Historic racing 2013

They're on the MST page Pete, but you have to plough through a lot of race timing sheets etc to find the actual race results:

http://www.mstworld....13/13210hsc.pdf

If you click on the race title in the left-hand column of this page, it takes you to the race result.

http://www.mstworld....uit=Oulton Park

A car which I had not seen before, but which featured on a thread earlier this year - the 1965 Alton Holden Special of Henry Oosterbaan, designed and built, I understand, by Tony Caldersmith of Sydney and based on Lotus and Brabham designs of the period. Originally fitted with a Holden 138ci (2261 cc) straight six with a VW-Hollinger transaxle.

Caldersmith worked for Lotus in the 1960s, in the service department and also at Team Lotus.

http://forums.autosp...-ar1/?p=6407665

Edited by Alan Cox, 31 August 2013 - 15:37.

The Spa Six Hours is this weekend......

http://www.hscc.org....metable2013.pdf

I am leaving Birmingham Thurs am & returning Monday, travelling alone if anyone wants a lift down there?

see you there Tony - car 92 in the 6 Hour

A couple of pics from yesterday’s preview of the Castle Combe ‘Bristol Forklifts’ Autumn Classic race meeting on 6th October

Jim Campbell’s Aston Martin Ulster


Peter Hawkey’s Formula Junior Lotus 20



The meeting content is:

FJHRA/HSCC “Millers Oils” UK Formula Junior Championship
Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club pre-1966 race for the Norman Dewis Trophy
Healey Driver International challenge race for the Tim Rogers Memorial Trophy (3000s) and Dave Hardy Memorial Trophy (100s).
VSCC Pre-war Standard and Modified Sports cars
The Fifties Sports Car Racing Club (FISCAR) Intermarque challenge
FISCAR Fliers 1950s small sports-racing cars
Historic Aston Martins.

While it is predominately a race meeting, other machinery is being lined up for demonstration runs, including event sponsor Julian Bronson in his Scarab, plus a Bristol Motor Club display and parade of pre-1970 cars.

Admission is only £15 (65 and over £10, Under 17s free).

Meeting timetable now is available here: http://www.castlecom...kingEventID=440

A rather strange day at Oulton; somehow it got off on the wrong foot and did not get much better, ending with an abandoned meeting.

The Swinging 60s race was, however, excellent and the Ferraris looked good (pretty?) despite the apparent lack of over-taking.

Such a shame that many folks who had travelled half-way across England did not even get the chance to drive.

Edited by elansprint72, 21 September 2013 - 21:30.

good grief, what happened?

good grief, what happened?

More incidents than I can ever remember at a single meeting, fortunately no injuries, as far as I know. At the start of the first race a car manged to get wedged on top of the pit wall. this took 40 minutes to sort out and it went backwards from there, car on its roof in another race, folks buried deep into gravel traps and finally a section of barrier was too badly damaged for the meeting to continue.

Fortunately it was a beautifully sunny day!

As Peter said all rather bizzare at Oulton yesterday.......

But it wasn't all bad

see you there Tony - car 92 in the 6 Hour

Why the no-show, Simon???  Simon Hadfield made it a memorable seven days with victory in the Spa Six Hours alongside Leo Voyazides for a second year....

 

For anyone who speaks Dutch, here's my first report on the Spa Six Hours for Autosport.nl:

http://autosport.nl/...e-spa-six-hours

My English-language report, with lots and lots more pictures (and larger-sized ones, at that), will follow tomorrow on 8W.

Tony we had a torrid weekend first with the gearbox and then the engine so did 3 laps each on Friday to get on the grid and post qualifying decided to call it a day and head home. If it was easy it would not be the race it is... we will be back next year

As Peter said all rather bizzare at Oulton yesterday.......

 

But it wasn't all bad

 

 

 

Indeed not... The Swinging 60s race was excellent, with two concurrent races and up to 13 classes, always great to see lots of different cars on track at the same time, something for everyone.

Of course we all have our favourites...

... but if I could have taken any car from the race home, it would not have been one of the above (too much of a good thing, etc) it would have been the Escort 1600 in Alan Mann colours, as illustrated by Phil's excellent shot earlier.

Incidentally the Alan Mann book is highly recommended.

Esso (it will never be "Shell Oils Corner" to me) is always an entertaining place to be.

