fitted two of my 5.5J solid steels to the car at the back, once I have the front a bit higher I will fit the other pair to the front, I am worried about the wheel to wheelarch clearance and think I will have to have the wheelarch lips 'returned' to create sufficent space.

Rear: The rear units will also be changed for a set of AVOs, again I have these in my store. At the rear the car has a de-cambered rear spring, this will stay. I have been looking at Jigsaw Racing Services adjustable length radius arms, for Spits, these are based upon the GT6 mk2 items, so I will probably buy some. I have some solid nylon bushes which I will use with these, more control over toe -in/toe-out.

6. Change the steering wheel. I have a nice 13'' leather rimmed alloy wheel in the store, this will be fitted. I will also take the opportunity of changing the switch covers as those that are fitted are decidely rough looking. I am not that happy with the overdrive switch, this does not seem that positive, I will change this for the works replica toggle switch on a gear knob that I have in the stores-umm, I seem to have a lot of stuff in the shed! I have one of these fitted to the GT6 and have always found it to be a good mod.

7. Fit chrome over-riders to the front and back, this will involve re-siting the spot lamps.

8. Windscreen Wiper: Blimey, the existing is bloomin' lethargic, this will need to be looked at. Until done, I think I will have to break out the Rain-Ex!

9. Supplementary gauges: I think it would be advisable to fit a oil pressure gauge. The tacho has been converted to an electronic unit, this saves a job then! Whilst thinking about the oil system, I will fit a thermostatically controlled oil cooler, I will mount the rad. just inside the grille. The car has two lugs welded onto the chassis for a the rad to be mounted near the cross members, I have my GT6 oil rad mounted here, however it does seem vunerable to damage from road debris, so I will mount in front of the water radiator as the space exists.

10. Seats: The standard seats do not offer much in the way of lateral support, so I have two options: Mk4 Spit seats, I use these in the GT6 and they seem fine, however a set of Corbeau Classic seats may be the answer, however the price of these does seem quite dear. I do not want to fit modern race seats as these in my opinion will look garish and wrong. I think it is important to keep the car looking relatively in period.

11. Fit the Luke 4 point harness I bought for the GT6.

12. Fit alloy calipers, again these are in the shed! Also change the brake fluid to normal mineral type, at present silicon is fitted-ugh! Actually the brakes are bit soft at present, so I may look at rebuilding the brake master cylinder and fitting new wheel cylinders.

I have lots of other ideas about the car, however the above list will more or less spend my budget, but future plans are as follows:

1. LSD: Blimey this will cost, but I am sure will reduce Autosolo times considerably.

2. Fit the battery into the boot and fit an external isolator switch.

3. Look at modifying the front suspension so that more castor can be dialled in to aid 'turn in'. I have been talking to Mike Helm about this, this will be difficult to achieve as I do want to use the car on the road.

I'd love to post some snaps of the car, but the snow has made this difficult.

Movin' on up!

2010-11-28T02:17:00.000-08:00

Just realised that I have not posted a BLOG for sometime, thought I'd better get my finger out and get typing.
Update on the cars:

GT6 mk2

Last use was the 2010 Round Britain Reliability Run, the car went well, apart from an annoying driveshaft vibration that started at 3400rpm. I had spent sometime before the RBRR attempting to find the problem, including the fitment of a new propshaft. I have not as yet found the cause, but after talking with Dave Pearson and Joe Welling at Canleys, the problem might be the gearbox mount. The gearbox has been leaking oil out of the speedo take off for sometime, the big 'O' ring being the issue, the thinking is that this oil has softened the mount? I have exhausted all other options, so will be attempting to fix this over the forthcoming Xmas break, thats if it warms up!

Obviously being the main organiser of the RBRR, I am impartial, but I thought the event was very good this year. The best aspect being the route, Nigel Abdullah does a great job with this and personally thinking I now think we have a found better roads in Wales than those in Scotland. A brave statement considering the use of the A872/A836/B9176/A833/A82 in Scotland, but for my way of thinking the A483 in Wales is a great road for driving in the middle of a Saturday night in October. I followed Tom Key (TR6), James Shackford (2.5Pi mk1), Dave Langrick (GT6 conv) and the Thompson brothers (2.5Pi mk1) plus some other Triumphs through this section and had a real blast, I got out of the car at Sugar Loaf buzzing. The little GT6 turned in so well and had enough power to keep up with these guys driving cars all benefitting from Lucas Pi. The Welsh section also offered two of the best controls on the event, Gledrich was mad, jam packed with Triumph cars and a real buzz as entrants got to think about the Welsh roads that were to come. Thanks to Roy Lacey, Paul and Scott Hughes for their management of the control. Sugar Loaf was a simple passage control, stuck in the middle of nowhere, ably manned by Nigel Abdullah and Nigel Molineux. What a place, no artificial light apart from a couple of yellow building site lights running off a genny, a spooky place to be in the middle of the night! I absolutely loved this stop, well worth the trip to Wales last year when we recce'd the Welsh route.

CT's Vice President, Malcolm Warren ran a great control at Bude, having tea on a nice lawn was extremely civilised. Then onto Dartmoor to Badgers Holt, again a superb venue, great to see all the entrants mixing it with walkers and canoeists. Pimperne was as good as ever, the WI vibe being a nice antidote to the rush and frenzy of the RBRR.

It was sad news that we experienced a couple of prangs amongst the entered cars, Steve Needham's Dolly has been written off, however Pat Barber's GT6 is to be re-built. The owner of Haggerty Insurance is going to restore her-great news. It was on their stand at the NEC Classic Car Show, and did look very sad, I cannot wait to see the car when it is finished.
I was also downhearted that both Ellis Stokes in the 'Bus' and Dale Barker in his lovely Herald both retired, however Ellis re-joined at Lancaster in his TR7 Sprint-dedication!

As the RBRR buck does stop with me, I must admit I find the build up to the event a bit worrying, so many factors that can go wrong making the last week a bit busy! If I was being honest I would say that before this one, I was thinking that the RBRR was starting to lose abit of its attraction, can't say that now, its bloody top!

Since the RBRR, the GT6 has lived in her garage and is awaiting the prop/gearbox work. I hope to take her out for my traditional solitary Xmas day early morning drive! Now approaching my 27th year of ownership, I see no reason why the next 27 will not be as good, it will have to go some to be beater!

2.5Pi mk1

I have not used her for sometime. I must get an MOT on to her, I have a two week break this Xmas, so this will be attempted then. I have a few jobs to do, the first one being the fitment of a HUCO fuel pump. I have been running one of these on the GT6 and I am very impressed. However I have been browbeaten into thinking that now is the time to fit the Pi gear, so that must happen during 2011.

I have entered the 2011 10CR and would like to get the PI system on her for that event, this will mean that I must carry this out in April/May. Despite certain peoples thoughts, I will use a Bosch fuel pump, I want to drive the car, not spend time sitting on the side of the road!

Luckily enough Dave Kent has again agreed to do the 10CR with me. We had a good time during the event in 2009 despite a dodgy dizzy, Dave is a dogged type of bloke who will not be beaten by car issues, we must have stopped 10 times on that event, but his spirit did not drop, however I suspect the thought of Dutch lagers on the last night at Rolduc were the incentive?

Ellis and his team have revised the route again and we will be spending more time in the French/Italian/Swiss Alps this time, a fantastic idea, just hope the PI system will be able to cope with altitude changes!

Herald Coupe
The engine is back, however owing to the purchase of a mk2 Spitfire yesterday I will now be sticking this engine into that car. I have therefore decided to sell the Herald, the car has not deterioated too much since I bought her, in fact I have improved her. I have a few jobs to do, these being: Connect the propshaft, fit some calipers and discs to the front, rebuild the rear brakes and fit an exhaust to the car. Not to onerous eh! I will then get a 'ticket' for the car and offer her for sale, hoping that a CT member buys the car. Shame to sell the car, but I am now on a Autosolo mission and the Herald will not be competitive to keep up with a certain father and son team!

Dolomite Sprint
Again, this car will now be sold, if interested give me a call.

Spitfire mk2
Bought this little car yesterday from Dave Picton, driven 50 miles in her on the crowded M25 and must report no issues, the car being exactly as Dave stated. I will change the tyres though, the only comment I can make about the present items is DIRE! I went around one roundabout and had a momentary sideways experience-nice! I will fit the 5.5 solid steels I have, these have Yokos on them so will offer some grip!
Jobs to do to the car before April:
Fit 1300 engine and box
Change shockers for the AVO units sitting in the shed.
Fit 480lb front springs.
Fit tubular top wishbones that were going to be fitted to the GT6, and dial in some negative camber.
Fit alloy Hi Spec calipers that are in the shed.
Buy and fit Canley ball joint vertical links.
Buy and fit steel hardtop: Already in hand.
Source a full roll cage.
Fit oil pressure gauge(After the fitment of the 1300 engine-the present engine is a stroked 1500, ignorance is bliss).
Fit oil cooler kit.
Sort out sticky throttle, it is difficult to drive the car smoothly at present. A smooth throttle is essential for quick progress on 'Tests'.

Buying this car is a nice way to end my 2010 motoring exploits, and as always I have had a great year. This is simply down to being in the best Triumph Club in the UK, my friends in the Club make the taking part in events a real blast.

The best moments were the whole RBRR experience, coming third overall and 1st in Class B in the CT Autosolo, winning the HCR Test using a Saloon whilst being encouraged by CT charger Doug Foreman (Cheers buddy) and the 1.5 days spent in Scotland on the International Auto Ecosse (My team of Martin Randle, the car and me were doing well in the tests until the bearing failure-a good co-driver is Martin). The funniest moments were listening to Doug doing his 'spot on' Welsh impersonation whilst on the HCR in Wales, bloody funny. It's great that Doug is now getting back to his old self following his terrible accident at the beginning of 2009.

The worst bit being the 13 hour relay trip back from that event following wheel bearing failure near Faslane-what a bummer!

Next year's events cannot come quick enough!

Anyone reading this Blog who is thinking about buying a Triumph, get your wallet out, spend some money, join CT and get out there amongst it.
I guarantee that you will join up with a group of people who are some of the best, very few CT members seem to be typical of old car enthusiasts, they just seem to be up for some fun using old cars.
Maybe Mr Cameron and his 'Happiness' survey should talk to some CT people!

June mumblings

2010-07-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

The following is the same as the Triumph Torque words that were printed within Club Torque for the July issue-better than nothing I suppose.

2.5Pi mk1:
Only one recent outing for the saloon, that being the HCR that I took part in with Doug Foreman as co-driver. Got to say I had a ball on this event, Doug being first class company. Doug is as mad as a bucket of frogs, whilst in Wales he spent the whole time talking to me mimicking a Welsh accent, whilst in Yorkshire a Yorkshire accent etc. The car took the mileages involved in its stride and we even won the test that was set up at Kelbrook, not bad considering we were the largest car! What joy to beat Mr Helm!
The car is suffering from a misfire at present, I will have a look at the ignition system to attempt to sus out the problem, of course having a 123 dizzy makes this a bit more intriguing! The car is not getting used much at present, in fact I am not sure when I will next drive her.

Herald Coupe:
Crikey, I have got the engine back, so now have to fit the head to it, source some push rods and start to think about fitting the lump into the Herald. The specification of the engine is not too extreme, it features a 9.75:1 compression ratio, a 35/75/75/35 camshaft, 1.475’’ inlet valves and 1.3’’ exhaust valves. Fuelling is by a set of HS4 carbs and exhaust by a 4>2>1 manifold into a Vitesse exhaust system. I am hoping for 85bhp? The gearbox is a normal Herald box that has a J type overdrive fitted, this coupled with a 3.89:1 differential should make for approx 19mph/1000 rpm in overdrive top. Braking will be standard at the back with a set of hi Spec alloy callipers on GT6 discs on the front. Suspension at the rear being a swing spring set, upfront having 1 degree of negative front camber attained by the use of shims and 330lb springs, both ends controlled by AVO shock absorbers. Following my experiences using 440lb front springs on the GT6, I may step up to those at some point. The trouble with a Herald being that it’s a fairly flexible car, therefore not a lot of point attempting to make it too stiff as the chassis and body will flex.
A bit of a push over the summer and maybe I will have her on the road in the autumn, hopefully after the RBRR.

