Gavin and I talked about entering the Castle Combe Stages, but with life having got even more busy, we weren’t quite sure how we could get a car ready in time with entries opening five weeks before. As I’d driven last year we’d said Gavin would drive, but we haven’t touched DVY since Epynt. We decided we would enter in Fly instead as we needed her ready for Debden, and so our plan was made. It seemed a shame to miss out on an event 35 minutes from home as not needing accommodation is a luxury, so we wanted to make sure we did enter.

Fly still needed a few things to be ready, such as a spanner check and moving extinguishers over from DVY, but aside from her new PAS failing at Debden she was in good shape. It turned out the controller for the PAS had failed and so Gavin sent it back to the manufacturer (it’s under warranty) whilst also buying a replacement part on eBay, as it wasn’t clear if we’d get the part back in time (we did!). With that fitted, Gavin undertook scrutineering and got our documentation on Friday and we were good to go. Fly had a slow puncture which was not ideal, thanks to John Davies and team for sorting that out for us.

Gavin had been checking the weather all week and he said it was due to be wet, and it certainly was! We started the day on wet tyres and stayed on them all day, having found a good spot in service between another Tavern member and SOCC members. Our day didn’t get off to a good start, as the bonnet started coming up on my side on SS1. I suggested we stop at a marshal, Gavin thought we should carry on, but it was apparent down the straights it was lifting too much and we were having to back off. We looked for the marshals closest to the stage and stopped (thanks to them for helping) but lost time. It turned out the pin was in but the clip wasn’t fully down, so new clips are now on order.

We went 45 seconds quicker on SS2, unsurprisingly, and had a good run for SS3 and SS4 (a pair of stages, going quicker again on the second pass) whilst dodging various hay bales, tyre stacks and bits of bodywork that were appearing – and a slow moving Micra that was poorly! In the afternoon, the stages were reversed and although it started to dry up, the perimeter track was getting slippier after various cars went off and we decided to stick with wet tyres rather than moving to slicks. We had a few lock ups but no major moments to speak of, and were sitting third in class. SS5 and 6 went well (we forgot to record SS6!) and we used the time after SS6 to see if our spotlights were pointing vaguely in the right direction ready for the night stages.

SS7 was run not in the dark but equally it was not run in the light; sitting in the queue to start the light was fading quickly. We had a good run, so there was just one stage left which was a repeat of what we’d just completed. I was counting Gavin down and with about 9 seconds to go before we were due to start, the stage was stopped as it was blocked. There was a short wait (15 minutes) whilst a car was recovered, and I said to Gavin to start Fly up as we could see recovery vehicles moving and I was worried we might have to start quickly. Sure enough we were given a start time about 20/25 seconds away so “game face on” and off we went for the final stage. The perimeter track was the slippiest it had been all day and Fly was twitching a little, but we had a good run round to finish.

Fly didn’t need anything all day, but the tow car didn’t want to start which wasn’t ideal. A quick jump start and she was happy again, and we were home by half 7 which is a luxury. Sunday was spent washing Fly and unpacking ready for whatever we decide to enter next.

We finished third in class, 15 seconds behind 2nd in class; they’d also had an issue on SS1 but we knew stopping had really not helped us as we lost more than 15 seconds! It was an enjoyable day out and having not been sure I’d make the event due to two different illnesses in the run up, I wasn’t feeling my best and was relieved to have made it, and to finish.

Onboard videos: SS1, SS2, SS3, SS4, SS5, SS7, SS8.

Photos by M&H Photography

Having enjoyed double driving on an Autosolo at Curborough last year, Gavin and I decided to return in Muriel for 2025. The event is always well run and worth the journey, even if an early alarm clock on a Sunday is not always so welcome!

The event had two tests, both run six times. I had bought some new A539s for the event for the front wheels so when the depth tread was checked at scrutineering I smiled, as they still had the knobbly moulding bits on there. I said to Gavin I’d drive first, and I warned him that there wasn’t much grip and I was having to work hard. He drove, and the first bend he needed to brake? Off we understeered into a cone… oops!

The tests got drier as the day went on which was welcome, and our times were getting faster. There were supposed to be six in our class but for reasons unknown, three didn’t turn up on the day so it was Gavin, myself and a MkI Escort. By the afternoon I had a healthy lead of 14 seconds over Gavin (not helped by his cone penalty, although I was quicker too!) and knowing I’d never won my class before on an Autosolo, I said to Gavin it was time to start trying a little less hard so I didn’t get a fault and mess it up… He started to take time out of me, but it was worth it as I held on to win the class (and later discovered I’d been second or third ten times on Autosolos before, as well as a lot of lower positions!).

