Testing Times

The Stylus is coming off the road at the end of the month, I shall cash in the tax & the DVLA can send me a cheque (yes really! They're that retro), so in the last few days I've been testing the axle. I took it to Wickes to get some DIY stuff (not a large quantity obviously) & I took it to the Burghfield starter & Alternator centre to collect my lovely girlfriend's new alternator, I also took it somewhere that shall not be named to pick up a Christmas present for said girlfriend. Today I was intending taking it to Guildford Christmas shopping, but around lunchtime as I was cutting what passes for grass at the moment (the mower picked up six bags of pine needles & my shoe picked up some cat sh*t) when a message came through from Mark of the Rogues saying he fancied taking the car out. I suggested Lasham airfield & we agreed to meet there.

 

I did see a member of the local constabulary on my way, isn't there a rule about parking on the pavement?

Perhaps the grass verge doesn't count.

In fact it was a tale of four airfields, I set off avoiding the motorway & as I was slowing for a roundabout on the A30 there was a bit of a thump, so I called into Blackbushe - an EX RAF base - to shake the wheels & generally look for gaps where something might've fallen off.

The sign for RAF Odiham is just behind the Transit van

Finding none, I moved on, passing RAF Odiham where a transit van spoiled my picture of the signage, but there was a Chinook with a couple of slings hanging from it flying about.

So eventually I arrived at ex RAF Lasham which was where 613 Squadron (no, not the Dambusters - that's 617) took off from on a raid to hit the Gestapo's population record office in The Hague. In a feat worthy of modern day laser guided bombs, the Mosquitos arrived at a height of 50ft, the first two put high explosive bombs in through the roof, the next three dropped incendiaries in through the hole, the sixth aircraft suffered a "hang up" (the bombs didn't drop). Only about 25% of the records were destroyed, but the mess created & the staff killed meant many Dutch resistance fighters could use false papers as they could not be checked against the duplicates.

We parked on one of the "dispersal" circles the Mosquitos would've been parked out on & I went & read the memorial while I waited for Mark. We had coffee & cake & chatted while sitting outside watching the gliders taking off & landing. Very pleasant.

So that was three airfields, then on the way back I turned off the M3 at Junction 4a & went home via Farnborough, passing under the replica Gloster Whittle on the roundabout.

But the best bit is - drum roll - when I got home, no drippage from either end of the rear axle!

What Else Has Happened?

 Well, since you asked, I'm recently home from one of my lovely girlfriend & I's "little holidays", she'd booked a night time photography event at the "Navy Wings" hangar at Yeovilton, so we found a hotel - The Poachers in the amusingly named Piddletrenthide, which actually does sit astride the river Piddle & visited the Fleet Air Arm Museum on day one, the night shoot followed on from that, then Athelhampton House on day two & The Tank Museum on day three.

I've mentioned before on this organ that the FAA museum is very good indeed & it still is. As we'd been before we were able to spend a little more time looking at things we may have passed by on previous visits. Should you go there search out the Skua display,

The Blackburn Skua was an early attempt at a "multi role" aircraft, they were popular in the mid thirties, but the roles were usually mis-matched, so the Skua was a carrier borne fighter / dive bomber & pretty lousy at both. The display centres around an aircraft that was found in a lake in Norway. In spite of being slower than the German bombers, the aircraft in question did manage to shoot down an He111, but was then itself shot down by an He111 & landed on a frozen lake, not far from its' victim. As sometimes happens at the extremes, the two crews were forced to co-operate to survive. Spring came, the ice melted, the Skua sank.

The display in the museum shows its'  recovery. A room with the floor area of a house has been given over to the display with the ceiling painted white as if it's the floating ice & a dummy diver attaching floatation bags onto the bits of wreckage, the photo just shows a corner of the room, there's a lot more

If you find the Fairey Fulmar, it's just beyond that, up some stairs under a large sign saying DON'T MISS THE SKUA!

Shortly after that my girlfriend was accosted by an elderly volunteer, who began with "have you been here before? Where have you come from today?" type questions & very quickly realised that my girlfriend was not just along for the ride & bored, but was an proper enthusiast in her own right. He turned out to be an ex test pilot instructor & kept her entertained for some time, while I took pictures of the Centaurus engine & it's mass of exhaust pipes. That's two 2"(ish) pipes from each cylinder, two rows of cylinders & nine cylinders in each row. it's a work of art.

