Saint Gear

Chinese Qualifying and other musings...

2011-04-16T12:56:00.000+01:00

I had my hair cut yesterday as it had got to the very annoying point where it becomes unmanageable. The barber was telling me a bit of a tale about his van that he's trying to sell. First of all he spent £200 on a single tyre... A lot, I know, but understandable as it's got silly alloys.

The van itself is 4 years old and he's struggling to sell it, mostly as he can't get the price he wants... In fact the offers are 40% of the price he wants! As he's a family man, he's after an espace and was telling me what he was really looking for.

First of all he's not too bothered about mileage and I'm sort of with him here. Most cars built since the late 90's have very reliable engines. What he was more concerned about was the length of time that the owner had had the car. He was more likely to buy from a bloke who'd had it 10 years than one. Again. This is common sense. The guy who's had the car for longer has obviously taken care of it.

Use your loaf when buying a car though and get it thoroughly checked out before you part with you cash.

The big story fro the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying was Webber going out in Q1. Red bull need to sort their KERS problem out sharpish!

PS. It's good to be back blogging.

Sorry guys...

2010-12-09T22:56:00.000Z

Hey folks. Sorry for the length of time since the last post.

A lot of new things have happened in my life. I have been to the TT, I've got a new job and now live in Greater Manchester.

Just starting to restart my online life proper, so I hope to be blogging more again.

Catch you later peeps!

The Chinese Grand Prix and round up

2010-04-18T23:45:00.000+01:00

Who says Motorsport is dull?

Off the line - Naughty Fernando!

Everyone made a good start, but Alonso made too good a start. He jumped almost as much as Brian did the other week at Darley!

Lewis fights with Schumy...

There is no doubt in my mind that that Mercedes car is just not good enough at the moment. However, Michael showed what a class driver he is with his battle with Lewis.

Button calls it right again...

Another great call for tyres by the world champion fixing him firmly at the top of the standings.

Another short review today as I'm still sorting a lot of very annoying jobs out. (why i haven't blogged this week). So...

Saint Gear awards:

Man of the race: Michael Schumacher. for his battle with Lewis.
Team of the race: McLaren Mercedes. A class 1/2 pushing them up the table.
Special Awards: Norbert Haug. For giving the most German interview on the BBC F1 Forum.

MotoGP

Whilst I remember, the 1st round of the MotoGP year in Qatar was just awesome. Fantastic racing with a lucky win for Rossi. Shame next week's round in Japan has been postponed Due to the Iceland Volcano. Roll on the Spanish GP in a few weeks time...

Malicious theft from Dean Banks & Darley Moor Round 2

2010-04-07T11:51:00.000+01:00

Monday was the second round of the DMMRRC sidecar championship and with the championship leaders contesting the national round at Brands Hatch, It was a good day for Brian Alflatt & Mike Speechley, who picked up a 1st and 2nd place.

There was a prolonged conversation about the TT this year and I may be going over for the first time. Already looked into the logistics, just catering and money to sort...

However I found out some really bad news as well. Kelly Lewis, the passenger of Dean Banks came round and told us that Dean had been robbed of lots of specialist tools and tyres for his outfit. Potentially it means that his Championship is over. Its the kind of stuff that is ONLY suitable for LCR F2 outfits and the theft seems very targeted.

This malicious theft is awful and I'm really gutted for them both.

If ANYONE knows anything about this, then get on the Steve English Sidecar Forum and let people know.

Finaly, good luck to Kelly who is having her first race round Oulton Park in the next few weeks and I hope that the directions that Speech and I gave her weren't that confusing.

The Malaysian Grand Prix

2010-04-04T23:58:00.002+01:00

The promised rain never came, but the entertainment carried on!

First corner - Thank you sport.

A great start by all, except Rubens who anti-stalled on the line. Such a shame for him as he'd qualified well. The big story was Mark Webber not defending his lead into the first corner and allowing Sebastien Vettel to get through. Such a shame, but the win was really the Red Bull team with a maximum points haul this weekend.

Schumacher retires...

And it wasn't his fault. I thought he was driving very well... Then the rear suspension failed. I really hope the hacks don't use this excuse to have a go at him. Time will tell there...

Alonso gets so close...

