Delta's Earl Grey Break 2014

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

My daughter wanted a Toyota. Japanese reliability and all that. I had to laugh when I saw 'Made in France' stamped on it

I remember years back the local "Datsun" agent had to put new door sills on brand new cars because they had been sitting at the docks for months soaked with salt water during a dockers strike and had started to rust through !

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Just heading for an early night before a 4am start for Silverstone tomorrow when I get a call to say no 2 son, heading home to join me, has been knocked off his bike by a car. Lad is OK thank heavens, on his way to A&E for a check over, but 3 week old Triple R sounds like a mess. Cue lecture from Mrs Mac about boys & their toys, won't be much sleep tonight!!!

Hope all is well at A&E Colin.

Statistically Friday after mid day is never a good time to be on the roads . Ultra caution needed until mid evening and then again around midnight through to the early hours.

Easy to forget that though ....

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Just heading for an early night before a 4am start for Silverstone tomorrow when I get a call to say no 2 son, heading home to join me, has been knocked off his bike by a car. Lad is OK thank heavens, on his way to A&E for a check over, but 3 week old Triple R sounds like a mess. Cue lecture from Mrs Mac about boys & their toys, won't be much sleep tonight!!!

I hope he's OK Colin and if you do manage to get to Silverstone have a good day.

[delta]

So well done team Delta yesterday . Seems the crew do Better when I'm not there . Ha ha . Colin won EType class in Guards and Compte is British class A FJ champion again . Well done . BTW Max now told snell 2000 ok for another year ???

[Peter Mallett]

Excellent news congrats to Colin and Le Compte.

[gary396]

Originally Posted by delta

So well done team Delta yesterday . Seems the crew do Better when I'm not there . Ha ha . Colin won EType class in Guards and Compte is British class A FJ champion again . Well done . BTW Max now told snell 2000 ok for another year ???

Yes congrats to both. I was in the Wing doing timing for the Caterham finals weekend on the other circuit (in fact I'm still there!) - was very frustrating being so close to the HSCC event and not able to see it!

[midgetman]

Iain, re helmets, not according to the MSA. See their August 2014 publication:

"The MSA Technical Department wishes to remind competitors that the SNELL SA2000 helmet standard will be withdrawn from 1 January 2015, which is now less than five months away. Subject to the helmet being in satisfactory condition, the standard remains acceptable in 2014"

Don't know where you got the goss, but it's not correct according to the horse's mouth.

[terence]

[QUOTE=PeterMorley;3465904]I didn't really want to spoil the story but wonder how a Russian car rates compared to a German one (or!QUOTE]

Years ago a local farmer brought his two month old Moscvitch in to the shop complain ing that the steering column rattled going over rough grond.Removed the offending part a the problem was apparent, the bushes had worn out , not really suprising as they bore a strong resemblance to a toilet roll tube!
I dont think that would be quite good enough for a German manufacturer??

[compte deGraves]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Iain, re helmets, not according to the MSA. See their August 2014 publication:

"The MSA Technical Department wishes to remind competitors that the SNELL SA2000 helmet standard will be withdrawn from 1 January 2015, which is now less than five months away. Subject to the helmet being in satisfactory condition, the standard remains acceptable in 2014"

Don't know where you got the goss, but it's not correct according to the horse's mouth.

It is my fault Midgetman. I was told by a scrutineer at Silverstone, when I told him that it was my helmet's last race ever, that I should see the latest "flash" announcements on the MSA website and that the 2000 helmets had been given a year's extension. He obviously was wrong. Oh dear, I thought that I had saved a lot of money for another 12 months.

[midgetman]

Ah M. Le Comte there's something afoot that they haven't published yet!

I'll do some digging, but to publish what they did in August and then rescind it in October seems a bit rash. Many people will already have bought new helmets to be "2015-proof".

But there again, nothing the MSA does surprises me any more. As licence numbers fall in other forms of the sport, they're running round like headless chickens.

[Alan Raine]

Much to my surprise the trusty old 02 Laguna passed it's MOT at the first attempt on Saturday. It had an advisory "Under-tray fitted obscuring some underside components'

.....isn't that what it's supposed to do !!

[Paul D]

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

Much to my surprise the trusty old 02 Laguna passed it's MOT at the first attempt on Saturday. It had an advisory "Under-tray fitted obscuring some underside components'

.....isn't that what it's supposed to do !!

I really do wonder about some of these MOT testers sometimes!

No doubt had it been absent, the very same tester would have given an advisory along the lines of 'Under-tray missing, exposing some underside components.'