Edited by elansprint72, 25 September 2013 - 20:24.

Third weekend in September and it must be the Circuit des Remparts - Another splendid weekend spent in the Charente sunshine

Dougal Cawley took Pre-War honours with 'Piglet'

In his race-long pursuit of winner Jean-Marc Laffont, Gregory Ramouna comes up to lap Karine Blanchard

On his first visit to Angouleme, Bo Williams proved adept at mastering the street circuit by taking third

place behind two Remparts regulars in the Bugatti GP race

Francois Fouquet-Hatevilain's superb ex-Le Mans/Targa Florio DB-Panhard 'Camionnette'

Noted French author and journalist Dominique Pascal with his DB-Panhard Monomill

delta44, aka Iain Rowley, waits for his charge to set off for FJ practice

Idyllic French paddock scene - 14 Grand Prix Bugattis, sunshine and shade and Olivia Du Bucheron, one of a number of lady Bugattistes

Edited by Alan Cox, 26 September 2013 - 09:20.

Excellent reportage, Alain.

Je suis une bucheron and I'm OK....

For anyone who speaks Dutch, here's my first report on the Spa Six Hours for Autosport.nl:

 

http://autosport.nl/...e-spa-six-hours

 

My English-language report, with lots and lots more pictures (and larger-sized ones, at that), will follow tomorrow on 8W.

Here's the 8W report on the Spa Six Hours:

http://forix.autospo...m/8w/spa13.html

And ah, Angoulême... I should definitely skip whichever event it clashes with next year to finally go there. I loved the place when I ended the first leg of the Paris-Madrid rally there, in May.

Je suis une bucheron and I'm OK....

...Je dors toute la nuit et je travaille toute la journée...

Bien sûr

Real quality Alan..........one day I will be there ( And the Isle of Man TT  )

PAR

Lovely atmospheric shots, Alan, many thanks. Any sight or news of the Guidobaldi, by chance?

Thanks for your kind words, gents. Much appreciated. It's not difficult to get some interesting shots - not a yard of run-off, gravel or grass verge, happily. Sadly, no, Roger, no sign of the Guidobaldi.

I doubt whether you can get any closer to the action than this with a media pass at any other circuit in the world - "Smile, please, for the camera"

Thanks for your kind words, gents. Much appreciated. It's not difficult to get some interesting shots - not a yard of run-off, gravel or grass verge, happily. Sadly, no, Roger, no sign of the Guidobaldi.

I doubt whether you can get any closer to the action than this with a media pass at any other circuit in the world - "Smile, please, for the camera"

What an amazing place. Thanks Alan.

Edited by alansart, 26 September 2013 - 19:15.

 

Je suis une bucheron and I'm OK....

 

Tu es une boucheron?   

Matthijs, what a fantastic report on autosport.nl! Lammers had a great start, from 5th to second, then gradually losing ground. After dinner in Stavelot, i had another look at Stavelot corner, eery in the dark hardly being able to recognise the cars. Let alone the progress of the race! So i am honestly surprised a single Corvette managed 2nd spot with a dozen of so-called GT40's on the grid. Not really period result, or?

The crowded pits were amazing, one class had to camp on the outside of the track, the 70's F1 cars were packed in the GP pits, i wonder how many mechanics lost their composure under stress!

If i find the time, i'll try to upload some (fun) impressions...

Jan.

PS:  can anybody tell me why the Unipart Ensing carries MY first name in big lettering????

A few happy snaps from the Sywell Classic Pistons & Props yesterday - strictly speaking not Historic Racing, as it was more a series of demo runs and flypasts but wasn't sure it merited its own thread (yet).  Felllow TNFer Stephen Lee described the mix as eclectic, which probably sums it up.

The ex-Jackie Oliver/John Miles Lotus 47 - several admitted having played truant from school to watch it in the BOAC 500.

  Hangar 11's PRIX put on a neat display, though the commentary seemed to lack any information about who was driving it.

The under-stated Plymouth Superbird in drag-strip mode.

Some were taking it all quite seriously

Wacky specials are alive and well and living in Northamptonshire.  The radiator is acually where the passenger's feet would be (if you could tempt one on board)

.