The following day we went to Athelhampton house, which again was very good for a number of reasons, it has some properly old things inside, a chest from the 1400s still with some original paint for example, but the outstanding thing was the attitude of the owner. It's very old but is currently heated by 15 ground & air source heat pumps & a great many solar panels, all of which are hidden from view. The lady who showed us round ("Kelly" I think) was well into her later years, but as bright a button & sharp as a tack, very witty & entertaining & made it quite clear that things were there to be touched & felt which is so refreshing after being used to the National Trust's "don't touch that dear, it's terribly old". If something's survived from the 1400s with some of it's paint, I'm unlikely to do it much harm without resorting to an axe, Kelly was standing her water bottle on it.

Another wonderful thing was the Priest hole. You often see in a certain type of film, someone lightly touches something, there's a barely audible "click" & part of the panelling swings open to reveal a staircase. I've always thought "yeah right - with middle ages tools?". But Kelly did walk up to the fireplace in one room, she did touch the fire surround lightly in a certain place & a previously invisible part of the panelling did swing open to reveal stairs!

Day three & on to The Tank Museum. What can I tell you? I last visited in the mid '90s & it's got quite a lot bigger, they have 300 tanks - 300! Granted quite a lot are in the restoration centre, which you can see from a balcony, but not get close to, but it's really very impressive, though it's very much an army tank museum, so it's mostly about the use of the tanks rather than the engineering behind the tanks. The first hall starts with the first tank known as "Little Willy" & has examples of all sorts, ending with modern tanks. this one hall took us most of the day to get round, but we did get into the WW2 hall which houses some of the more impressive / specialist / weird stuff.

An Italian tank - racy paint scheme, in fact quite a lot of the weird stuff was Italian, they certainly ploughed their own furrow.

Sd Kfz186 Jagdtiger. It's the size of a house & at 75tonnes, it's the weight of one too. Armour so thick it was invulnerable to any allied gun that wasn't mounted on a battleship, but it's gun could take out any allied tank even if it was a mile away. Trouble was, it was just too heavy for it's engine & transmission to move, so they broke down & were set fire to by their own crews much more often than they were destroyed by the allies. But that's probably a good thing.

There were also floating tanks (duplex drive Sherman) bridge laying tanks, flail tanks flame-throwing tanks & even a tiny "tankette" (yes - really).

We liked The Tank Museum & there was a fair bit we didn't get around to, but as our tickets last for a year, we will be returning.

... But Maybe

 It's time for an update:-

Car 1 - the Quantum Extreme that needed new front wishbone bushings.

Good News:-

The off side wishbone is in my garage with new bushes & lower steering joint ready to go back on.

Bad News:-

The near side one isn't. That's because the forward bolt won't come out as it's corroded into the bush. It has been soaked with WD40 & left under pressure from a G-clamp trying to push the head into a deep socket, but no luck so far & it's enclosed within a thin sheet box section.

Car 2 - the Tiger Avon that needed a new alternator. The nice man at the Burghfield Starter & Alternator Centre tested the old one & said the brushes were worn RIGHT down & also one of three internal bolts was rattling about inside. I have today picked up a shiny new one from the nice man for a good price & that will be fitted & tested next time I go to my Girlfriend's house.

Car 3 - my Sylva Stylus. I bought some 0.5mm stainless sheet & cut out a shim washer to fit behind the bearing, fitted a new O-ring also behind the bearing, slapped some more blue goo (sealant) round it & also some Loctite 641 bearing lock before bolting it back together & confirming that there is a little compression there.

Then I noticed the oil dripping from the other side.

I stripped the dripping side & found the O-ring was "crinkled", so replaced that with more blue goo & another O-ring. I used the Stylus to collect the Tiger's alternator (14 miles each way) & there's no drippage upon my return, but I'll need to watch this carefully (sigh).

So, one out of three fixed so far (OK, might be fixed - is probably fixed). Wish me luck.

Maybe Not

While the Stylus HAS been on the road & APPEARED to be OK, I've been worrying about the bearing spinning in the housing, so I dismantled it all again &while I can see the clamping plate touches the bearing, I can't prove it clamps the bearing & after the old one span in the housing, the new one is looser than I'd like. When I get home I'll be doing a little work on that. Also getting some work is my Girlfriend's Tiger. The alternator is in my tin-top with the intention of getting it tested & repaired / replaced.

But first, on my way home I have to call into another Rogue's garage & take the wishbone's off his Quantum because they need new rubber bushes.

