The concept of three day events seems to have met with general enthusiasm, the track fully occupied throughout the Friday. Nigel and Mike have been hard at work on their 'modern British' cars, sporting 2.1cc motors with bevel drive and suspension all round. Mike has also finished his exceedingly high tech glow driver system as an alternative to a battery on the end of a pair of wires. The cars are showing promise when a few of the teething problems are sorted, approaching the magic 100mph when they cooperate. Also up around this mark was Lynn's 3b with a new piston replacing the mangled version that lurked in the motor after the last meeting. With due deference to the new piston, the car was shut off as soon as it peaked out.    

2.1cc Nova Rossi and suspension	Complex, 3D printed tank	Hi-Tech glow driver

The CMB is one of the few small motors that already has the exhaust  pointing in the right direction, and with its relatively low state of tune seems an ideal motor for the track, easy to horse and not going to go too mad. To this end, the OTW 3.5cc car had been fitted with dampers over the winter and given a twirl. The principle seemed fine as it horsed OK and came up nicely and then came in, all set for the fastest recorded run we had seen on the track when the read out hit 140mph, only for the timer battery to give up the unequal struggle after one lap. A bit of technology soon had a new battery set up, well, two bolts and some insulating tape, as all the spares had larger terminals.

Round and round it went at a most sedate speed, adding the odd mph each lap before it finally cleaned up. The Swedish have been running an OPS 5cc competition for a while and there is now a serious suggestion that more of these cars could be dug out, and quite by chance there is one, nearly finished on the OTW work bench.

Lyndon's ETA 15s, diesel and glow	Mangled Nova piston	David's 1979 memorabilia

So to Saturday and the competition, except that as we drove the 8 miles south to Buckminster it started to mizzle and by the time we arrived, it was too wet for any action. Never mind, plenty to chat about and it was great to see Martin Coe and his dad Dave again, especially as they had brought boxes full of interesting cars to pore over. Two Wilmas, one from the late Peter Rischer, a part finished Procter Beretta Rosso, and the only Gary Barnes Hot Rod we have ever seen, huge lumps of aluminium, all CNC machined with an enlarged version of the McCoy gearbox that Gary used to produce. There is a possibility that some of Gary's cars and parts could be appearing on the Market Place in the not too distant future. The rain had stopped so the track was dried with the leaf blower, everything set up and then it poured down, so more chatting and more boxes to look in as parts, castings and even complete cars changed hands.

Martin's 2.1 car 97mph	Rischer modified Wilma	Gary Barnes Hot Rod

Eventually the rain stopped and thanks to the valiant efforts of Ian and Lynn with the brooms and yours truly on the leaf blower, the track was ready for a short practice session with the competition delayed until after lunch. Nominated speed again, and some are getting seriously good at this. We started with the heavy metal, David's Nordec 1066, usually spot on speed, but just 1mph short this time, although it does get everyone's attention as it is loud. His 5cc car by contrast was 2mph over his target, but great to see running. He related the story of running it in Italy where it took 96 laps before it came on the pipe, seemed almost like this again, stood on the horsing platform? Andy Soars' lovely Moore #11 had run beautifully in practice but a bit short on speed so that was withdrawn. Of the 2.1s, Martin had two consistent runs at 97mph, but short of his nomination.

1.5cc E1	Ken Procter Beretta Rosso	Wilma with original rear wheels

The 2.5 twinshafts are currently the most numerous and consistent with Ian Wingfield running out the winner with an miniscule error of just 0.030mph. Jan Huning was not far behind at 0.080mph with Andy Soars only 0.278mph adrift, but at the expense of a somewhat deranged car that had turned turtle. Both yellow cars that run now have scuffed tops. Chris Maggs at a mere 0.543 error was only 4th, showing just how close people are getting. Ian with his second car and Jan with his TEMP were both far faster than their predicted speed, leaving them with a dilemma for next month?

The 'lads' were experiencing all sorts of problems with their cars, including Mike with the 'sudden silence and flattened tyres' syndrome. A lot of pit work ensued before the track was opened for general practice, when Nigel finally got his 2.1 away for a proper run howling round toward towards the high 90s. John Goodall had his Oliver twin, but as yet, it is reluctant to run on both cylinders so a serious rethink of the fuel system is on the cards. Martin had to make a choice of which cars to run with the 1.5cc E1 car just not playing ball, no matter what was done with the needle. Strangely enough, apart from David's Nordec, every car that was tried on Sunday experienced the same problem. Why they would run perfectly for two days but not on Sunday remains a mystery. Unless it was the cold, and wasn't it parky? The loss of Model Technics straight fuel is requiring new brews to be tried, but a cock up with the maths left one bottle, woefully short of oil, luckily with no lasting damage. Video action www.youtube.com

Again, very well supported with three days of activity that the weather failed to do more than put a slight dent in. It did give us an opportunity for some maintenance on the pit tables and track cleaning before the RetroFest the following weekend. Sadly, the forecast at present for this looks even more dire.

