81. Getting short on time

The transition from having a bit of fun to serious competition can be and was/is a challenge at times, now everyone that knows me understands how much I love this sport but bloody hell it can be frustrating at time. I had a 3 year plan in mind when I started,1st year get used to the car and get Steve used to tuning it, 2nd year New chassis with old running gear 3rd year new power plant run 7's....simples!!!

But as we know life doesn't always run to plan, now I have been criticised in the past for writing some of the negative stuff on this blog but! I did promise when I started this blog that it would be warts and all. so lets have a look at what's happened in the last few weeks or so and please remember that some of what has happened, in fact a lot of what has happened is out of our control.

We didn't attend the Hot Rod Drags last year as we had damaged our engine, we knew that the injection system was not up to the demands of the new engine and was proving just too difficult to tune, we had a torque converter which was not man enough for the new engine, so we sat down and drew up plans for the following season..new injection system, new converter, get the car re-tagged, apply for licence and lets go racing.

So over the last couple of months we have stripped the car had a new roll cage fitted the car has been tagged the new fuel system fitted, we had ordered a new set of harness's a new chute, new front tyres and a new gearbox shield so we would be legal for MSA events.

So while waiting for some of the new parts to arrive we took the car up tot he fast show to fire her up and maybe get her down the track, 

Even though at this point we still had a lot to do there had already been an almighty amount of work done on the car,and I have to admit at this point I was really liking the look of the car and the stance, the new slightly taller roll cage didn't seem to impact on the look at all 3 inches is a bit taller but Steve Fields had blended it in great.

My son looks like a small child sitting in her now LOL anyway we got everything ready and fired her up..well tried to fire her  up she wouldn't stay lit so there was obviously a problem with the fuel supply Steve went through everything over and over and couldn't find the problem, sometimes a problem is right there under your nose and you just don't see it which is what happened in this case but we also managed to strip some teeth off the flex late and sheer a bolt on the starter so that was it for the day pack up go home and h ave a rethink.

Within 24 hours we had sussed out the problem with the fuel and had a new flex plate on order, now time is getting short went to ARRC to pick up the bits we were waiting for but the chute still hasn't arrived nor did the new gearbox shield both of these are out of ARRC control and Kate has done her utmost to help us out, We can make do with our old chute for now, we can fit the new harness and padding we do have the new flex plate so just praying the shied part that I have managed to track down turns up in  time for the Springspeed Nationals, talking of which we don't seem to have appeared in the entry list even though I sent of my application and the money in February..hmm Oh well another problem  to sort out on Monday.

So tomorrow at some unearthly hour I am off to pick the truck and car up and drive them down to Swindon where all the work will be done and...fingers crossed she will firs up and run and hopefully we will get the rings run in while we are at it then I will be testing and licencing at the same time at Shaky, that should be interesting if the parts turn up in time and if I sort my entry out...wouldn't want it any other way if it was all easy everyone would do it LOL, roll on next weekend!!!!

80. Getting excited now....!

Over the last couple of days my number one son and crew chief has had to put the jigsaw puzzle that is my race car "Tight Fit" back together again, while contending with a crappy cold and hay fever and working 9-5:30 every day and what a job he has done. First off the injector hat and rocker box was sent to John O'Sullivan.....

We had to have some work done to make the throttle cable fit the new injector system which meant having a bracket made up and we needed an oil filler welding onto the rocker box  for obvious reasons.

The usual great job by Mr. O'Sullivan when Steve got the bits back he did have a go at polishing the new throttle bracket, not a bad job at all.....

Then it was a case of putting all the bits back together, plumbing in all the new fuel lines which was a bit of a nightmare and then re-fitting the tank after it had the new fittings welded to it.

So this evening after a lot more hard work and with a little help from number two son Phil, Steve fitted the last few bits and pieces like the throttle cable, parachute release cable and all the body panels.

As you can see Phil seemed to be enjoying himself in the drivers seat and I hope you can notice the three inches taller roll cage that makes Phil look like a little person...! On a more serious note I have to admit that I love the look and stance of the car now that bug catcher really looks the biz.