Fingers crossed

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

 The Stylus has been out on the road & I can confirm the oil stayed in the axle. There were no untoward noises & it all seems fine.

I have also put together a video of the RRD26 Day 3 when it all started going horribly wrong & the bearing can be heard clonking some miles before I noticed it - the rear camera is bolted down to the chassis to will pick up transmitted sound better than I can hear it. As to what cased the catastrophic failure of an eleven month old rear wheel bearing from a reputable manufacturer I have no clue, but I'm REALLY hoping it doesn't happen again.

These are bits that came out of the bearing:-

Looks like bits of the dirt shield to me, they're not thin items & they are very bent up.

So now that's sorted (hopefully), the next job is my lovely girlfriend's car - the alternator is under suspicion at the moment, but investigations will begin at the weekend.

Then there's another SKCC member who needs new lower wishbone bushes, so I'll be calling in to bring the wishbones back to my garage.

It's Back

The 1/2 shaft is back from Hardings Auto Services & back in the axle, which has been re-filled & the car's back on its' wheels. I've not had a test drive yet, but my fingers will be firmly crossed when I do.

Once again fitting the 1/2 shaft cut the SKF fitted O-ring, which is 2.0mm dia in cross section, but I still had several of the 1.78mm dia ones, so fitted one of them & the bearing slid in nicely, hopefully it won't leak or I might just cry.

RogueRunners Devon 26 - Epilogue

Well, I've been back over a week, what's my feeling about the whole thing now?

It's odd isn't it - I had Day 1, Day two & a fair bit of Day three, so I pretty much had the same amount of tour as I have on the previous Devon trips, and yet I still feel cheated. The new routes - as far as I saw them - worked reasonably well, on Day two, some of the roads were like that scene in StarWars where they're going through channels in the Death Star the sides were sheer & very high, so I think I've taken them out of the route.

But as usual, the camaraderie & the fun was the thing, the Rogues are a brilliant bunch of people, but special thanks have to go to Ken, who stood with me for three hours waiting for a lorry, then waited for nine hours with my girlfriend the very next day. Also to Mark who also waited with her.

So what's happened since?

I ordered another wheel bearing from Burton Power & delivered it & the drive shaft to Harding Auto Services to have it fitted, then went to see my lovely girlfriend for a few days. She had been contacted by the recovery people at Highfield Garage in Exeter who had kindly moved things around so that the Tiger could be kept indoors, then delivered it to Peterborough the day I was leaving with great care & attention to detail, so it was unloaded, pushed into the garage & put on charge so the investigations can begin.

Then today (Thursday) Harding Auto Services called to say the new bearing had been fitted, so I've collected the half-shaft & fitted it back in the car, so as soon as I've wrestled some oil into the axle (it's not easy with the fuel tank where it is), the wheel can go back on & it can get tested.

After that it may get SORNed, though that would be a sad thing. I ought to keep it going until the end of October & then there are some winter mods I'd like to do.

AND, the DJI camera that malfunctioned on the road trip has been away to DJI & both it & the remote were replaced under warranty, even though there was nothing wrong with the remote, astonishingly I managed to get through the rather long winded set-up process without recourse to Tech support (my girlfriend) & so that's all up & running again. Pity there's no more trips really.

So the blatting season draws to a close on a bit of a low note, but the technical difficulties with both cars are reasonably easy to diagnose & while neither is actually fixed yet, they should both be a simple matter of swapping out parts.

We shall see.

RogeRunners Devon - Day 4 - When It All Went Wronger

 

Day 4? But you’re at home you cry. Well yes, read on.

I went out to the garage first thing & took out the ½ shaft. As suspected the bearing was a mess, with balls hanging out of the side & the cage all crumpled up. I ordered a new one from Burton’s & started cleaning the oiled up parts. 

Then there was a message, my girlfriend’s car had broken down.

This was the nightmare scenario.

Fortunately she was in a safe place with two of the other Rogues (Ken again - not getting much driving in on his driving holiday). The alternator light had been moody the previous day & then when she was somewhere south of Ilfracombe the engine coughed & died because the alternator seems to have failed.

There was a lot of tooing & froing on whatsapp but in the end she elected to be relayed home, which was the best idea in the circumstances, but all our luggage - & she has a lot of luggage - was at the hotel, so it was all going to have to be moved by the other Rogues.

But that’s not the worst of it. They were sat at the roadside for over NINE HOURS waiting to be picked up. It had taken so long to organise a truck that in the end they offered her a courtesy car & the Tiger would be delivered in a day or two.