It was an enjoyable day and well run event with me winning the class and Gavin finishing second. Videos of our fastest times on each course: Suze Test 1, Suze Test 2, Gavin Test 1, Gavin Test 2.

Gavin and I had been talking about whether to enter Debden or Rushmoor Targa Rallies in November, as originally both events were due to be on the same date. Rushmoor then moved, and after some consideration, we decided we would enter Debden (which proved to be the right choice when the Rushmoor event moved to Bramley, not a venue I enjoy!). At the time of entering, it was the right choice, but sometimes life happens and it then started to seem like a bad idea…

Fly’s MOT was due to be in the middle of October, and she was still in need of some TLC following the Mid Devon Targa when we’d snapped a spring. Gavin had identified some welding and other bits she needed, and so for several weeks every spare minute was spent working on her. Then life happened, and our time was needed elsewhere with family stuff, so he had to move her MOT back a couple of weeks; whilst Fly is MOT exempt due to her age, she still always has an MOT. This meant her MOT was due to be three days before the event on the Thursday, which wasn’t ideal. We hadn’t heard anything by 4pm so checked online and she had failed – some small things (a side light out) but also on emissions, which was a worry. This was the first time she’d had an MOT since her engine rebuild. A call to the garage (who were about to call us!) and it turned out she’d been running on three cylinders.

Gavin said we should withdraw but we talked through our options, including using another car (none had been re-prepped and checked) or trying to get Fly running. So, a very late night working on Fly and starting again at 7am (around work!) and she was still running on three cylinders. We left her with the garage and asked if they had any ideas/could try anything (handily one of them used to race F2 stock cars and knows Pintos) and around 4.30pm on Friday we had an MOT – they’d used a blow torch on the spark plugs, which was a new one on us, but she was back to running on four cylinders and she’d passed her MOT. We both took her for a drive up the road and all seemed well, so on Saturday we loaded up and headed off ready for the rally on Sunday.

The tests used familiar parts of Debden, but as soon as Gavin pulled off the line for Test 1 we both knew something wasn’t right, as she was back to running on three cylinders. Gavin completed the first loop of three tests and we got back to the paddock, but there was no time for us to look or try anything so off I went to drive the same three tests. Having a bad issue with my right wrist, which is now happening with my left wrist too, Gavin had added power steering (PAS) to Fly to try and make it easier for me to drive her because it didn’t seem feasible otherwise. Unfortunately this failed within a few bends, but when it did work it was great! It just meant a long and painful day.

Partway around my loop, every marshal we saw told us we were being called for an extra noise check. We went to it and were on the limit, but then were being told we weren’t allowed to run, which I did query given we were at the limit but not over it. We said we knew we had a misfire and we had a solution but needed to be able to undertake that and after some discussion about whether on the limit is allowable or not, we were told we were allowed to continue “but to expect extra checks later.” We then got back to where we’d parked only to find another official, this time telling us we had to go out earlier than our due time on our timecard… then another official (who’d been there when we had the noise check) came to repeat the conversation we’d just had at the noise check. At this point the clock was ticking and we were being told we couldn’t run and we had to go out early and we just wanted to try and rectify things. We tried blow torching the spark plugs (yes we’d taken some kit we wouldn’t normally carry!) but there was no luck so we changed them for some old (but good) ones with a quick wire brush before putting them in, and off we went again. We were now running out of sequence given they’d asked everyone to go early, but we were running on four cylinders again.

Our second run, for both of us, was better with Gavin’s best improvement being 27 seconds and mine being 25 seconds. Having checked the results, I found one of our earlier times was 21 seconds slower than what I’d recorded (and what was on our timecard) so I queried it and it was amended. Even without issues, Gavin had beaten the bogey on four out of six tests and I’d beaten it on two out of six as well, with Gavin setting the fourth fastest time on test 4.

