Well, technically, Vintage Abuse.
I thought, with the general likability of picture threads and motorsport of late, I would share a wee story of recent tidings.
If you didn't already know, I compete a little in a very hardy but completely unreliable (currently) 1930 Austin 7 Ulster 'Sports Tourer'. It runs a £500 3-bearing crank shaft, lightweight racing pistons and rods, high compression head and £1500 worth of very fiddly 1 1/2" SU downdraught carb.
I removed the ropey ignition and starter switches, and wired in a lovely new remote solenoid with a push button relay. Much more reliable, and much easier on the hand, and less likely to ignite the carpet (another story...)
Anyway it wouldn't idle, so I arrived early at the event, in order to get some extra time fiddling. Fuel pump was replaced, fuel filter was added in-line, carb was adjusted - still wouldn't idle. So decided to run anyway and see how it went.
The event was the second 'driving test' event in the vintage car club competition calendar. It's an autotest on mixed surfaces, held at Shanes Castle, in Antrim (in Northern Ireland), which is a wonderful location.
First test was good, felt quick, and the results showed that I was 5th fastest overall on it despite having to use the handbrake and rev to prevent a stall, whilst changing gear with the same hand as was on the handbrake...
No Pics of that, or of the second test because my dad got me lost and I missed it, and then the third test I just made it to, lovely view racing over a stone bridge.
Pics begin on test 4.
The beginning of a delightful mudslide drift that sapped up time getting straight
flying finish to test 4. Can't really see the handbrake making the car slalom at speed, but that's what was going on here.
test 5 involved some loose gravel sections...
test 6 was an altered re-run of test 5, after lunch.
There was an almighty racket from the engine by now, which I found to be that the crank pulley front plate bolts had worked loose and disappeared, letting the plate rattle. The fan belt had therefore popped off, so no fan cooling now. Also the dynamo is supported by this plate, and the distributor takes its drive off the dynamo, so the retardation/advance was getting hazy. This had been a major concern as the r/a lever had sheared off at this event last year and taken all winter to re-fabricate new brass pieces and fettle back together.
Anyway it was suggested that I retire, but I don't do retirements. Especially since it was the same point at the same event last year that I'd last had the car out. So I was going to finish.
test 7 was another fast muddy run, with a sweet at the end from the marshall
Not as muddy as test 8 though! downright sloppy this one (my time as much as the surface...)
And on to test 9. In a dry farmyard, and at the start line of this I was informed I had a big pool of oil under the car. Great. The loose plate was temporarily being held on by a machine screw taken out of the side panelling trim, and was working loose. Tightened it down, primed the carb (had to prime it every time it was started, and had to stop it between each test as the cooling was very hot).
Needless to say I thrashed the life out of it in search of a fast time. Finished the test and drove straight on to my trailer.
Like I say it's a hardy wee car, and it drove into the garage at home. No damage, except to my ego lol, for the results were not favourable to me. But, I'm not too disappointed. I wasn't last for a start, came 4th in class (a few retirements/DNFs may have helped that) and finished the event. Finishing was a step in the right direction, after the r/a lever sheared last year giving me no acceleration, and the 60 miles of rallying we had done a month before that stuck in first gear with a broken clutch and flat battery and dodgy cooling.
Anyway it's progressing the right direction. We're still having to fix 50 years of bodging and a shonky resto in 1985 that keep throwing up random issues.
Tis fun though
[sorry about all the pics being me; you would love the other cars but the CD I got only had my pics on it and those are the best ones
]
I thought, with the general likability of picture threads and motorsport of late, I would share a wee story of recent tidings.
If you didn't already know, I compete a little in a very hardy but completely unreliable (currently) 1930 Austin 7 Ulster 'Sports Tourer'. It runs a £500 3-bearing crank shaft, lightweight racing pistons and rods, high compression head and £1500 worth of very fiddly 1 1/2" SU downdraught carb.
I removed the ropey ignition and starter switches, and wired in a lovely new remote solenoid with a push button relay. Much more reliable, and much easier on the hand, and less likely to ignite the carpet (another story...)
Anyway it wouldn't idle, so I arrived early at the event, in order to get some extra time fiddling. Fuel pump was replaced, fuel filter was added in-line, carb was adjusted - still wouldn't idle. So decided to run anyway and see how it went.
The event was the second 'driving test' event in the vintage car club competition calendar. It's an autotest on mixed surfaces, held at Shanes Castle, in Antrim (in Northern Ireland), which is a wonderful location.
First test was good, felt quick, and the results showed that I was 5th fastest overall on it despite having to use the handbrake and rev to prevent a stall, whilst changing gear with the same hand as was on the handbrake...
No Pics of that, or of the second test because my dad got me lost and I missed it, and then the third test I just made it to, lovely view racing over a stone bridge.
Pics begin on test 4.
The beginning of a delightful mudslide drift that sapped up time getting straight
flying finish to test 4. Can't really see the handbrake making the car slalom at speed, but that's what was going on here.
test 5 involved some loose gravel sections...
test 6 was an altered re-run of test 5, after lunch.
There was an almighty racket from the engine by now, which I found to be that the crank pulley front plate bolts had worked loose and disappeared, letting the plate rattle. The fan belt had therefore popped off, so no fan cooling now. Also the dynamo is supported by this plate, and the distributor takes its drive off the dynamo, so the retardation/advance was getting hazy. This had been a major concern as the r/a lever had sheared off at this event last year and taken all winter to re-fabricate new brass pieces and fettle back together.
Anyway it was suggested that I retire, but I don't do retirements. Especially since it was the same point at the same event last year that I'd last had the car out. So I was going to finish.
test 7 was another fast muddy run, with a sweet at the end from the marshall
Not as muddy as test 8 though! downright sloppy this one (my time as much as the surface...)
And on to test 9. In a dry farmyard, and at the start line of this I was informed I had a big pool of oil under the car. Great. The loose plate was temporarily being held on by a machine screw taken out of the side panelling trim, and was working loose. Tightened it down, primed the carb (had to prime it every time it was started, and had to stop it between each test as the cooling was very hot).
Needless to say I thrashed the life out of it in search of a fast time. Finished the test and drove straight on to my trailer.
Like I say it's a hardy wee car, and it drove into the garage at home. No damage, except to my ego lol, for the results were not favourable to me. But, I'm not too disappointed. I wasn't last for a start, came 4th in class (a few retirements/DNFs may have helped that) and finished the event. Finishing was a step in the right direction, after the r/a lever sheared last year giving me no acceleration, and the 60 miles of rallying we had done a month before that stuck in first gear with a broken clutch and flat battery and dodgy cooling.
Anyway it's progressing the right direction. We're still having to fix 50 years of bodging and a shonky resto in 1985 that keep throwing up random issues.
Tis fun though
[sorry about all the pics being me; you would love the other cars but the CD I got only had my pics on it and those are the best ones
] 
...... but then I do live in a very rural area (and I just couldnt be naffed to put the silencer on as it was racing the next day and all set up)
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