BUT

They wouldn't bring the courtesy car to her, oh no. The truck would take her & the Tiger to Exeter & then she would have to drive 1 1/2 hours back to Ilfracombe, or 5 hours home in a strange car in the dark, when she'd been hanging around for 9 1/2 hours already. Is that considered safe?

Between them the three Rogues decided that she would go back to the hotel (I'd cancelled it, then called again & said NO! we still need it!) & then today Ken has driven her home - which is beyond his house & Mark has bought mine & her belongings back to my house & I'll sort it all out & take hers next time I go. (sigh).

RogueRunners Devon IV - Day 3 - When It All Went Wrong

It started off well, the overnight rain hadn’t found its’ way into the car, so the roof came off & after breakfast we said farewell to Duncan & Alison who were heading home for a family celebration & au revoir to Mark who was spending the day seeing the sights of Ilfracombe – yes I did warn him about the Damian Hurst sculpture “Verity” – after all he may want some lunch during the day.

We decided to go west, so only five cars headed out of town heading for Cornshire & we found ourselves on a lane with “ROAD AHEAD CLOSED” signs, I’ve never understood the point of these signs unless they say where it’s closed. We rumbled on though many pretty hamlets & past many more such signs & eventually after perhaps eight miles we did find a road that was closed, but not on our route. We seemed to get through Barnstaple easier than yesterday & got out into the countryside, but all was not well.

In a village, as I pulled in to let a vehicle pass, there was a small thud noise, barely audible, but I thought I’d felt it through the chassis. I decided it was probably just a pop though the exhaust as it had started doing that again recently. But as we travelled on it did it again & again, then I was hearing it properly. I wondered if a suspension bolt had loosened, but bouncing the car up & down in the “Buffing Billy café” car park showed no sign of clonking, so we moved on. It was still getting worse, so I pulled into a layby on the A39 & looked underneath, axle oil was dripping from the nearside end, I took the wheel off, but all the bolts were tight, something had failed in the bearing I had fitted less than a year ago.

I would be going home on a truck.

I thought if I could limp the car back to the hotel I could passenge with someone for a day & organise a truck for the Saturday, so Ken (who had given up his blatt to stay with me) & I turned round & trundled up the A39 at 30 getting in everyone’s way (sorry I we held you up) but all the time the noise was getting worse, the worrying thing being that it wasn’t constant, it was horribly mechanical, then it was disappeared, then it was horrible again, so after a few miles I pulled into a layby & called for a lorry. To their credit they didn’t send a man in a small van to assess it, they just sent a low loader with a promise of 60 – 90 minutes. But after an hour & a half, of a lorry there was no sign.

At one stage a recovery truck went past with a graphic of a Cobra on the side, I said to Ken "that one would be appropriate", but it didn't stop. When I called again for an update I was told there had been an accident up the road & that had taken precedence. After another hour I called the dispatcher, to be told my rescuer “was a few minutes away” which to be fair he was – but on the other side of the A39 & it was ten miles & two sets of road works to the next junction to turn around.

While I had been waiting, the bank called me to say my credit card had been used fraudulently, though I wasn’t convinced it actually was the bank as it was all “a bit odd”.

So eventually I was picked up after three hours by the truck with the Cobra on the side & Ken went back to the hotel. I have to say the truck itself was very nice, air suspension & all very comfy as far as it went.

But as far as it went was Taunton Dean services. 

I would have to await another lorry, then I got a text message saying the other lorry would be 2hrs 20min – just long enough to need to pay £15 for parking via an app that I didn’t have. I waited 1 ½ hours in case the truck arrived early – no chance of course & it then took me the thick end of an hour to get the app & pay for the parking.

The next low loader arrived at the promised time. It was not like the first one. It was older than my Cactus & pitched, heaved & crashed over the slightest ripple in the road, but I was on my way.

Three hours later I arrived home, ten hours after calling for help. I put the car in the garage & retired to bed.

RogueRunners Devon IV - Day 2

Day 2 started dry, so as Duncan & Alison would be heading home tomorrow we elected to do a new route, the southern most route, all the way down to Dartmoor.

The beginning was a bit turgid to be honest, with traffic all through Barnstaple & then when the roads did get interesting, we were stuck behind a logging lorry for quite some time, but slowly the roads got better &the traffic thinned, but then drizzle started as we climbed up onto Dartmoor. But the road was fantastic as was the scenery. I had found a hotel as a coffee stop, but the look on street view wasn’t promising, so I had a back-up, but in the event the Two Bridges Hotel looked very nice as we crossed an ancient stone bridge to arrive in the car park & as a couple of us were a little ahead I managed to get some photos as the others crossed the bridge.