The afternoon loop was the same tests but in reverse, and Gavin was on it with the fastest time on Test 7, 2nd on Test 8 and 3rd on Test 10. My times were steadily improving throughout the day, I was getting more confident in Fly and my times were getting closer to Gavin’s, which was pleasing. Having to remember to dip the clutch for the handbrake and remembering I can “use the rear to steer” is all different but I’m getting there! I just had one faux pas where I tried to welly her round, and understeered into a pile of gravel, but at least Andy was there to capture it… You can also spot the bush Gavin picked up!

We finished the day 3rd in class and 4th overall with Gavin driving, and 2nd in class and 16th overall with me driving which was pleasing. Looking at the calendar we’re not sure we’ll make any Debden events next year, but it’s 175 miles from home so also not the easiest for us to get to and made for another late Sunday finish to get home.

Photos by M&H Photography

With the Exmoor Targa cancelled, the possibility of travelling to Yorkshire the weekend before became a lot more feasible. The Ilkley Historic is one of the few events to run a Clubmans event alongside the main event, and the Ilkley also opens it up to more modern cars which gave me the chance to drive. Muriel is a 1994 Micra, with the K11 shell coming out in 1992, but for Historic Road Rallies she’d need to be a 1990 shell (the K10) hence not being old enough for the full HRCR Historic events.

Whilst the main HRCR event started on the Saturday evening, the Clubmans section was Sunday only. We travelled up on the Saturday and passed noise and scrutineering (having changed Muriel’s normal Brantz trip to the Scimitar’s one, due to Muriel’s giving a speed readout that’s not allowed) and got through without any issues. The “new” Brantz trip hadn’t been working when we loaded Muriel, so we were pleased and relieved to have identified and rectified the issue ahead of the event as without a trip things would have been difficult. We didn’t have any pre-plotting, so we went to our hotel and had a good carvery for dinner.

Our event had nine tests and six regularities totalling around 80 miles. Neither of us had done this event before and we didn’t quite know what to expect. We started with two tests at Bramham Park, and what a treat that was! Gravel, flowing tests which rewarded commitment were very enjoyable. I was a little scrappy on the first test, and just three seconds off the bogey on the second test. This took us into our first regularity of the event which was on private land; being on private land meant the “controls cannot be less than two miles apart” rule didn’t apply, so we knew we had to be on our A game. Our navigation for this was tulips, the same as the main event, and we were delighted to only drop eight seconds across 7.5 miles and six controls, which was second best across the two events (best was six seconds dropped). One control was particularly difficult with needing to take slots hundredths of a mile apart at the right times to find the controls in the right order, so an accurate trip was important, and we were pleased to get this one right.

From Bramham (only visited once during the day, sadly for us!) we had a second regularity, where we dropped a disappointing eight seconds across two controls; post event we still think one of the optimum times was out by five seconds, but it didn’t make a difference to our result. We then headed to Rufforth Airfield where we had two tests which went well, although a working handbrake would have helped. It is always good to get to the end of a test and the marshals say we looked quick, but we didn’t know how we were doing compared to others. We were 11th fastest on Test 4 across the two events. Tests 5 and 6 were the same and used an interesting yard with gravel and we were 9th fastest on Test 6 across the two events, so we seemed to be doing ok. At the finish of this test the marshal called me a “hooligan driver” which at least showed I was trying!

Another regularity, and this time we dropped 10 seconds across four controls, which was again second best across the two events. This brought us to the lunch halt, where we found out we were leading the Clubmans event by 12 seconds – a pleasant surprise! There was a long way to go though, lots of rain and many more miles ahead. From lunch, the fourth regularity was 23 miles, with five timing points, and we dropped 13 seconds which was our worst regularity of the day compared to others competing. From here we had a test at Pateley Bridge Showground which was good fun with a lap and trying to be brave but neat on very wet tarmac whilst fighting some understeer. It was only run once, we would have been happy to have had another go!

Regularity five came next with three timing points and four seconds dropped for us, again second best across the two events (best was three seconds). We then headed to Coldstones Quarry which was a very interesting venue; by this point everything was drenched, but there was also heavy fog. This meant needing to be brave and not being able to see each manoeuvre so although we had a couple of lock ups, we had a good run through as this venue was used twice. 8th fastest on Test 8, across the two events, was our best of the day.

This left one last regularity, which had another three timing points. We knew we were having a good day, and having had some really bad luck when navigating on historic rallies seeing very good potential results slip away to become ok results, I really hoped that wouldn’t happen! We dropped five seconds across the regularity, which was second best across the two events. There were several regularities on the Sunday where the navigation/information for both the main event and the Clubmans was the same and this was one of them, so it was good to have a direct comparison.

