Ma Voiture

We caught up with Jacky and his Samba at scrutineering for the Neufchatel en Bray regional rally. French rallying is almost entirely for closed road tarmac racers. Classes now are Gp A and N, Gp FA and FN (cars prepared to original but lapsed homologation) and Gp F cars which confirm with the French Blue Book. Gp F cars must have had a competition log book before June 1993 and the formula will therefore gradually die out leaving only homologated, ex-homologated and historic classes.

This bright red Samba was originally built by Bouhier for Peugeot Talbot Sport as a Gp B car and weighs only 730kg despite the wide body shell. The Maxi is not a new concept! Originally 1285cc this versatile engine now has a longer throw crank and displaces 1452cc. With an eight-port head and a pair of Weber DLOE 45s this gives 14bhp and a power to weight ratio about the same as a 1.4K series Caterham 7.

The straight cut 5-speed close ratio gearbox and LSD translates this into a top speed of around 105mph at 8,000rpm. The car runs 7"x14" rims and tyre choice is becoming difficult as fewer sizes are being made - too tall a tyre and the car's handling and gearing is upset. A move to 13" rims reduces the size of the brake disc. At the moment the front has 255mm discs and four pot calipers along with little discs on the back. All are bias adjustable with a hydraulic handbrake.

To keep the petit bolide in contact with the Tarmac™ there is height adjustable coil-over-strut suspension all round. At the front the bottom wishbones are adjustable and rosejointed to allow setup of rake, castor and camber. The top mounts are held apart by the original Bouhier strut brace, thick enough to be part of Concorde's landing gear. Given the light weight the spring rates felt very hard to me but I know the setup must work because Jacky has more pots and cups than Wedgwood.

The cabin (or habitacle as the FIA calls it) is bare. The battery is moved to the back. There are new seats and 3" belts. The shoulder straps go back to the original rear upper seat belt mountings on the C pillar of the car - an arrangement which is quite normal in France. This gives a longer strap than is favoured in the UK but has the big advantage of giving a horizontal strap run, reducing load on the seat (and passenger's shoulders) which reduces the likelihood of the seat breaking.

There is only one fire extinguisher as FIA International quantities are only required in Gp A - (although you wouldn't guess this from looking at some of the cars who seemed to have extinguishers borrowed from an industrial plant).