Lotus F1 car made all the right noises

1951 Ferrari 212 F1 looked and sounded glorious.

Edited by Odseybod, 29 September 2013 - 17:08.

 

PS:  can anybody tell me why the Unipart Ensing carries MY first name in big lettering????

It did appear like that in period at least once - here's Lammers at Zandvoort in 1980:

http://upload.wikime..._Grand_Prix.jpg

A few happy snaps from the Sywell Classic Pistons & Props yesterday - strictly speaking not Historic Racing, as it was more a series of demo runs and flypasts but wasn't sure it merited its own thread (yet).  Felllow TNFer Stephen Lee described the mix as eclectic, which probably sums it up.

 

TT- super photos!

Pat has had the 47 advertised at £175k for ages, presumably he still lives in hope?

Any info on that Special? Judging by the tyres it has just been dragged out of a shed and I love those "mudguards" which, presumably, were created to get around some regulation, Chapman-style!

I'm guessing that the skroots did not do a sticker check on helmets that day?

TT- super photos!

 

Pat has had the 47 advertised at £175k for ages, presumably he still lives in hope?

 

Any info on that Special? Judging by the tyres it has just been dragged out of a shed and I love those "mudguards" which, presumably, were created to get around some regulation, Chapman-style!

I'm guessing that the skroots did not do a sticker check on helmets that day?

Thanks Pete.

Pat seemed to be enjoying himself flitting between the 47 and 26R - agreed when I suggested he was quite fond of the Lotus thing.

Commentary that I could hear was a little hazy about details of that special - I'm hoping to get hold of a list of 'runners and riders' that was missing from the programme, but I don't hold out any big hopes that it will add much more info.  Had a brief chat with the youngish owner/builder and only realised  later I should have done more diligent note-taking - always the way.

I think as it was classed as a demo rather than timed runs, the day was flying a littler below the MSA radar, so any scrutes may not have been as rigorous as they might otherwise have been, though this is just my guesstimation.   All very laid back, with a few areas that could be usefully tidied up without destroying the event atmosphere - I hope it wil happen again next year.  

Thanks, Paul.  All I can say is that he has a youngish demeanour, maybe as a result of time well spent in the shed.  And of course, to us persons aged 60+,  it's all a matter of perspective anyway.

Sad news from Snetterton VSCC - the driver of a Bugatti T35B passed away after being involved in a practice accident.  I have a fair idea of what happened, though we arrived after the accident had taken-place, but everything is unofficial at present so I will provide the link to the local newspaper website and leave it at that until more details are officially released.

http://www.edp24.co....crash_1_2823909

Edited by cpbell, 29 September 2013 - 21:39.

Hi All,   Hmmm, I’m 60 next year, does that count….?

Seems I’ve slipped into exalted company now. Oh crikey….

Well, if you don’t mind me posting on here; I built the car about six years ago, after over 40 years of building bikes, I thought I’d see how a car went together if you built it from scratch. Parts are as follows: Pop chassis and front axle, I cut the front cross-member off and made my own quarter-elliptic suspension (that front Pop transverse spring set-up really is ugly, isn’t it?). 100e engine moved as far back as possible, mated to a 105e gearbox via a Wooler bellhousing (not exactly the bolt-on conversion they reckoned, three days of test-fitting and machining later, I sent them details so they could use them on their website in future). 100e rear axle, converted to transverse leaf by cutting the shackle arms off a Pop axle and welded them onto the 100e. Pop steering column rotated 90 degrees to convert from cross-steer to drag link. Then the rest of it is just joining up the dots till it looks like a car. Or at least, the car I had in my head (I did make a bit of a mock-up in cardboard before I started cutting expensive alloy sheeting – even buying it in off-cuts it still came to over 20 quid!).

I ran it around for a while with the standard motor, then when it threw a coupla gudgeon pin circlips I rebuilt to a better spec. David Newman cam, big valves, bigger inlet valves, extensively ported and decked block, skimmed and machined head, balanced bottom end, 9 spring clutch conversion, etc. With twin SUs on a home made manifold it was giving 52bhp at 6,000rpm, and would run the quarter mile in 18 seconds, doing 75mph in third with another gear to go. And on the motorway it would still pull the trailer with the bike on it, the furthest we went was a 600 mile round trip from Preston to Bisley Rifle Camp for the Hotrod Hayride.

https://picasaweb.go...feat=directlink

That’s when I made the Q/D mudguards for it, I wondered whether the ‘down south’ traffic cops would be as lenient as our local bobbies about such things.

