Engine Punk

A family affair 1 - Team Robson at the start of the 2022 Land's End Trial. Esme was out of the frame, dancing. My aim for the 98 th Land’s End Trial was to do better than last time. Regular readers will remember that in my last Land’s End episode , I didn’t get as far as the Bridgwater Time Control. The ignition warning lamp bulb had blown so the charging system wasn’t getting “excited” and the battery gradually lost its charge until the engine conked out. By the time we got going again, we were out of time for the start. And then on the way home… But enough about the 97 th . That was then and this was now. I was feeling sufficiently ambitious this year to aim for a finish. Binky reprised his 2002 Exeter Trial role as my navigator and drove down to my place on Friday. He’d had Covid the week before so was still a bit phlegmatic and fatigued. He also felt the cold more than usual so we had the top up for the night. Some people have dancing Elvises on their dashboards for luck...

This is the official photograph of Jerry's Imp from the 1987 Land's End Trial. I am hidden by the screen but Jerry is driving and Mike Evason is bouncing furiously. I think this is Darracott - which we would've failed. This is an ongoing project, one that my old mate Jerry Goater began and one that I hope I will get to a stage where it can be used again, for projects, like cars or motorbikes, are not finished off until they are destroyed utterly, when they have no further future. The Jemp rests in a corner of my garage, dry stored and awaiting its turn. It's not finished - it has a future. It began as a standard Imp saloon in a sort of mustard grey colour and Jerry learnt to drive in it. It belonged to his parents. Sheila and Steve, but it sort of became his in 1985 when we were on our industrial placements. Y'see, we were studying Industrial Design/Transport at Coventry Polytechnic and Jerry's dad was a CDT teacher and they had this grinder and this we...

It would be rude not to show the Allard's engine to everyone, especially if they've never seen a flathead V8 before No awards for us this time in the Land's End Trial but it was still hugely enjoyable and this morning I've nearly lost my voice from shouting so much. Partly this was from shouting directions over the noise of the engine to Binky who had ear plugs in to protecting his hearing from said engine - and apparently my shouting. I also get quite excited at times and tend to shout encouragement while bouncing about for traction. Crackington was one long yell that gave me a sore throat by the top but we cleared it well. Bishop's Wood was brilliant because we got off the restart that defeated us last time in 2009 and I loudly enjoyed Cutliffe, too. As we were running late this year I got to see Rodney's Revenge in the daylight and we were very pleased to clear that one. But it was the restarts that gave us problems. In Class 7, we had to do 8 restart...

At the Wilsey Down Control on the Land’s End Trial, Rob and I spotted our old outfit. It was running a bit late in company with Dave West on his XT350 and was crewed by its new owners Peter and Shani Adams. Although behind schedule, Peter and Shani were obviously enjoying themselves and had already got to know their chariot a lot better on this their second outing on the bike. Their first was the Exeter back in January. Shani had become something of a workshop widow over Christmas as Pete took the Cox-Triumph apart and put it back together again. As he said to Rob, “It’s got all the right bits on it.” During re-assembly, he added a very nice crankcase breather (like a little air filter it was) and he reduced the size of the seat box and panelled in the rear brackets on the very back of the chair to allow more floor area and bouncing opportunities when traction is needed. Rob approved of these modifications and the bike sounded just as good as ever when Peter kicked it over. ...