We headed to the golf club for dinner, and to await results. A 12 second lead at lunch can quickly disappear, and we had no idea how we had done. It turned out we’d been extending our lead all day, to win the event by over a minute; the Classic & Sports Car article called it “a commanding win!” We’d been best on regularities in the Clubmans all day, and quickest on the tests, which was extremely pleasing. I’d chosen to run winter tyres which worked really well, although on the Saturday I’d had a little doubt seeing how many people were running knobbliles. I’d had a bad cold in the week so it hadn’t been the best of preparations, and although being north of Leeds at 8pm on a Sunday night and needing to be in the office for 8am on Monday makes events/travel hard sometimes, it was worth the effort.

After two second overalls this year as a navigator, I was chasing a win; I just hadn’t expected it to come as a driver…! The event was a real team effort and Gavin was faultless in the left hand seat, and Muriel didn’t miss a beat all day, so we’re very pleased with our result.

Images (in order from top left onwards): Chicane Media (two), Phil James, unknown, Stephen Lancaster, unknown, Ilkley & District MC, my own

After being let down by Atspeed racing regarding the tuning of my Green Cortina, I spoke to Webcon about the jet sizes in the carburettor. The guy I spoke to had a wealth of knowledge regarding Weber carburettors and after telling him about the issues I was having, he recommended changing my 135 primary jet to a 140 and my secondary jet from a 140 to a 145. 

So, I ordered a 145 jet and this morning set about changing the two main jets. It didn't take long and once done I took the car for a couple of drives around the block. It immediately felt a lot better and a lot faster. Once the engine had cooled down, I removed the spark plugs and they looked the correct colour as well. I do need to take it on a longer test drive, but the initial results are good. 
The price of the jet was £2.76 plus postage and vat, so came out just over £9. That's a lot, lot cheaper that what the idiot at Atspeed would have charged me if he could have been bothered to tune it! 

Once I was happy with the Green Cortina, I decided to replace the leaking half shaft bearing on my Zetec Cortina. This was made more complicated by the fact that I have converted this car to rear disc brakes. So, instead of just removing the drum, I had to remove the brake discs, the brake pads, calliper, the half shaft securing plate and of course the half shaft. 

With all these removed, I then removed the offending leaking seal and replaced it with a new one. Luckily the rain held off until I was able to get the car back together. I also fitted 3mm wheel spacers on the back as I was pretty sure that the grinding noise I had heard the last time I tried to use the car, was the wheel rims scraping on the calliper. 
A quick test drive revealed that the grinding noise had gone and it looked like the 3mm wheel spacers cured the problem. 
I was really pleased with my days work, It's always good when things go according to plan. 😊

The plan for today was to take the Zetec Cortina to the meet and give it a run out. However, pulling away from my house we were met with a horrible scraping noise that was obviously something catching while it was rotating. 
Not having time to investigate, we switched over to the Green Cortina and went in that instead. Due to our poor experience and waiting so long for our breakfast at the Cosy Cup Cafe at the last breakfast meet, we decided to stop at the 'My Place Cafe' on the way down there. This was a much better experience and the food was spot on.
We arrived at the meet which already had a quite a number of cars there. Good friends Gavin and Keith were there and John and Rachel arrived soon after.
There were some quite unusual cars there including a Bond Bug. I haven't seen one of these for ages and I'd forgotten how 'quirky' they are. 

It was a lovely morning and very mild for November and it was very pleasant looking around the cars. We had to leave around 11.30 though as we had other plans. It had been a lovely morning out though and well worth going. 

 In January 2024, my Green Cortina had a rolling road session at Atspeed. They did a fantastic job and the car was running really well. 

Since then however, I have had my 'breathing' issue in which I have had to alter the pipework as the breather hose from the engine was going to the remote brake servo instead of the inlet manifold which isn't correct. The pipe from the engine breather needs to go to the inlet manifold in order to suck the gasses out of the engine. If it doesn't do this, then you will get crankcase compression and the engine oil will spray out of the dipstick tube.