[GORDON STREETER]

They have to put that to safeguard themselves, if you drove it up the road from the MOT centre and a rotted brake pipe failed that could not be inspected and caused a crash they can't be blamed.

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

They have to put that to safeguard themselves, if you drove it up the road from the MOT centre and a rotted brake pipe failed that could not be inspected and caused a crash they can't be blamed.

It would take them 5 mins to undo the screws to pull the under tray back to gain enough access to have a look. Seems a bit of a cop out to me

[Unit 2 Racing]

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

It would take them 5 mins to undo the screws to pull the under tray back to gain enough access to have a look. Seems a bit of a cop out to me

Testers are not allowed to use any tools, other than the approved plastic hammer.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Alan Raine

Much to my surprise the trusty old 02 Laguna passed it's MOT at the first attempt on Saturday. It had an advisory "Under-tray fitted obscuring some underside components'

.....isn't that what it's supposed to do !!

My old E46 320D Compact (really good car actually!) passed on Monday yesterday and had same comments. When I queried it, I was advised that yes it was a load of old ******** but that its standard practice to cover themselves from officialdom if anything incapable of normal MOT inspection goes wrong. As Gordon says, t'is the world we live in.

[delta]

Just in from the trip. The last 24 hours on the ferry were awfull. Never been so ill. "sorry Mike" Yet again I missed out on all the free food. At least I got on the ferry thanks to Mike for nagging me to pre book, three other race trucks got turned away. Sure is nice to be home but already looking forward too 2015 with word that Pau, Barcelona and also a trip to Sweden are on the cards.
The good old merc truck just kept rolling along and even with an injector pipe coming loose and causing a major smoke screen in Spain did not stop her. "nearly had to call out Gordon"
BTW Max have you sorted your van, ???

[Peter Mallett]

We got back last night, sorry to hear of the rough crossing Iain.

Still buzzing from my races although had to see the doc today, seems I squashed my funny bone on Saturday.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by delta

Just in from the trip. The last 24 hours on the ferry were awfull. Never been so ill.

Was you on the Bay of Biscay crossing ? only done it twice and was "ill" on both occasions !
I can make it to our place in 24 hrs via Calais anyway so it's actually quicker !

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by delta

BTW Max have you sorted your van, ???

Nope, it went to the garage who stuck it on the diagnostics, this time they came up with the cam and crank sensors out of alignment. Changed crank sensor but no better, they wanted to check the cam chain but gave up when they couldn't get a couple of injectors out and the bill was starting to climb. Good job I didn't play with the fuel system!

Then yesterday it lost all power, so I managed to get it back there and they reckon the boost control sensor has failed. They are replacing that today and it will remain to be seen if anything/everything/nothing has improved. I hope it has, I've got to get my karts down to Clay tomorrow for customers!

Bl@@dy vans

Lucky you, finished for the season, we're carrying on until mid-December and it looks like re-starting in January Can't complain I suppose, there's worse ways of earning money.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Was you on the Bay of Biscay crossing ? only done it twice and was "ill" on both occasions !
I can make it to our place in 24 hrs via Calais anyway so it's actually quicker !

Not so easy on tacho hours and restricted to 90kph! A friend averaged 64mph with V6 Sprinter and big shuttle from Bilbao to Portimao....

We left the circuit Sunday with 30 degrees showing, and all across Spain next day was mid 20s, so feels bit chilly outside with shorts on this morning!

Quite a few on the boat suffered from motion sickness during the night, including YT. Didn't help having a cabin near the bows as the movement is much greater that end. Sitting in the bar at the stern movement was not that noticeable! It's a lottery, as week before those on the way to Bilbao had a 'millpond' crossing and were able to watch the Dolphins all way across.....

Anyway, all over now and just loads of washing, truck unloading / cleaning plus personal weight reduction to get through!

[Tim Falce]

What engine oil should I use in my old 350 Chevy V8? I was told a 20/50 with a zinc additive or an oil with it already in, will Valvoline VR1 be OK?

[apriliadriver]

Tim,
Kendall GT1 20W/50 is what I use in the Chev 350 in the Camaro for road and race. Is that OTT for the engine you have in mind ?
Nick

[GORDON STREETER]

http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/motorin...11363938862274
Oh dear ! they do have a habit of jumping out in the road !

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

What engine oil should I use in my old 350 Chevy V8? I was told a 20/50 with a zinc additive or an oil with it already in, will Valvoline VR1 be OK?

I always used Valvoline VR1 but was told a year or so ago that the oil's formula had changed and now had less (or no) zinc.