Engine Punk

The Musee is part of a complex of industrial buildings that are far more pleasing on the eye than the corrugated steel sheds we get nowadays. Earlier this year, my road trip in France through the Vienne region coincided with a public history day with free entrance to museums and my hosts recommended this museum in  Châtellerault - not to be confused with Chateauroux not far away. I couldn't decide if this was a wooden frame or metal painted to look like wood Châtellerault was more of a centre of armament production but you can have too much of swords and guns. Le Grand Atelier includes a history of the famous nineteenth century Black Cat shadow theatre and the Auto, Velo, Moto collection of cars, bikes and motorcycles. Godier Genoud monocoque framed Kawasaki I appreciated the building. It’s elegantly plain and outside are two massive chimneys that shout power although they actually pumped smoke into the atmosphere. All is clean and quiet now – one advantage, I suppose of a post-ind...

The "engraved" side of the commemorative medallion (Photo : Wikimedia) Regular readers of this irregular web log may remember the thunderous silence surrounding revelations over the world’s first motor race. It wasn’t when you first thought it was! Unless you read about here of course. Or here . In short, its was a race between two steam engines in 1867 when the Red Flag Act was in force. That slight legal technicality may have resulted in it being conducted covertly and no-one would have heard about it had not The Engineer magazine published a short paragraph about it after it had occurred. I tried to stir things up in 2017 as the 150th anniversary approached but interest from anyone in the Old Trafford area of Manchester amounted to a big fat zero. They seem to have no interest in historic sporting events whatsoever, even - or especially - if the first ever motor race finished on their doorstep. Steam car builder and researcher Karl A. Petersen was who first put m...

Great shot - despite rain and gloomy light - of Peter Stobbs on Jab and Left hook. (Photo : Paul Jones) I marshalled on this year’s Camel Classic, since I’ve had the engine and gearbox out and in with the Arkley-MG to replace some oil seals. First spell of duty was on Jab and Left Hook, which I remembered as having a difficult restart but finding it took some time. Like all cats looking grey at twilight, all trials sections in the forest look the same when its dimpsy. It only really became apparent when one walked up a turn off from the main track in Hustyn Woods that the course markers became visible.   Fellow marshals were Matt Tyrell and Laurence Payne and we had walkie talkies because there was no clear line of sight. All solo bikes and car classes 5-8 had to do the restart. I was interested in everyone’s technique. The choices were, stay low on the flatter approach and get out of the greasy mud or get as high as possible and risk not getting away where the hill got steeper...

  That's not just the early morning sunshine that's so dazzling - it's the level of preparation on some people's cars. The CMR Special of Jon and Calvin Moores could be too shiny to get muddy... (not) 2025 saw a great deal of activity on the Arkley-MG but not much actual action. After a Did Not Finish on the Exeter and the Edinburgh and a Did Not Start on the Land’s End, I thought I might try a little drive in the country with Sally. The 78 th Tamar Trial, run by the Launceston & North Cornwall Motor in memory of Peter Cooper, started from Maunders Yard in Launceston on a glorious autumn morning. In recognition of this Indian summer, the L&NCMC had raised everybody’s minimum tyre pressures on almost every hill. Frinstance, the first hill, Petherwin Old Hill had a minimum tyre pressure of 18psi for us in Class 7 and a restart on a sneaky deviation but, as the start line marshal said, we didn’t have any problem getting away. Only a couple of hills had no limit ...

You can tell it's a special Special from a distant glance Among the invited sports and racing cars at this weekend's meeting at Wiscombe Park was this fascinating device. No one was around to answer my many questions but I was free to snap away at it. The programme listed it as Austin 7 Shelsley Special, dating from 1928 and driven by Nick Allen. On what you might call the timing side is the drive to the blower I could see it sported a complete Austin 7 powertrain turned through 90 degrees and mid-mounted behind the driver. On one side, the gearbox drives a chain back to the solid rear axle, while on the other is a supercharger. On the drive side are cunningly fashioned chains  and sprockets There is so much to like about this bolide as our French friends are wont to call fierce voiturettes . I enthused about it to a mate of mine and he recalled reading about what he called the Austerity Special somewhere. He was adamant about the name and I can't imagine there could be tw...

I am very interested in Infra Red photography and the haunting images it provides once converted to black and white  Engine Punk began as a means of promoting my writing but this blog has grown a life of its own. The Vintage Things and Fire Drakes that I've happened across are noteworthy and I want to share my enthusiasm about them at a very personal level.  Steamers at Boconnoc. I believe we will one day come to think of the internal combustion engine as fondly as we do those that are external. They are even making new steam engines sixty years after destroying so many! There simply aren't enough to go round. Engine Punk is also a record of my low budget motorsport activities. There have been so many of them, they become a blur, a blur not through speed but from confused memories over a surprising length of time. I discovered across the Pontsarn viaduct one frosty moonlit night, appearing across the valley as I crested the hill. Actually, it was late summer but you get the pi...

Patchy coastal fog wasn't forecast at Blue Hills 2 this Easter but tyre smoke was.  Richard Hayward suffered a blow out but may have cleared the section otherwise. It was a huge disappointment to not even make the Bridgwater start of the 2025 Land’s End Trial after all the work on the car. I drove the car up in heavy rain but making steady progress with the Arkley-MG’s single speed wiper. I fuelled up in Cullompton and the new fanbelt squeaked as I started and pulled away. No problem, thinks I, I have two 13mm spanners about my person for this very purpose. As soon as I was at Sally’s place, I made the most of the dimpsy daylight and adjusted the fanbelt. However, the alternator’s cooling fan was just touching the adjustment bracket. Then one of Sal’s friends wanted to move her car and instead of a “Vroom!” I got a “click, click, click” and a suddenly shy ignition light. “Bolleaux” as our continental neighbours might say. It wasn’t having it. It didn’t wanna went. Sally’s niece and...