Trials and Tribulations

Having gone nearly three months without an article we thought that it was about time we put pen to paper, if for no other reason than to try and drum up some support for the Sutton & Cheam event at Cameron's Field in Dorking on August 24th. This is a non damaging venue - unless you are "wugging" - and the event is a dual permit event so all you require is a "new" club card and Competition Licence, which can be provided on the day - entry fee is just £10. Cars need not be ballasted to run in Class 0 and any points earned will of course count towards both the Drivers and ARTS Championships. You can of course even marshal and earn valuable Marshal's points.

What has happened then over the past three months for Team Fortnight? Unfortunately for us two non finishes! At the Kidderminster Wyre Forest event we stripped the Crown Wheel and Pinion - as the diff hadn't broken we believe that part of the Gearbox casing fractured and jammed between the teeth - any other ideas would be appreciated. This required a complete Engine rebuild for as master mechanic Chris Eames had diagnosed the main bearings (along with the big ends) were completely shot, being a nice copper colour. We also took the opportunity to fit a metro camshaft in order that we could fit a metro turbo oil pump - how nice it is to have oil pressure again. More Roversport money was spent on fitting a new clutch, pistons and other bits and pieces.

Thus with what we hoped would be a more competitive car our next foray was the CSMA event at Brickhill. This was really rough - primarily due to the hot dry weather - and the car was not going well. In fact after ten hills it cried enough and refused to go into gear any more. All sorts of reasons were offered - the clutch plate had stuck to the flywheel was one idea; the diaphragm had turned inside out was another. Our own thoughts reminiscent of the Xenogamy was that the release bearing had failed again. Reality came up with another solution - Colin had failed to knock down the Crankshaft locking tab, thus allowing the Crankshaft retaining bolt to come loose and jam the clutch - luckily the flywheel had not come loose so the only damage done was to Colin's pride. Two DNF's however were not good news in the Championship stakes - even though Colin is currently leading the class in the ACSMC Championship, with Michael five points behind in third.

As to next year numerous proposals are being made. The RACSMA News included the following:

From January 1st, 1988, tyres will no longer be approved, instead tyres will only be excluded. Having said that there is further amendment proposed to Section R confirming that only tyres in the approved list may be used up until the end of 1988, following which it would appear that tyres will have to be marked either E or e. watch this space for the final outcome!

Also from January 1st, 1988 it will be permissible to change certain body panels from the same family of cars in front of the centreline in front of the car and also behind the centreline to the rear. Thus it would appear that it will now be "legal" to run a Mini Cooper "S" with a Clubman front end - no we will not be bastardising "Nymphie" - however I am sure that some of the BTRDA Experts are already out purchasing and modifying their new cars - interesting question for the Xenogamy Stewards - What is the definition of "family of cars"? Families of people just have the same name - does this mean VW; VW Golf; VW Golf GTi - thoughts on a postcard to Julian Fack at the RAC please.

The ACSMC newsletter also indicated that there would only be four classes next year:

1. Front wheel production cars with no ballast other than a 10kg sumpguard
2. Front wheel drive production cars
3. Rear wheel drive production cars with an overall 1st gear ratio of 17:1 or less
4. Modified Production and Kit Cars, including cars fitted with LSD's