GT6 mk2:
Had a busy time with her recently, took her to Silverstone for the 2010 Bocardo Autosolo run by Oxford MC, as usual I was beaten in the Historic Class by Mike and Matthew Helm in Mike’s sorted Spitfire 1500. This is starting to get silly, I can never get to the times of Mike, always about a second away! I hope to get my revenge in the forthcoming CT Autosolo.
Back at the beginning of the month I took the car up to Scotland for the International AutoEcoose, an event that replaced the La Carrera Caledonia. Luckily Martin Randle agreed to navigate for me. This event was great fun as it featured some driving tests and at the end of the first day were second to Mike and Gillian Helm (This Helm fellow is a pain in the rear), with Andy and Lisa Martin equal second. During some of the road sections I could feel a problem with the bearing and did indeed pull over and check the nearside unit just after the start, all seemed fine. However at the start of the second day, I was getting massive vibration under steering and braking. I pulled into a lay-by overlooking Faslane and under the audience of Dave Pearson, Jason Chinn, Dave Langrick, Andy and Lisa Martin pulled the front NS hub off the stub axle to find a totally shot bearing. The bearing that was badly pitted with evidence if the rollers breaking down was cleaned off with petrol and was re-packed with grease and we got on our way, however it felt worse than ever. At Arrochar Martin and I decided that he would be transported in Jason Chinn’s 2.5pi to meet up with Paul Darbyshire who was doing the event on his own and I would attempt to limp the car home, 440 miles being a big ask. I got as far as Loch Lomond but owing to the car now exhibiting dangerous braking I decided it was time to through the towel in and get her recovered home. Luckily as part of my car insurance I have AA recovery, after 4 different relay trucks and 14 hours I arrived back home. This journey was totally surreal, I experienced 4 different accents from the AA drivers: Scottish, Liverpudlian, Brummie and Mexican (Weird orwhat-the guy did not talk to me, in fact the mutha woke me up at some point playing 'Girls Aloud' music-jeez,the longest moments of my life-I mean the guy was supposed to be an adult yet seemed to enjoy trivial shite music-awful experience). After prompt service from Canley Classics with the supply of a new bearing kit and 30mins with the spanners, the car was as right as rain-moral of the story-keep a spare bearing with you!!!!! Massive thanks must be expressed to Martin for his help and patience!
The following Monday it was off to Castle Combe for a MGoT Track Day, and for the time I was there I had a ball, the little car driving very well and for a fairly conventional example seemed to be quite nippy. I enjoyed a great session chasing after Bruce Sellers and his mega jolted GT6 convertible and after a bit of time I was able to pull past and away from him. I must admit I was having to drive the car like I have never done before (After 27 years ownership!), real tail out stuff, but I must say that I do find the handling to be pretty good for a car with such a weight up front. These cars do not have the most communicative of chassis, but using well known suspension tuning practices can handle fairly well. All this fast driving put a strain on the already fragile gearbox, coming into the pits I could hear lots of bad noises emanating from the ‘box in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, meaning to my untrained ear layshaft problems. I then decided to get her home, realising that 4th gear would be fine, I had this fear of AA relay trucks! Therefore the next night was spent taking the gearbox out of the car and I took her up to Canleys a day or so later, Dave will strip the ‘box down and repair her. Got to say I am not that fussed about this, I always think of the transmission of these cars as being disposable and it must be 3 years since I last had the gearbox repaired! I reckon on being able to take a ‘box out of the GT6 in 1.5hrs, I must be slowing down as it took me 2hrs, it’s a terrible thing getting old! Back in 2003 before the inaugural 10CR I took the gearbox out of the car 3 times and got very practiced in the art, like the car I am getting rusty!
Bit disappointed about all this, but I must say the car is a terrific little thing, she still looks ok and drives and goes well. Next up is the Club Triumph Historic Autosolo, should be a fascinating day, up against all the usual Triumph Autosolo experts. I am really looking forward to seeing how the car compares to Katie Foreman’s similar example and the TRs that will be present.

After that it will be the RBRR, the 6th time I have entered the event using this car, I am dead proud of the fact that no other GT6 has done more RBRR’s.

Blimey, a part of a TR7 that is useful!!!!

2010-04-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

Talking with Keith Dandridge last week at the MGoT Silverstone TD, he told about his latest modification to his splendid GT6.

He has bought a TR7 circular water plastic expansion bottle that is fitted with a radiator cap. This bottle has an inlet towards the bottom of its body that is connected to the radiator overflow tube underneath the rad. filler neck, he has used fuel pipe and attached the pipe using fuel pipes clips, this pipe will be pressurised hence the need for secure fittings. All one then does is fit the old rad cap to the top of the expansion tank, the old overflow pipe to the overflow outlet on the rad cap fitting and a rocker cover oil filler cap onto the radiator. The joy of this is as it sealed water should be siphoned back and forward as Triumph originally wanted, but never happens as the old overflow bottle never seals correctly.

Keith tells me it does work and increases the amount of coolant available. Robsport sell secondhand bottles at a tenner, so the total cost of the mod should be £20ish including pipe and fittings. I have ordered 2 bottles and will be doing this to the GT6 and the saloon. The price of new bottles is £40 or so, obviously cheaper to go for secondhand items. Only snag with this is that a bit of TR7 will be fitted to the car!!!!!

Thanks, Mr Dandridge!

Push it along!

2010-03-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

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/

Smooth throttle action!!

2010-03-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Blimey, dead excited as I have just fixed the sticky throttle that has afflicted the saloon since I bought her!!

Thanks to Colin Wake, he gave me a old 2500S throttle return system, took the defective unit of the car and fitted the secondhand unit and hey presto no more jerky throttle action. Amazingly enough this unit is more worn that the one I took off, but it def seems better, nice and progressive.

Marvellous, gave the car a bit of a pasting on the Chertsey by-pass, surprised a few moderns and all felt good in the world.

Blimey!!

Right, tomorrow I am going back up to the Midlands to attend the Race Retro show at the NAC, Stoneleigh. Was going to take the M25 and M40 route, reckon I'll go a more interesting route.

Next month I will have owned the car 6 years, reckon within those 6 years I have done more with the car than the previous owners did in 35 years. Track Days, 12 car rallies, a couple of Dutch rallies, 2no 10CRs, 4no HCRs and 1no RBRR, fantastic!

Whilst at Stoneleigh last weekend I bumped into Roy Burrell who is doing the Herald engine work, just waiting on some cam followers and the engine will be ready to collect. Then its time for some full on work on the car, would like to get her done for the Castle Combe TD in June.

My god, where have I been!

2010-03-04T13:00:00.001-08:00

Umm, been abit quiet!

Not alot has been happening on the old car front, lots happening on the Focus front though-anyrate no one wants to read that!

The GT6 has been out just the once when I had a drive out in early Feb. Amazing to say that I forgot what a great little car she is- 26.5 years and I seemed to have become forgetful!

A few little problems to sort out, these being plumbing in a better screen washing system. Looking through my collection of spare Triumph parts I found a mk1 saloon washer bottle coupled with an electric pump, this used in conjunction with a small switch I have found will make a simple system for directing high presssure water onto the screen. I will also stop using the worn out 2 position wiper switch and use a simple toggle switch I have to energise the wiper motor. The original switches are difficult to find and expensive to buy, the toggle switch is another item from my parts collection.

The other impending job is to rebuild the seats, I will need new foams and covers. When I bought the car she was fitted with early mk3 seats, these were subsequently re-built in 1989 with late mk3 cloth covers supplied by Newton Commercial. I see no reason to change as I have always found the seats comfortable, being slim has been an advantage! One of my major hates is the fitment of Maxda MX5 seats into early GT6 cars, why do this when the originals are fine and look the part? Looking at the price of new covers, I see James Paddock are selling them at £125.00, I think I will have a go at cleaning my existing trim! However I def. need new foams, so will buy from Park Lane.

These jobs will be the only work I will do to the car before the October RBRR.

The 2.5 has been used a bit since Xmas, this has mainly consisted of local driving and the occasional drive to The Plough when on Club business. The car is going very well, I went to the recent CT Annual Dinner in her and as usual marvelled at her ability to just soak up mileage. Nothing is planned apart from hopefully fitting the modded cyl. head I have, will I ever do this? I will take this car up to Stoneleigh, useful as I will be picking up some TR6 steels from Chris Allen, these will be blasted and powder coated black and will probably find their way onto the car-think its time to get some lower profile rubber onto her and make her look abit meaner?

The Herald will hope fully hit the road this year. The head is more or less done so once I have collected this I hope to put the new engine and gearbox into the car-reckoning on late April, early May for that activity?

I have been thinking about the events that I hope to do this year, these should be as follows:

March 22nd: MGoT Track Day at Silverstone: 2.5
April 11th: CSMA Autosolo at Bovingdon Airfield: GT6
April 24/25th: Club Triumph HCR: 2.5
May 23rd: Std. Triumph Forum, Prescott: GT6
June 5/6th: IAE, Scotland: 2.5 (This will be a real test as immediately after this event I have to be back in London for a CT meeting:Inverness to London in 10hrs)
June 14th: MGoT Track Day at Castle Combe: GT6
July 18th: CT Autosolo: GT6
1/3rd October: CT RBRR: GT6
25th October: MGoT Track Day at Goodwood: 2.5

As most people in the UK are finding at present, my budget for fun is smaller than last year, so I have to restrict myself. I have decided not to tackle part in any rally type events as I rather speed type stuff like Autosolos and TDs. Of course, the exception to this being the HCR, IAE and the RBRR.

The other night I discussed the TR Register series of sprints and hillclimbs and would love to attempt a limited number of these during 2011, just hope that a few other CT types might be interested? I would stick to sprint events held at circuit as less risk of damage than when one goes up the hills! For these the GT6 or even the Herald would be suitable.

This weekend sees the annual Triumph year curtain raiser at Stoneleigh, I hope to see lots of Triumph friends there. I may well stay in Leamington Spa on the Saturday night and hope to enjoy a few drinks with a few friends.

I mentioned the Focus ST I use at the top, well what can I say about this car. THis car has totally exceeded my expectations, it has been a blast to use, totally reliable, just the best modern car I have ever used. I have now done 80,000 miles in 3 years, the biggest bug bear has been the economy, this being approx. 28.5mpg. The handling is very good, good turn in and fairly neutral handling despite the heavy 5 pot up front. I do wonder if the front springs have gone off as the ride does seem harsher now, but the damping is fine. Best two things about these cars are a) the steering, one can really feel where the wheels are pointing/going and b)the lairey induction noise that starts to come in at 3K, after 4k it really starts to bellow-real fun.
The Focus RS seems very popular , but I wonder if it is a bit too extreme for normal use, I have no doubt that they must be fun, but it ain't actually that discreet!
If I had to run a modern out of my own pocket I would seriously consider a ST, a marvellous car. Just hope the 2011 Focus is as good!
I have to replace the ST soon and have my eye on the new Alfa Romeo Guilletta that is due here in June, looks very exciting. I went to my local Alfa dealership the other day and they are all revved up over this new Focus/Golf competitor. The styling does seem to echo the looks of the successful MiTo, however the pics I have seen of the red coloured Guillettas make the car look abit bug eyed-reckon white or silver would be best in a attempt to diminish the size of the headlights? Road tests are due soon as the Guilletta is released in Europe this month, so I shall see what Autocar, EVO and others think.

On the subject of car magazines, I have always bought car mags. The present fave raves are Classic and Sportscar. EVO, Autocar, Motor Sport and Octane. All these offer great writing that is both sharp and fun. Fave writers being John Simester and Henry Catchpole who both write in EVO, Steve Copley in Autocar and Nigel Roebuck (Roebuck's F1 column in MS always hits the spot with incisive comment and thoughts, coupled with a complete lack of bullshit) who writes in Motor Sport. I find it hugely encouraging that both Autocar and Motor Sport are still being published, rare for such quality to be appreciated over so many years! All these mags completely trounce Top Gear magazine, not to say that James May is bad, his Daily Telegraph column on a Saturday is excellent. The DT Motoring paper is top draw, maybe I am biased as one of their writers Peter Hall does drive a mk2 GT6! Also of course James Elliott, Editor of C&SC owns 'The Beast', a 2.5Pi mk1 that is well known in CT circles as James has done two RBRRs in her. A top and inspirational car!

Jeez, I have been rabbiting on and on, better finish now!

Dominos!

2009-12-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

(I have had to edit this posting as I wrote it after consuming a bottle of wine)
Feels like the years are passing very quickly, I still cannot work out why as one gets older times passes quickly-loads of theories have been expressed by some wise old sages, but time is a unit so I cannot understand this..............

A few rumblings about the past year, been a good one I think, with some top events being enjoyed!

Biggest downer was the HCR, poor maintenance resulting in nsf wheel bearing failure near Crossgates in the middle of Wales, inexcusable! Massive apologies to James Carruthers, he certainly did not wish to spend 4 hours sitting as a passenger in a recovery truck!

The event I enjoyed the most was certainly the Club's Autosolo at Bovingdon Aerodrome, so good to see 30 or so CT members enjoying their cars and all competing against each other and the clock. I did quite well until the rain came down in what must be described as biblical proportions, after that my times fell away. I could'nt cope and therefore got beaten by Mike Helm, Nigel Abdullah and Andy Martin-well done chaps.
For next year I am really looking forward to the event again to be held at Bovingdon again, Nigel Abdullah who will set out the tests, has promised to make them longer by exploiting the amount of runway that we will be given by the landlords of the aerodrome. The tests were a bit cramped foir the bigger cars, therefore the added space help to make the saloons more competitive and o course a little less work for the drivers!
Bovingdon is a weird place as it used to be a Bomber Command and 8th USAF Bomber base during WW2, it seems sad that it is better known these days as a weekend market venue, an incongruous useage-all cheap shit and junk food! The aerodrome has been used for as a venue for various films including '633 Squadron', 'The Battle of Britain' and 'Mosquito Squadron'.
Anyrate, I cannot wait for the CT A'solo on 19/07/10!

The 10CR was weird and in retrospect a great event, the highlight for me being the Le Mans stops and the strange one at Condom in France, one made very extraordinary as I run into an old mate of mine just after we left, one of only two people I know who live in France-this blew my mind! BTW Terry Wogan has a place in Condom! All in all great fun and massive thanks must go to Dave Kent for being good company and always willing to get stuck in when the bonnet needed to be opened, this happened alot as we had lots of dizzy problems!

Next year I look forward to more Autosolo events, Track Days, the HCR, the Stoneleigh show and of course the highlight, the RBRR.

Anyrate enough musings, I must wish all CT friends and members the best of luck and hope that 2010 is a good year-considering the amount of events that we can look forward I think that owning a Triumph and being a member of CT will mean a good a year can be looked forward to, I cannot wait to get out there and start having fun!