There were signs up saying parking was £5 for non-residents, we would be customers, but not residents, so I asked at reception & was told parking would be be free if we were customers. Which was a good thing as the place was very genteel, but in spite of that they didn’t even object to Mark’s legs being on show! The room we sat in had no fewer than seven clocks, none of which were showing the right time, one had no hands!

It was a little awkward to exit the car park, but we all managed without too much wheelspin & we traversed the rest of Dartmoor avoiding green sheep, red sheep, horses & cows, before refuelling, then heading back across Dartmoor heading north.

It was here that we found ourselves doing mile after mile on a tiny road with high hedges & grass & even rubble in the middle, I wondered why I’d chosen that road & why it hadn’t been found in checking, then I realised there had been no waypoints at all, so this was a SatNav route, not the T.Y.R.E. route I’d planned.

Just as we got back to roads with a white line up the middle, we arrived at the second coffee stop at Ullacombe Farm Café which was another lovely place. After that the rain slowly got a little heavier as we headed north, but was still little more than drizzle when we re-fuelled & only turned to proper rain once we got back to the hotel. Buy joy of joys - the self-park I'd mended on my Girlfriend's car worked perfectly.

After a rest in the hotel we wandered down to The Lime Kiln restaurant & mostly had fish & chips.

RogueRunners Devon IV - Day 1

We were up early – it was still niiight tiiime, but I prepared the car & loaded it up & at very early o’clock we set off for a refuelling stop at Popham. While we were there both Brian & Mark went past & when we arrived at the breakfast stop in Andover at a Travelodge in Hawker Siddley Way (which the SatNav entirely failed to pronounce), the gang was pretty much all there.

Having had breakfast, we set off back towards London briefly before turning south towards the A30.

We didn't encounter much traffic through Salisbury & managed to all stay together, we passed through Wilton where the carpets come from & at shortly afterward we branched off the A30, heading for the B3081 & ZigZag Hill. The road runs along an open ridge before plunging into the bends & there was a car about 1/4 mile ahead, "no problem" I thought, "I'll just rumble along slowly & have the curves to myself. But I hadn't realised just how slowly the car was going along a wide, open A road. When a car came up behind me I thought I'd better speed up a little or it will overtake giving me the same car-in-front problem, but the actual car in front was now going really really slowly, so I caught it at the top of the hill & it actually STOPPED twice on the way down (sigh).

But shortly after SHAFTSBURY there was a coffee stop at “The Udder Farm Shop”, which is a very nice place indeed & has slogans such as this on the walls.

Refreshed & back on the road we headed mostly south & a bit west, at this point we were in deepest Dorset, so the villages were few, far between & mostly double barrelled. we enjoyed some wriggly A roads as we headed north back to the A303 & M5 via “Beech Barn Café” for another coffee stop.

We weren't at all sure what to make of this as we drove in, it was a little way off the road & appeared to be a complex of renovated farm buildings each with a different company name over the door, we weren't sure where to park, so parked in a line in a small car park & I went off searching for the café in the obvious place near the parked cars I'd seen when I got out of the Stylus. Having confirmed the location I returned to find the Rogues ambling off in another direction - they're useless without a SatNav.

The place turned out to be a bit of a find, very nice, very quiet & very nice cake.

Beyond Ilchester there was a refuel stop on the A38 & we were soon on the proper Exmoor roads we’d come for, the roads improving all the way to Dulverton, then it got really good all the way to the coast. But before that there was some confusion about a last coffee stop at Withypool – it was a nice looking little café in a 1930s petrol station – the pumps were still there, the website gallery had photos of classic cars & old bikes outside, 

so I thought it may be a photo op, but in the event there were quite a few cars parked around the tiny village green, a couple of us went over the town bridge to a car park that was mostly full, at which point someone said they'd rather go on to the hotel & everyone except Mark & me followed them. They missed a bit of a treat really, almost as soon as we got into the café, most of the customers left (this often happens - can't think why), so I moved the Stylus next to the old pumps & took an atmospheric photo or two.

So it was just Mark & I that rumbled serenely up to the coast & round the hairpins on the road into Coombe Martin, re-fuelled in Hele Bay, then after a mile or so, into the hotel.

That evening we sauntered down to the harbour & "The Smugglers" for tea as the sun went down.