It is still however not the easiest of cars to get out of, here ably demonstrated by Phil, I am hoping that I will now have enough room once the padding has been fitted to get in the car and have a wee bit of headroom and maybe even get something softer to sit on as opposed tot he sheet of ali I have at the moment.

We do still have some work to do on her, there is a leaking half shaft seal which we will sort at the track we still need to fit the new harness when it arrives along with the new chute and gearbox shields and the roll cage padding, and I will have to use some elbow grease on her and clean and polish her up a bit, none of which will stop us starting her up for the first time this Sunday  and ....fingers crossed we might even get her down the track once we sorted the running out, then it's all hands on deck to finish all the little bits and bobs up ready for the Springspeed nationals where I hope to get my licence signed off...proper race driver then.

So picking the truck up later this week to take the car back to her secure parking facility then back to pick her up on Sunday to take her to the Pod ready to test...oooh time to get excited...!

79. Getting there...slowly!!!

OK so here we are at Easter, race season has began and God I have an itchy right foot, I am suffering from this Spring Flu bug so instead of watching or racing I am stuck at home so I have time to do an update.

So where are we with the car then? good question I wish I knew LOL,  When we took the car down to Swindon in the back of the truck it was in one piece and was dropped off at FieldCraft Fabrication for a little surgery..

As you can see the headroom is a little tight, a bit too tight as to make the car and myself  MSA legal there has to be some padding between  me and the roll cage, well if that was in place as it is I wouldn't be able to get in so...new roll cage required 3 inches taller...!! While that was being sorted I sent off the gearbox shields to Andy Robinson Race cars to be re-certified.

But!! we found a wee problem with the main gearbox shield...we only had half of it apparently, we only had the op bit not the bottom bit and they are re certified as one shield so......

We were missing the bit with all the holes in it

We have had to order a new shield, again thanks to ARRC for all their help in this they have gone out of their way to help us and I am really grateful, got my fingers crossed that all the parts will turn up in time for our first outing at the and of April.

So last week I went to pick the car up from FieldCraft Fabrication which is now sporting a new very shiny roll cage and...ta-da the car is now tagged.

Number 1 and 2 sons looking her over Steve and Phil

So as I type this Steve is putting her back together ready for her first fire up and hopefully testing at the fast show so that's the car up to date but then of course that's half the story no point in the car being legal if the driver isn't well......

...that has now also been put right as well, so here's looking forward to a safe, parts breaking free, fast season, see you all at the track soon.

78. I hate "That time" of the year

There is every year a time and a date that really wish I could avoid for more than one reason. Forget about the car for a minute and lets concentrate on the truck, now Elsie our truck is more than just a truck, she is our mobile garage and workshop and while at race meetings it's our home  our bedroom and our kitchen, so obviously Elsie is very important to us.

The problem is of course that to remain legally on the road Elsie needs an MOT every year, So she goes down to Swindon to Greenbridge for a once over and check and MOT, this year I asked them t do a mini service as well.

But lets go back a bit, first of all I have to get her to Swindon, this is where the fun starts LOL, this year we had to drop the race car off before the MOT and it takes at least three people to do this so I took Christopher with me and my brother Dave followed us in his car to bring us home again. But even before that my son Steve had been up the week before to do some work on the car and while he was there he cleaned the outside of Elsie which is no mean task.

So it was up at silly O'Clock Tuesday morning and out on the road not long after up to Bedford a run of around 140 miles where we met my brother. The first thing we had to do was fire up the generator and plug in the battery charger as she had been standing for a while in the freezing weather we had just had, but even before that I had to go fetch some diesel and unleaded fuel for both the truck and the genny. And after ten minutes she was running...great load up and set off, out of the gates foot down and go...err no! for some reasons he would only rev to around 700rpm not high enough to change gear and of course she would only do 15 mph hmmm so up to the roundabout and back to the storage depot, A quick look around and we noticed the choke lever was out aha! so shove it back in and off we go again err no! again this time she would rev to just over 1000rpm and just manage to change up once but still only 25mph flat out so...back up to the roundabout and back to the depot again. Over an hour and half had gone by now and we had a schedule to keep so I was going to phone around and cancel everything, Then Dave noticed a slight noise which he recognised, he drives a truck for his day job, what had happened was when someone had climbed into the truck they had accidentally  pressed the exhaust brake switch which is on the floor just in front of the drivers seat and it had stuck on, so a couple of thumps and everything was ok again...phew!! LOL

