Engine Punk

If you've ever suspected Dr Beeching wasn't playing fair read this. Although partial to steam engines, it's internal combustion that I really like. It seems that much more accessible to me and oil based fuels still seem to pack the most bang-per-buck-by volume, which is critical for automotive transport. But sometimes I come across stories where petrol and diesel powered machines were promoted for political reasons. One collection of these was The Great Railway Conspiracy , in which David Henshaw gathers evidence on deliberate policies to make railways unusable before citing lack of use as a reason for closing lines down. But I recently came across a reference to another anti-steam engine conspiracy. It was in A E Durrant's book on The Mallet Locomotive . It would appear that in the USA diesel engines were promoted by the oil companies, whose political might was sufficient to ensure that the operating companies remained fragmented and offer a united challenge ...

Mad Max and the last of the V8 Interceptors Somebody asked me about this the other day. A sound bite response would've been good but I couldn't think of one.  So... Engine Punk is the joy of making, expressed in metal, composites and tyre smoke - a tribute to accessible technology - an indulgence of finely engineered excitement - high-octane works of imagination, fantasy and mech-anarchy. What a beauty! Marcel Sylvand's Zoomster. Photo : Nitro Engine Punk is nostalgia for the twentieth century and a celebrations of all the freedoms we had. Note past tense (unfortunately) Engine Punk is Steam Punk with a go-faster stripe.  Engine Punks talk the torque and race the race.  Form over function - a motorcycle conception by Zero Engineering (like there's a lot of engineering actually, actually) Photo : Zero Engineering Engine Punks are openly retro-sexual, speed celebrants with a chequered eroticism (but not that bloke who has sex with his car) The fast...

Mallet 403 awaits to take us out of the Ardeche hills at Lamastre Articulated steam railway engines have appealed to me from an early age when I discovered A E Durrant's book on Beyer-Garrett locomotives on the mobile library that used to come to our village. Wouldn't the steam come out when they articulate? And Beyer-Garratts were not the biggest - that accolade belonged to the semi-articulated Mallets. Mallets are pronounced malaise actually but Anglo-Cornish/Cornu-Saxon force of habit still makes me describe then as Mallets - as in the hammer - even though I now know better. I have in mind the hammer blows their great cranks must make on the track as the wheels go round but, in reality, one of the virtues of a Mallet was that it suited lightly laid tracks. CFD Vivarais 403 is a classic mallet design with large, low pressure cylinders in front and smaller, high pressure cylinders behind. For a French engine it looks remarkably neat but then it was built in Switzerl...

Steam Punk is a close but older relative of Engine Punk. I don’t want to get bogged down in defining differences right now - I aspire to breakdown barriers not reinforce them - but with the exciting prospect of the Steampunk Kernow party in Falmouth , with its nautical theme and evocation of the age of exploration, I’ve indulged in some ancestral delving into the first generation steam punk activities of my grandfather's favourite uncle. From an ancient scrapbook, I am fortunate to have this watercolour self-portrait of Great Uncle Walter. On the same page were very small photos of gondolas and heavily flooded streets. Great Uncle Walter is world famous in my family. Like me, he was a man of many parts, except that most of mine are old car and bike parts. Great Uncle Walter was an artist, a photographer, sailor, entrepreneur, founder member of the Falmouth volunteer fire brigade and inventor. His portrait of the Mayor of Falmouth still hangs in the civic chambers. Among his sur...

This Simca 1500 Spéciale sounded big but was a docile enough machine to take to the Supermarch é How many racing cars can you use for shopping? Along with many others at the Le Mans Classic last year, we were waiting for the local supermarket to open up when something low, blue and gruff hove into few, piloted by two glamorous females who could only be French. I quickly approached and made such a fist of mangling their language they graciously chose to practice their already excellent English. In the short minutes before the stampede when the doors opened I established that they were actually competing in the races and that their blue bolide was docile enough to deal with traffic and fetch some bottled water. "They" were Olivia and Alexandra du Boucheron who were sharing the car with their brothers, Olivier and Edouard. The car belonged to their father who'd had it for years and who let them each have a drive in the four heats for that particular plateau or grid...

Beautifully presented and beautifully presented. Not my mate's Clan but a very fine example nonetheless. Have you noticed how most Vintage Things are worth more as the total of their parts? It seems to be the opposite of gestalt , where some things are worth more than the sum of their parts. I was talking to a friend the other day who owns a very nice Clan Crusader, probably the nicest Clan Crusader you've ever seen. It's all set up for rallying with a big bore engine, twin 40s on the right manifold, a very rare and strong gearbox and - perhaps best of all - a very lightweight shell. He's considering selling it because he has a growing family and won't get to use it properly for a while. However, having assembled all these glorious bits to create what could be the ultimate Clan, he's faced with the prospect of breaking it up because the sum total of the parts is £15,000 and nobody would ever spend that on a Clan. But they would spend £5-6k on the engine, ...

If I knew what the collective noun is for pre-war MGs is, I could have used it here. But nobody could use the lavatories at Fingle. This year's trial will probably be remembered for the heavy overnight downpours that washed some hills clean of mud but made others incredibly difficult. I set out for Fingle Bridge a little later than I planned and consequently missed all the bikes going through, apart from two stragglers. One of their mates in a Suzuki X90 said they were all leaking wet, though. He was thoroughly enjoying his dry clothes and heater. Dudley Sterry's MG J2 has a supercharged XPAG engine and an MGB back axle. It still looks the part and is a very special special. Goes well, too. Fingle was not very difficult at all. In fact, it wasn't really very interesting to watch as it was less of a challenge this year than I remember.  A nonchalant thumbs up from Dave Turner as he and Rob Robinson-Collins make light work of Fingle. I wanted to see Dave...