Fernando had a great drive. Very impressive and definitely the danger man. The problem was an engine failure with a lap to go. I'm no Alonso fan, but I'm gutted for him. Motorsport can be so cruel...

Its a short review today as I'm off to Darley tomorrow and been spending a lot of the day sorting a lot of very annoying jobs out. Anyway...

Saint Gear awards:

Man of the race: Nico Rosberg. First podium finish for Mercedes. Great result for him.
Team of the race: Red Bull Racing. A dominant first and second that people will not forget in a hurry.
Special Awards: Heikki Kovalinen. After a hydraulics problem, the team put him back out to finish the race. Shame he missed out on being classified.

Malaysian qualifying & quick run out

2010-04-03T18:02:00.002+01:00

Another early start (the first of three this Easter weekend) and I was up to watch 3rd practice/qualifying from Sepang. What a mornings action. Hot, wet and from Asia is not something that brings a Formula 1 weekend to mind, but it certainly does here.

With both Ferrari's and McLaren's at the back of the grid and the promise of heavy rain, tomorrow will be an interesting race. Really good effort from Lotus to get Heikki Kovalinen into the second session of qualifying as well.

And now, something I've been saving since Australia. Everyone seems to be writing off Michael Schumacher already. I'm not expecting Schumi to be winning races yet. Its a big ask for a man of his age and after the gap he has had away from the sport. He has impressed me with the efforts he's made with an under-developed Mercedes. With rain forecast tomorrow, I hope he capitalises on it.

What hasn't impressed is the "Over the hill" comments in certain media quarters. In my opinion, this is DUMB JOURNALISM.

In a similar vain to my rant on media hype and rolling news, it's something that infuriates me. Two races into an eighteen race season, the hacks are grasping at thin straws to get at the man. Its like declaring Germany the victors of the second World War at Dunkirk! It just doesn't work!! This cynicism is far too rife at the moment and needs to end!!!

On another note. I took the midget out for a run today and after last week's electrical problem, it was sweet as a nut. Lets hope the weather stays dry for Monday...

A third midget in the Salford Alumni

2010-04-01T12:32:00.003+01:00

Couple of days ago I found out the fantastic news that my mate Carl has just brought a 1974 1275 Midget. With Chris' and mine there are now three Salford graduates with Midgets. Obviously men with good taste!

The Australian Grand Prix

2010-03-28T13:58:00.001+01:00

"Three times have I gazed into the bottomless pit" (well, well, well)!
The race proved an absolute classic. Lots of incidents that made an exciting race. If you missed it, then before you read on, have a watch of the BBC F1 highlights (UK only).

First corner - Mirror, crash, recover.
There was the very predictable incident and I was amazed that only Schumacher and Alonso suffered from it. Very unusual for Albert Park, where they are all too common. The big story that came from this was the silly placement of the car mirrors. To be honest, this is a common sense thing that the FIA has failed to crack down on in the last few years.

To be clear, the mirrors are placed wide on the cars, mounted on aerodynamic aids that would otherwise be illegal. Trouble is, they compromise racing, as the drivers can't really use them. The Grand Prix Drivers Association is really campaigning for this to be changed. In my opinion, the change can't come soon enough.

Hamilton and Webber fight it out.
The great thing about motorsport is the wheel-to-wheel racing action and these guys gave everything for the win. Both were magnificent in the performance that included a few offs and the unfortunate shunt at the end.

The decision to bring both cars in for an extra set of tyres was probably right in my opinion. The Red Bull eats tyres and Hamilton is not as easy on them as much as Button. For Hamilton, I don't think there can be any sour grapes about the decision. This isn't the showing of bias towards Button either. McLaren showed no such bias in the Prost and Senna era and I don't think they will here.

Vettel's unreliability.
This seems to be their achilles heel so far this season. This time round it was the front brake disk exploding and it ruined (in my opinion) a win for him. The Red Bulls are definitely the car to beat so far. Adrian Newhey is the worlds best designer of F1 cars and he really has delivered. Shame the components have had teething problems.

Saint Gear awards:

Man of the race: Robert Kubica. Fantastic result for him and a great confidence booster for Renault
Team of the race: Scuderia Ferrari. Credible drive to hold on to the championship lead.
Special Awards: Karun Chandhok. Although finishing 5 laps down, he's completed his first full Grand Prix. Lets hope he can build on this as he gets more miles under his belt.

