See Red, VSCC, Donington 5/6-9-09

[Enrico Spaggiari]

Originally Posted by Boys In Blue

8.10 pm Sunday 25 October Motors TV

The Vintage Seaman Race

The Historic Seaman and Flockhart Trophies Race

The Williams Trophy Race

Standard and Modified Pre-war Sports Car Race

Hi all.
Please, could anyone be so kind to record the program as unfortunately I can't get motors Tv in Italy? I was racing in the Historic Seaman and Flockhart Trophies Race. I would appreciate it very much.
Thank you.
Regards.
Enrico

[exnigel]

Originally Posted by john ruston

Nigel Batchelor plug colour-Obviously green.

Hi John and others:
being fairly new to racing I have been looking at the forums but not commenting. Given the interest in my flame thrower, I thought now would be a good time to change that. Apologies for the length of the post but given recent postings about the originality of cars it may be of interest to some.

My blower bentley is a pretty standard spec: the capacity is as original, 4398cc, standard spec supercharger, standard valves cams cross shaft gears magnetos, brakes, suspension and body. The only non standard bits are wheels (at 19" not 21" so we can run dunlop tyres which last a lot longer than Blockleys) and the fact that it has a steel crank and rods running shells not white metal: I raced on white metal last year and by the end of the season it was disintegrating. White metal mains require line boring which means a complete dismantling of the engine and a large bill: converting to shells requires a new crank, so involves an increase in cost (about 30%) but means that next time shells can be replaced without dismantling the engine. There is also a big increase in reliability and longevity from the use of shells, although probably not in power, as the rev limit is still the same and crankshaft weakness was not a serious issue in period. Given that the car is a road car that is raced, that reliability is particularly important: I have driven the car to and from all the meetings this year including spa.
As to the flames, they appear on a trailing throttle only: the car does run rich at idle (less so as the revs rise) and that combined with the blower seems to cause the flames. The timing is fine, and the plug colour is indeterminate as the engine is currently drawing oil through the supercharger front seal...........I would like the flames to be less prominent as not only is it expensive, it is also a little revealing as to when I get back on the power in the corner........On the plus side it is a crowd pleaser and stops anyone trying to sneak up behind.Maybe next year we will get it right.
Specifically at Donington we had one of the two fuel pumps go at 3/4rs distance, which caused misfires, particularly down the back straight.
As to the general issue on Bentleys specs, it is possible to make the capacity 4.8 litres by using a longer throw crank from a three litre bentley, and also to make them 5.4 litres by increasing the bore, although there are visible external telltales to those blocks. This year at the BDC event some cars confessed to being 5.4. I don't believe that there are alloy blocks with spray on iron filings but you never know.
As John has mentioned, the bentleys are pretty unwieldy, and the way to make them go faster is to reduce the weight rather than increase the power: in the vscc races there are several cars which have light bodies, hydraulic brakes etc that are very quick (1.19 on the silverstone club circuit compared to my 1.28), but are not eligible for the Motor Racing Legends and appendix K events.
Next year will do vscc and Amoc like john, with hopefully le mans classic and spa as well.
apologies for the size of the post
Nigel Batchelor

[eclectic]

Originally Posted by exnigel

My blower bentley is a pretty standard spec: the capacity is as original, 4398cc, standard spec supercharger, standard valves cams cross shaft gears magnetos, brakes, suspension and body. The only non standard bits are wheels (at 19" not 21" so we can run dunlop tyres which last a lot longer than Blockleys) and the fact that it has a steel crank and rods running shells not white metal:
Nigel Batchelor

Hi Nigel,

I'm delighted to hear that the wild paddock rumours that I so thoughtlessly promulgated on this thread are just that, rumours.

Please keep up the good work, they may be the "quickest lorries in the world" but Bentleys are huge fun to watch. It was good fun seeing you run, but I would far rather have been competing, as I did last year, in my Edwardian Brasier, at least I have finally stopped that smoking like a mill chimney!

[john ruston]

Always amazed who reads this, mostly nonsense, we manage to put together on here.
Well done Nigel for joining the idle chatter.

His is a real Bentley!

Problem with Legends Pre War class is that it will only survive if they do stand out races eg Silverstone Festival(which has a big question mark hanging over it)and Spa.Should the Woodcote races become even more popular I would think the best solution would be to merge the slower Woodcote cars with the Pre Wars.Pre war also need to be split into two seperate races within one overall race,One for the Bentleys,Talbots,Alvis,Invicta etc and other for Alta ,Nash,Monza etc.If you compare it with 60's stuff its a bit like Lotus 23's against B's.Different types of car and really no contest.Duncan W seems to be loath to takes these steps.I would doubt there were many cars in Pre War in Algarve?

[John Turner]

Yes, warm welcome, Nigel; great first post!

John, interesting comments re split races.

[john ruston]

Rule of thumb for Pre War ,Two seater race and four seater race with Nash in two seater.Only one race but split.