DevonBlatt The Forth - Prologue

The DevonBlatts began as a gentle "season opener" before the main road trip in May each year & a WalesBlatt in September. But as we no longer go to Wales since it has become tourist hostile & last year, organising two road trips inside a month was too much, we've moved the DevonBlatt to September & extended it to the length of the old WalesBlatt.

Will it work? Well the weather will be similar to April & it's at the end of the season, so the traffic could be OK, but it might be festooned with retirees driving campers - imagine, retired folk out on a driving holiday! Tch!

We are going back to out usual hotel, the very nice "Laston House" where there aren't evening meals, so we'll stroll into town, I have three different restaurants booked.

The Stylus is running OK - if a little smelly. I put two gallons of diesel in it by mistake, fortunately that only took it to 1/2 full, so I was able to brim it with petrol to dilute it enough to limp home (on 25% Diesel) where I drained 5 gallons out & then refilled it again, so it's down to 6% diesel now & apart from being a little hesitant to start, it's fine once it's warm. So can I claim it's a hybrid? It's running on two different fuels after all. Hopefully in the next few days I'll get the chance to run it around & dilute the diesel a bit more before DevonBlatt IV.

In other good news I think I have solved the riddle of my lovely girlfriend's Tiger windscreen wiper problem - possibly both problems. The wipers work for about three wet days, then stop working. Later they will just work again. I reasoned this must be water related & the large hole in the dash so the ignition key can be fitted into the column looked a likely ingress point. A little CADing & a flexible print later & there is now a shield over the hole which should stop the majority of the water getting in. There was also an issue with the wiper self park - it didn't. My Girlfriend had always assumed this was "because KitCar", but we assured her the wipers should self park & I approached the Tiger with a multi meter & a wiring diagram. I proved that the self park signal was getting back to the switch & the switch itself was a likely suspect. But where to get a 40 year old stalk switch? Ebay offered a few at £50 each, but a message posted on the Rogues whatsapp almost immediately produced an offer of a matching pair of switches from a guy who sold his kit a couple of years ago. They were exchanged for beer, the wiper side switch was swapped into the Tiger & IT WORKED!

So if there's anything that will guarantee no rain on DevonBlatt IV, it's making the wipers work.

EXCELLENT 👍

Braking Point

 <Sigh>

The Stylus arrived all those years ago with hydraulically switched brake lights, in fact it had two hydraulic switches, one on the front & one on the rear system - which is a good thing, but they still only switch the brake lights on when the pressure rises high enough to trigger them, so I thought I'd fit a mechanical switch as well, which will switch the light when the pedal moves.

I put a micro switch on the pedal & a ramp on the footwell roof (floor mounted pedals), that lasted a few presses & stopped working. I re-arranged it a bit & it seemed fine until a guy in a BMW pulled up beside me & instead of the car-based compliment I was expecting said "your brake lights are on all the time". I crawled into the footwell & unplugged the mechanical switch.

I tried another type of microswitch - which broke - so I went back to the original roller type & printed a slightly different shape ramp. Once again it worked perfectly in the garage - BRILLIANT.

I went out today to meet some of the Rogues for breakfast, but first I pulled over to post something & as I turned round to go back to the car, THE DAMN BRAKE LIGHTS WERE ON - ARSE!

Once again I took off the steering wheel & clambered into the footwell at full stretch at the roadside & unplugged the switch. A little while later as I rolled into Guildford in the traffic, a lorry driver leaned out of his cab & said "excuse me, your brake lights aren't working" (well, I was in Guildford, even lorry drivers are polite in Guildford). I cursed under my breath, reached behind the roll bar & pushed the brake pedal - the brake lights came on, so I just hadn't had to push the pedal hard enough in the traffic to make the hydraulic switch work WHICH IS WHY I WANTED THE MECHANICAL ONE.

Now back at home I could see that while the roller travelled up the ramp & switched the lights off, it was possible for the pedal to carry on moving to the extent that the roller came out of contact, switching the lights on again. It didn't do that at all during testing in the garage.

With the newly printed angled ramp the roller stays in contact & the brake lights stay off when my foot's off the pedal. All the time. What ever the pedal does. Over & over & over again I've tested it, pushing the pedal gently, hard, fast & slow & it's worked perfectly every time. Will it work outside the garage? Only time will tell.