Australia qualifying, Apps and the Midget

2010-03-27T12:59:00.004Z

This morning, I was up at the crack of dawn* to watch qualifying live from Melbourne. 5AM is an ungodly time, but even worse when it's a) the weekend and b) you didn't get to sleep till after 1AM. Anyway, I digress...

It went pretty much as I expected it to. Red bulls & Ferrari dominating, with Mclaren and Mercedes in their wake. There seemed to be much surprise after Hamilton only qualified 10th. Now. I know that there was an "incident" yesterday and a lot has been placed on that. I have a suspicion that it might actually be tactical.

With Australia being a favorite for safety cars and the added possible attrition at the first corner, there might be a plan to get him out on fresh rubber and keep him away from incidents at the front. Only a theory I know, but we shall see at 6AM tomorrow morning.

Quick note about the Formula 1 Apps that are floating round on the iTunes app store. I use the live timing data from the F1 website as its quite a handy thing to see specific battles and timings during the race that TV and Radio coverage can't provide.

There are two out there. A flashy one for £20 that has things like where the cars are on circuit; live timing data and the ability to playback data so you can watch the race at a different time. The other one is a free app from formula1.com which shows all the data that they already show for free. The free one has my vote.

Took the midget out for a spin today and found that the exhaust trim was rattling on the exhaust. Just a minor fix. The real worry was when the motor suddenly died and would not start. Not sure what this is at the moment, but I have a suspicion that its a fuel issue and related to the fuel filter that I installed earlier in the year. I hope to get it sorted as soon as possible.

UPDATE.

Fuel filter was indeed coming away from the pipe. Looks like that was my fault as I'd pushed the pipe in the wrong position. The engine not turning over looked like a bad connection. After some light probing in the ignition circuit, it sprang back to life.

*Dawn said thanks!

Australia 1st & 2nd practice

2010-03-26T10:59:00.001Z

Decided not to stay up and watch them. Still trying to watch some highlights, but from what I've read, it rained and Kobayashi had a few crashes. Williams must love him!

Darley Moor round 1

2010-03-21T22:00:00.003Z

The new season is on us already, and I spent the day with Brian Alfflat & Mike Speechley's F2 Sidecar outfit at Darley Moor. I was going to take the Midget, but due to the couple of days rain we had, I drove up in the Beast instead.

There was a lot of fog around at 8AM this morning, but the sun burned it off before practice/qualifying (and a pole position on the grid for the first two races of the season).

Brian & Speech are last years defending champions and they were looking for podium finishes to start off the championship.

Sidecar racing is one of the coolest genre of motorsport around. The driver worrying about the throttle & pointing it in the right direction and the passenger shifting around; with it, adjusting the balance of the outfit.

The two races were fantastic to watch. 8 laps of gripping action, with Brian & Speech driving away with two second places.

Outside the racing, the conversations were epic. There was a lot of banter about yesterday's "Super Saturday" of six nations rugby action and motorsport (in general). Great to be with other people who are as enthusiastic about the subject as I am.

Overall a great day and I look forward to the next outing on Easter Monday. Thanks to the whole team for making me so welcome.

The quest for the Holy Petrol.

2010-03-16T15:32:00.005Z

Took the Midget out for a spin today, the first time after the brakes had sorted. Ran smooth, but the idling speed needs to come down to about 800rpm. I took the opportunity to get some petrol in the car. The usual garage I go to is about 7 miles away; it gives the car a bit of a run. To my horror, they had no V-Power!! In fact they said there is a regional shortage of it!!

Anyway, taking a detour on the way back, I managed to find a Shell garage that sells V-Power. It was £1.21 per litre - nearly eight pence more than regular. Next month Petrol is due to go up another 3p courtesy of a duty hike. Out of the amount that we pay at the pump, the majority is tax and I'm concerned that its not going to be long until the petrol strikes start again.

Its not helped that the media is broadcasting that last time we had to pay this price, Crude oil was $67 a barrel more expensive than it is now. Media scare-mongering is getting ridiculous at the moment and is causing more crises than it is actually covering. Oil seems to be the latest obsession until an even more inane and futile issue becomes the focus of attention.