2009 was good, but I am certain that 2010 will be better-onwards and upwards!

RBRR 2010

2009-11-12T15:16:00.001-08:00

As you all know, I am the Main Organiser of the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run. I am very lucky to have 3 very talented guys to help organise the event, these being: On maps: Nigel Abdullah, on Entry Admin: Jason Chinn and on IT: James Carruthers. In fact owing to the amount of work that they are doing, I seem to have nothing to do at present! Good lads eh!

Anyrate its all go, so far 39 entries have arrived at Jase's house, gawd knows how many will arrive tomorrow. Its seems like RBRR fever has descended upon the Club-fantastic stuff!

Its a top event and I cannot wait to be in the car park at 'The Plough' getting ready for the driving odyssey that is the RBRR!

Expect to see all the lastest info about the event on the CT website and upon the RBRR Blog that will be featured within the 'site.

Out of my mind on cake and speed!

2009-11-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I took part in the MGoT/CT Track Day at Oulton Park, and what a great weekend I had.

I travelled up to Oulton Park in the company of my old mate Darren Reynolds who was taking part in his fist TD using his very standard Peugeot 205GTi 1.9. We met with Dave Langrick at the B&B I had booked, and were later joined by Dale Barker, Dave and Dale using their respective notorious (within CT circles) cars, Spitfire mk4 with 2.0 six cyl. engine that has been lucas fuel injected and Herald Convertible fitted with 4 pot 1500cc engine. We then all met up with Doug and Katie Foreman at the pub they stayed in Tarporley called 'The Forresters Arms' (Seemed to be a great pub-nice vibe). D and K were using Katie's mk2 GT6, this car already being used for its 3rd event in so many weekends, the previous events being the Oxford MC Autosolo at Sliverstone and The Regis Rally, held down in Sussex. This little car has been pretty well unused for 15 or so years and within 4 weeks of purchase by the Foremans has entered 3 demanding events-good stuff or what!

After a quick pint in The Forresters we went next door to a Thai restaurant for a spot of grub and wine in Dave and Katies case-a riotous couple of hours were then enjoyed, culminating in Dave doing a Peter Sellers impersonation, you had to be there but it was bloody funny!

So the to TD on the following morning, we woke to a nice cloudless morning and after a small but appetising breakfast went onto Oulton Prk for the usual preliminaries of signing in, briefing and noise testing-the limit being a liberal 105db.

Then it was time to do our 'Sighting' laps behind a Vauxhall VX220 sportscar, these relatively slow laps showed two things, one being that Oulton Park is a teriffic race track and the other being that it was dammed slippery!

This left two more sessions for the morning, as they say on BBC1 F1, the track started to come back to us as it dried out and by the last session a dry line was more or less descernible. This meant that the previous tip-toeing around driving could be dispensed with and all drivers could start to explore their cars and the limits of handling and speed.

Honestly, I thought Oulton is one of the best tracks I have driven and I was itching to get stuck in after lunch. This consisted off a sarnie scrounged off Dave and a cuppa brewed up on my small camper stove, followed by a piece of fruit cake-all very cheap but very welcome as the weather was quite nippy and had brought on a hunger! Dave regaled us with a CT event rating system based upon dundee cake, one cake being something like a TD, two cakes being the HCR, three cakes being the RBRR and four cakes being the 10CR! Bizarre and surreal, but in a way accurate. Katie and Dave spent a good fifteen minutes giggling about this and the ability of my kettle to make tea making a time consuming past activity, I pointed out that tea making is a serious business and like most nice things should not be hurried, their answer to this is unprintable! If I had used my brain and remembered that as most UK tracks now have good facilities I should have taken my electric kettle!

Dave talking to Katie about his 'Cake' theory (She looks to be texting though)! The 'Stove' is in shot!

Anyrate enough talk about the good old Brit staples of tea, sandwiches and cake and talk about the next few sessions. Mercifully the track had fully dried out and presented a nice dry surface, this enabled some faster laps to be completed, well when I say 'fully' I don't mean Druids, this was still as slippery as well, an eel, after gradually getting a bit cocky and starting to prove how well balanced the 2.5 is, she bit me in the bum with an horrendous spin, one minute forward facing motion, the next minute backwards along the track, onto the offside verge and hey ho we were off to the barrier, a quick correction and I'm off across the track onto the nearside grass to stop amid clouds of rubber smoke and crap! Like a proper berk I then managed to stall the car, however a quick turn off the key I was off again wheelspinning down to 'Lodge'. I then made a complete cock of that corner, however managed to get around that to have a breather as I went along the main straight. I was gutted about this as up until the spin I had been gaining upon Chris Shaw and his rapid but innocuous looking SAAB, here was me thinking of where I could overtake him, oh well.

The next sessions were somewhat subdued as rain came down therefore the track resorted to be a ice rink! All in all though a great day, I do hope that one day we can all return to enjoy in dry conditions what is a challenging circuit.

By the way I must say that the GT6s present were superb, As well as Katie's lovely mk2, Keith Dandridge was there with his just re-painted silver mk2, Roy Lacey and his always improving white mk1 and Tim Ward and his fantastic just 'out of the box' mk3-how low is that car! Reckon the old car culture is waking up to the fact that the GT6 is an under-rated gem!

A nice photo(?)(Left to right: Dave Langrick, Katie Foreman, Doug Foreman, Dale Barker, Martin Randle and me)!!!

Afterwards it was time for the now traditional 'CT De-brief' in a local boozer, the Shrewsbury Arms being chosen, all present agreeing that Oulton Park was fun. Dave then suggested that we adjorn to a chippie he had seen in Winsford for fish and chips-bloomin' lovely it was as well. Nothing like chips and a can of coke on the side of the road! Dave was full of great ideas all weekend-top lad!

I left Winsford at about 18.00 to get home for 20.45. One snag being that I had no overdrive, this has previously shown no sign of a problem, I therefore hope that a wire has become dis-connected during the spin! I shall have a good look next weekend.

I must use this space to thank Chris Shaw for all his hard work in organising the CT presecence at Oulton Park, nice one Chris. Also of course, thanks to Dave Livingstone and the MGoT people, nice that all that silly Triumph v MG rivalry is disappearing.

Also, cars of the day either Peter Jackson's rapid 2.5Pi mk2-fast car or what or the yankie V8 engined MGB convertible-that car was so stable and looked to be so well engineered. Its great to see old cars being used like this. Also forgot to mention Lloyd and Ken McNeil's Standard Ten, what a car, they were at Cadwell Park earler this year and again caused alot of good comments as well as being fast!

Only one or two events left, the main one being the Bedford Car Club 'Santa Rally' to held just before Xmas. This is quite important as it could decide who wins the CT Drivers Challenge, if Mike Helm decides to take the 'Drivers Championship, its between me and Mike Bishop. I will more or less be in the hands of Ellis Stokes who will be navigating for me, no pressure then. I know that if Ellis is on his game we could beat Mike, brave words eh!

Looks to be a good way to end the year!

This is the modern world!

2009-11-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

Went to the Pistonheads Sunday Service this morning at BMW's UK HQ at Bracknell. I went with some old friends of mine who own more modern cars.

These are their cars, a Pug 205GT1 1.9, Subaru Impreza Turbo amd BMW M3, and of course my old saloon at the back! Darren is bringing his 205 to Oulton Park.

The car park was full of modern cars, mainly M3s and Subarus, however did spot some nice older machinery, a nice Cooper S and a Fiat Abart 500-60s not the modern big thing! Unfortunately it was raining very hard whilst we were there, so we did not stop long. My fave car was a Caterham R500, very nice, BRG with orange rim to the nose cone. Also spotted a couple of nice Focus RS, these newish Fords do look big. I'd love to have a drive, I love my ST but must admit would like to try something that had a bit more power.

The saloon went well on the drive over to Bracknell, the moisture (!) coupled with the 123 dizzy certainly transformed the car, she seems so much snappier. in fact so much so that I may take her to Oulton Park next weekend for the MGoT.

Onto that, I have had real problems today attempting to get decent brake pedal feel on the GT6 following the installation of these Wilwood calipers. It took nearly two hours to bleed her, but I still ended up with a soft pedal. I used my usual brake pipe bleeders which have a one-way valve fitted , and are then passed through an old plastic water bottle.

These bleeders cost £4.95, so I have one for each bleed nipple-makes the job very quick and easy-normally that is! The pic. shows one, the one-way valve is inside the bottle.

These Wilwood calipers have two bleed nipples one each side of the unit. The actual bleeding screw is very small, being 1/4AF, therefore I had to use a small piece of vacumm tube to ensure I had a reasonable seal to be able to bleed properly, but try as I might I could not get all the air out-time to just check on all the joints and leave overnight whilst I chill out!

I will have another go at these on Tuesday night, if no joy then its 2.5 for Oulton!!!

The Devil was in my car!

2009-10-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Jeez, where does the time go?

About time I worte about my latest Triumph news, so here goes.

GT6 mk2:
I have not used the car much as I was concentrating on getting the 2.5 ready for the 10CR. In fact the only use has been to take the car to a CT North London meeting at The Plough and entering another Oxford MC Autosolo event .
The Autosolo was last Sunday (04/10/09), before the event I decided to change the anti roll bar to the correct GT6 item, I have been using a Spitfire 1500 arb for years with obvious under-steer issues. The change in conjunction with polyurethane bushes has as expected resulted in a far more neutral handling car, if still prone to understeer! Still one cannot change basic laws of motion!
So to the A’solo, after a nice drive to Silverstone through deserted roads from Chertsey to Silverstone through Beaconsfield, Aylesbury and Buckingham to the venue at an early time I arrived to be met by Mike and Matthew Helm in Mike’s Spitfire and Katie and Doug Foreman in Katie’s newly acquired mk2 GT6-royal blue-very nice!!!! Doug was supposed to be using his Herald, unfortunately he could’nt finish the engine re-build he is undertaking so had entered the GT6. As they had only picked the car up on day before this was surprising, what a baptism of fire! As agreed previously Katie was driving my car, and I was seriously conscious of the fact that she could beat me! The first runs were on a very wet surface, and by lunch after 2 ‘Tests’ I was 2.3 secs. in front of Katie, after the 3rd ‘Test’ I was still 2.1 secs. in front and looked to be on my way to my first Class win at this sport. All I had to do was get two competitive times in and I would win, however my first run at the 4th and final ‘Test’ I wrong slotted, but the next two were fine for a ‘Wet’ run. Sadly for me during Katie’s and Matthew’s runs an entrant in another class in a Golf GTi lost a wheel meaning a 45 min delay, as the sun had come out the course started to dry out. This resulted in damp and dry runs for them both, meaning that they decimated my times! Katie therefore won the ‘Historic’ class by 0.1 sec from Matthew and 1.2secs from me!

I watched Katie driving my car, boy has she got a talent for driving these cars, during the whole day she hardly put a foot wrong, some of the lines she took being very precise, in fact she flattered my car, very impressive. Of course she now has her own GT6, so she can use her own car next time! Doug did very well in the totally standard car, and was constantly managing to reduce his times throughout the day. It was weird looking at this car as it reminded me so much of what my car looked like when I bought it in 1983! Doug, has so impressed me, 7 months ago he was hanging onto life by way of a life support machine following his awful M25 crash and is now entering autosolos and navigation rallies, what a trooper, good man!

I see they did 'The Regis Rally' in the car, it seems to have found some 5.5J solid steels, looks good-its gonna be fascinating to see this car over the years and the way it gets transformed. I must admit I have been mystified recently by comments on the CT Forum that suggest the mk2 GT6 is not the best looking example, I feel that with its higher mounted bumper it looks more purposeful, one only has to look at the Group 44 racers to realise this!

Next plans, well the last 2009 motoring event for me will be the MGoT Track Day at Oulton Park in early November. For that event I have just fitted some unused Wilwood 4 pot calipers that I bought years ago from a a chap that Ellis Stokes knows that was going to use them on his Kit Car. These went on relatively easy, the only pain being the need for some longer fasteners to fit the caliper adapters onto the mk2 GT6 caliper mounts, I ended up using suitably strong cap head 7/16unf set screws. The edges of the GT6 caliper mounts needed to be slightly ground down to facilitate the alloy caliper conversion brackets. At the moment I have a new set of green stuff pads in the calipers, however will probably change these to a set of Mintex 1144s.

I still have not fitted the tubular top wishbones to the car, reckoning on doing this after the TD. The other priority is to sort out the rear end damage, might well take the car up to MW restorations in Saffron Walden, Mike Wilkinson is a good guy who did some bodywork on the car years ago.

2.5Pi Mk1
I made the decision during the event to buy a 123 Electronic Distributor, which I duly did, buying it from Southern Carburettors from Mitcham. These are superb units and very easy to fit and as expected have cured some of my running issues. By the way Southern Carbs. are a nice company, the chap I spoke to was very attentive. Please do not confuse with SC Parts! All that’s left to do is to fit the spare cylinder head that I have in the shed.
One great bit of news that will help to ensure the longevity of the car is that I have started to use a neighbours garage to store the car.

A nice pic taken of the car near Aix le-Bains on the September 10CR, with James Carruthers superb 2000 mk1-which by the way certainly goes well!!!! Thanks to Craig Gingell for the snap.

Herald

Blimey, I have just moved the old thing off the front drive into the space previously occuppied by the 2.5. This of course means that I can crack on and get some work done on the car.

