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 doubt that it will be this sunny on the 10th January Blimey - it wasn't so long ago I was getting warm again after the 2014 Exeter... My inability to learn sees me passengering Binky again in the Candidi Provocatore Allard J1in the 2015 Exeter Trial. We didn't get a Gold Award in the 2014 Land's End Trial because we messed up on of the special tests by not stopping astride the final line. On of my mates got penalised for arriving too early at a holding control so we will be on our best behaviour for this event. It really is about the taking part, though. If we were pot hunters we wouldn't be doing this, we'd be doing something else (probably less enjoyably). Binkers is gradually working his way through the suspension on the old war horse which now rides on new springs. Experiments with the tyres have proved interesting. He's happy with the mud clearing Pirelli Cinturatos on the front and the grippy Bridgestones on the rear. However, he's not happ...

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.

Continuing the theme of Shelsley specials after the trip to Wisombe, here's Miss Bacfire. Or maybe that should Miss BACfire. That 2.4 litre vee twin originally lived in a 1920's motorcycle used for bicycle pacing. I'd never heard of this sport but it's basically going as fast as you can on a push bike whilst slipstreaming behind a motorcycle or car. It used to be incredibly popular because of the speeds involved and velodromes sprang up all over France to sate the demand. It was even worth Louis Bac building motorcycles especially designed for this very purpose. These had big engines with a direct belt drive off the crankshaft and would build up speed slowly and inexorably dragging the hapless cyclist along behind them in their wake. You can see the sort of device on Silodrome . The A Meier BAC, to give the machine its full title, was built around 1928 and featured rollers on the back to avoid any mishaps if the pursuing push bike put its front tyre to clos...

The GSM Delta was the first that I've ever seen When I arrived at Wiscombe Park I was amazed to see how cut up the the top field was. Under the trees it's sort of level but the ground was still waterlogged despite recent dry weather and ruts showed vehicles had got stuck and been towed out with difficulty. So we were all crammed into the top paddock and very cosy it was, too! It wasn't always sunny, though I met up with my old mate Pete Low who was on the first leg of his holiday to France. He was on his BMW Funduro and I was my Monster Mazda and we were both camping in tents. Friday was very windy and it rained hard. Neither of us got  much sleep. There were rumours around the paddock in the morning that the event might be cancelled but I'm delighted to say that it wasn't. The lower paddock was very muddy and inevitably the start line became covered with clods from competitors wheels. It rained intermittently all through the day but we had some sunny spell...

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...

New tyres for the Allard J1 make Binky very happy After our encouraging result in the 2014 Exeter, Binky and I were looking forward to the Land's End Trial even more than ever. Binkers had been unhappy with the front tyres for some time and managed to get a good deal on some Pirelli Cinturatos the week before the trial. These were slightly narrower than the Bridgestones that we'd used before and continued to use on the back. This is the new windscreen wiper system - no rusty allen keys wrapped with wire for us anymore On the train up to Andover from Liskeard I had tread problems of my own - the sole on one of my old frank Thomas motocross boots began to come away. I've had them since 1987 so they've lasted well. I think being quietly cooked in the footwells of the Allard hasn't done them much good - I left my previous pair of walking boots next to my Rayburn for a winter and they just fell apart soon afterwards. Once at Binky Villas, there was nothing else...