A very quick turnaround for most before heading back to Buckminster for the second weekend in succession. The weather did its best to ruin the weekend with heavy rain on Friday morning and a humungous storm on the Saturday morning, but fine and sunny afternoons allowed a full programme of competition. Oliver Monk and Richard Phillips had done sterling work filling some holes in the track, one that was right on the running line for cars with close coupled front wheels or the single track aircars. The event was for the Dick Roberts aircar trophy and Redfin trophy for 2.5cc twinshaft cars.  Something of a poignant weekend as Alex Phin confirmed that he is emigrating, bringing to an end the Redfin project that has enabled so many to get cars on to the track over the last four years. As a parting gift, Alex donated all his remaining Redfin tethered car stock to be sold to raise funds for the track. Thanks to Alex for commissioning and funding the Redfin car project and best wishes for the new adventure (down under).

Following a deal of discussion it has been decided that aircars should be divided into two categories, basically those with traditional 2.5cc diesels, and those with more modern TR motors. It has also been decided that the second category that are now consistently around 100mph must have an emergency cut-off fitted from July onwards. Unfortunately, this left Roger Gedge and his electric cars in limbo, as these are both exceedingly fast, but no class yet established for them. His ex OTW Redfin upheld the honour though by being the fastest twinshaft of the weekend.

Roger has experimented with two systems for his cars, a programmable timer and a RC cut-off. Tony Goodger had gone a different route using a free flight DT radio cut-off working a rotary fuel valve, rather than a tube crusher, which requires far more force to operate. Both systems work well, although both did eventually succumb to vibration problems. Fuel was also a thorny subject as several runners had problems either with the brew they were using or feed issues. An engine that starts happily on 30% ether does not do too well if most of that has evaporated. Tank capacity was also questionable in some cases, requiring the timing button to be pressed before the cars were up to speed to ensure completing the eight laps. Lots of prop changes to maximise speed with the aircars, assuming that they could persuade the motors into life (how old was your fuel????).

Tony Goodger's RC fuel cut off	Aries aircars

Two lovely cars were on hand from Gianmauro Castagnetti, both entirely hand built. The Slabang with full suspension described in May and his own version of the Oliver Tiger Cub, colloquially know as the 'bottoms up'. The Slabang looks even better in the flesh than in photos but struggled as pushing off on the bridle caused the front suspension to bottom out, doing the pan no good at all. He was not happy with the performance of either having travelled from Italy for the event.

Gianmauro and Paolla	Slabang and 'Bottoms Up'	With the lids off

Ian Harper has now got to grips with his Redfin getting reliable and ever faster runs. We must also admit to an identity failure as someone pointed out on a youtube video that the car captioned as a Ferrari was actually an Alfa Romeo. Even worse, we had attributed it to someone else as we did not have any lists from the previous SAM meeting. The lovely Oliver Alfa Romeo number 4 has been built and was being run by newcomer Jeremy Morcom increasing speed with every attempt. The Peterborough Club with their Redfin car and engine had their first recorded success with their club project car, but need to increase the tank size, but congratulations to them.

Starting Slabang	The Redfin concept	Jeremy Morcom's Redfin Oliver Alfa Romeo

Having repaired a hole in the track that was perfectly placed to upset the proa aircars, competition was joined with John Goodall and his Aries as stable as ever, not needing any horsing. Lyndon Bedford discovered the hard way that the outrigger wheel on the proas must be on the CofG, otherwise the cars steers neatly off the track. Steve Betney had several good runs with one of his cars, but problems with the potentially faster one. Tony Goodger, after his success last year, had difficulty getting his motor to run cleanly at first but then put in a storming run at 104.3mph, the fastest yet seen. Babs Roberts was again on hand to present John Goodall with the Roberts Trophy again, as this is awarded for all sorts of criteria rather than just speed. This was the last run for Aries in its present form as new cowls have been made to blend in with a spinner, obviating the need for finger starting or bashing with a piece of wood as some do. A fuel cut-off is also in the pipeline (unintentioanl pun).

Babs Roberts with trophy and aircar	The design that changed it all	Jan gets it underway

It is a tradition that Dick's original aircar that started the proa movement is given a ceremonial run, but would its Oliver start, would it heck as like. Jan Huning gave it a cursory glance and immediately realised that the spray bar was in upside down. A rapid realignment and it was running like a good un again, too good to pass up, so with Jan doing the dangerous bit and me horsing, we gave it a couple of runs by way of celebrating the design that doubled the speed of aircars at a stroke. 