Needless to say, changing this then altered the characteristics of the breathing through the inlet manifold and my engine is now running lean and not getting enough fuel.
 I explained all of this when I took the car in to Atspeed and asked them to look at the fuel jetting and give it a dynotune. 
I dropped the car off on Monday afternoon and I received a phone call on Tuesday morning asking me why I had brought it back. So I then explained again, and was told that my breather pipe was on wrong and that it should go to the remote brake servo. I told then that that's how it was before and it caused crank case compression and sprayed oil out of the dipstick tube, so I asked him not to alter the breathing and just alter the carburettor jets instead. He didn't seem happy with that though.
When I collected the car, I got my wallet out and went to pay and was told it was free of charge. I asked if he was sure, and again was told that it was free. I then drove the car home and found out why it was free. It was free because they hadn't done anything to it!

I then rang them the following morning and asked why nothing had been done and was told 'Well you think its right, I think it's wrong, so I didn't do it'. I repeated that it isn't wrong and again explained the situation. He then said again that the breather from the engine should go to the remote brake servo, but I then pointed out that these cars never had a remote brake servo when new, so where would the breather have gone then? 
He still wouldn't accept that the breather was correct and carried on telling me that he didn't do my car because it wasn't correct. I was more annoyed that he didn't even have the decency to tell me that he hadn't done it when I collected it. What kind of customer service is that? 
I booked the car in with him to cure the lean running and alter the jets in the carburettor, I didn't book it in with him to look at the breathing.
I really don't understand his mentality as his refusal to do it has lost him around £400. (That's the approximate price of a dynotune.) What a way to run a business! 

It's a shame because I've used Atspeed many times before and recommended them to numerous people, but after this experience I'll never use then again and wont be recommending them to anyone. 
Since this ordeal, I've spoked to other people about them and found that they've had issues with them as well, so it appears they've already got a poor reputation.

I've also since spoken to Redline Racing at Laindon and will be booking the car in with them. They did a good job on my Zetec Cortina, but I didn't book the Green Cortina in with them as I didn't think they were a Weber carburettor specialist, but it turns out they are, so that will be my preference in future. 

This was to be the last Battlesbridge meet for this year, so needless to say, quite a few people came. We had also been promised rain from 11am onwards, so a lot of people got there early with a view to leaving when the rain arrived.  

I brought the Zetec Cortina to this meet just to keep it in use and also to run the new tyres in a bit. It looked good with it's different wheels and I was tempted to put the for sale signs in it, but decided to leave it until next spring. (Nothing is really selling at present-I think this hopeless Labour Government has got everyone too scared to spend money in case they want it!) 

The rain that was promised didn't materialise, so we stayed there until lunchtime. All in all it was a good day and nice to finish the season on a high. 

 With the classic car season almost drawing to a close I decided to get a few more meets in. The cosy cup cafe at Billericay is the location for a breakfast meet and is a nice friendly place to go. 

I decided to take my Green Cortina to this one as I hadn't been out in it for a while. It's not running quite right, but it's booked in for a dynotune soon, so hopefully that will resolve that. 

It was a good meet, although I don't think I'll be eating there again. The food is great, but the service is appalling. it took 40 minutes from joining the queue to receiving our food. That's 40 minutes I'd rather spend outside looking at cars and talking to friends. 

It was still a good meet though and there was some nice cars to look at. The location is also hard standing, so hopefully it will carry on throughout the winter. 

 After the exhaustion of the 2000 mile Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run, I took a short holiday down to Cornwall. It felt a bit weird driving down to Bude in Cornwall on the Saturday only having been there six days before, but it was a much needed rest and very enjoyable. 
I was back home by Thursday, so on Friday I decided to change the wheels on the Zetec Cortina. I had been wondering if it was the black wheels that was putting off potential buyers and a friend had emailed me a link to ebay that showed a brand new set of four JBW wheels for £100, which I promptly bought. 
However, when the wheels arrived one of them was the wrong PCD and therefore wouldn't fit. Also, there was only one hubcap sent when there should have been four. When I rang JBW to point out their error, they then found that they didn't have another wheel to send me. The original advert was for a set of 4 x 13 inch by 6 inch wide wheels. Because it was the end of the line, they didn't have another 6 inch wide wheel in stock. After a lengthy discussion they agreed to take the incorrect wheel and another 6 inch wide wheel back and send me two 5.5 inch wide wheels instead. (Plus the missing three hubcaps) 

With the the 5.5 inch wheels now in my possession, I fitted the new tyres and got to work putting them on the car. I must admit, I'm happy with the look and hopefully, it will gain more interest when I put it up for sale. 