Then earlier this year a mate lent me the Shorrocks C75, with the immortal words, ‘Here, try this on your car and see how fast it goes.’ I knocked half a second off my quarter mile times at the drag strip, and was running strong at Sywell until I finally plucked up courage to hold it flat along the entire 1200 metre runway yesterday afternoon (there was a pretty strong crosswind, and it tends to get a bit vague on the steering above 80mph). We were fair singing along until the rear two pistons let go…..

If anyone’s interested (or even still reading by now…), here’s a link to how I made it.

https://picasaweb.go...hedsterBuildUp#

Note: I actually had to build it outside my shed, as the door’s only big enough for bikes. MIG welding in the January rain with a plastic sheet over your head wasn’t ideal, and some mornings the plastic sheet was frozen to the car so I couldn’t get it off to start work. Didn’t seem to put me off mind, I ended up building another four cars in the last five years (although I did put a roof up before I built my next one…).

Hope no-one minds me wittering on,

Best regards,

Odgie  ;-)

Well done, young man  .  Welcome aboard.

Please allow me to retract my previous 'wacky' description - I think it's wonderful, and with more than a hint of the John Bolster special-building ethos.  Hope there wasn't too much collateral damage from the rear pistons' resignation, look forward to seeing it in action again somewhere, sometime.. 

Sad news from Snetterton VSCC

A statement has been issued by the VSCC regarding this very sad event

http://www.vscc.co.u...?newsItemID=200

Spa 1973 or Donington 2013.....

A statement has been issued by the VSCC regarding this very sad event

http://www.vscc.co.u...?newsItemID=200

Thanks Alan.  Stephen Jewell's identity was only revealed officially as the deceased driver today, though I was aware that it was he who was involved at the circuit yesterday.  Through a friend of my father and myself who is a restorer/mechanic, we heard what happened. He didn't, as far as I'm aware, actually witness the accident - he was helping one of the other competitors and was probably in the paddock at the time, but he certainly spoke to someone who knew what so tragically took place. 

When we met-up with him in the paddock, he was able to point-out the damage tp the car with which Stephen Jewell had had the coming-together.  At present, I cannot obviously mention which car and driver it was, but suffice it to say that, though external damage was limited to the rear nearside wheel (bent and damaged rim), underneath, the damage was more extensive.  As a wheelchair user, I was unable to see it, but my father saw that the rear nearside wheel had been forced backwards, shattering the differential casing and misaligning the axle.  I did not see, nor would I have wanted to, the Bugatti itself.

R.I.P. Stephen Jewell and condolences to his family and friends.

Edited by cpbell, 30 September 2013 - 14:51.

Well done, young man  .  Welcome aboard.

 

Please allow me to retract my previous 'wacky' description - I think it's wonderful, and with more than a hint of the John Bolster special-building ethos.  Hope there wasn't too much collateral damage from the rear pistons' resignation, look forward to seeing it in action again somewhere, sometime.. 

Hey, I can live with 'wacky' - both me and the car have been called much worse..... ;-)

Had a good result today too - pulled to head to find four intact pistons, and just a severely torched head gasket... I can only presume all the oil was caused by extensive transfer from adjacent cylinders lifting it all up past the rings....?

Anyway, block and head were both still perfect, so a new head gasket later and it's up and running again.

Hurrah, we live to fight another day! (I think it's what you call 'getting off lightly....' ;-)

Excellent news. Onward and upward. 

By the way, I meant to ask whether there was any beer involved in its creation? I would somehow hope so ...

Pardon the interruption but concerning the talk about the Lotus 47... is that Pat Thomas you are talking about?

Excellent news. Onward and upward. 

 

By the way, I meant to ask whether there was any beer involved in its creation? I would somehow hope so ...

Well no actually, I don't do beer at all really. The occasional vodka milk shake, but usually only after a project's finished.

That special is magnificent!

Can I ask, the wheel based bender - it looks like the tubing hasn't distorted, did you use heat, or sand? what wall thickness is the tubing? I've always had tubing kink on the inner curve, so would love to know how you did it

Al

Pardon the interruption but concerning the talk about the Lotus 47... is that Pat Thomas you are talking about?