So off to Swindon we go another 150 mile trip, but at least the trip goes without indecent which is good. So the car is dropped off and Elsie is driven round to the service centre. The one drawback to Drag racing is that all the race equipment including transporters sit idle from October to March and as we know just sitting there does them no good at all, things get stuck and corroded etc and again this year I have just been told that we have to have the kingpins replaced and the front brake callipers are seized up and maybe corroded beyond repair..so here we go again LOL But we wouldn't do it if we didn't love it..maybe a trailer would be the way to go to try and reduce costs every year...I might have to have a good think about it. Still the new season is nearly upon us can't wait, lets go racing!!!!!!! 

77. All hands to the wheel!!

OK so time has passed and in fact its running out too quick,  we are halfway through February and the season starts for real next month, I have a lot planned one way or another this year and so money is going to be a wee bit tight so I am still not sure how many races I can get to this season, but! we need the car ready anyway ot we wont be going to any races, so time to get some work done on the car, the most difficult thing with getting anything done on the car is getting everyone together it is a nightmare but over the last couple of days we have managed to steam ahead and get a lot of work done. So first things first it is time to get all the back end back together, Steve bought the new bolts for the torque converter with him so the gearbox and axle can all be put to bed.

Not a lot of room inside the truck for Steve to work on the engine!

While it was all in bits it gave us time to inspect the SFI dates on all the relevant parts, the two shields that go over the gearbox have run out, as I think the SFI stamp lasts for three years...

But the one on the flex plate is still in date... 

But that does mean I will have to take the two gearbox shields to Andy Robinson or John Webster and pay to have them re-certified, thankfully that doesn't cost too much. The reason for all this certification is of course safety, which is why I have to buy a new set of restraints, seat belts, again not too big an expense.

All the work being done on the car this week is to button up what we already have and din't get time to finish last year, Valve timing and making the front timing cover fit properly, and of course plumbing the new fuel pipe in for the new injection system that Steve and Dave fitted last year.

And along with this we have had to fit a new fuel pump and shut off valve which we got with a flow/pressure gauge attached, which we hope will help us tune the car a little better as we don't want a year like last year.

Things still to do are get some "P" clips for the fuel pipe and fuel filter,  a little bit of wiring for the new distributor and starter motor, we need a throttle bracket and a couple of 90 degree pipe fittings and the tank needs to be taken home with Steve so his mate can weld the new fittings to it, and I seal on the rear wheel needs replacing. So still a bit to do but the list is getting shorter and shorter.

How ever there is one "Big" thing I would like to get done if I can afford it and that is to raise the roll cage a couple of inches so that I can sit in the car more comfortably without having to squat down all the time this will mean of course that we will be able to put the cage padding back on so that the car will then pass scrutineering.

It is a bit tight for headroom

So I have had a word with Steve Field of Fieldcraft Fabrication to see if we can afford to get them to put a new roll cage on the car and get the car re-tagged (Safety Test)..If we can we will tie it in with getting the truck MOT'd in Swindon at the same time.

Click on image for link to web page

The whole point of doing al this is to get the car MSA legal so we can run at sanctioned events and not just RWYB events, this will be important for next year a it looks like Shakespeare County Raceway will close so if we don't get the car legal we wont have much opportunity to run her, Which reminds me I must remember to send off for my competition licence in the morning. The upside to getting her all legal is that if needed, it will be easier to sell her. Why would we want to sell her? well I am not retiring just yet???

The biggest disappointment will be having to miss a couple of meetings this year, Steve can't make it to the Festival of Power but to be honest I am not sure we would be ready for that anyway and I will be away for the first meeting that we (The Wild Bunch) try the new format with reaction time being part of the dial in..never mind, so we are pushing along with the hope that we may get some testing done at the end of March and then....we will see.