 Although I no longer own any Triumph cars, I had, last year, already booked up to do the Club Triumph RBRR with a good friend of mine, Richard Warr. Due to me no longer owning a Triumph, it was agreed to enter in Richard's Mk1 saloon. 
In recent months our other friend, Colin Wake had joined us due to his co-driver letting him down and dropping out.
As a ritual, we all normally meet for a carvery in Knebworth before the 6pm start time. Unfortunately, our usual haunt was closed due to refurbishment, so we had to find somewhere else to eat. Fortunately for me, that was in Baldock where I'd also had to drop off my lotus Cortina gearbox and differential at Herts & Beds Transmissions. 

After a good meal in the pub, we set off for the start at Knebworth House. It had been raining since I'd got up that morning and warnings of 'Storm Amy' doing her best to wreck the northern part of Britain were being broadcast regularly. 

After a few hours of coffee drinking and catching up with old friends, our start time was upon us and we headed out onto the wet and windy A1 to head north. 
The rain was still coming down heavily but we made good time and before long we were at the first control at Wetherby Services in Yorkshire. A quick Latte and a top up of fuel and we were on our way again. 
Around half midnight we were at the English/Scottish border. The wind was now very strong and none of us were looking forward to going even further north to see what storm Amy was up to in the highlands. Our next stop was Kinross services and the wind and rain was still battering us mercilessly. Another quick coffee here and I jumped into the driver seat and completed the long and boring restricted 60 mph  drive up the pitch black A9 towards Inverness. 
There was lots of evidence that Storm Amy had travelled this route before us as told by the amount of trees that were no longer vertical. 
We took on more fuel at the next control at Skiach services and then pressed on for breakfast at John O Groats. After a very slow breakfast, we were on our way again and now heading south. We stuck to the proposed route, but then encountered the A82 (The road that runs alongside Loch Ness) being closed between Invergarry and Spean Bridge due to power cables being brought down by the storm. We found a diversion that took us underneath Loch Ness and brought us out at Spean Bridge and down towards Fort William. This diversion had lost us time, so we decided to head over Glencoe to grab some time back. This would have been ok if Glencoe was open, but that was closed as well. So, we had no other choice but to drive down towards Oban and then cut back across towards Glasgow. (Which is a long way round!)
By the time we got to the next control we were two hours behind and most of the other cars had left. There was also no food and coffee left, so we got going as soon as possible and hoped that we could make some time up. 
I took the driver's seat and did some 'spirited' driving and got us down to Tebay services (The next control) in under two hours. We were in for more disappointment here as the services were closing at 10.30pm and could only do us a cup of tea and a pie! Not impressed!
Richard and Colin shared the next stint of driving down to Wales while I caught up on some sleep in the back seat. Gledrid services was the next stop and they were also closed except for fuel. No toilets, or shop! We were suffering from lack of caffeine at this point, so we headed straight for the next stop at Monmouth Services. Fortunately, this was open and we were able to get some coffee inside us at last. 
I took the next stint down the pitch black M5 towards Exeter and then the A30 towards the next control at Oakhampton in Devon. We reached the control and found that it wasn't yet open, so we had done really well in catching up our lost time. With our roadbook signed and returned we set out for Lands End and I grabbed some more sleep in the back seat. 
Breakfast at Lands End was a nice un-rushed affair and provided us with a decent break away from the car. The next few stops would all be taking us in a homeward direction and after the torrential rain and gale force winds we had suffered all weekend, it wasn't a bad thing. By the time we were pulling into the next control at Bude castle, the rain had finally, finally stopped. A welcome cup of coffee was on the agenda and then we were off again to Gurston Down hill start which was the next control. 
The queue for coffee here was a tad excessive, so we brewed our own with Richards cooker. All too soon it was time to hit the road again and my turn to be in the driver seat. 
Popham airfield was our next and penultimate control and it was only 37 miles away, so only took just over an hour. We skipped coffee at this control as the satnav was predicting an arrival at Knebworth at 19.15, but we still had the M3 & M25 to battle with yet. 
Richard took the driver seat for the last leg so that he would be driving when we arrived at Knebworth. (It's an unwritten rule that if it's your car, then you leave the start in it and drive into the finish in it)

After a little bit of traffic we arrived at the finish at the predicted satnav time of 19.15. Richard and I were staying in a hotel, but Colin was going straight home, so we said our goodbyes and then Richard and I headed for the Premier Inn in Stevenage. 

