Building, racing, crashing and setting fire to various kit cars…
…whatever one of those is. (Actually, it turns out that it’s a small explosive device.) It’s what the Birkett turned out to be.
I’d got myself all ready well in advance, here’s the car sitting on the trailer and, after a morning lecturing to students. I jumped on the train, zoomed down to Cambridge and drove to Silverstone. There, miracles of miracles (they must have got some new security guards) we got in easily and parked up for the night.
Hmm, I think I’ve found a bit of a problem, which might just explain the problems I’ve been having with the new engine.
After the first outing at Snetterton I’d noticed that the chain had needed adjusting quite a lot. That seemed a bit odd but I didn’t think too much about it. However, I’d noticed that the same thing applied after the Silverstone race. At first I was wondering why the chain was stretching so much, or perhaps the sprocket was moving slightly. However, I think I’ve found the problem…
After all the faffing around with the exhaust I put the old exhaust system back on again, feeling bad that that wasted a set of header seals which are some alarming price. Like that I could get the car ready to go to Silverstone. This was the annual club August bank holiday weekend meeting where all the formulae get a race, meaning that everyone gets just one race.
OK, I’m back. It’s been a while but we’ve been on holiday and I spent a week away at a conference which explains the lack of progress.
In fact, if I’m honest there isn’t really much to say anyway. After the Snetterton race I’d decided that I needed to sort the exhaust system out. I spent a while phoning around a few builders without any joy. I’d imagined that they’d all be twiddling their thumbs at this time of year. However, that appears to not be the case. So, after discussing it with Andy I thought I’d try something that I’ve been meaning to have an experiment with for a while. This is making my own exhaust. After all, it’s just a pipe and as Andy manages to make them out of a collection of mandrel bends, why can’t I?
And in particular, “where the heck have you been?”
Well, I’ve been busy. I realise that’s not a good excuse but I really have, honest. I’ve just finished teaching a 4 week long class to a set of Masters students (and writing the exam they have to take) and I’ve been trying to concentrate on getting my thesis written. Problem is, I keep thinking of more things that ought to be in there so I’m actually going backwards on that one.
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