76. First update of the new year...first update for ages!!!!

Well here we are, the first update in 2016 and the first update for nearly two months,why so long? well not a lots been happening for a while to be honest, there is and always will be a logistics problem as far as where the car the crew and I am located which always makes organising work on the car a bloody nightmare this maybe something I will have to look into soon, Of course anything that gets done on a car usually requires that wonderful stuff that is kept in banks..not my bank unfortunately, so I have had to wait to get some bits and bobs, But the biggest reason for inactivity has been a really big health scare with my wife, Lorni.

I wouldn't be doing what I am today without her and her undying support, apart from the fact she is without a doubt the best Sunday morning fry up breakfast maker at every meeting we go to and our videographer.

So as you can imagine all plans were put on hold to we got the results from all the tests that she had to go through, We have probably spent the most dire Christmas that anyone can have while waiting for appointments at Hospitals, doctors and then of course waiting for all the results, Thank god everything came back OK and she has got the all clear, so now we can go forward.

A couple of other things that have happened recently have influenced what we do and when, as some of you might know I am a bike nut I have ridden bikes al my life and my brother Dave..yeah that Dave used to be a stunt rider, I do more touring now than anything else and over the years I have had a Goldwing, A Valkyrie and now a Harley..or two!!

It has taken a few years to get my dream bike and along with it I joined my local HOG (Harley Owners Group). Now my local chapter of HOG announced the ride calendar for 2016 a day or so ago and low and behold they have organised a day out at the POD on the 26th March which is the Festival of Power, So I got on the phone to Steve and Dave straight away and told them I want the car finished, Tagged and me licenced ready for that event.

As you can imagine this is going to take a lot of work, Steve is going to take some time off work in February to try and achieve this, the idea being that we want to test by March, Also if there is anyone reading this who can help out by letting me know what is involved in getting the car re-tagged..which bits if any need to be sfi checked / approved please get in touch.

When we left the car last year we had taken the engine to bits to check for damage, re-honed her fitted new total seal rings and put the heads back on, we then fitted the tunnel ram injection system and left the engine at that, we had the gearbox off as we had to fit a new flex plate and torque converter but we needed longer bolts to set the gap on the converter properly, then due to the aforementioned problems, that is where we left her.

Over the last couple of months I have managed to sell a few of the replaced parts and a few other bits and so I have now ordered the replacement solenoid for the trans brake and more fuel piping and fuel shut off valve so now we can complete the engine and car rebuild to the point where we can fire her up..fingers crossed.

My harness is now out of sfi so I have to find a new one from somewhere and I really could do with a new braking parachute and a set of front runner tyres  again if anyone has a set they are selling or know where I can get some please let me know.

Another part I am after is a replacement for the Tacho/autometer ours has broke I used a cheap replacement but it is no good at all so once more if anyone is selling or knows of anyone selling one of these.

..then again get in touch it does have to be sport comp silver as we need to set the trans brake rev limit and shift etc.

So there we go then getting all excited for the up coming season, lots of new cars coming along and with a bit of luck we might actually get to see the capabilities of our own car at last..Happy New Year to all of you and see you at the track soon......!!!!!

75. Two months have gone past so quick..!!

I haven't put much in the way of updates on here recently and there is a very good reason for that which I will explain a little later. But first of all seeing that it was the Annual Prize giving bash for the Wild Bunch last night, and I do wish I could have made it as it looked like it was a real fun do, can I say I big congratulations to not just all the winners but to everyone in the Wild Bunch for making 2015 such a big success especially in its anniversary year. And a big thank you to Claire without whose hard work and dedication the Wild Bunch just wouldn't be the same

As I have already covered on here 2015 wasn't a particularly good year for Slimline Racing, we learned the hard way that drag racing can really bite you in the pocket, well that was this year, we are really looking forward to next year now. the car was being modified with a new injection set-up torque converter and ignition system and two months ago this is where we got to..

