aka: the Bill & Colin Show
By the way: I forgot to mention in Part 1 that early this year I installed a Quaife Automatic Torque-Biased diff in the Cob, with very good results. The car is more planted at speed in corners, and hangs on for longer. Can drive through oversteer, especially in the wet, by keeping my foot in. Worthwhile investment, if you’re doing any spirited driving, and works for me because I run a Sierra Cosworth diff.
Also forgot to mention that in June 2007, the Cob was photographed for the front cover of Total Kit Car magazine (issue appeared Sep/Oct) as a result of Gerry being offered a Cobra shoot-out at Snetterton Circuit. Myself and John Coward attended and enjoyed several laps in between the thunderstorms.
July 2007
Nothing to do with the car but we enjoyed an excellent Genesis concert at Twickenham - there's life in the old rocker yet! (Talking of old rockers, I read the Eric Clapton autobiography over Xmas and thoroughly recommend it - he's taken more risks with his life than I have with Bill's life in the Cob!)
The only track day activity this month was with the Van Diemen at Lydden. This is a great little circuit, close to Canterbury, and perfectly suited to the VDM with its tight hairpin and up and down contours. They offer a limited number of very good value Saturday track days, so anyone who's interested could always stay with us the night before. I'm pleased to report that the new gearbox worked an absolute treat, complete with close ratio gears and a limited slip diff. There's really not a lot that's quicker on most circuits - even a well driven Exige finally over-extended itself trying to stay in front and spun off. Bang for your buck, this was the best four wheel investment that Andy and I ever made. (and you should see it now, its just had a fresh repaint in Exige orange with black wheels and wing - awesome!
)Then came the Silverstone Classic towards the end of the month, where I was awarded the dubious honour of “289 Register Anorak of the Year”. Jacket came in useful though, fetched a good sum on eBay (only kidding!). Good weekend of racing, and excellent organisation from Cookie, Bill and Gerry. Particularly welcomed the genuine 289 racers on display. Inspired by the Le Mans racing DB9s I'd seen at the Goodwood FOS, I decided to keep the Cob sporting all its regularity trial dirt. But you’ve seen plenty of pics about this anyway, so I’ll move on.
August 2007
First weekend, I took the Cob down to Track Developments near Castle Combe. These guys specialize in race car set-up and suspension geometry. After a weigh-in, they went about adjusting camber and castor to improve things. Despite the barn-like surroundings, they’ve got a sophisticated computer CAD system and, as anticipated, they were a little critical of my unique rear suspension design. I agreed to let them have the car in December and to see what they could do to improve things. Meantime, what they had done during the day certainly helped.
The next day was a Goodwood Breakfast Club meeting, where I bumped into Richard Stubberfield and his wife. It was a beautiful day – German Cars were the theme and I travelled down with my brother-in-law, me in the Cob racing him in his immaculate 944 Turbo. He gave me a good run for my money but there’s no substitute for cubic inches. This is where I got my first close up of the awesome Audi R8.
The next weekend was another Lydden track day, where Andy and I focused purely on the VDM. A faultless day and we blew off just about everything that was there. Its interesting that our lap times are within .2 sec of each other, sometimes he’s quicker, sometimes me. However, a professional would probably show us both the way round!
Then it was off to Scotland for the Callender Classics weekend. Clive has already posted something on this, complete with piccies, so I’ll be brief. The wife chose to fly in the air, while I flew on the road. Well almost. A misfire half way up the A1 turned out to be the wiring down at the starter motor, which had almost disintegrated owing to the immense heat from the nearby downpipe. A bodge ensued, and I was at Bill’s house in no time, with him hosting a bbq where I met Clive again and Alan Tunstall. A short drive to the Trossachs the next day and a superb overnight at the Lake of Menteith hotel. After a spirited drive round the 3 Lochs the next morning, in company with Bill and Clive, I was ceremoniously awarded the furthest travelled tankard by the organizers, which made it all the more worthwhile. A slight disagreement with the rear o/s shocker, where the piston rod pulled out completely from the eye bolt top mounting, was fixed first thing Monday morning by one of Bill’s ‘men’ and the manufacturer (Pro-Tech) later accepted full responsibility and replaced it free of charge (I should bloody well think so – ed). What that’s you say…Lurch? The journey home proved uneventful and good fun - well done little Cobra.
September 2007
Now it was the Goodwood Revival. What can I say? You all know what this is like, but this year the experience was heightened by hosting two couples from our new friends in Reims. Didier, an accomplished historic rally driver and winner of the 2006 Monte Carlo Rallye Historique, and Olivier, a highly successful trials bike rider, arrived with their partners in Didier’s ex-Patrick Ligier Shelby Mustang, which had been restored the year before. Wonderful. We set off in convoy from Tunbridge Wells on the Friday, and met up with Bill near the circuit and all ended up parking on the GRRC Lavant banking enclosure (please don’t ask!). At the end of the day, my car went onto the Classic Additions (car covers) stand, where it remained for the duration, and the next day I travelled in the Shelby.
