Leukaemia Historic - 13th May 2017
Always a favourite of mine, this year they had a great entry of 68 cars - 58 Historics and 10 in the modern Targa Class.
Carrie and I were seeded 2 after our good results in 2015 & 2016.
Once again, there were 16 Tests and 6 Regularity sections and an hour to plot the route before the start, but there were slight differences with 2 new Tests around lunch and one of the regularities started in a forest!
We started with 3 Tests at the Racecourse, and we're always a bit slow on the 3rd one, taking time to make sure we write down the 4 codeboards correctly. The first regularity started well but we lost a bit of time later on when we forgot a speed change on a narrow tarmac white, assuming the lower speed would be for longer, and we dropped 10s at the next control. The next 3 Tests at Combe Farm also started well, but on the second one I could hear "tinkling" from underneath as one of the exhausts started to drag along the ground. We finished the test and stopped to have a look and found the rear silencer was missing. Luckily it had dropped off on the Finish line and the marshal brought it over. The mounting bracket had broken off the silencer but after 10 minutes it was back on and I managed to rig up a new hanger out of 2 jubilee clips and a spare exhaust clamp which I had in my tool box. The 3rd test we took a bit more gently and it held together, but we managed to pick up a 10s cone penalty as well.
Onto the second Regularity there was a bit of confusion when the first marshal hadn't arrived (so the control was scrubbed) but we were very close on the next 2. The next Test was a new one - a smooth tarmac road through some parkland, past a nice house with the owners out spectating, and up to the finish. After a quick coffee halt where we made back our time dropped fixing the exhaust, we had 2 more Regularities to take us towards the lunch halt. Although they went well, the first one a blast through a very nice smooth forest, and the second one back to the usual lanes. Just before lunch there was the second new test, a short one through a very mucky farmyard, which was great fun, even the handbrake worked it was so slippery!
Leaving lunch we were lying 4th Historic although about a minute behind the leaders. We went straight into Regularity 5, all going well, then into a Test. Near the end of the Test we did a cone manoeuvre on a concrete pad and as we exited we nose dived into a large muddy puddle (!) and carried onto the finish. As I stopped at the marshals I could hear the electric fan more than normal, but didn't worry about it too much as we had another Regularity to do. It was quite a long one and as we continued I saw the temperature was still rising - normally it gets hot on the Tests then cools down on the Regularities as we're going gently. We would have lost a lot of time if we had stopped, so I drove as gently as I could and still maintain the required average speed, even turning the engine off for a mile on a downhill section (!) which helped slightly, but we dropped 40s in total here over 5 controls, worrying about the engine affecting our concentration.
All this brought us back to Combe Farm for 3 Tests where we had time to stop and have a look. I had a look at the radiator and found it was full of mud - when we had dived into the puddle the un-original air scoop in the front valence had dug into the wet mud which was then blown into the radiator and dried, thus blocking the airflow
I scooped as much mud out as I could and after 5 minutes to let the engine cool down, we headed into the Tests. Once again we had exhaust problems - the same rear silencer came off, this time somewhere in the middle of a Test, so at the end all I could do was tie the centre pipe to the chassis and hope it held together. It didn't slow us down on the next test as we were 6th quickest only 2s off the leaders!
There were 4 more tests to finish, but I kept my foot down despite the temperature being off the scale. On the final test, back at Chepstow Racecourse, I switched the engine off as soon as we crossed the Finish line, and had just rolled up to the marshals when steam started coming out of everywhere! Bearing in mind I'm running Evans Waterless Coolant which boils at 180 C, I hate to think what temperature we'd got up to! Carrie got a time and the marshals offered to tow us round to the finish. I was worried we might get excluded for not finishing under our own steam so I waited 5 minutes, started her up and drove gently round. After a cooling off period, I looked under the bonnet and found no split hoses (silicon ones are obviously strong enough to withstand the pressure), just steam escaping from the radiator cap.
We went inside to get some dinner and await the results.
We finished 6th Overall Historic and with only 23s covering 2nd to 6th overall it was very close!
Many thanks to the organisers and marshals for a very enjoyable event, and thanks to Carrie for a good job navigating.
I think I was very lucky not to have damaged the engine - if I'd been running a normal water / antifreeze mix it would have boiled a lot quicker causing us to stop.
After the engine had cooled down, I added 2l of Waterless Coolant which I had in the boot, and drove home very gently.
A few weeks later, I drained the system and removed the fan and radiator, showing just how blocked up it was.
After a few hours of pouring hot water over it (no effect), spraying with a hose pipe through the fins (no effect) and finally resorting to the pressure washer, the radiator fins are clear.
I've also made new rear silencers from 2" universal sections and some intermediate mounts - the plan is to do the middle pipes in 2" as well when time and funds allow. The current system is the standard 1 3/4" so going up to 2" straight through silencers should release a bit more power and not make it much louder. A quick test drive showed everything working correctly and the temperature holding steady.
My next event is a small Targa Rally run by Bath Motor Club at Kemble Airfield near Cirencester next Sunday
Bookmarks