The wheel driven cars provided the closest competition of the weekend with the first three less that 0.4mph apart and all hitting 87mph. Roger Gedge was first at 87.9mph, Jan Huning second at 87.663mph and Nigel Bath third at 87.525mph. Roger's electric car however was just on 100mph for each of its demonstration runs, as was his aircar. For the first time ever, Jan had to retire both his cars as the huge number of laps that each had completed over the years had finally taken their toll. Jan is even considering a new car based on the ZN 2.5cc castings that have just been made available. There is also extremely good news on the casting front that must remain under wraps for the moment.

Roger's lineup IC and electric with intrepid pilot	Steve's little Cooper ran faultlessly

Sunday is primarily about the swapmeet, and here we must pay a deal of gratitude to the amazing volunteers that keep Buckminster running so efficiently. Having already had a week of the Pay Load Challenge and all the work that entailed, the detritus from this had to be cleared and then the hangar set up for the swapmeet, a huge amount of furniture humping, largely dealt with by one person. We were also grateful to Bob who extended the sanctuary of the hangar to us all during the periods of very inclement weather. Listening to the rain hammering down on the roof reinforces the wonderful facilities that the site has to offer. Gillian and her helpers in the cafe were also on hand to keep us supplied with coffee, bacon baps and hospitality as much chat ensued during the storm.

The June swapmeet seems to be the less well supported as it clashed with Weston, but, my goodness, the number of engines on offer had not diminished. Indeed, there were more than ever, if that is possible? One trader had laid out over 200 motors on his tables, mostly run of the mill, small commercial motors, sadly with little prospect of selling any. There were some gems though including a Dunham Battleaxe replica and a Dunham Battleaxe twin, how many of those have ever been seen. Alan Knight again had a selection of Taff Bolen's flights of fancy and superbly engineered team race motors. Not often you see a Frog motor that runs at over 22,000rpm? Still a few desirable and collectable motors about, but for most, it is either take a chance in an auction or the consensus was they might as well be consigned to a skip.

At international meetings the cable master is responsible for attaching the car, but obviously at BM individuals do it. No names to avoid embarrassment, but having put the pin in to the connector he inadvertently missed the hole with the securing clip. The car was pushed off and immediately the pin fell out and the car headed off on its own. No spares, so again, a personal stash had to be raided for a replacement. It is easy to overlook these matters, but safety is vitally important, so CHECK. This also illustrates why money has to be raised at track days to pay for replacement cables, connectors, track repairs, cleaning etc.  Video action www.youtube.com

It appears that ever visit to Buckminster this season has been dogged by bad weather and judging by Manny's newsletter and other comments, the weather is having a serious impact on activities and income in almost every area. In truth, until Thursday, the forecast was less than encouraging, but joy of joy, apart from a brief shower before start time on Saturday, that was all. We were able to enjoy a full three days of unrestricted track activity. Less happy, some of the warbird pilots over the cross wind. Wonderful to watch and hear a half full sized Bucker biplane with a large radial engine that whiffled round the sky in a most realistic fashion. Horses for courses, but they make tethered car racing a real 'budget sport'. Something of a contrast between the absolute quality of some of the scale warbirds and a combat wing with the silencer held on with string?

Friday was open practice, but with timing in operation so that runs could be recorded, just as well, as there was some pretty rapid motoring. Mike and Nigel have now sorted most of the problems with their Modern British cars, sporting Nova 2.1 motors. Although using the same capacity motors, they do not share anything in common with the 2.1cc Junior cars running in the Baltic States and beyond. Making much use of 3D printing and carbon composites, their cars are now running around 103-105mph, a speed equalled by Lynn with her ex FEMA 3b. These cars offer a very realistic option for Buckminster as older versions are available, very cheaply and do not use overly exotic components.

Ex FEMA 3b	International 2.1	British Modern 2.1

At the last meeting the battery on the timer gave out just as a very quick run started, and so it did again with Mike, but new volts and a restart were rewarded with a very impressive run, well over the magic 100mph. Having suffered the same fate a month earlier it was another try with the OTW Class 3 CMB car, now retired from International racing. The acceleration was impressive, so much so that enthusiasm on the button had the run timed at 139mph, although the figures did nudge over 140.

Lyndon Bedford had his two true vintage cars as usual but the 2.5 came to a halt with one of those 'sudden silence' moments that never bode well. In this case it was the seventy year old crankshaft giving up the ghost, snapping clean through the web. Given Lyndon's heritage, he did have some spares in his van so was soon back in action for the rest of the weekend. His dad's Moore car had to be rebuilt again following a stripped pinion gear with each run getting closer to understanding how the large tanks of the 50s operated. By the end of Sunday, he was nearly there with a needle setting. Chris Maggs also had an enforced visit to the engine hospital when the rod in his TMP broke. A transplant soon had it back in action, but would it start on the track, no chance. Ran up on the starter perfectly, but it took four different pushers before someone got it away, and then Chris broke the needle, not the best weekend for him.

