Engine Punk

The sun begins to set on the Allard's new wiper motor After the pleasant excess of Christmas and New Year, I was in the mood for adventure again in early January. Fortunately, for me this coincides with the Exeter Trial. Team Robert, also known as the Candidi Provocatores - or me and my mate Binky (Mr Robert Robinson-Collins to you) - had an entry in the 2015 Exeter Trial and, unlike last year , the weather did not interfere with me getting up to Popham Airfield which is our chosen point of starting. It had been raining hard and there was a lot of standing water visible in the fields as I travelled up by train. Regular readers may recall that last year lightning strikes struck the signalling in Cornwall and Devon, which meant that I had to drive to Honiton. That was the most westerly point from which trains were operating but this year the weather was relatively benign Binky had been busy on the Allard since we cleaned all the hills on the last Land's...

I'll be looking out for this device again! Driven by Duncan Pittaway, it appeared in the 2014 Land's End  Trial running as a 3400cc GN. Combining the looks of a Brescia Bugatti with those a Shelsley special it sounded bloody brilliant, too! Binky told me the barrels and heads came off a WWI aero engine but that's all I've learnt about it so far. My immediate thought was what sort of crankcase does it use?   Transmission is of the GN/Frazer Nash school. Duncan's in his TVR 4000 in the Exeter Trial but I hope to catch up with him and quiz him about this device.

So here's a special post to reply to latest four that I've had on Engine Punk. This pickup was found in a barn a few years ago. (Photo : Jon Clark) Anonymous and Bones added to the chronicles if the UAZ 452 . Apart from that time on Dartmoor when i was on my Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme expedition and these things were newly imported, I have never seen one. Bones reckons the engine was based on a Standard Vanguard and that the compression ration was so low they could run on paraffin. My neighbour has a petrol/paraffin grey Fergie with an engine based on the old Vanguard so perhaps this is true? He used to work for the importer who used the trade name of Trekmaster and they had incredible off road performance and had been type approved in the UK for a 1 tonne payload. Anonymous pointed me to a Facebook page about the Southern Electricity Board Vehicle Club and there's a UAZ on that. It seems they didn't last long (4 years) but were bought because Land Rover...