So, I took the engine out, intending to get to the bottom of the oil pressure issue. I’m getting reasonably good at taking the engine out of this car, but as usual you always end up with a quantity of fluids falling out and making a real mess of the floor.
…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.
It’s coming up to the final on-track extravaganza of the season in the shape of the annual 6-hour Birkett relay. This is a huge race at Silverstone with about 60 teams each with 5 or 6 cars. Luckily not all trying to get on track at once. Once that’s out of the way—and assuming I don’t bend the car too seriously—it’ll be time for putting car away and retiring in front of the TV with a cup of hot cocoa.
And so, after a season of frenetic car building, engine swaps and sundry other excitements the RGB year ground to a halt at Cadwell at the weekend. It was, yet again, a wet weekend although a very enjoyable one. That the club managed to get 26 races on track over the 2 days, along with all the qualifying sessions, is a testament to how well organised it is. For something that only has two paid staff (and lots and lots of volunteers) this is pretty miraculous.
So, it was time for another race. I decided that I could take the weekend off finishing my thesis (which I have since finished, yay!) and make the loooong drive to Pembrey for two RGB races. Problem with Pembrey is that it’s a long way and it has a bad habit of raining. Rain as in absolutely pouring down, not that sort of pathetic English rain but the full-on Welsh variety.
