Suddenly, here we were, back at Buckminster for the first tethered car action of the season under the auspices of SAM 35. Oliver Monk and Ian Harper had done a great job on the track, which was as smooth as it has been for a long while. The sun was shining and all was well, unless you happened to be a flyer, in which case flying anything was next to impossible as the wind never gave up the whole weekend. A couple of brave souls did venture into a circle on the basis that they had 'come all this way, so were going to fly'. Whether that was wise or not, we never did discover. The car track was not its usual sun trap as the farmer had trimmed back the hedge on his side allowing the wind to whistle though, doing nothing for the temperature.

On the track it was very much 'as you were', most of the cars having done sterling service previously. One new build was John Goodall's P25 BRM, another superb piece of semi scale modelling along the standard Oliver lines, and it performed superbly, as did his Vanwall. Revelation of the day was Nigel Bathe's modern British streamliner, now Redfin powered. He has modified the intake so that it was taking in fresh air, and what a difference that made, recording the first consistent 90 plus mph runs with a twinshaft at Buckminster before toping out with a 93.005mph. Jan's Temp school's car had managed a run at 90mph in the past but we believe there has to be some distinction between a Retro pre 65 car,  more recent creations and the modern race car such as Nigel's. Although all twinshaft powered, real comparisons of speed are impossible. John Goodall still has the fastest ever 2.5cc twinshaft speed to his name at just on 100mph, set in Sweden with a Slabang car.

Of particular interest was the prototype of the project that Nigel and Mike Francies had been working on over the winter. They have devised a method of producing multiple castings for engine mounts, cut offs, suspension arms, gearboxes and more. These were incorporated in to a FEMA style Class 1 car, but with design alternatives to run as a modern British car with un-piped motors. The basis of the car was a sleek, carbon fibre pan and top offering all sorts of alternative builds without the need for complex machining. New from last season was the integrated electronics system controlling the glow plug duration, but no longer requiring a dedicated push stick. They are planning to have a track ready version for the May meeting, which is exactly what the future of the sport requires at Buckminster now that the Redfins and Lev Shprints kits are no longer available.

The new 'concept' car	Electronics compartment

Jan has a description from Nigel	Engine, gearbox and tether arm mount

Another new car was the finished version of John Goodall's OBC beginners car. This is John's proposal for a car to replace the Redfin, based on the Swedish SMRU principle with an aero engine driving a single wheel, so cutting out the need to source a twinshaft motor, spur mount and gears or a gearbox. Performed well until the Redfin motor tightened up for reasons as yet not apparent. Two approaches, a simpler car for beginners and a more advanced for those that want to move on from the twinshaft. There are more in the pipeline, but as with all these projects, it is a reliable supply of wheels, tyres and motors that governs the progress.
 

John's BRM P25, final version	The finished OBC. Brass wheel hub to simplify starting

And so to the only day where the aero modellers could get some respite from the wind, the Sunday swapmeet. The fine weather allowed for outside stalls as well as the tables in the hangar, but oh dear, hundreds and hundred of bog standard engines looking for new homes that they will never find at the prices being asked (or probably any price). John Goodall did have a case of rare and prototype Oliver engines (see Market Place) whilst Miles Patience also had some rarities, but as seen for previous events and auctions, the supply now vastly exceeds demand by many orders of magnitude.
 

For a video of the event and the fastest ever twinshaft run at Buckminster, go to our youtube channel www.youtube.com