We met friends old and new during the 3 days and once again revelled in the false moustaches and period clothing.
American muscle cars x 3 on Lavant
Dave from the Shelby Museum
Fore! Olivier from Reims
I say, TipTopTotty!
Ladies Day at Goodwood
More tea Vicar?
Good though the Goodwood Revival was, the real highlight of last year for me was the weekend of 22-23 September – 1er Week-end De L’Excellence Automobile de Reims. It was the first attempt at a Goodwood Revival type event on the by now infamous old French GP circuit, featuring the Mercedes Benz Streamliner driven by Jean Alesi. The roads were closed to the public and the track followed the exact layout of the original (short) GP course. Bill and Julie arrived by plane and train, Nicky and I drove down in the Cob. With four half-hour track sessions throughout a weekend of glorious weather, this really was a remarkable experience. Bill was up to his usual tricks but I have to say that his fake moustache assured us of a lot of attention, from media and public alike. Our French friends actually lent us a whole house to sleep in, and we were treated royally. Here are some more shots from that memorable event.
Bill in full kilt with Streamliner
Note moustache on helmet!
Felt like a real racer in such exotic company
With eccentric co-pilot
The tension was unbelievable!
Glad that Dave was able to help such esteemed company
Taking off for another session
Polishing off the straw bale
We only did it for you ladies - honest!
Nicky and I on parade lap
And again
I’m pleased to say that Lurch and his car behaved impeccably throughout the weekend, and although the braking was at times a touch challenging, the only damage was sustained trying to straightline one of the chicanes – I was about 5mm out! Finally Bill cracked: “ I really think you should slow down now Colin, the red mist has descended”. You must seriously consider attending this event on 13/14 Sep this year.
Immediately following the weekend, Nicky and I drove on down to our place in Vallauris-Golfe Juan on the French Riviera. Its about 8 hours at around 90mph on the autoroutes and the car worked fine, except for the dodgy brakes. Cadence braking was the order of the day, and despite the weight of luggage, we arrived without incident at about 7pm. Check out the luggage, which must have weighed at least as much as Bill:
Is Bill in there? It certainly feels like it.
"You honestly got all that in a Cobra?"
Handy thing to have on a pic-nic
Here's where to go if you want one - thoroughly recommended
Neat luggage rack, if you’re not after the period look!
The technical reason for my braking problem throughout this year has been the simple fact that the giant nylocs that hold the inner and outer rear hubs together kept working loose, which meant that the discs started to ‘float’, thereby pushing the pads back into the calipers on each side. So the first press of the pedal simply brought the pads back into contact with the discs, the second press actually squeezed the discs. Each hub is handed, but I noticed that the way Ford recommend things, the nylocs tightened the opposite way to the w/w spinners. What I have done since returning to the UK is reversed the handedness, against Ford advice but the same way as the spinners, and so far that’s kept them tight.
Unfortunately though, that wasn’t before I ran into the back of a French woman in her 5-day old Mazda 6. Thankfully, I was only traveling at about 7mph by the time I hit her, so the damage to both cars was light. But damaged it was nevertheless. Can’t believe how I’d just been thrashing the car to within an inch of its life two days before, only to have a bump while buying a baguette when I had all the time in the world.
Oops!
So finally Alan, I can reveal the answer to your question about the red stripe – while Gerry replaced the damaged nosecone, yours truly got out the Halfords cans again and resprayed the front. Not wishing to faff about trying to fade in the new black paint, I opted for the racing stripe to separate the new paint from the old. Canny eh?
October 2007
This was the Norwich Union MSA Classic. Kris Barnes was well and truly mobile by now, and desperate to get some miles under his belt, so he gatecrashed the run, and we simply followed each other. It was great fun and I thoroughly recommend it for this year (Sun Oct 14).
Colin & Kris at MSA Classic
Colin with Hoodie on MSA Classic
Navigator change during MSA Classic - now Kris is with the Hoodie
Entering the MIRA Test Facility
Just enough time to prepare the hardtop before the next fixture…
November 2007
Two highlights in the final month on the road this year. First was a private track day at Brands, organized for the wealthy Swiss banker and venture capitalist, Kurt Englefield. I’ve covered this separately in a posting last year, but it really was a blast – Andy and I took both the Cob and the Van Diemen, and gave hot laps to Kurt’s family and friends. We were later joined by Kris Barnes, who got the first track laps in on his Fast Lady.
Can you tell what it is yet?
Who's this muscling into the shot?
And finally there was the NEC Classic Car Show, where I took part in the Sporting Bears Dream Rides, thrilling two ladies and a guy for charity in the Cob’s last major outing. December 1st, it went to Track Developments for 3 months, giving me an opportunity to continue restoration on my BMW 2002.
Phew! What a year. Well done to the Cob and to all those who set sail in her for their courage. I enjoyed seeing you all last year, and yet, good though it was, I really do think it will be topped by 2008. Le Mans Classic, Silverstone Classic, Goodwood again and Reims are all must do events in my diary. See you around!
Colin