Some members from the East Sussex section of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club came to visit this morning. A tour of the premises and a cup of tea before a gloriously sunny ride to a pub for lunch. They all took particular notice of Jim Russell’s Cooper and it’s Norton Manx double knocker engine. You can find out more about the East Sussex section of the VMCC by visiting their website www.vmcc-eastsussex.co.uk
Chris Rodgerson brought in his very tidy MGB V8 for a rolling road session. The Rover V8 is running on twin SU carburetors and has a mild cam in it. Getting the engine properly tuned has found Chris a decent performance increase from 2500rpm up with a jump of around 30% at 4500rpm.
Two cars with apparent fueling issues in this week. The GT6 ran perfectly well for 20 minutes when it would stop working. We found that the copper fuel line that was running along the engine block was causing a massive vapor lock when it got hot. Changing this fuel line for a rubber alternative and moving it away from the heat source should help. The E-type had some hard plastic fuel lines at the petrol tank, these weren’t sealing properly and allowing the pumps to pull air into the line. You could see the air bubbles in the glass filter bowl. Again fuel lines replaced for rubber.
In for some clutch and column change shift linkage setup. I don’t know that I have ever seen a Hillman Minx of this age before. We quite like it.
A two day weekend for us at Brands Hatch with HRDC Allstars on Saturday 6th July and HRDC Touring Greats on Sunday 7th. Aston Martin owners club were celebrating the centenary of the marque with a host of races featuring a range of Astons from across the decades along with other marques. Ian Burford was first out in Lumbertubs in the Allstars race on the Indy circuit with the Grand Prix circuit being reserved for Sundays Touring Greats race. Sunday was a busy day. We had the usual suspect Dave Griffiths and James Turner with the Standard Vanguard and Ford Zodiac along with Victoria Beever in her Rover 105S, Guy Harman in is Fiat 1500 and John Paige who hired our MG1100. With qualifying at midday and the race at 6pm we managed to catch a bit of Andy Murray’s Wimbledon final in between. The race went well with James Turner right up the front in a constant battle for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th with 1st place Niel Brown 23 seconds ahead in his A35. James finished 5th overall. Dave was having a cracking race up to 11th from 18th with a great start until a broken stub axle brought it to an end. Guy, Victoria and John all finished well and all enjoyed a rare opportunity to use the full Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Next stop Donington for HRDC Allstars on September 1st and Snetterton for HRDC Touring Greats on September 28th.
