First post for a while, no excuses really but I have been a little busy getting ready for the Adelaide to Darwin Rally see http://a2d.netguys.com.au/ if you are interested.
The Sizaire is looking a little worn and if it does an other 4000Km on this rally will look a little more that way, I have been asked if the car is original… it is if you don’t count the restoration 50 years ago.
With so much time on my hands I have had a little fun with the mini movie camera and stuck it (it has a magnetic stand) to the underside of the running board pointing at the front of the transaxle, did a run and could not see a thing so I mounted a lamp did another run but forgot to take the lens cap off….did another run and here is the result.
I have just returned from a Bugatti rally in NSW, had a great time and most importantly the T37 did not miss a beat.
We set off two weeks ago with 4 days to get to the start of the rally in Sydney, there were four cars and six people, all the cars were over eighty all the people were under seventy so a leisurely drive was envisioned.
We tried to leave at 2:00 after a nice lunch at Des Dillon’s but Roger’s T44 refused to start, after 30 minutes Des discovered a stuck solenoid so off we went but at the Smith street roundabout the motor died so it was decided to swap out the battery. This is where we discovered that the car had been built around the battery, so the front seat had to come out, still no luck. In the end a claw hammer was used to good effect bludgeoning a partition in the battery box to make way for the battery extraction, 2 weeks later Roger is still removing the battery every night to charge it. The alternator is from a VW, so still kaput.
On the second day all was going well when the Bentley suddenly lost drive 30Km south of Pambula, the (add on) overdrive unit had failed, a local stopped and lent us a chain so the 12 Litre Hispano Suiza found its true vocation as a tow truck. To cut a long story short, in Eden the overdrive and tailshaft were removed then the tail shaft lengthened and the whole thing was back on the road now without overdrive by lunchtime the next day so we still made Ulladulla before nightfall.
On the third day… as with the next 1 ½ weeks all went well, except for Luc’s T43 that sheared the flywheel key but Matt the mechanic with the aid of super strength Loctite had it back on the road so no time lost.
Oh yes, after leaving Bombala this morning after about 40 km I could smell that lovely scent of burning wood. I assumed the Dept. of Smoke and Embers were burning off so ignored it until it was joined by the smell of burning rubber and the ignition light coming on, I stopped. A piece of wood that was holding the battery had come unscrewed and wedged itself under the alternator and as the whole outside of this alternator revolves we had some nice friction going on, to see if it really was hot I put my finger on the alternator….. I am hoping to get feeling back after the blister eases. Some screws were robbed from elsewhere and I was back on the road with the car none the worse for wear.
If we had driven modern cars they probably would not have broken down, but if they had, I doubt we would have had it fixed by lunchtime and what would there be to talk about…Golf?
Some years ago my daughter Kate shouted me a ”BMW Driving Experience” this involved hooning around Phillip Island race circuit in BMW’s finest under the instruction of a race driver. One of the lessons involved an M3 with the traction control off, lots of water and a skid pan. We had to pootle along, turn hard right and boot it, then recover. Our instructor Geoff Brabham told us the only way to recover was to immediately back off then gradually feed in the power…… no one listened, everyone thought more power not less would do the trick, we were all wrong and after many tries most of us got it.
This brings me to the wonderful run up to Mt Baw Baw for Lunch today with the local car club. The weather was a bit damp so on entering a tight right hander I did exactly the opposite to what Mr Brabham taught me, I ended up pirouetting down the road then going backwards off it. Luckily no damage was done, the Lotus only weighs 720Kg and there were many club members on hand to restore the car to the tarmac, these fellows were not going to let me forget this so I thought I had better fess up and get it over with. Have I now learned that lesson? Lets hope so.