Exactly the question I was thinking of asking!

That special is magnificent!

 

Can I ask, the wheel based bender - it looks like the tubing hasn't distorted, did you use heat, or sand? what wall thickness is the tubing? I've always had tubing kink on the inner curve, so would love to know how you did it

 

Al

Cheers. ;-)

No, I just did the tubing cold, with no packing. It was pretty heavy stuff though, inch and eighth OD with an eighth wall (it's what I use for bike frames), and on a radius like that it bends fine. Since then three of us have invested in a hydraulic pipe bender. You can get smaller radius curves, and at 50 quid it each seemed like the way to go, not a thing you need often so it just sits at whoever's garage used it last. The wheel's still good for large radii though.

Matthijs, what a fantastic report on autosport.nl! Lammers had a great start, from 5th to second, then gradually losing ground. After dinner in Stavelot, i had another look at Stavelot corner, eery in the dark hardly being able to recognise the cars. Let alone the progress of the race! So i am honestly surprised a single Corvette managed 2nd spot with a dozen of so-called GT40's on the grid. Not really period result, or?

The crowded pits were amazing, one class had to camp on the outside of the track, the 70's F1 cars were packed in the GP pits, i wonder how many mechanics lost their composure under stress!

If i find the time, i'll try to upload some (fun) impressions...

 

Jan.

PS:  can anybody tell me why the Unipart Ensing carries MY first name in big lettering????

Thanks for the kind words. Not a period result, I agree, but then it's not a period car... Then again, most GT40s were also running at speeds of which they were incapable in period. The Avon tyres which are allowed for this race do help but everyone has the same advantage in that respect. The Grand Sport's driver strength helped, as well as the fact that almost every GT40 will run into some sort of trouble in the late hours, or indeed very early on, as happened with the No.7 GT40. These cars have a tendency to break. But with ten GT40s in the field one is always bound to survive, and it's no surprise that it was the well-prepared Voyazides/Hadfield car that once more came through, with Hadfield driving brilliantly again, as he did in the Revival TT. Also, don't forget that refuelling has a big effect (too big, in many people's opinion) on the outcome of the race. The Bräck GT40 lost a lot of time with that during its final driver change, falling from first to fifth in the process.

Rather late report here but we just returned from two weeks in France and one in the UK (Robin Hoods Bay).  We took in Angouleme and were very happy we did-my wife was squealing with delight at the performance of "Piglet" the Frazer Nash  that won the pre war race--on its third try somebody said...   I reminded her that she wasn't nearly so excited when I had a similar car in the garage! Some nice stuff in the paddock:

The track is Very tight in places and this caused problems for many but for some surprising reason, especially the Formula Juniors which I have a special affection for having owned/raced them back in the early eighties.  One Junior simply could not get around the tightest of the hairpins where we were sitting despite trying every line and nearly running over the feet of the marshalls who spent the whole weekend sitting on the Armco with their legs on the "business" side.  We finally concluded that this particular Junior had the wrong steering rack fitted-this occurred on every lap in practice:

 For the race he tried removing the nose cone!

The Junior race ended when one car hit the wall at a hairpin, the next car stopped but was pushed into it by the third car which could not now back up and the track was blocked!  They finally freed the second place car and then the cars continued but following a safety car...

The event is wonderful, the track extremely tight and the track time for participants limited - well worth a visit or three!

I don't suggest staying at a hotel south of Angouleme the French name of which translates as "The Old Stable" , I think they must think the English are there to be ripped off...

Edited by David Birchall, 03 October 2013 - 15:04.

Barry,  At least this one looked old-a couple of them looked like they were made last week!

But they were wonderful to see and hear and smell.

"Vintage" racing ain't what it used to be...

I thought I recognised that Bugatti.
It was one of eight that came over here for the Mdina Grand Prix last year.
 

It's Gregory Ramouna's very successful, and well patinated, 35B, a multiple winner at Angouleme, although this year he could only manage a very close second to Jean-Marc Laffont (who, I believe, also visited Malta last year)

If there's any interest in the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion I've posted 18 pages of images on trackthoughts.com

http://trackthoughts...rsport-reunion/

Enjoy,

Bill

Whose going to Silverstone on the 19th?