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XK140 engine built, Mira-Gomes off the Spa

The Jaguar XK140 Le Mans Replica of Joao Mira-Gomes spun a big end bearing at Silverstone this summer. We had the engine out and inspected the damage. The engine was stripped, the crank was ground and polished and re-assembled with steel conrods and all new bearings. The engine went back together with a Cometic multi-layer steel shim head gasket and was fitted back in the car. Mira-Gomes, who lives in Belgium, came over on the Eurostar to pick the car up ahead of this years Spa 6 hours race. He drove the car back to Belgium that night arriving home at 3am. The following week he competed in the support race for the Spa 6 hours with the XK140 and knocked 7 seconds off his previous best lap time.

“Just to let you know that all went according to plan at Spa. The XK went like a clock. I did 7sec better than last year. The next race will be at Portimão, mid October. Please convey my thanks to the CCK team” – Joao Mira-Gomes

Jaguar XK140 engine Mira Gomes XK140 2 Mira Gomes XK140 Joao Mira-Gomes Jaguar XK 140 Silverstone Classic CCK Historic

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HRDC Spa Summer Classic

Another wet but eventful weekend of HRDC racing. Shaun and I made the journey with Ian Burford’s “Lumbertubs” and Jim Prentice’s Le Mans Sprite. We arrived Thursday afternoon just in time for Ian to make the last practice session which happened to be dry and sunny. By Friday morning qualifying the whole place was soaked which unfortunately led to Tubby spinning and hitting a wall. Ian thought it was the end of his weekend but Shaun and I worked flat out to get the car rebuilt for Saturday’s race. We had to beg and borrow to get the bits we needed and had to patch the bonnet up with bits of old barbecue, rivets and zip ties but we got there in the end and Tubby managed to finish the race. Jim Prentice had a less eventful weekend but but in a very solid drive in the wet with consistent times to finish 3rd in his class. Well done to all involved and to Julius Thurgood for putting on another cracking race.

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HRDC off to Spa

We are getting packed up for our trip to Spa later this week. The HRDC’s next instalment will take place at Spa Francorchamps on the 15th and 16th of June. We are attending this event with Ian Burford in his Austin-Healey Sprite “Lumbertubs” and Jim Prentice in his very rare and unique Austin-Healey Sprite Le Mans Prototype from 1966.