Engine Punk

My Allegro 1.3 Super in its element - summer time in the Cornish lanes Just over a year ago I chap called Steven (sorry, I don't know your second name) got in touch about my thoughts on the Austin Allegro. It seems I'm not the only one who thinks a fast one would be a Good Idea and a bit of a joke. His remarks were so encouraging I thought I'd share them. "Read your blog on the Allegro Equipe and felt compelled to write. "Like you, I've been looking for the Allegro SuperVroom TV ad. A crummy ad for a crummy car, what with its wobbly Hydragas suspension, floppy body-shell, square steering wheel, lumpen looks, and gutless, under-square engines. "Except that, like you, I can't help feeling that there was a decent car in the Aggro struggling to get out. "The first inkling I had of this was when Rover finally developed the car’s Hydragas suspension system as it always should have been developed – for the K...

The cover of my original copy fell to bits so long ago I'd forgotten what it looked like Today I received in the post a copy of the first ever car magazine I bought. I was nine and a half years old and it made a significant impression on me. I bought it with my Christmas money and got the February edition, too, but by then I'd ran out of cash as my pocket money back then was five new pence. I proceeded to read both these issues of Hot Car until they literally fell apart. So getting my scuffed fingers on a replacement issue of my first ever car mag has been a real trip down memory lane. Pictures like these kept me drawing for years It was the article about the grass track banger racing that really caught my imagination. Here were every day saloons, just like my parents' car, being used in competition. I was hooked and the following summer my father took me to see the 1973 World Banger Championships at the Cornish Stadium at St Austell. I was 10 and it was my ...

There's something mighty fine about early drag racer paint jobs While I prefer Vintage Things that go around corners, there's always something impressive about sheer acceleration. I've recently been in touch with Martin Gleadow who noticed an Allard theme on this blog and and 2012 marks the 60th anniversary of Sydney Allard winning the Monte Carlo Rally in a car he designed and built himself, a feat that is unlikely to be repeated. Martin pointed out that a successful campaign has achieved funding for the restoration of Sydney Allard's dragster as a running exhibit. Coincidentally, I clocked this car at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, last autumn. It's of immense significance because it is the first ever European dragster. Sydney Allard had always enjoyed motorsport ranging from trials to sprints to hillclimbs to rallies and another form of competition that majored on acceleration inevitably attracted him. It needs to go, though He built thi...

Flying helmets are in this winter. Allard J1 is never put of fashion Now the mud has settled it's occurred to me that Team Robert's exploits in the 2012 Exeter Trial gave rise to  the best competitive result we've ever had. Subject to confirmation, we only failed two hills and found out later that one section was subsequently disregarded. But there were some highs and lows along the way and I don't mean the ruts on Marilyn - more on that/her later. My lasting impression is of how well organised the 2012 Exeter Trial was. Bearing in mind that the marshals, and officials are all volunteers, they did a superb job. The queues were short and the holding controls metered out competitors like a well adjusted carb. Although closure of some sections was a shame and meant we didn't do the competitive sections we'd hoped to do, it was entirely the right decision and kept the entry field moving in a trial that tested the ability of the organisers as much as the cre...

The Candidi Provocatore Allard J1 is now home to many new components After the disappointment of being a non-starter last year for the 2011 Land's End Trial, Team Robert are entered in the 2012 Exeter Trial this weekend. We will be running as number 255 out of an entry list of 265 not including the 68 Class O competitors. Binky reports that the Allard is all ready for the the trial with new tyres and the latest refinement is a full flow oil filter system. Meanwhile, having suffered terribly from wind over the last week, I'm hoping the storms have blown themselves out and that the event is not cancelled due to snow, which is what happened in 2010. The forecast is light rain on Friday night and cloudy thereafter so we'll see. Since I last saw the car - engineless and in the dark - Binkers has been tacking up the road miles, so we are quietly confidently of making the start for the Exeter on Friday and hoping for a coveted Finsher's Certificate. A mudbath ...