Last weekend I went up to see Roy Burrell who is modding the cylinder head for me, must say I am impressed by the work he has done. Roy was recommended to me by Karl Dandridge, Dave Pearson and Craig Gingell, so far I must say I am impressed. I collected the carbs and inlet manifold I had previously bought from Andrew Turner, Roy has cleaned up the tracts in the manifold and done a bit of flow work to the SU HS4s. Must admit I am starting to get a bit revved up over the thought of using the car.

She will need some bodywork repairs, as follows:

A)Front wheel arches to be repaired

B) Lower off side door repair

C)Lower part of offside panel between door and wheelarch

D) Repairs to rear deck on the offside.

E) Rear valance perforated, will replace with fibreglass units.

As I have previously mentioned that car is a 1962 Herald 1200 Coupe, that was stuck onto a 13/60 chassis at some point. This is great news as I can fit the overdrive gearbox that I have. In theory the cars spec should be as follows:

Engine: 1300 + 60thou, TH5 cam, modded head with bigger valves, carbs as above and tubular exhaust manifold with Vitesse exhaust system

Gearbox: Spitfire mk3 with J type overdrive. Works type overdrive toggel switch on gear lever.

Front Suspension: Red polybushed, with AVO shockers and 330lb springs (These will in all likelihood be changed for 480lb items). Spitfire 1500 arb with Jon Wolfe links.

Rear Suspension: Swing spring with red polybushes and AVO shockers.

Brakes: Front: 4 pot Hi Spec units with Mintex 1144 pads, Rear: Standard-though may be changed to GT6 units.

Wheels etc: 13'' 5.5J Dunlop solid steels with Yokohama 185/60 13'' tyres.

Interior: Standard except 6 point cage and added instrumentation (Rev Counter, oil pressure gauge and mechanical temp gauge). Will probably purchase (when rich!) some Corbeau period looking buckets.

Its riduculous as I have had most of the above equipment for years, just been so busy with the other cars ! Anyrate, I hope the car will be a nice little example, however it will not be in the same league as Craig Gingell's gorgeous supercharged Coupe. I hope to use her on next year's CT HCR?

Right that will do for now. Of course the biggest project that will occupy most of my time for the next 11 months is the CT RBRR. We have already started on this event and cannot wait for the weekend of the event in early October next year!!!!

10CR and all that

2009-09-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the old car did the 10CR, had ignition problems but when she was running well the car was went well! However we did spend alot of time under the bonnet-missed really looking at the Milleu Bridge, which was a shame. Dave Kent was my co-driver, reckon he did 60% of the driving, and exhibited a never say die attitude towards my car-cheers Dave.

We spent most of the time in the company of Andy and Jason in Andy's Vitesse, James and Craig in James' 2000 mk1, Mike and Andy in Andy's newly acquired TR7 V8 and Russell and Carmel in Russell's TR6. Thanks for sticking with us! James' car only passed its MOT on the morning of the event and then did not miss a beat, top car!!

Andy M's Vitesse had a few issues that ended with him using a cut down Citroen valve spring to replace the one that broke, later on the overdrive on the car stopped working therby reducing their motorway speed. This is a terrific car, but I must say that Andy does not get to enjoy the best of luck with the car.

Highlights of the event being small things:

Such as bumping into an old friend of mine,Lloyd just south of Alencon, only people I are know in France are Lloyd and Abbi-blooming weird or what!

Enjoyed a pizza with Mike and Andy Bestard in Italy in a lovely town, Aosta I think.

Waking up in the car park to a cemetry in Condom, Lloyd told me that Terry Wogan has a place in that town.

Friday morning brekkie in a nice village somewhere in France!!!

Nice meal in Dunkirk before getting the ferry home.

The control stop in the car park opposite the entrance to Le Mans as the sun set was special-nice vibe at that stop.

Dale Barker's Herald and James Shackford's 2.5Pi mk1 receiving some attention at Le Mans. Below: Russell Banyard's TR6 and the similar car owned by Gerhard Bose. Poor pic. but as usual I hardly took any snaps!

So all in all a good trip, spoilt by the poor performance of my car, still that is what one will get if one does not look after these old cars! Worst part of the event was hearing that Joe and Frank Welling had their mishap in the Alps, still at least that car is repairable and will be back in use soon.

Yesterday I went to the Goodwood revival, last went in 2007 and I must say that the event was very good, however the cost is abit much. Highlights being the quality of cars in the Tax Exempt car park and the flypasts of various old planes, best and most awe inspring being the Vulcan-boy oh boy what a immense machine! On the way I followed a Ferrari Daytona along the A27 and A3, nice car, but srangely odd looking-think I'd rather a Dino 246! I will not be able to go next year as I will be flat out on the RBRR, but reckon every two years is about right.

Before I went to Goodwood, I fitted the Magnecor leads from the GT6 onto the 2.5, mis-fire issues gone!! I will order some Lumenition blue leads for the GT6 and keep the Magnecor's on the saloon. Also when funds permit, I will be fitting a 123 dizzy onto the saloon and will be changing the cylinder head.

Mumblings!

2009-08-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Been blown away by some of the tasty modern products that are now available for sale. At work yesterday I spent some time talking a colleague of mine who is a fellow music fan about the Ipod Classic that he has. He is a naturally cynical guy, and if he rates them well they must be good! I want to buy one in time for the forthcoming Club Triumph 10 Countries Run. None of my Triumph cars have radios or CD players in them as I would rather listen to the car and concerntrate on the driving, however for the 10CR I think it would be a good idea to have some way of listening to music whilst in the passenger seat and having a kip etc. Hope, Dave my co-driver does not read this and think I am gonna be anti-social!

Apart from cars both old and new,my biggest pleasure has always been listening to music, this all started in the late 70s with the punk rock explosion and ever since I have been a avid music fan. Luckily I grew up at the time of John Peel on the radio and he inspired me to get into all types of music, basically open my ears and enjoy all types. My one barometer has always been to attempt to judge if the artist/group etc is really interested in music for its own sake or just making music with a view to make money or maybe become a c list celebrity! This might sound naive, but I genuinely believe that some people exist who are not slaves to the dollar/pound/euro! Take The Beatles, I remain convinced that the money was not the driving force behind their career, it was down to the fact that they just wanted to make and play music, alright they certainly made alot of money, but then they produced quality songs!

My Ford Focus is always full of CDs and CD cases, that go careering of the front seat at the first sniff of a corner. Therefore I hope that the purchase of a Ipod will cease this problem, seems that the downloading of my music will be easy, I hope it is as I have loads of the stuff.

I have always been one of those sad b*stards that likes lists and I thought it would be good to list my fave LP/CDs and singles:

Long Players (Jeez, how long is it since this label was used).

Mezzanine: Massive Attack

Pet Sounds: The Beach Boys

Heaven Up Here: Echo and the Bunnymen

All Mod Cons: The Jam

Love: The Cult

Screamadelic: Primal Scream

Lost Souls: Doves

Ferment: The Catherine Wheel

Hunky Dory: David Bowie

Fear of Music: Talking Heads

Singles

The Killing Moon: Echo and the Bunnymen

Whats Goin' On: Marvin Gaye

Down in the Tube Station at Midnight: The Jam

Ashes to Ashes: David Bowie

The Bottle: Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson

She Sells Sanctuary: The Cult

The Changing Man: Paul Weller

Eight Miles High: The Byrds

A Forest: The Cure

Party Fears Two: The Associates

Just looked at the above list, not alot of vareity there then, looks like I forgot Mr Peel's example!Apols. if I seem a bit up my own one, but I am genuinely excited about purchasing an Ipod and downloading the music. Yep, I have always been one of those types who makes compilation tapes/CDs for friends!

Onto cars, well its been a busy couple of days.

GT6: Took the car to Moordale Motors to let Dale Barker jave a look at the car, his feeling being that the car needs a new rear valence as it will not be easy to get the panel looking good following the bump on the M3 the other day. No way can I charge the full value of the job to the chap who hit the car so I will ask him to pay a portion of the cost. Otherwise nothing is planned for the GT6 at present as I have to get stuck into the 2.5 to get that ready for the 10CR.

I took the 2.5 over to Richard Brake's place yesterday and he has very kindly agreed to carry out some much needed welding to the sills so that I can obtain the dreaded MOT certificate. I have previously mentioned that I have another better head for the engine. I am in two minds about changing the head, the engine pinks quiet badly under load. The dizzy is quite worn, I have attempted to retard the ignition to no avail so I think changes are needed. However the head I have is supposed to be a good un with large valves and a bit of porting work having been done. Giving this some thought, I think I will fit the new dizzy and see how she goes, then if still pinking I will change the head. On the subject of a new dizzy, bit shocked at how expensive the 123 electronic items are now owing to the weak pound, was thinking about one for the car, looks like I will get a re-con'd Lucas jobbie.

I mentioned the Ford Focus I have as my company car. Must say that the car is an absolute hoot to drive being a 4 door ST, must be the best modern car I have had use of. The engine is quiet heavy and therefore it oversteers, but years of Triumph ownership have prepared me for that characteristic. I have now done 63,000 miles in 2.333 years and the car has proved to be totally reliable, bit like the two Mondeos I had before. I know people go on about the ST being a bit flash, but I really like mine and will be sad to see it go next May. What next, gawd knows, possibly the new Alfa Romeo Focus equivalent. From the leaked photos I have seen this car looks like it could be very nice, however will it just be a modded Fiat? I'll probably stay with another Ford, well built, reliable, good chassis and relatively cheap when compared to say German cars

Umm!

2009-08-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my trip to Cornwall in the little car.

The trip was made for two reasons:
a) Go and have a look at the Pub/Hotel we hope to use for the 2010 RBRR. Owing to the terrible service we received on the last RBRR by the staff and management of 'The Lands End Hotel', it was decided that we should seeks a new venue for Breakfast on the Sunday morning. Tony Quick, husband of CT's Cornwall Local Group Organiser, Sally Ann Quick has found a very suitable place, so I popped in and had a look. Looks fine apart from the fact that when we leave we will all have to drive into the local town and turn around at a mini roundabout. So I have just got to agree a price and have a chat with Nigel Abdullah to ensure he is happy and this new venue should be spot on?
b) Spend some time with old friends of mine who own a nice farm near Helston. Spent most of Saturday making and starting a massive bonfire, drinking beer and then popped along to Parr Sands for dinner. Nice time. Only shame was seeing a bloated Englishman with his belly out-jeez, put it away!

The journey to Cornwall took 9 hours on Saturday, awful weather but must say the little car did me fine. Coming home today I left Helston at 8.15, dropped my mate at the train station at Redruth (He works in London in the week-I beat him to the M25 in a GT6 v Train race!) and got home at 13.45, including for a little stop. However this included a shunt on the M3 near Basingstoke, basically I was at standstill for a few minutes, the traffic in front moved off and the chap in the Nissan FWD thing behind me thought I had moved away and drove into the rear of the little car. Caused damage to the number plate panel and paint damage to the whole of the rear of the car. Thankfully the cost should not be so bad so I hope we will not involve insurance companies. Shame of it was that the guy who was driving seemed a nice bloke and was genuinely upset to have damaged my car!

Oh well, 25.5years and never had anyone drive into the car before!

Good thing was that apart from the usual amount of Beetles and Camper Vans in Cornwall I did see a fair amount of old cars, the best being a French plated Peugeot 504 estate on the A30 near Exeter-marvelous looking car! Also had a drive along with a Daimler Dart/SP250 near Hayle Bay on the A30, rare old beast eh! Saw a fair few Triumphs this morn including a mk3 Spittie, a 2000 mk1 saloon and a TR5 near Wylie on the A303. Oh, and I got flashed by a MGB on the old A30 at Leckford on Saturday-blimey, oh riley!

So a mixed weekend, but all in all I must say the little car drove very nicely.

Catch up!

2009-07-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one!

Did another 'Autosolo' last weekend, took part in the Sevenoaks District Motor Club event at North Weald Aerodrome near Epping in Essex. I was entered in the 'Historic' class alomng with fellow CT'ists: Katie Foreman (Herald 13/60), Clive Senior (Toledo), Mike Helm (Spitfire 1500) and Mike Bishop (Herald 1200). I came first out of the Triumph cars and 2nd in class, beaten by a Ford Escort RS2000. Luckily a Austin Healey Sprite fitted with a powerful 1900 Ford Zetec engine acheived FTD and was therefore moved out of class! Must admit that I was pleased, however I think I would have come third if Mike Helm had not had to go and get some welding sorted and therefore did not do all the tests. He's a real bandit, and bloody fast!

This event was different in that the Cones were not numbered, I was apprehensive about this, but in fact found it to be ok. We all taped the route diagram to our dashboards in case of problems. I only made one mistake, that being the first attempt of the 4th Test, as one's best two times count I was ok as my two other attempts went well. This event was definitely the fastest one I have done and very enjoyable. Must say though that I thought the previous w'ends Club Triumph event was better organised. The best thing about the 7oaks event was that we did not have to Marshal, time was therefore spent drinking tea, swatting wasps (Or not eh, Clive) chatting and bull*hitting! Doug Foreman was his new chatty self, and Katie seemed to be thinking its time for more power-easy answer and its spelt 'GT6'! Mike Bishop is getting bloomin' quick as well. Umm, thank the Lord for 6 cyls and 2000cc!

The little car did very well, once again the exhaust started to blow at the collector joint after the manifold. Really fed up with this as these exhausts cost so much money and one cannot get a decent seal. Last night was spent sorting this problem as I hope to take the car to Cornwall for a couple of days tomorrow. Otherwise the car is going very well, no other issues to talk about. Not sure what to do with her next, keep as she is or maybe lower the gearing to make her into a more competitive Autosolo car. This will involve changing the diff for either a LSD unit with either 3.89:1 or 4.11:1 ratio. I still have not fitted the Wilwood brake calipers to the car, this will happen soon.