Saturday was almost a full house with Charlie Murphy arriving from the USA with a selection of cars, including one of the late Peter Rischer's creations with a Dooling 29 onboard, restored and completed by Charlie. This started and ran well, but did not clean up as the tyres were too large. Aaron Monk gave his Kapusikov Class 1 car a quick run before heading off to Hungary for the European Championships. After a stop for a needle tweak, it came up beautifully. Good luck to him and Oliver on their travels.

Olivers, Slabang and ED teardrop	Ex Peter Rischer	Oliver Alfa Romeo

2.5cc twinshafts still dominate thanks to the availability of TMP, KMD and Eurekas along with the foresight of Alex Phin and John Goodall with their Redfin and Oliver replicas. Sadly, the Redfin project has come to an end with the emigration of Alex so now it is down to scouring the second hand market and hoping a few can be persuaded out of various showcases. Still lots of discussion about fuel and the effect this can have on the diesels, with many changing brews again, including one that definitely wasn't what it purported to be, judging by the wonderful aroma it left around the track. Ian Wingfield managed his best run ever with his Redfin Ferrari at 83.276mph, narrowing the gap between the 1950s performances and what can currently be achieved. A look at some of the brews being used back then gives us a clue as to the disparity that exits, as some of the ingredients would never be allowed now as they were highly poisonous and carcinogenic.

1066 Conquest Nordec power	1066 Conquest Merco power original front suspension

David Giles's Nordec Conquest is absolutely reliable, he puts it on the track and off it goes around the mid 80s, getting everyone's attention as it is so loud. It so fascinated Ian Harper that he bought a Conquest that had originally come from Alan Whitehead in something of a state. The Merco in it refused to ever run, so it was shelved until Ian bought it and put in an identical engine off ebay. Amazing, started first prod on the starter and with a couple of tweaks on the needle was also clearing wax from the ears. A lose drive gear brought an end to its second track debut, but nothing that can't be sorted PDQ.

Andy Soars' modern ZN replica runs really well, but does have a habit of somersaulting to the detriment of the beautiful paint work. Lurking on one of the tables was the prototype of the Thrower/ZN car from the mid 1950s, discovered in a model shop in Oxford sixty years ago and currently being rebuilt, full story to follow later in the year. Jan Huning added another 100 or so laps to the already massive total that his Tiger Two-Five and schools car have amassed over the years. That the Oliver is powered by a twinshaft that he built and hand starts every time with a flick of the wheels is a tribute to his engineering skills. John Goodall had a pair of his exquisitely modelled Oliver's that run so well and look even better. He has another project underway that should be absolutely stunning when completed, which he hopes to do before the SAM Octoberfest.

The computer system was in operation throughout the day, and as soon as there is electricity in the hut every competitor will be able to have a print out of their entire run. The engine test area was in full swing over the weekend with various motors being tested, including an intriguing glow conversion of an ETA 15 by Lyndon. The first of the KMD glow conversions was on hand, which looks a very interesting prospect. Nigel had sneaked in an aircar just to run up the Cox motor ready for the Octoberfest. If it goes as as well as it sounds it should be impressive for a 'littleun'.

Two Moore #11 Dooling and ETA power	Original 1950s Thrower/ZN

Sunday saw some very rapid motoring, including a new Buckminster PB for Hugh at 143.967mph, more runs for Jan and Lyndon, with Lynn over 100mph again, but disaster for Charlie as metal fatigue brought an end to the Rischer car's exploits when the rear axle sheared just behind the drive gear. It appeared to have been broken for some time, just hanging on by a whisker. Another mechanical malady for the aged ETA car brought Lyndon's weekend to a close as well, conveniently, in time for lunch and another helping of very tasty bacon and egg baps from the cafe.

Spur mounted Dooling 29	Oops, metal fatigue

Always something to be learnt and this time it is tyres. We have been made aware of three instances where tyres have come out of the hubs due to insufficient beads and another two where the composition of the tyre material is not suitable. TLC issue a clear warning that their tyres are for display only and what is fine at 40mph might not hack it at 90+.  Video action www.youtube.com

Please Note: The rules, regulations and class information for tethered cars in the UK that were drawn up by Oliver Monk have been widely circulated and at the last two BTCG meetings of the season, test and inspection equipment, along with assistance will be available to ensure that all cars running at the track conform to the minimum requirements. Copies are available from buckytcar@btinternet.com or otwmedia0@gmail.com

Next meeting is 9^th 10^th 11^th of August, but the cafe is only open on the Saturday and Sunday. Let's hope the weather is as cooperative as it was this time, after all, it is summer, isn't it?

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