Despite the awful conditions, (Hence the lack of photos!) we still managed to have a good weekend. The car never missed a beat and performed really well. Even the windscreen wipers coped with everything storm Amy threw at it. 

All in all, it really was a good weekend, but it would be really nice to have a dry one. I've been doing this event since 2010 and the only dry one we've had was in 2016! 

September proved to be a very busy time.

After a weekend at Santa Pod for the FIA Euro Drag Racing finals, it was back to autotesting, and a chance to try the new engine in Red Shed II.

This was a 1.8 ‘135’ engine donated by James Hall, all standard just with a new head gasket.

The event started well, and the tests were smaller than recent ones but this seemed to suit me with a decent lead starting to build up. However at the end of one test a cloud of steam and a coolant leak wasn’t welcome….

After filling the system back up with water we were at a bit of a loss as to why it was leaking. It turned out the coolant cap failed with the thread on it coming loose. A spare cap from the kit was found, and then it was back out for more fun and no more issues.

By the end of the day we had a decent lead and took the overall win.

The weekend after it was back to the ZR and acting as Car 0 (Safety Car) on the Bath MC Targa in the Dark after being asked to carry this out by CoC Dave Whittock. The event ran very smoothly we no real issues for us to deal with as Car 0. I viewed this as a good chance to shake the car down before the Preston rally later in the year. The car ran fine apart from a fuel leak, which I will need to sort before its next event.

Then another weekend later and it was back to the South West and time for an AutoX in Red Shed II. The course for this featured a lovely banked corner, making for a read fun and challenging course. Sadly dust meant we had to run ‘1 on 1’ so no real racing but a good chance for a fun thrash around. As a two day event, the Sunday was very slippery to start due to overnight rain, but it soon dried out and the track was faster than the previous day. By the end of the day I finished a few second up taking the class A1/2 clubmans win.

Finally I found out recently that I took the South Oxon CC Autotest Summer Championship

 Following on from removing the gearbox and propshaft the night before, I now had to remove the differential. 
This has to start with removing the drive shafts first which didn't take long, although upon removing the driver side one, the keeper plate fell out as it was in two pieces. (See below)

My first thoughts were that it had broken, but on closer inspection it appears to have been cut. I've no idea why someone would have done that, especially seeing as the passenger side one was intact. Very odd! 

Anyway, I carried on removing the diff as I need to take this and the gearbox to my transmission man in a few weeks. 
After removing the diff I counted the teeth on the crown wheel and pinion and found that the ratio was 3:9. The diff ratio in these cars should be 4:9, but that will be too 'screamy' for my purposes, so I'll probably have mine built to 3:54. 
The diff appears to be in good condition and the oil that I drained from it was a nice rich green colour. The oil that I removed from the gearbox was a very clean gold colour too, so hopefully they wont require too much work. 

 In an attempt to get at more of the underneath of the car so I can clean and paint it, I decided to remove the gearbox. The gearbox will have to be inspected and checked over at some point anyway, so it made sense to take it out. It was all fairly straightforward with the only real awkward bit being the remote gear selector. This gearbox is the same that was fitted into the Lotus Elan so the gear stick would have come out in a different place in that car. 
I also removed the propshaft and centre bearing whilst I was at it and then called it a day. 

 My mission today was to remove the front axle along with the track control arms and anti-roll bar. This wasn't too bad a job although every single rubber bush was knackered and will need replacing. It wasn't really surprising as all of these bushes are 60 years old now and rubber perishes easily at that age. 

With the bushes removed I then turned my attention to the front axle and gave it a good scrubbing. It was painted in red oxide rather than black, so I wonder if it was replaced at some point in it's past. 

 Another job that needs doing on the Lotus Cortina is the top plates. A previous owner, instead of doing them properly had just fitted protective plates over the top. 
I'd originally thought that they were riveted on, but closer inspection revealed that they were bolted on with Alan key bolts. 
after a bit of struggle, I managed to undo all of the bolts and remove the plates. The top plates underneath were not in great shape and look like they've already been replaced in the past previously. 
Another job out of the way, but I just need to find someone who can weld in the replacements now. 