However I must think about the 10CR and getting the 2.5 ready-next w'end? Saturday will spent at Curborough where my mate Mike is sprinting his Mini, have'nt been there since 1984! Jeez, time is flying!

Right Cornwall, here I come!

Club Triumph Competition Committee

2009-07-17T02:42:00.000-07:00

I do hope people reading this do not mind me writing about the above Committee.

I think it is important to remember that Club Triumph is not a 'Classic' Car Club, but the original Triumph Motor Club owing to its 50s origin. By stating this I have nothing against 'Classics' but I think the terms 'Motor Club' or Car Club' portray the Club's history. The Club used to organise a wide range of events such as tours, autotests for new owners of Triumph cars, however by the late 70s membership was dropping off. The 'Classic car culture that sprung up at that time boosted interest in Triumph cars, membership starting to pick resulting in the membership of 1475 we presently enjoy. CT always had a problem in that it used to organise the biennial RBRR but for driving events more or less become dormant in between, thankfully the Club had the Show scene available to show its prescence.(Please note that the above comments are mine, not the Club's and certainly not the Club's policy).

This situation was relieved in 2003 by the first running of the 10 Countries Run, as conceived by Martin Randle. The other great tool in bringing together the membership is this website and its superb forum, making it easy to tap into the enthusiasm of the membership of make things happen-nice one, Mr Bennett!

Therefore in 2005 we formed the Comp. Ctte. and since then have produced some decent events, managed to get together a calendar of events that CT members can take part in and recently inaugurated four Championships. All of this hoping to make it exciting to be in the Club and of course further the use of Triumph cars either competitively or just getting them onto the road. The help of organisations such as Bedford Car Club, MG on Track, Caledonian Historic Motorsport Club and NESCRO must be acknowledged as they have been very willing to let our Members take part in their events, often making it unecessary to join their organisations. I do hope that this does not get read as self congratulatory, we are fully aware that we have lots of work to do to keep up the interest in Triumph cars and of course most importantly create or maintain events that the membership of CT can take part in and enjoy.

The aim of this Ctte is to provide cheap motorsport for the members of the Club to take part in. The Ctte will never be able to organise races or stage rallies, but we see no reason why we cannot organise fun events at the small budget end of motorsport culture. Talking with Dale Barker and Martin Randle, I think the CT Competition Committee have a few more exciting events planned over the next few years, information will be forthcoming as soon as finalised. This Committee is an imaginative bunch and whilst some of our ideas are a bit whacky the ones we run with are sure to offer a good time for CT members.

We have just held the first of what is hoped to become an annual event, the Club Triumph Autosolo and we managed to get 33 entrants together, this being far more than we expected. All CT members taking part seemed to be having a good time, whatever car they were using and however they were doing all were smiling throughout the day, not bad considering the awful weather we enjoyed. Top 3 results were:

1st. Mike Helm: TR6

2nd. Nigel Abdullah: Herald 1200 (Using Dale Barker's Herald)

3rd. Andy Martin: Vitesse 1600 (Ex Monte Carlo Rally car)

Their cars are shown below. Amazing pic of Andy's Vitesse eh!!

After the Autosolo, we have the first 12 Car Rally that the Club has organised taking part in Essex in August. New Ctte. Member Mike Banks has sorted this out, the attention to detail and planning he has done is top notch and again we are sure the event will be both challenging but fun.

Right, end of my sermon.

However, please get involved as driving cars is fun!!

Blimey, 2 useable Triumphs!

2009-07-12T11:33:00.001-07:00

After an afternoon and early mornings work on the GT6 the longer driveshafts are now fitted to the car. As this involved stripping the rear suspension off the car, this meant dis-connecting the rear brakes. My old mate Diz popped over and pumped the pedal whilst I bleed the brakes. Alot of enthusiasts use 'Ezzi Bleeed' kits, personally I do not get on with these as I find it difficult to get a seal at the lid of the master cylinder. Therefore I have always used simple little bleeding pipes that have a one way valve fitted, these being available in motor factors for not much money. In fact they are so cheap that I have four of them are used in conjunction with small water bottles that have drilled caps with the pipe pushed through, makes it tidy for when they fall over as fluid does not get everywhere. So with one attached to each brake bleed nipple., its an easy job to whizz around and get a pedal, something like 15 mins.

So that was it the car is ready for next Sunday! After years of stripping and re-building rotoflex suspension and fighting gainst the distortion bought about by the rotoflex couplings its a joy to work with the CV suspension. The only sticking part is the attachment of the inner CV pot to the diff output shafts as getting the 3/8unf nylocs onto the studs is a bit fiddly. As usual the car exhibited positive camber whilst up in the air, however a reverse out of the garage and back in soon had the suspension sitting at the correct level, surprisingly enough it seems to be showing 1 - 2 degrees of negative camber now, weird as the longer shafts should not be at the end of the splines within the CV pots?

Its great to have the car back in use after its short time off the road. I mentioned last time that rot is starting to break out again, this is very apparent in the bonnet and the tailgate. Also badly affected is the return panel in the boot, this being badly holed especially in the area by the exhaust silencer box. Once the summer is over I will be taking the car to one of my mates houses as he has kindly agreed to let me leave the car in his dry garage. This means that the Herald can go into my garage. I think I am going to cost out how much it will cost to build a new double garage, luckily I will be able to buy all the materials very cheaply through work.

Right, next week I will be using the car in the Club Triumph Autosolo, I have also offered the use of the car to James Carruthers for this event. James is a tidy and smooth driver so it will be interesting to see how we compare, last time I did this I only managed to beat Katie Foreman using my car by 0.3secs over the day, I hope I can do better against James?

Found this photo of my car taking part in a TR Register Track Day back in 2004 at Mallory Park, really like it as the car looks to be going fast owing to the slight distortion, pretty little car eh!

This one is from the 2000 RBRR and is of my old mate Richard Arthers looking remarkably happy after 36 hours in the car!

Spanner time!

2009-07-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Been working on both the GT6 and the 2.5. GT6 to get ready for next weekends CT Autosolo and the saloon for last weekends CT National Day at Beaulieu.

I replaced the TCAs for the saloon, of course this was not easy as both the bushed joint was rusted solid on both arms and the drag strut to TCA joints were both rusted up. As speed was of the essence I bought re-con'd arms from James Paddock and bought a pair of secondhand drag struts from Canleys. This meant that I went up to Dave's to pick them up as well as the new longer CV driveshafts for the GT6. As I got there late in the afternoon we decided that a pint would be in order, so I popped down to The Manor in Fillongley with Dave and Joe Welling. Talking with them both, it looks like Canleys are about to enter another period of exciting new products for both small chassis'd, TR and big Saloon Triumph cars. I cannot divulge too much, but one or two saloon boys will be spending some money with Dave in September!

Anyrate back to the saloon, Saturday was spent sorting the front suspension out, I took the front subframe off the car and cleaned that up, re-fitted the frame, fitted the new TCAs and drag struts and then fitted the hubs etc. Followed by a good wash of the car it was soon time to get inside as darkness had descended! I enjoyed the day apart from the humidity. Only pig job being the fitting of the ARB links, these being the ball joint type as sold by Paddocks, I ended up having to drop the arb to get the link into place. Must say I did not find much difference with this better locating system, maybe its time to think about a different mounting and link them directly to the TCA. The car does roll, however I am loathe to fit a bigger diameter arb as I do not want any more understeer.

The next jobs to do to the car before the impending September CT 10CR are to get some localised welding to the sills of the car done to enable a MOT ticket to be obtained and change some UJs. Also of course I must change the cylinder head for the 2.5s unit I have.

Pic. showing the ARB link. I wonder how long it will last?

On the Sunday it was the CT National at Beaulieu in the New Forest. After talking to Doug Foreman during the week before the National, I offered to go and get the big fella from Ringmer, picking him up at 08.00. After an eventful drive we arrived at the National in a mega rainstorm making my fear of every CT National as a wet disaster seeming very probable. Anyrate it did not rain again, in fact many of us left the establishment looking a bit pink, especially Pete Fern and Alex Chandler, must be their ginger colouring? Besides is a pic of Mark Bland's fantastic 2000mk1, great the way mk1s are becoming so appreciated-Triumph's best?

It was great to see many old friends at the National. Good to see Doug and Mary Crutchfield in their glorious TR2, which got voted 'Car of the Day' following the submission of voting slips by nearly all present. Must say I was disapointed not to receive one vote for the 2.5, come on, open your peelers and see the quality of this car! Doug and Mary's TR2 won this award back in 2005, what is great about this car is that it is used, in fact I spent some time with them on the first 10CR in 2003. Last time I saw them was at last years Classic Le Mans, they were in Doug's gorgeous Morgan V8, they are always very welcoming and always good fun, some of Doug's observations are priceless and boy oh boy can he build a car!!

Also heartwarming was the reaction that Doug Foreman received from many who have not seen him since his M25 incident in March. The obvious fondness and greetings that he received from so many CT friends at the National emphasise the fact that he is a a popular sod! Doug's a strong old bugger, his injuries would have put paid to many a person, to see him walking around and obviously enjoying himself was terrific!

I always enjoy the CT National, it is not as big a day as the TR Reg or TSSC events, but it def. has a certain laid back charm, where the vibe seems to be have a chat, a cuppa and chill out talking about one's old car-seems ok to me! Club Triumph, the Club that likes to chat-dammed right!

On the way to Beaulieu we had passed a massive queue of cars on the A27/M27 attempting to get into the Goodwood Festival of Speed, as we seemed to have a ready made audience on the other side of the road I enjoyed giving the 2.5 some revs and letting the exhaust do the talking-fun if very childish!

I got in for about 19.00hrs after dropping Doug back at home, pleased in the fact that my work on the 2.5 had been successful and the car was definitely better than when I brought her back from Scotland following the LCC in June.

Above are the Vitesse of Nick Jones and 2000 of Chris Allen, both cars completed the last RBRR in October of 2008. I really like Chris' 2000, he uses it alot and the car has more or less converted Chris from being a Herald man to a big saloon man! As for Nick's Vitesse, I doubt if there is a more advanced Vitesse in the UK, the car features a Toyota gearbox, megajolt ignition and Nick's scratchbuilt single throttle body fuel injection. A superb car that will be going to Europe for the September 10CR. Also lurking in the background is Alex Chandler's 2000 mk1, a car that is coming on leaps and bounds, keep going Alex!

The snap below shows Carl Shakespeare's superb Dolly Sprint, this car also completed the last RBRR and is another example of a well executed rebuild where the owner is not scared to get out and use the car. I must get Carl to take me out for a spin in her sometime.

Right time to discuss the GT6, as mentioned previously the car did not get to Brands Hatch for the MGoT track evening as one of the driveshafts popped out. Well I stripped the rear suspension down on Thursday evening and have now got both suspension units ready to put back into the car after fitting longer shafts to the CV pots. Getting the old shafts out of the inboard pots was a bas*ard, ending up have to use some angle iron as a drift. Anyrate they are all back together and ready to go back in, one unit is in situ being held in with drifts at present as the picture testifys! Excuse the mess, but I slung everything back in under the car after finishing this evening. As can be seen my garage is a precast concrete type, this is hastening the departure from the world of the old car. In the 1.5 years I have left her in there she has taken on some serious rust owing to the way that concrete sweats. Once I have managed to save up some money I'd love to build a timber framed garage, however this could be some time as any spare dough seems to go back into the cars! I hope to have the car back on the road tomorrow night and will road test her on Sunday morning, cannot wait! Oh yes its the CT Autosolo a week on Sunday-fantastic!

At present I feel I have not done myself justice as my cars seem to be unreliable at present, the main reasons being complacency, lack of time and apathy! Spread too thin, umm!

Right too bed and then get up and meet some old friends for breakfast at a cafe, the three guys being friends of mine who I have known for 27 years and all having owned Triumphs at some point-TR6, Vitesse, 2.5Pi estate and Heralds. Might take the 2.5?

Blimey!

2009-06-27T01:24:00.001-07:00

Umm, TD at Brands Hatch did not go so well, I had a good drive in the GT6 over to Brands around the M25 fighting and sparring with the continental lorries and got to within 1.5miles of Brands Hatch when disaster struck!

I was coming down 'Death' hill (Yep, the locals call that section of the A20 that, nice name) when the car lost drive, I managed to freewheel around the roundabout at the end and into the Texaco PFS. Quick look underneath to discover the OS driveshaft hanging out of the hub. Spent an hour attempting to get the shaft back into the CV joint to no avail. The best way to have attempted the job would have been to have taken the shaft of the diff end, push the shaft back into the outer CV and put bolt the shaft back onto the diff. However this would have entailed getting under the car supported on a small trolley jack on a hill, thinking about either the car falling on me or the car running down the hill damaging the underneath made the decision to get her recovered home easy! So first use of Peter James Insurance breakdown recovery system. Must say the company who picked me up, PJM from Swanley, were excellent, the recovery man took alot of care and was very courteous, not bad as he seemed to be suffering from the mother of all colds!
I must say thanks to Richard and Hilary Brake and Mike Banks for stopping and helping to move the car, they pushed the car up a part of the hill, no easy push, so thanks very much. Its great the help one receives from fellow CT members, all the members I come across are very friendly and pleasant.
I spoke to Dave Pearson, and he has sent me some new 1/2'' longer shafts, these will cure the problem, I will fit these next week and hopefully the car will be good to use for the impending Club Triumph Autosolo at Buntingford.

