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Buckminster Tether Car Group Roasted, broiled, grilled |
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There is hot, and then there is too hot! The last two seasons at Buckminster have been notable for rain affected weekends, but this year, each event seems to surpass the previous in terms of temperature and sun. The lack of wind though was something of a change and godsend for the warbird flyers, but made the track area even more of a natural oven, rendering the shade of the hangar a most welcome respite. The road closures for the new Melton bypass caused many to take circuitous and long diversions, whilst a major road closure further afield decided one daily traveller not to return that weekend. The closures will still be in place for the August and September meetings.
Not strictly related to car activity, but we do like to see what is happening on the field, and this time it was the inaugural flight of a massive B17 built by John, the other half to cafe manager Gillian. At the last meeting we saw him dangling it to establish its weight, an impressive 22kg. It is an amazing piece of modelling and electronics, but like so many of these large models, the size determines the vehicle needed to transport them. Another wonderful model is the Bucker at something like half scale, which whiffles around the sky in a most convincing manner with its radial engine. Mind you, the rules of aerodynamics apply to models too, as was illustrated whilst we were watching a WW1 model flying very sedately. I thought 'it's was flying a bit too slowly', and the the pundits gathered in the shade opined 'it's flying too slowly, it's going to stall', which sure enough it did as it turned, ending up in a very big and expensive heap with a long and embarrassing walk for the pilot.
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| All electric B17 | Lovely Bucker |
Most of the cars in action have been seen previously, a few receiving little tweaks, but for a number, major trips to the workshop for repairs, or in the case of Lyndon's ETA, a new engine, having blown the crankcase apart at the last meeting and also a new crankshaft in the TMP. The mechanical maladies continued to come thick and fast between the successful runs. Mike Francies' cars are exceedingly fast now, but like Lynn Blower's two FEMA cars, horsing in that heat was no fun.
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One new car was the last that the late Stuart Robinson built, a Lev Shprints 2.1 Junior, completed, but never run. It required some fettling and a new paint job, but for a first run it topped 88mph, with no adjustments needed, a fitting tribute. Gerry Best had new wheels and tyres for his Wilma car that was really in to its stride, although the tyres ended up considerably smaller than they started. A split fuel tank consigned that one to the box. Nigel Bathe spent much of his weekend fine tuning Chris Maggs' TMP to great effect finding an extra 12mph by subtle alteration of the compression and needle. Unfortunately, the extra speed took its toll of the internals, so more work for Chris. Nigel was also on hand to help out Peter Hughes, making a welcome return with a box full of twinshaft cars. |
Lyndon Bedford had another torrid weekend, with both his ETA 29 and 19 cars needing attention in the workshop on his return home. Given the renewed interest in 5cc Retro cars, and ETA engines in particular, a devious plan took shape in the OTW household. Having seen Charlie Murphy's auction to track escapade with his ETA car two meetings ago, could we do one better? When British team member Les Williamson retired from racing in 1959 all his cars went in to his loft until 2014. An Ian Moore style 5cc came our way and lingered on a shelf until this July when the possibility of repeating the experience of running the Ron Thrower cars penetrated the grey matter. Quite deliberately no restoration, changes or alterations, just run some clean fuel through the lines, check the original KLG plug and see what happens? Second jab on the starter and it was away, so on to the track with fingers crossed that the by now seventy five year old ZN tyres would last the trip. Much to our combined surprise and enjoyment and without so much as touching the needle an eight lap average of 84.99mph after sixty five years. Sorry Charlie, but we claim bragging rights.
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| 65+ years on from its last run | 'Herself' pushing off | Simple layout and lots of space |
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New arrivals each day with John Goodall, Ian Harper and Bill Bannister completing the line up. We have not seen Bill for a while, but he is another one that builds and runs his own engines, in cars he has built, with tyres he has moulded. John is still trying to get the Oliver twin to run on both cylinders but now thinks a rebore is required to get both chiming. His lovely Vanwall looks so nice on the track at modest speeds, but further runs were negated by a problem wit the 3D printed curly carb. Ian had a day he would probably prefer to forget having found a leaking fuel tank in his Terry Special that he bought recently and an unfortunate occurrence that wrecked the Slabang style front suspension of his 1958 Zetterstrom Dooling car. Left: Zetterstom car before its happenstance |
It has to be said though, that running cars in that
heat is somewhat debilitating and with the temperature in the hotel room
hovering around 29C, sleep was also difficult, but the chat and bouncing around of
ideas always makes for a good weekend. The cafe was also doing a roaring trade
in ice creams. Successful runs do add significantly to the enjoyment of any
meeting, especially if it is a car last run in 1958. Just a reminder though
about this wonderful product called Loctite and the old maxim, if it can break
it will and if it can come undone, then it certainly will.
Video footage
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| Ian and John's cars | John with the Tiger Bomb | Bill Bannister's 2.5cc twinshaft |
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