And we haven't got any further as yet! now most of you know that our team is made up of family members, Crew Chief is my son Steve and team members include my brother Dave and occasionally my second youngest son Phill and my wife Lorni and electronics genius All Mellow. Steve and Phill are both mechanics by trade and Dave is an engineer, welder and fabricator, Lorni is our videographer and I pay for the food and drive. I purposely stepped away from anything to do with the mechanical side of running the car as I wanted Steve and Dave to be able to set up everything with their eyes closed without any interference from myself why? well it is no secret that Lorni and I have our hearts set on a little cottage in the Valencia region of Spain which we hope to have sorted out by the summer of 2018 when Bethany, our youngest, has finished school. That will mean the responsibility of running the car will be turned over to Steve and Dave including the driving. And yes all Wild Bunch members will be more than welcomed to come and visit us once we are sorted. And before you ask I have checked and there are no drag strips Spain!

As you can see there is still a lot to do to the car before next season so why has everything come to a halt. First of all the truck and car are a fair way from any of the team, a situation that can't be avoided  its a 280 mile round trip for Steve to get to the car and return home so he depends on his own daily drive for this duty.....

He also uses this car as our tow vehicle as most of you know, but as we got nearer to the end of the season this little Diesel Astra estate was starting to become ill, it had done something like 170,000 miles and it was getting harder to start and it was using oil so Steve made the decision to strip it and sort it out, the more he took off the more he found wrong, head gasket gone, worn valves cam belt worn then worst of all the bores were so badly worn it was practically junk, So while all this was going on of course nothing was being done to the race car. So while Steve saved for parts to repair the his car he used his motorbike for work more on this in a minute.

In the mean time Steve has a health scare , he is sent up to the local hospital in Swindon to have a biopsy on some lumps found in his mouth, now I know Steve has tried to be very non-plussed about all this but I know I was scared, anyway the results came back and they want to see him again in January so I reckon it can't be anything too serious or they would have had him back immediately, but it's still a bit scary, so as you can imagine the race car suddenly becomes of no importance at all and so time passes.

Next bit of bad luck that happens to Steve is that he has a little slip on his bike not far from his home at a speed more akin to walking speed but he already has an an old injury to his knee that keeps him on pain killers till he asks for a knee replacement and this time he hurt his hip and elbow...more time passes, Steve now is fed up with his old car as the bill for all the repairs come to more than the car is worth so he goes looking for a new one, he finds a nice looking car for sale down my neck of the woods.

A diesel Astra SRi with less than half the miles on it compared to his old car going cheap because of a fault with the turbo, Steve has a spare turbo so a deal is down and he collects it, this car was advertised as being well looked after and wanting for nothing apart from the turbo fault..that was until Steve swapped the turbo and got it running and took it for an MOT, OK so it needed three new tyres all the pads replaced as they were down to the metal he found the front and rear bumpers and the bonnet had been touched up, the air bag warning light was on because the ribbon cable under the dash had been ripped out..so more work to be done and more time passes. He then finds out that the engine water system is getting very highly pressurised so thankfully with a donor car still out front the inter-cooler, radiator and thermostat are changed..no change, so heater matrix is shorted out..no change so today he took the engine apart as the only other thing it could be is head/gasket and low and behold it was fooked, both of them...

Luckily he had already taken the head of his old car cleaned it up and has a head gasket set ready but!! it gets better,,,, the problem with his elbow has gotten worse over the weeks since his accident on the bike, so off the the doctors on Friday where he was told he has either broken /cracked a bone or chipped it badly so he has to go for an x-ray on Monday which means..more time will pass.So this is the reason why not a lot has been done on the race car over the last two months, Of course Steve's health is far more important than a bloody car anyway, So fingers crossed that Steve heals up OK and that the biopsy comes to nothing and only after that will I worry about getting the car ready for next season.

Oh I did mention earlier my other son Phil well the Heaven bad luck has now extended to him as well as yesterday a spanner came flying off a car he was working on and viciously attacked his nose and broke it........

Just goes to show that here is nothing more important in this life than good health and on that note it is time to join a gym and sort my weight out oh deep joy.