Managed to get home by 17.30, immediately leapt into the Focus and drove back to Brands Hatch. I took my crash helmet back with me and enjoyed passenger laps in Michael Helm's TR6 and Andy Martin's Vitesse (6003VC-Ex Works Monte Carlo Vitesse-I think driven by future Le Mans great Porsche driver (911 and 917) Vic Elford), both being great cars and very well driven. Mike showed me some great lines and boy did he attack the corners in the car, the ride over the rumble strips being impressive! Mike told me that the car has hard springs, but as is usual for cars when on a track the car felt lightly sprung. However I felt the roll was abit too much, Mike agrees and I believe he may source a stiffer anti roll bar for the front end.
Andy's Vitesse is a beauty, very well tied down and just it goes where he points it, very good-who said Vitesse do not handle? The biggest difference I felt between the two cars was the extra grunt afforded by the 2.5 engine in Mike's TR over Andy's triple weber'd 2 litre six. This was the first time I had been in Andy's car, and I was totally won over by the car, the attention to detail is superb, minor things like the seat belt webbing used to pull the perspex side windows up and down, the authentic haphazard layout of the dash being two examples of the hard work that has gone into the car when built by Canley Classics and by Andy since he got her back 3 years ago. Andy often uses the car for work, how many ex-works rally cars are used for commuting!
Andy and Mike are both proper enthusiasts and good members of Club Triumph who get out there and use their cars. Thanks to them for the fast but safe laps of Brands!
As usual Paul Michelmore was terrorizing the circuit in his glorious six pot injected Spitfire, what a car. I must get Paul to take me around a track sometime, sure it will be fun! I reckon Paul's car is as well sorted as a Spitfire with a six cylinder engine could be. If ever there was a car that makes me think about moving the engine back in my GT6 then Paul's car is the one, terrific! Also great to see Richard and Hilary Brake having fun in Richard's injected six cylinder Spitfire, afterwards in the pub we had a chat about the rear suspension of the car, Richard feels some more work being needed to tie the rear end down. He has just fitted CV driveshafts to the car, these being a design using Escort and Volvo parts, as many have found after moving away from Rotoflex driveshafts he has found the driveability of the car to be very much improved.

Whilst at Brands is was great to see Doug and Katie Foreman who were taking the opportunity to have passenger rides in various cars. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Doug is looking after his horrendous accident in early March, what a resilient chap!
Also present were Dave Picton and 'Fred', Slezak, Dave using his mk2 Jag and Fred using her mk1 2000. This 2000 is another great car that is used in alot of CT events, as usual Fred was driving the car in her spirited manner. Talking later on I was told that Fred is driving her newly acquired Spitfire mk3 to Finland where she lives and works at present, good luck to her on that mammoth drive. Evidently Dave has bought her a nice toolkit for the car so she should be ok if any problems occur!

On the subject of roll, my 2.5 rolls alot, as previously mentioned I have bought some harder bushed arb links for the car, it will be interesting to see how they affect the roll of that car, there always seems alot of lost motion on the normal rubber bushed arb links.

Anyrate after Thursdays fun I now seem to have 4 Triumph cars and not one runner amongst them! Looks like Sunday will be busy!

I am comforting myself with the thought that if the driveshaft had popped out whilst driving around Brands Hatch it could have been disasterous!

Getting ready for Brands Hatch, Jaguars and the 'Space Race'

2009-06-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Have decided that I will use the GT6 for this week's TD evening at Brands Hatch. Therefore I have spent some time today working on the old car, this consisted of making some plates for sticking on the inner wheelarchs to spread the load for the roll over bar fixings, all went well. However I have found that the bottom of the rear NS wing has broken away from the floor and is flapping in the breeze. After having a good poke around a fair bit of welding is needed, I will need to get someone to make some plates up and get welding at some point (Maybe its time to start to learn to weld).
I also fitted the 5.5J steels onto the car, however I do not think they suit the car so will take off and go to Brands with the Revs fitted.
I had wanted to fit the Wilwood brake calipers to the car, however I do not have the correct studs so will not bother for now. I hope to be able to find the correct studs at say the Silverstone Historic or buy some from Namerick the nut and bolt supplier in Hove, Sussex.

Sort of looking forward to the evening, reckoning on getting about an hour or so solid driving around the track. Chris Shaw the Club's Track Day Organiser has done a great job selling the tickets, at one point it looked like we would only sell 10 tickets, his networking skills are good!

Talking to Dave Picton and 'Fred' Slezak who always do the CT TDs, I understand that Dave will be taking his mk2 Jag along as he does not have a Triumph on the road at present. Its a great car that is now looking a bit scruffy, in fact very similar to the mk2 Jag that featured within the film 'Withnail and I'. Dave and Fred left it with me one Xmas whilst they went to the USA and told me that I could have free use of her over the break, so took it out on Xmas Eve for a tour of few local pubs with my buddy Diz. Gotta say I enjoyed the drive, the weather was lousy, but we had some fun in the car. It was interesting to compare the car with my 2.5 saloon, in most areas I felt the Triumph was superior. The handling and ride of the 2.5 was superior and felt more modern. However the Jag had more grunt but was let down by the recalcitrant moss gearbox, but boy did the car have some prescence and it felt special to be driving something different on Xmas Eve.

Must say that I think the mk2 is a better looking car than the Triumph, William Lyons could definitely draw and style good looking cars. I think Jaguar saloon cars were better looking than the sports cars they produced, the XJ6 series one being to my eyes the best looking saloon car ever made. One of my neighbours has a newish XJ Jag and it sure is one good looking car, especially since Jaguar added the duct into the front wing just past the wheelarch. So exciting that Jaguar seem to be making cutting edge cars after years of being overshadowed by the German luxury car makers. This summer will see the replacement Jaguar of the XJ saloon and from what I have read it looks to be a tour de force, the car will again be alloy bodied, glued together like the present XJ and will have the latest Jaguar V8 engines in both petrol and stump pulling diesel guises. If it looks and goes anything like the XF they will have a winner on their hands. Gotta say I get sad when I think about the way the British car manufactuering business went, this nation has produced some great cars especially in the 60s and its sad to think they have all gone away. I know some will say that one can still buy Minis, Bentley and Rolls Royce, but they seem sort of fraudulant, especially the 'plastic' Mini that is sold on a bogus 60s Britain ticket, reckon Issigonis must be turning in his grave! I just hope that BMW do not ever re-introduce the Triumph marque name, time to let the name die!

With regard to the saloon I have purchased two TCAs with which have polybushes fitted from James Paddock, also bought some up-rated anti roll bar links and a head gasket set for the impending cylinder head change. Must say I was impressed with the service and prices I received from this company, will use them again. I hope to get stuck into the car next weekend. As I have mentioned before I bought the head from Andy Pearce, he contacted me the other week to tell me to get the head on pronto as its a good one and I will notice an immediate increase in both power and torque. I cannot think why I have never fitted the thing?

On a completely different subject there have been a number of programmes on BBC commemorating the 40th Anniversary since the NASA Apollo moon landings. I was eight when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the moon and don't really have much memory of it. But my word how amazing that they did such a thing, I think the computing power of the moon landing craft was less than the computer I am using to type this blog! Shocking really that the promise of the Apollo missions was not built upon apart from the Space Shuttle missions. One of the programmes had a NASA chap on who stated that they hope to go back to the Moon in I think 2018. Blimey from Kennedy's emotive speech about going the moon it took 8 years, even though the missions in 2018 will be alot more complicated it shows the speed and will power involved in Apollo!

Post Unofficial La Carrera Caledonia

2009-06-09T05:38:00.000-07:00

Well back safe and sound from Scotland after a mammoth 535miles drive yesterday. I left Aviemore at 6.20am and got home at 14.40, not bad.

Following the trip, I have a number of issues to address on the car:

1. Bottom ball joints (TCA) need replacing. Some have told me that these are easy, some others tell me that one needs to get them done professionally, not sure. I see Rimmers sell rebuilt TCAs at £38ish. Seems dear, will shop around.

2. Valve seat recession is starting to get very bad. I checked the valve clearances at Callender and found that the car had no gap on the exhaust valves. Years ago I bought a 2500S head from Andy Pearce, so will have look at that and fit it. It is fitted with bigger valves so should be suitable.

3. I reckon the sills need to be replaced, the car is creaking and when jacked up the doors do not close very cleanly. (I remember this happening to a new Pug 405 I had years ago-good eh). Money being a bit tight means that I will have to wait abit though. The MOT test is due before the Club Triumph 10 Countries Run, so will hope to get the car through with some localised welding?

4. Ujs are knocking on take up, so will replace those once the problem ones have been identified.

Otherwise she remains a great example of one of these under-rated cars, what old sixties saloon car could travel 500 miles very easily in 8 hours and still be able to mix it with the fat cats in their modern Jags and BMWs on the M40 motorway as we headed to London!

Talking with Dave Langrick a couple of months ago he feels I am stretched attempting to keep two cars on the road, gawd knows what it will be like when I start to use the Herald. Still I have nothing I wish to do to the GT6, so hopefully expenditure will not be needed on that little car.

Back to the 'Unofficial' LCC, it was ok, but taking part on my own was'nt as good as I had hoped. However spending time with Dave Pearson and Jason Chinn was good, thanks to them for letting me tag along. Dave's Vitesse was fine, low geared but otherwise she went well, very nippy.

As usual the Scottish scenery was breathtaking, I always find it amusing that British people like to bog off to Europe, when all they need to do is travel up to Scotland and see such marvellous views, still leaves it all unspoilt. Best thing about Scotland is the sense of pride the locals have in their beautiful countryside, exemplified by the lack of rubbish everywhere.

The best moment for me during the event was finding a superb dinner stop at Dull, a village near Tummel Bridge. If ever in the vicinity, do go to the 'Adventure' business and have lunch-very tasty. As is the way on the LCC, the Saturday night was a bit boozie. I enjoyed a nice curry with Dave, Jase, Mike and Ive and then we stumbled into the Waverley Hotel to find Dave L, Frenchie and co already stuck into the beer, seemed rude not to join them. I waddled back to the Dreadnought Hotel (Reckon its days are past-knock it down!) at gone 12, marvelling at the darkness of the town, remember that in June it does not get dark until 10.30-11.00 up there. The Dread's Scottish breakfast lived up to its name-nouveau Brekkie anyone!

What to do next year now that McJim has finished the event. Many feel that Club Triumph should take it over. At last nights CT Ctte meeting we discussed this, but will have further talks and make a decision soon. One thing is for sure if we do, we must invite other old car clubs along, the variety of vehicles makes the event more interesting. Also Jim's knowledge of Scottish roads is extensive, so I am sure he would have to be consulted/utilised.

A Saturday afternoon stop when we bumped into the Notts lot.

Saturday early evening at the car park near 'The Dreadnought Hotel'. Looks like some of the usual CT small talk is on! Actually what a poor pic!

Car park at Kenmore, Dave and Jase look to be deep in conversation. Nice orange ST in the background eh!

So all in all a nice weekend.

What next, MGoT Track Evening at Brands Hatch on Thursday 25/06: I will use the GT6 and I hope to have the Wilwood brake calipers fitted.

As a postscript, if ever in Cumbria, have a drive along the B5305 from M6 jct 41 to Wigton, great road!

Off to Scotland

2009-06-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday 09.00am:

Right, getting ready for this weekend's fun in Scotland. I was going to take the GT6, but as I need to be back in London for Monday nights Club Triumph Committee Meeting I have decided to use the 2.5.

The La Carrera Caledonia was a CT Drivers Challenge round, but as the 'Official' event was cancelled and we are now all taking part in an unofficial event, CT have decided to delete the event from the DC. Therefore I could have taken the Focus, however I suppose that would not be in the spirit of things!

The 2.5 has not been used since the HCR in April and I have had a number of issues to rectify as follows:

Re-build front NS hub include replace the stub axle and fit new bearing.

Fit a new electric fan. As the engine is now in the correct position (!) the crank shaft pulley fouls the Pacet fan, this has caused the spindle on the fan to break. Therefore whilst I await a smaller unit, I will fit the electric fan of the GT6. I will take a standard crankshaft pulley mounted fan with me as back up in the boot to Scotland. Only snag with that could be that the oil cooler will be in the way!

The carburettor throttle linkeage fouls the choke spindle bar, this will need a bit of light filing!

Adjust the valve clearances, standard camshaft therefore 10 thou everywhere.

That is it apart from a good wash-the car that is!

Thursday 11.00pm:

Umm, managed to get the above done today as well as find time for a 1.5hour kip on the sofa, I do like an afternoon snooze! Took the car over to Andy Martin's to pick up some items that he needs to get to Dave Pearson tomorrow (Some ex-works Rally Car parts-bit daunting having irreplaceable stuff in the boot) , the car seemed to be going well, although it is still pinking. This is down to the shagged out dizzy. I have two options, buy a 123 or buy a second hand Lucas unit that is correct for the car and get that re-built. Dave Langrick has one of those spare and will sell to me? At present I am thinking 123.

Tomorrow morning will be spent travelling up to Dave's to meet up with him and Jason. Also Tim Hunt is going to meet us as well, a spot of lunch and then off to the Old Stone Trough at Keswick. I will check the wheel bearings before I go tomorrow morning though!

It will be nice to get some mileage done in the 2.5, and after checking on Google Maps, I have found that the mileage from Aviemore to Crews Hill is 520miles! Looks like the long legged gearing of 27mph/1000 revs in overdrive top will be useful!