Restoring cars always has its horrible jobs and I started on one of these recently. With the car on its side, I made a start on cleaning up the underneath. This wont be a five minute job and I will be breaking off occasionally to do other jobs so things don't get too monotonous. 
I found a really good degreaser and gave the floor a good coating before attacking it with a hard brush to see what dirt and grease would come off and what wouldn't. 
I was very pleased with the results as a good cleaning showed that the floor pans were all original and no replacing or welding would be required. Some of the cross members are a bit battered and dented no doubt due to its rallying history, but nothing too severe. 

It was interesting to find that these cars were never rust proofed or protected when they were built and had to get by with just normal paint. With this in mind, I'm surprised so many of them have survived! 

After my recent exploits underneath the Cortina and getting covered in crap, I had decided to look into 'car tilters' or 'rotisseries'. The bottom side of the car is actually in very good order and still retains its original floor pans. 
However, it also has a lot of flakey paint and grease which will need a good wire brushing and de-greasing. I really don't fancy laying underneath the car and doing this job, so I decided to look for something to make life easier. 
Two days after making this decision, I found a rotisserie on ebay. Even better, it was already set up for a Mk1 Cortina. I contacted the seller and we came to an agreeable price and I collected it on my way home. 

So today, I had a bit of free time and decided to set it up. The  seller had made some printouts for me, so it was easy enough to follow and put together. It's absolutely ideal and my initial fears about space were unfounded. 

This really will make life easy and speed things up somewhat. Spinning the car on its side will allow me to get at all of the floor and also remove the front suspension and clean and re-bush that too. I was very lucky to find this marvellous piece of equipment and the beauty of it is, I can always sell it once I've finished with it. 😊

 

I had a spare hour or so today, so I decided to quickly remove the fuel tank on the Lotus Cortina. It didn't actually take long as most of the 'lip' that connects it to the boot floor had rotted and was missing anyway! I think I undid a total of about four bolts and it came out! 
As you can see from the pics below, it was in very poor condition indeed and is only fit for scrap. 

Whilst underneath the car I noticed that the some kind of 'shield' was fitted to protect the tank. It's almost like a sump guard, only for a petrol tank. Bearing in mind that this used to be a rally car, I think years and years of wet mud had been getting stuck in between the shield and the tank causing it to rot out. (See tank shield below)

The other odd thing was that when I went to disconnect the fuel lines from the tank prior to removal, I found that there were no fuel lines attached any way! What my car does have though is an additional fuel tank in between the rear wheel arches. It's actually a Cortina Mk1 estate tank. 
Now, when Fords were having these cars 'homogolated', whatever extras were fitted to the 'works' rally and race cars, had to be offered for sale to Ford customers as well. So it looks like whoever owned this car from new, requested the additional fuel tank. (I'm not surprised, the standard Mk1 tank only holds 8 gallons!)
I have a picture of one of the tanks from a works car in a book and the tank and the mounting bracket are identical. (Although the filler neck is in a different place. (See below)
This is a fantastic period addition and I've already been offered good money for it. However, its part of the cars history and will be staying put. I wouldn't mind betting that there are very few cars left with this set up, if any at all! 

 Pushing the Lotus Cortina off of the trailer and into the garage the previous Sunday hadn't been difficult, but hadn't exactly been easy either. It was evident that some of the brakes were partly stuck on and my visit to the garage this morning had revealed that two of the tyres had gone soft as well. 
So, I jacked the car up, got it on axle stands and removed the wheels. The wheels are all genuine Lotus '881A' steels, so that's good. Not so good is that they have fifty year old Dunlop 175x13 tyres on, so they will be removed at a later date when I have the wheels refurbished.

I then removed the front brake callipers and was happy to find that theses were the correct 'P16' and 'front facing' type as well. I also checked the struts while I was at it and was pleased to find that these are the correct 39cm struts as opposed to standard 41cm Cortina struts. (A lot of Lotus Cortina's were robbed of their 'sporty and upgraded bits' back in the day, so I wanted to check if anything was missing)

I then moved onto the rear brakes and found that these were a bit more challenging. None of the brake pipes to the wheel cylinders wanted to come undone, so it was a case of cutting the brake pipes to release the fluid and then using a hammer to knock the brake drums off. Once again, I found that the rear drums and shoes were the correct type for the car. 

While I was underneath the car and already very dirty, I decided to remove the exhaust. This needed a bit of brute force in the form of hammers and an angle grinder and promptly disintegrated while I was attacking it. In fact, it left so much rust on the floor, that when I picked up my spanners, their silhouette remained!