And Another Thing

MkIa, a MkII is the same but with all the mods
 that made a MkI into a MkIa built in at the factory.
A MkV is also the same to look at except for grey green
camo (from 1941)

Also while I was video editing & writing entries for this year's road trip, we went to another airshow at Shuttleworth. It was billed as a celebration of 90 years since the first flight of the Spitfire & with much trumpeting they announced that they had booked one of every airworthy mark, I counted up - MkI, II, V, VIII, IX, XI, XIV, XVI, XIX & a Seafire MkXV (Spitfire Mk numbers get horribly complicated). Well, it didn't quite happen, 

The Seafire's been in deep maintenance for a while & although it has flown recently, they wisely decided it wasn't ready for an outing yet & the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight didn't show up (again) which meant no MkII. But Shuttleworth put on a good display with the nine they had flying (the MkIX in Russian markings was static only).

A USAAF MkIX (yes the Americans flew Spitfires),
basically a MKV with an uprated engine, the radiators
 under both wings are the same size, before that the
port side one (oil cooler) was much smaller

They came over in three waves of three with the last wave peeling off each time & flying about a bit. The first wave to do this was the later marks, working back in time with each row. I guess this was because the later marks are 100mph faster than a MkI, so putting the slower ones at the front stops them getting left behind. They had done a good job in selecting a range of types, there were RAF, USAAF & Russian markings as well as aircraft from a Czech RAF squadron. there was one in the brown / green Battle of Britain camo, several in the grey / green used from 1941 when the RAF was operating more over the sea, the Russian Spitfire had RAF camo & markings, but with the roundels over-painted in Russian green & the red stars over that.

Easily the fastest of the Merlin engined Spitfires, the MkXI
 was an un-armed photo-reconnaissance aircraft

There were two in photo reconnaissance blue (Mks XI & XIX) & one in tropical brown / brown. So it was good to see the variety. 

They also laid on a few "set pieces". In much the same way that at the last show the Hispano Buchon (post war Spanish Messerschmitt BF109 development) had a dog-fight with a Grumman Martlet (Wildcat) & lost, in this show it was up against a Spitfire & lost again.

Unfortunately, the aircraft it was flying against was a two seater, so it was a plane that didn't exist in WWII against a plane that didn't exist in WWII. I tried to take my photos such that the second canopy didn't show - with some success I might add.

There was also Shuttleworth's own Spitfire MkV flying with a Sopwith Camel. I say "flying with" not "in formation with" because the camel would fly past the crowd & at some point the Spitfire, though going as slowly as was safe, would hurtle past, but again, not something you'll see at any other airshow.

Another of the set pieces demonstrated fighter development through WWII, with a Gloster Gladiator (250mph) - some were still serving in the UK in the Battle or Britain, a Hawker Hurricane (300mph) & a mid - late war MkIX Spitfire (400mph) in tropical camo.

There were all sorts of other displays as well from rare & unique aircraft & as it started to get dark a MiG 17 appeared, actually (a little like the "Messerschmitt") it was a Polish built aircraft, so not really a MiG at all). It was saved for the evening part of the show because the pilot put on an excellent demonstration, with many passes close enough for the crowd to see & lit the afterburner every chance he got, well played that man! It seems this plane is hitting every air show in the country this year, see it if you can.

The MiG was very nearly the star of the show for me, but I'm afraid that accolade goes to this.

A derelict 1933 Rolls Royce was found in a field in around 2018. When it was dragged out & cleaned up the chassis & suspension were in remarkably good condition. The rest was pants, so the chap hatched a plan, the rolling chassis got another Rolls Royce engine fitted - granted it's a little larger than the original - it's a Meteor - the unsupercharged version of the 27 litre Merlin that was used in tanks & boats. It then got all new bodywork which goes right up to the very edge of ridiculous without ever stepping over.

It's called "The Grenadier" & apparently it weighs four & a half tons, but with 850bhp on offer, has to be restricted to "only" 135mph because the tyres will destroy themselves any faster. The workmanship on the body was exquisite, but it averages 3mpg & cost the guy £350 to drive from his home "in the Midlands" to Shuttleworth - which as a southerner, I would say is in the Midlands - & it had to be refuelled three times - each way.

But what a mad, wonderful, glorious thing.

Sir - I salute you!

More Happenings

For Christmas my lovely girlfriend bought me a full day Rally experience at Silverstone Rally School.

Oh you ask, how did that go?