Below is a pic of the car and James Carruther's 2000 on last years LCC

Stub Stacks

2009-05-30T04:52:00.001-07:00

Recently bought some stub stacks from Calver Tuning. I ordered alloy units, but as Keith Claver did not have any alloy ones to hand, he sent me a couple of Kevlar items-blimey, doubt if there is a slower car driving in the UK that has Kevlar items attached to it! Superb service though, I e-mailed back and stated that if he got some alloy units done I would be happy to replace, Keith kindly said not to worry! Nice bloke.

I was talking to the chap I have previously mentioned who beat me at the Bocardo Autosolo, he has used some of Keith's products on his Mini and found them to be very good backed up with quality service. Nice to hear of someone in the tuning world who is not 'Up their own backside'!

Right, time to sit down and watch the Cup Final, bit nervous, but hoping that Chelsea can beat Everton. Come on you, er Yellows!

Some more pictures!

2009-05-26T13:37:00.001-07:00

This is Doug Foreman's mk3 GT6. A good old car that sometimes has been used to carry his anvil. Doug is a farrier and used to use the car for work. Goes well this one. The pic was taken at a Bedford CC Autotest back in 2005.

Excuse the lines through the pic, this one is Martin Randle's lovely TR7 FHC, as can be seen it is sporting the original BL works colour scheme. I think this pic was taken just after the car had been painted in this scheme-looks good for a TR7 eh!

James Carruther's 2000 mk1, really nice car this, looks very good with the minilites. Good colour for a mk1.

This is Andy Flexney's TR3A, taken on the first 10CR at Nice. Paul Darbyshire is beside him, my memory of them on this event was that they spent the whole time laughing. Top car.

Get out and use them!

2009-05-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Time to write about some of the recent events that I have taken part in, these were done during a 3 week stretch using the 2.5 and the GT6.

Club Triumph Historic County Run: Coast to Coast: 18/19th April
Entered this fine event with James Carruthers using my 2.5. We arrived at the start in Southwold in the company of Ellis Stoke/Keith Compton Bishop in Ellis' 2500TC (Known as 'The Bus') and Nick Jones and Duncan Edwards in Nick's superb Vitesse mk1 convertible. I immediately got under the car to resolve a rear suspension knocking noise, found both sub-frame mounts loose-very weird and unfortunately a taste of things to come on the event. After meeting up with Dave Langrick and his mate Howard we decided we would accompany them for a great part of the route. Dave was in his Spitfire/GT6 hybrid affectionately known as 'The Maiden'. This is a terrific little car that I think is presently running a 2000cc six cyl engine with Lucas Pi, this coupled with the fibreglass bonnet makes her a fast old thing that does not suffer from the usual GT6 trait of understeer. After a serious bit of plotting from the start to the finish in Wales it was decided that 'Chips in Diss' were required. Luckily we found a good chippie on the outskirts of the town that suffers from the good chip shop recommendation of big queues-we enjoyed very nice savaloy and chips washed down with a can of coke-bloomin marvellous! Then it was time to get motoring and of we went, bumping into many of the 25 or so entrants at various places. The only grief that was encountered was at Greys Court near Henley where we seemed to wake up the inhabitant of the gatehouse, he seemed a bit pee'd off so we beat a hasty retreat-never nice to see an angry bloke in a dressing gown-I was looking for the shot gun and the words of 'Get off my land'! We got to the halfway stop at Chieveley Services on the M4 and submitted our half time results to the organisers Dale Barker and Brian Maslin. A quick cup of coffee and some more map plotting and it time to make a move. Up to Worcester the car seemed to be going well, however we started to hear a grinding noise which turned out to be the crankshaft pulley rubbing on the electric fan motor. At a well lit petrol station I took the fan off the car and off we went with James driving. As we seemed to be losing time and the roads having less traffic the driving became more spirited with Dave and Howard setting the pace. Once we crossed into Wales I took over and with 20 miles could feel some problem with the nsf wheel. Pulling into a garage, I pulled the dust cover off the hub to discover a totally shagged wheel bearing, depressingly enough this meant 'Game Over' as I did not have a spare one with me. Dave and Howard got on their way and me and James waited for the recovery truck. On stripping down the hub I have found the stub axle to be badly damaged as well, replacement of all of this and the rectification of the electric fan issue goes on at present.
A bad way to end this event, this has affected my chances of winnig the CT 'Drivers Challenge' as bonus points are being awarded to entrants who have successfully completed the HCR-bummer!

Oxford Motor Club 'Bocardo' Autosolo: 26th April
I took part in this event last year and throughly enjoyed my self, so when the Regs. for the event came out my entry went in very quickly. Many reading this will have heard about the terrible accident that happened to Doug Foreman on the M25 in February. Last year both Doug and Katie Foreman took part in this event using Doug's now written off Herald 13/60 and after the terrible time that Katie has endured I thought it would be an idea for her to enter the event using the GT6, a quick telephone call and she accepted the offer. Well it would not do for the 'Club Triumph Drivers Champion' not be doing any competitive motoring this year.
For this years event Oxford MC had hired a big car park at Silverstone just off the main entrance road. I arrived nice and early to see Mike Helm and his TR6 already parked up and after all the bureacracy of signing on, scrutineering and drivers briefing the timed runs started. 50 drivers were entered and us Triumph folk were in the 'Historic' class. Other cars in this class being Mike's TR6, Mike Bishop's Herald rally car and couple of Minis, one a really nice bright yellow 1275 Cooper S replica, making it a 6 driver group. The mornings runs consisted of two tests that we drove 3 times each, nest two times being used for event total. I thought I was well off the pace and not really in the swing of things, however after looking at the times I seemed to be leading the class by lunch. The afternoon sessions got going and I got into the groove and was feeling alot happier with my driving and come the last test all I had to do was drive well and just post reasonably competitive times. Not sure what happened but my first one was very slow, the second run was good and competitive all that was now needed was a similar time and the class win was mine. Alas I made a real dogs dinner of it and wrong slotted, having to reverse this resulted in a bad time. Got back to the paddock area to lots of mickey taking from Mike Helm and Andy Flexney who had dropped in to spectate for an hour or so. After some quick mental arithmetic it seemed that Katie had won the class with me second so we hung around. When the results were announced the chap in the yellow Mini had won and I came second, very surprising. Without sounding patronising I think Katie drove my car very well, in fact alot better than me, she seemed to be very smooth around the course. I must say it was weird watching my car being driven hard, but I had faith that she would drive the car with care and so it turned out. I understand she is now barracking Doug to get him to build a decent roundtail GT6! Come on Doug, stop messing around with Heralds and get a round tail to complement your square tail! Please see below a pic of Katie driving the car, weirdly enough the chap who took the pics did not take any of me driving it?

An absolute top event that was great fun if a little ultimately a little disappointing. Club Triumph will be running its own Autosolo in July, I hope that many members will take the chance to have a go at this event as it is such good fun.

MGoT Cadwell Park Track Day: 1st May
This was my second TD at Cadwell, CT visited this venue last year. What a great circuit, full of twists and turns and apart from the back straight, one that does not seem to have any places for a quick breather. Its a narrow track, however a GT6 is an ideal little car for use owing to its narrow width. I think about 20 or so CT members were there using GT6s, Spitfires, Wedge TRs, Heralds and Lloyd McNeill's glorious Standard Ten (Pic posted previously on this blog).
I did my first run but came in after some serious rear end noises started. On examination it was found that the rear end propshaft UJ looked suspect, so I got stuck into changing the coupling once Ken McNeill very kindly gave me a spare he had in the van they had used to trailer the Ten to Cadwell. I have not changed a coupling in years but found the job went very well using some sockets, a hammer and flat piece of wood-very surprising. This meant that I got out on the third session and found the car to be most improved. I had also with the help of Paul Hughes put some washers inbetween the front calipers and vertical link mounts as I seemed to be getting some wheel to caliper rubbing. After lunch I did a further three sessions and thoroughly enjoyed myself. For the fourth session I went out as a passenger with Chris Shaw and his sorted TR7 8V convertible, this is one tidy car all the work having been executed with care and consideration. Chris's car seemed so much more civilised than my GT6 and owing to his skills behind the wheel we seemed to be going very well around the track, I think the only car that went past us being Paul Michelmore and his rapid Pi 2000cc Spitfire. This is a neutral handling car that has had the engine moved back by using a Spitfire front plate and mounts. Paul was driving in his usual spirited manner and did have a serious monment after overtaking us, as he went over the rise adjacent to the pits he put his nsr wheel onto the grass. This resulted in some serious oversteer, he must have kept his 'Foot in' and eventually drove it out but I bet it raised the old heart rate! Below is a black and white pic of this car taken at Donnington in 2006.
After the last session a few of us, Sarah and Andy Johnson, Chris Shaw, Dale Barker and Tom Keys went to a decent pub for a pint and some grub, the perfect way to end a great day. Dave Langrick calls these 'Event De-Briefs', must say I like 'De-Briefs'!
As usual it must be said that the standard of driving at Cadwell amongst the CT drivers was very good. The thing to remember about Track Days is that one can drive at a pace that one is happy with, not worry about other drivers and just have a good time. It is important though to take part in a TD that has similar cars being used, I have done a modern cars TD using the GT6, not fun. The extra benefit of TDs being that I think it does improve ones driving when it comes to driving on the road-makes sense to leave the fast driving to circuits and the like.

The next MGoT/CT TD is due at Brands Hatch in June, I will def. be going, however I will take the 2.5 as I think it is time to give that car a good blast!

A few more groovy cars!

2009-05-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Thought it would be an idea to show some more pics!

Picture from the first 10CR, taken in Nice. Red GT6 is the one owned by Doug Foreman, besides it is the Herald 1200 of Andy and Sarah Johnson. A few other CT cars are scattered around the car park.

This one is from the same event and strangely enough these are still owned by the same people:
L -R: Martin Randle's TR7, Don Cook's GT6, Andy Flexney's TR3A, Doug Crutchfield's TR2 and my GT6. Good eh!

Andy MacDonald's 'Worksalike'. His glorious old mk1 that had a Rover V8 and was running Pi. This car flew, this pic was taken on the 05 10CR, think its on the motorway near Nice? Paul Shattock is in the driving seat, Andy Mac beside him and Sam Shattock in the back. Andy has recently sold this car, shame as she was a good 'un.

Nigel Gair's glorious 2000 Mk2. A famous CT car and many an inspiration to CT members. Nigel has done many RBRRs in this car. I hope he will be joining us at the forthcoming MGoT at Brands Hatch in June.

Modsport GT6: This pic was nicked from a copy of Sports Car Monthly an old car magazine from the early 80s. I seem to remember the writer complaining about the heavy steering, evidently it was fast though!

Andy Martin's Vitesse 60002VC, is there a better Vitesse? Andy uses this car, it has been on most CT events, most recently the Historic County Run. Andy is true Triumph enthusiast, has owned them since the early 80s. He also owns a gorgeous TR4A, lucky fellar!

One of my old Mondeos, this one was superb, 100K miles and nothing went wrong! Apols for sticking this up here, but I just love series 2 Ford Mondeos. Not so sure about the new one though, styling is a bit heavy!

CT Competition Secretary Dale Barker's Herald. Another superb car, again tuned and modified but reliable. I have sat as passenger in this at Castle Combe, it handles nicely and goes really well.

This car is another of those inspirational Triumphs. Owned by a chap called Bill Haseldine, Bill used to hillclimb and sprint the car in the early 80s, I remember an early morning blast to Goodwood in about 1983 in this car, seem to remember we did the trip very quickly! The first triumph I saw on revolution wheels, made an impression on me! Bill still owns the car, though I have not seen it for a couple of years.

Pic of my 2.5 with two ex-works cars and a Triumph Chicane. Taken last year after the LCC in June.

Bank Holiday Weekend

2009-05-21T12:54:00.001-07:00

As usual its been a busy week, work is a bit manic, which is nice-busy times means job security.

Right back to the cars, I have just been speaking to my Brother in Law who has carried out some blasting and powder coating work to some wheels and an old Aleybar rear roll over cage I have, these are shown below, a good job eh! I hope to fit the bar to the GT6 on Saturday afternoon in time for the Standard Triumph Forum meeting at Duxford on the Sunday. I am not one for car shows, however the Imperial War Museum is so good that the chance of cheap admission and the ability to spend some time there should not be missed.

If time permits I will fit the Wilwood four pot calipers to the car, just got to have some brake pipes modified to fit the american threaded unions that are in the calipers. The pads for these calipers have a larger surface area than the standard calipers and the calipers weigh considerably less as well-I hope that the braking of the car will be improved?

The pics of the brake pads show the difference in size between the Wilwood and Hi Spec, the greenstuff items being the ones for the Wilwood calipers. The Wilwood caliper has a bracket bolted to it which I hope will fit the GT6's uprights, no problem if they don't as I have a set of the brackets that will fit.

Bank Holiday Monday will be spent working on the saloon, I have more or less got the new stub axle back on the car, just need to fit new wheel bearings to the hubs and a new track rod end and I can then drop the car back onto its four wheels. I have hit a stumbling block though, the Pacet fan has been fouled by the crankshaft pulley. This was taken off the car during the LCC and slung into the boot. I had intended to use it mounted in front of the radiator and was hoping that I would be able to take the fan off its spindle and simply reverse it around. No such luck, once I managed to get the fan off I found that it is not reversible and that unless I can source a smaller crankshaft pulley and damper I will need to get a different fan for the car. Only saving grace is that I may be able to use this one on the Herald? Looking on-line I see that Kenlowe do a 13'' dia fan for under £100.00, this is reversible so would be suitable if I cannot mount the fan because of space restrictions to suck the air through the rad. Looks like a purchase may be necesary.

