A Saturday morning well spent.

Whats the daftest thing you’ve ever said in an email?….

“If you want a hand lifting anything let me know, I’m happy to pop over and take the strain!”

….that’s how I found myself sliding under the back end of Grens Karmann Gipsy to assist refitting the gearbox. Gren has been working on an engine transplant, out comes the wheezy 1.6 lump and in its place goes a 1.9 SEAT Tdi, ideal for pushing the unaerodynamic caravan with a motor along at a sensible South of France cruising speeds with less of the slowing down when an incline appears on the horizon!

The hard work of dropping the drive train out, cleaning and fitting the ancillaries onto the new engine and refitting had been carried out, but the gearbox needed to be raised underneath and bolted home, not an easy task given its size and cumbersomeness in the confines of the underside of a Volkswagen T25. With the van up on ramps we began.

We slid the box under on a board and manhandled it onto the carefully positioned trolley jack, inching it under its final resting place the handle was slowly pumped, raising it upwards to the chassis, with much straining and fine adjustment with feet, knees and shoulders the splines aligned and the bolts on the front plate were spun home, we were almost there!

With a spacer inserted and the bolts torqued up correctly the gearbox was in.

Time to step back and admire another piece of the jigsaw that is an engine swap.

You can read more of the story behind this on Grens website and forum
Steve.

Wind, rain and spinning Beetles

The forecast gave an extreme weather warning, “do not drive unless you have to!” obviously nobody told the drivers at Brands Hatch taking part in the “Lotus Endurance Saturday” with howling gales up to 40mph and monsoon rain lashing down the conditions were tricky to say the least, but the short race program provided plenty of great action. Top of the bill was the 100 minute Lotus race, but we had turned up to cheer on our friend Phil as he made his first RWD race start in a Beetle as part of the Beetle Challenge a class within the tintop race.

Wandering round the pits the majority of the cars seemed to be from the mid to late 1980s, it was retro heaven




Out on track the Beetles were sliding around in the damp


Back in the paddock we caught up with Phil, having qualified third in class he wasn’t last on the grid, smiling but nervous he readied for the first of two races.




In the main Grand Prix paddock garages the Lotus drivers were preparing and qualifying their cars, we took the opportunity to sneak into the workshops for a closer look.








The Beetles lined up for the off, just as the rain started again, keeping a couple of cars behind he finished third in class.






The last race before lunch was part of the Victor Meldrew Trophy, a handicap race with rules so complicated we just watched the cars go round and waited for somebody to pick up the cup at the end!






After the lunch break the second race for the Beetles was due to start, another monster downpour delayed things a little but after a few safety car laps they were away once more, the standing water gathering all round the circuit.








Lap after lap they slid around until Phil pushed a little bit too much coming over Paddock Hill Bend and went round.










He swam round at the back till the flag fell, back in the paddock all the drivers were animated about the weather, but with no bent panels it was a good result, 2010 promises more Beetle Challenge cars racing which is going to be a spectacle.




The final Victor Meldrew Trophy was hard fought as well, with more than a few spins, viewing from the top of Druids Bend you could see the cars race up hill before sliding round and charging down hill to complete the lap.








The final race for the Lotus Endurance started damp but quickly dried out, we watched from the free grandstand before succumbing to the cold and calling it a day, not before more panel damage from the Norfolk cars








That’s the end of the 2009 motorsport season for me, a year that’s seen me at seven different venues watching drag racing, rallying and sprints, roll on 2010. The rest of the photos are here

Steve

Lets off-road!

Blue skies and sunshine in November? Yep, you read that right, wrapped up warm I hardly knew I was in Aldershot in the middle of autumn, only the leaves on the ground and the muddy puddles gave away the game. Rushmoor Arena in Aldershot is the home of the service park for the Tempest Rally, a two-class rally that’s part of the MSA English Rally Championship. The competitors are split into 2WD and 4WD, after a couple of forest stages they arrive in service to be fettled ready for run round the Arena stage. The 2wd class is home to modern and retro rally cars from Mk1 Escorts to the latest Citroen C2.




Former F1 commentator Tony Jardine is campaigning a Ford Fiesta this year, he would clout the marker barrels but continue on during his first pass of the stage.


With repairs carried out and cars given a quick check over and clean it was out onto the stage, two laps of the stage meant that there was always a couple of cars to watch, most of the stage is inaccessible but the spectator bank is perfect for viewing close up as the cars take serious punishment from the rutted track before blasting up a tarmac stretch then into trees.






With the last of the 2WDs clear it was time for a wait, a crash in the previous stage meant the 4WDs were running behind, but they soon rolled into service. The 4wd class is mainly a Subaru and Mitsubushi.





With tyre pressures adjusted and tweaks made the cars were into the stage, anti-lag systems popping and banging away the top class were much faster through.





The Armed Forces Rally Team runs several Land Rovers at the end of the 4Wd class, slower than the WRC spec cars they still provided an interesting spectacle.


With the delays I only had time to watch a single running of the stage before leaving the Arena, the drive home was on route to the next stage so I shared the road with mud splattered rally cars ready for the off once more.

You can view more photos from the morning here, thanks for looking.

Steve