It went very well thank you, after a journey that was more "interesting" than it needed to be (navigational issues), we had a welcome chat / safety briefing from one of the instructors, & then were split into two groups. first was turning left - rally style, so handbrake turning & power sliding. The car handling one group went anti-clockwise round a section of the rally course, while the other car pirouetted left round two cones. each person had three goes each, which was good because the reasons why it all went wrong tended to filter out while I was waiting for my next go. Actually not much did go wrong, against all probability I kept the car out of the trees & off of the cones.

Ah yes, the car, a generation one Subaru Imprezza, converted to rear wheel drive & with a welded diff, no idea about the engine, but there was no turbo whine or whoosh & I would imagine a basic 1600 would give as much power as a novice would want, it was certainly nice & responsive.

Following the turning left, we did a lot of turning right & I started to feel I was getting the hang of going sideways, the next exercise was a short rally stage where we were to turn left AND right putting into practice what we'd learnt, this meant I couldn't just drive with one hand on the hydraulic handbrake & pull it as required I had to steer properly & find the handbrake as required. I felt it went OK & my instructor praised my preciseness (it didn't feel precise as my feet tangled & by arms flailed, BUT I didn't hit any banks or cones, so that's good enough for me. Then it was lunch time & about half of the cadre (who were on a 1/2 day course) left. 

After lunch, there was an explanation of rally pace notes & then we sauntered back out to the cars to drive more of the course while being instructed by the instructors. This too went remarkably well, twice I loused up a sharp left hand handbrake turn (naturally directly in front of the viewing terrace), but the third one went better, my speed was improving & as long as I had sufficient track width I was reasonably confidently sliding the car round corners, leaving satisfyingly billowy clouds of dust.

The final item was a "free for all" with the instructor telling me which way to go at the various junctions, now that was great fun, but 48 years of road driving was making it's presence felt. at one junction where I was supposed to be gracefully drifting the car to the left, I switched the indicator on! next time round I felt myself instinctively looking for other traffic! On another occasion approaching a corner "at speed" & hitting the brakes hard & sharp to get weight over the front axle I went to change down a gear.

At the final de-brief, my instructor held my certificate until last & referred to me as "Dr Precession" because apparently I got the car straitened out & set up for the next corner very well - it didn't feel like that at the time, but I was moving relatively quickly, didn't spin & didn't stall, so I'll take the complement.

Thanks go to my girlfriend for buying the experience for me & taking these pictures.

So overall a fantastic day's driving / learning. At 65 I'm not going to be taking up competitive rallying, but I do feel that the course will improve my driving out on the moors on our road trips, the instructors were very good, commendably brave & the cars were exactly what I would've hoped for, fast enough to be fun, docile enough to be controllable & very easy to drive - well, if you're used to a simple rear wheel drive car that is, some of the younger ones seemed to be struggling a little.

Grimsthorpe Speed Trials

My lovely Girlfriend & I visited Grimsthorpe Speed Trials again this year, it was a good day out, the point is to run some slow old cars along the drive of a country house against the clock. No sorry, the point is to have a day out in the countryside - the excuse is to run some slow old cars along the drive of a country house against the clock.

There were some fabulous '30s & earlier cars, some immaculate, some looking like they'd just left the barn they were put in in 1939 & some built for occasions such as this out of an eclectic mix of parts from the early days of motoring.

There were also bikes, INCREDIBLY NOISY bikes, others were two stokes belching smoke. I didn't like the bikes.

There were also a few proper racers, two Bugatis, an ERA which is a new-build & a couple of MGs, one with an early IRS. The two originals were being treated nicely, but the new-build ERA was getting some beans, smoking off the line each time.

The other cars mostly pootled up the track, I dare say they were going as fast as they would, but many of them weren't build for speed.

Here's a case in point. It's actually an AC, as in AC Cobra, it has the logo on the foot plates & everything. There didn't appear to be much in the way of brakes. 

This Austin Seven special looked fantastic & sounded amazing, revving like a modern motorcycle. the aluminium panelling was a work of art.

Then there was this - it's a Ford model A with all the bits you don't need taken off.

Of course some people's idea of what you need is different to others

But the model A seemed almost luxurious next to this 1909 Daraq - or a least parts of one. Everything was drilled for lightness, the chassis, the tank straps, the pedals.

It was quite brilliant & on it's first public outing, the chap said it was good up to "a certain speed" & then the 1 litre, single cylinder engine hit the car's resonant frequency & it all leapt up & down a bit.

There were original sporting cars from Riley & singer, all absolutely beautiful

And this ratty Bugatti was there, there were two actually, neither in "showroom condition" but both looking spectacular.