Just been in my shed, what a mess, need to sort it out. I am thinking of buying some decent racking to store parts upon as it needs to be a tidy shed. I spend so much time messing around looking for parts, this time wasting needs to be reduced! I may at some point buy another shed and have that as a workshop, not sure? I was at Micheal Helm's place the other day, man oh man he has a set up that is very impressive. Two big units that house all his cars and a 4 post lift-lucky sod! Anyrate Mike has said that I could use his premises anytime, very decent of him eh! That is the thing about Club Triumph, so many members are willing to help others, top bunch of people!

Below are some snaps from the recent MGoT Track day at Cadwell Park as attended by 20 or so CT members. These pics. show Keith Dandridges silver mk2 GT6, Lloyd McNeill's glorious Standard Ten historic racer and Bryce Greenwood's just MOT'd after a re-build TR7 V8. The quality of cars that CT members took up to Cadwell was really good and a cracking day was had by all!

As mentioned previously I am taking part in the La Carrera Caledonia in a week or two and the after fiting the roll over bar and the new calipers I will have the car in the state that I want for this event. I have decided to take part on my own, following Keith Bennett's lead in the 2005 event when he did that in his TR4A. This will mean that I need to make some notes that can be easily read whilst on the move. I will be travelling up to the start in Gretna with Dave Pearson and Jason Chinn, not sure which car they are using, I hope its Dave's Courier Van? We usually stay at 'The Old Stone Trough' near Barnoldswick and get to enjoy the 'Pendle and Pennine' meeting, unfortunately their were no rooms left so we have decided to drop in at the OST for a meal and then go and stay up near Carlisle. This will mean the usual early morning blast to Gretna is avoided, a drive that is often undertaken with a mega headache following a few too many beers the night before. Really looking forward to the LCC, just a shame that Jim McGuinness is not running a small 'Test' for us on the Saturday evening. This will be my fifth LCC, 2 in the 2.5, hopefully 2 in the GT6 and 1 in James Carruthers 2000 mk1 following GT6 issues and a break down on the way to Scotland in 2007.

Above are two snaps from the 2005 event, these show Steve Waddingham and the GT6 somewhere in Scotland and James Carruthers, Steve Waddingham, Keith Bennett and Jim McGuinness at a stop again somewhere in Scotland! I reckon McJim has put on some weight!

Cars to own one day!

2009-05-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

Like most 'Anoraks' I have a list of a few cars that I would someday like to own, whilst there are many on this list, there are a few specfic cars that I really like so I thought it would be good to post a snap or two of them:

Ex-Works 2.5Pi mk1 as photographed during the 07 Norwich Union Classic.

John Chatham's gorgeous 'Big Healey' just look at those Borrani alloy wire wheels-this car is superb.

Not sure if this little Lotus is a Type 47 or a Europa, still, bloomin' lovely eh!

A good day.

2009-05-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I bought some Dunlop 5.5J solid steel wheels from fellow CT member Clive Senior, a good purchase.

To tidy them up I have just dropped them at my brother in laws company to get them blasted and powder coated, I am also getting my old Aleybars roll over bar (Blimey, bought this in about 1988) for the GT6 done as well. For all items I have gone for mid grey, decided upon grey for the roll over bar as I think a black bar would be a bit oppressive in the tight confines of the GT6. I have decided to re-fit the bar to the GT6, I seem to be using the car for track days and the like and after witnessing the injuries that have befallen Doug Foreman and Karl Dandridge I have decided that making the old cars a bit safer would not go amiss. I have also purchased a good quality 4 point Luke safety harness and 3 sets of 'Eye Bolts', these will be fitted to the GT6, the 2.5 and the Herald. This will give me the option of being able to switch the harness around the cars.

On the subject of Doug, I have just been speaking to CT member Bob King, seems like him and Roger Baldwinson and a few other Gatwick Area CT Members have just been to Doug's place and fitted the engine, gearbox and drivetrain from Doug's smashed Herald into his newly acquired red 13/60 saloon and got the new car running-good work fellas!

Tomorrow will be spent fitting the a new stub axle and wheel bearing kit to the 2.5. I also intend to change the engine mounts and re-mount the pacet fan as this is now fouling the crank pulley-this is weird as the car has had the Pacet fitted for years and then suddenly on the CT HCR the pulley started to hit the fan motor! Weird things these old cars.

Thought I should mention that on behalf of CT I was invited to attend the RNLI Dinner and Awards Presentation that was held at The Barbican in London last Thursday. CT President Derek Pollock was also invited and I must say we had a cracking lunch and afternoon. Thanks to Heidi Chaplin for looking after us and making sure we were comfortable. The RNLI is a top organisation and some of the stories we were told about were very moving. I still find it incomprehensible that the RNLI needs to raise over £100million to operate each year, most comes from annual donations from estates of the dead, the balance being raised by a mammoth team of volunteers raising events etc.
Must say I am very proud of the amount of money that all the CT members raised by taking part in last years 2008 RBRR, £65,000.00 was a fantastic amount of money. I hope that we can achieve a similar amount for the Charity we decide to support when we do the 2010 RBRR. Worth showing the amount of money that CT members taking part in the RBRR have managed to collect for the various Charities:
1990 British Heart Foundation £13,500.00
1992 Imperial Cancer Research Fund £ 8,500.00
1994 Leukaemia Research Fund £11,500.00
1996 Alzheimers Research Trust £21,750.00
1998 MacMillan Cancer Relief £37,800.00
2000 Children with Leukaemia £41,000.00
2002 Multiple Sclerosis Society £37,300.00
2004 Children with Leukaemia £47,100.00
2006 BLISS: Premature Babies £50,600.00
2008 Royal National Lifeboat Institution £65,000.00
Grand Total £331,650.00

Below is a pic of the 2.5 as taken by Kevin Rochfort on the RBRR at Lands End with the RNLI stickers attached. Beside it is the Herald of Andrew Plews and the Vitesse of Andy Martin.

I am wary of being too keen with this Blog, so many seem to start Blogs with good intentions and then after an intial burst of activity stop updating them, I hope I can manage to update the Blog regularly.

Car Pics. Bit dull eh!

2009-05-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Above are some pics of the other cars I own. The Sprint ain't dumped!

Wotcha!

2009-05-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Well I started a Blog years ago, and like a real mungo forgot how to re-new. So here goes, hopefully after writing some notes down I may do better this time?

I will use this Blog to talk about my cars and my interests, these being music, books, football and film. I can be a bit anal about music so I must apologise in advance if I get a bit sad and rant on about good bands and crap bands!

I am Secretary of Club Triumph, a National Car Club (1450 members) that is dedicated to the use and up keep of old Triumph cars. Bloomin' excellent club full of great people, some of whom I will discuss (look out) and one that also happens to organise great car events! Mine is the usual story within CT, took part in the Round Britain reliability Run and found I liked the Club and stayed.

I work for a company called Spadeoak Construction Co. Limited. A great place to work that is staffed by some top people, some who have become good friends of mine. There are also one or two losers at work, but hey, ain't that always the way! Most of my colleagues think I am a bit of an anorak as I am into old cars, but what is wrong with knowing the torque setting of Triumph 6 cylinder head nuts-essential info if you ask me!

I own 4 Triumph cars, these being:
1970 GT6 mk2 (Pic above): I have owned this little car for over 25years and obviously am very keen on the car. Most of the work on the car has been done by me apart from welding and painting, and a bit of spannering. During these years I use the old thing for many activities, endurance events, track days, rallies, autosolos, commuting(!) and of course going down the shop to get the paper. Thinking about it I even used her for a bit of courier work when I was a self employed courier, did'nt get much into her but a few sacks of mail but I seem to remember I got paid well for the particular collection - broke one of the luggage boards though.

So much has been done to the car, and without being deadly dull I think I am now on the third engine, fifth gearbox, and fourth diff. The car has been painted two times during my tenure, the last job done about 5 years ago is not lasting very well and will almost certainly need doing in a year or so. Rot is starting to break out again, so I will need to source a good bodywork shop, I may possibly use Karl Dandridge if he can manage to look after himself!

The car is not extremely modded, apart from the lack of rear bumpers and the addition of Revolution alloys looks almost standard. The car has Canley Classic CV driveshafts, the CC big front hub kit, a J type overdrive, 3.63:1 diff and a slightly modified engine with SU HS6 carbs fitted. I have no plans for the car other than the fitment of some alloy brake calipers, basically I intend to just use the car for the future.

I have just completed a Track Day at Cadwell Park with various friends and mates with Club Triumph. The little car did ok after I had changed the rear UJ on the propshaft. She ain't the fastest GT6 but has quite neutral handling and is very easy to drive at 80-90%. A week before the TD I used the car for a Oxford Motor Club Autosolo event at Silverstone. The little car did really well as it was 'Double Driven' by Katie Foreman, Doug's daughter. I just lost first place in the 'Historic' class by a second or two to a lovely prepared Mini (Cocked up my last test by wrong slotting) and managed to beat Katie by 0.3sec! She did very well considering she had not driven a GT6 since driving 'Bob' her father's red mk3 a couple of years ago-this was all a bit annoying actually-I think she would almost certainly beat me next time if she uses the car.

The next event that I think I will use the car for is the La Carerra Caledonia, Jim McGuiness' superb Touring event in Scotland set for the first weekend of June. Loads of Club Triumph members are going up for the event, so it should be a good giggle. Good roads, good company and a few drinks in the evening-sounds good eh!

Otherwise I will use the car for the Club Triumph Autosolo that is set for 19th July, this is shaping up into a superb event, I hope we manage to get 40 cars taking part. Could be some serious needle as many within the Club fancy themselves as good drivers and this will be the first time that CT has offered a competitive event in nearly 30 years and therefore given members the chance to compete amongst themselves! I am confident that GT6s will come near the top as they are so suitable for this discipline owing to their small size, the ease of placing them and the torquey nature of the six-cylinder engine.

1969 2.5Pi Mk1: Bought this old car in 2004 from a chap called Andy Topp in Dorset. What a fantastic car, Andy had looked after her, all the work that he had done was of a high standard. However as I have done some serious motoring in the big car I have had to replace the diff and gearbox. She has a 28% J type overdrive that coupled with 15'' wheels and 65 profile tyres results in 27/1000rpm in o/d top. This enables the old beast to eat the mileage up making the car very suitable for long distance motoring.

The car should be fitted with Lucas Petrol Injection, however when I bought her she had a set of SU HS6 carbs from a 2500S model fitted. I have all the old injection kit, but am hesitant to fit at present as the car is so reliable. I may have to embark on a engine re-build soon so will think about fitting the PI kit then? Otherwise the only mods apart from a bit of suspension work has been the addition of alloy body panels: Doorskins and bonnet. This work was done last year by a company run by my mate Steve Waddingham, and what a superb job, best thing that can be said is that these panels which were hand formed are indistinguishable from the old steel panels. They also stamped some louvres into the bonnet to give the car a nice ex-works touch. This has proved to be a valuable cooling aid, knocking the engine temp down by 5 degrees C. Again the car is fitted with Revolution wheels which do set the car off nicely.

The last use for the car was the Club Triumph Historic County Run, unfortunately the nearside wheelbearing failed, this resulted in a 6 hour trip home on the back of a car transporter! Apols. to co-driver and fellow grey mk1 owner James Carruthers for this-shockingly poor maintenance!

The next major use for the car is the Club Triumph 10 Countries Run in September, CT Mate Dave Kent is accompanying me, just hope the car is ok as we will be heading to Andorra-bloomin' long way or what!

1962 Herald Coupe: Bought this little car in 2006 and have only driven her 31 miles. I have great plans for this car, I have already re-built the suspension and brakes and fitted a 3.63:1 diff. The next work is to fit a J type o/d gearbox and a racy engine. Other mods are the fitment of some nice 5.5J solid Dunlop wheels that I have just bought from CT Member Clive Senior, these wheels are now ultra rare and I think a nice period touch. I suspect they will not be much good from the aspect of allowing cool air to hit the brakes, but hey, style over substance! I also bought a full cage from renowned Herald racer Kevin Hadfield, this will be fitted when I have the bodywork tidied up by the aforementioned Karl Dandridge later this year. At present I am awaiting my cylinder head back from Roy Burrell Engineering in Coventry, once back I have to source some clutch parts and then it will be all steam ahead to get the car running.

Once back on the road I will use her for some of the events that the GT6 is used for, possibly the RBRR next year?

1977 Dolomite Sprint: Umm, not too good this one. Bought in 1994 and hardly used since. I must get stuck into this car next year, a good reason to finish off the Herald! No real plans at present, but one or two thoughts tat are to probably to turn her into a Track day vehicle as these cars are so suitable for track work once the brakes are sorted. Nice predictable handling, but would it be as good as the 2.5?

Trouble with old Triumph motor cars is that they represent relatively good value for money (Apart from TR5s) making it too easy to suddenly end up with a collection. I have many friends within CT who have at least two of them, and as is the way, many have one on the road plus one in the garage being finished and another squirreled away ready to be started on once time is available. This a terrible situation that causes nothing but stress and angst. People only have to mention the words Dolomite Sprint to me and I start to feel terribly guilty, I have this fear of going to the lock up that the car is in and finding a pile of sandglow coloured dust-not good for the constitution!