To a certain extent, I expect this kind of reaction from the Daily Mail (and certain redtops), but rolling news stations need to stop blowing every story out of proportion. In fact, lets just end rolling news stations. Who wants to find out that some z-list celebrity has has a hissy fit with her z-list boyfriend every 15 minutes with in-depth analysis by another z-list former neighbor of their milkman? I certainly don't.

UPDATE
I decided to put some petrol in the Beast as well today, so I ended up going to the same Shell garage and put in some V-Power. I have a feeling I like the stuff...

Brakes, Mexico & Bahrein

2010-03-14T22:02:00.000Z

Busy old couple of days. Start with F1

Not surprised to see Fernando take the chequered flag today. The two Mercedes being half a second off the pace for most of the race did surprise me. I'm not sure wether I like the new race tactics at the moment. Hope they grow on me.

Caught a bit of the highlights for Rally Mexico on Dave yesterday morning as well. Quite impressed by Kenny Block's first outing in a WRC car (even if he did bin it on day 2). He and Kimi are on a steep learning curve. Henning Solburg was also impressive, but Sébastien Loeb cruised to an impressive victory.

Finally Midget brakes. Finally got the things done, but it took longer than I thought. The brake rods are adjustable (which is good) but needed trimming to fit. Got it off the ramps this morning before the Grand Prix and look forward to taking it for a drive (its been on the ramps for a week to long for me)

Murray's views on F1 2010

2010-03-12T13:49:00.000Z

Just checked out Murray Walker's pick on the BBC website. Worth a good watch as he's bang on! Click here for Murray Walker's predictions.

Bahrein Second Practice

2010-03-12T12:43:00.004Z

Not a lot to say about this session. All the cars were on track, except one for HRT and they still haven't got enough miles under their belt. Most of the cars were running heavy fuel loads on super-soft tyres - Planning for the race has begun.

One thing of note was at the end of the session, Bruno Senna's HRT crossed the checkered flag line and struggled under breaking. A part seemed to come off the right rear that looked like a wheelnut (something the 5 live team thought as well. The wheel didn't come off the car and Bruno showed immense car control to stop the car safely.

Thing is it brings back sour memories for me. The rogue wheel off Fernando Alonso's Renault last year and the week before it, the tragic death of Henry Surtees in a F2 race at Brands Hatch.

One more practice session before qualifying. Then we will have a better idea of what the field is going to do...

Formula 1 2010 - The opening gambit.

2010-03-12T09:14:00.001Z

Now, as those of you who know me will know, I love motorsport and have been following F1 since the age of about 6. This weekend signals the start of the 2010 season and I've just finished watching first practice. Here's my things to watch for this weekend...

The McLaren air scoop/wing stalling device controversy

This is likely to be the story of the weekend. Basically its an air scoop that sits in front of the driver and(when the driver hits a sensor with his left knee) the air flows through and stalls the rear wing - This makes it less efficient at creating downforce, reducing drag and gives a higher straight line speed.

Bob Bell, the Renault technical manager was furious about it on the BBC 5 live sports extra commentary. He said something about an agreement not to use rear wing stalling designs between all the teams and that this will start an "arms race" if it is confirmed as legal. Expect this to go to the World Motorsport Council in the next few weeks.

Tyre wear/ride height

I've grouped these two together as they are related. When the car is full of fuel, the car sits at a certain height to allow the aerodynamic components under the car (that we can't see) to maximize grip. With no refuelling nowadays, there is a significant weight difference between a heavy (start of the race) and light (end of the race) car.

This means the ride height naturally changes (gets higher) reducing grip. Ted Kravitz mentioned that the Red Bull's might have some sort of compensating component to the suspension - something we haven't seen for a long time.

Significantly, it was noted that after the practice session, the Red Bulls had more tyre wear than any of the other top 4 teams. With less tires available this year, that's going to make a difference..

New Teams

Lotus look strong, experienced and have a lot of miles under their belt. Virgin & Hispania look a long way off that. Timo Glock (Virgin) was the only driver from these teams to set a time and Bruno Senna was the only Hispania driver to get out on track. To show the gap between them, Lotus did 36 laps, wheras Virgin & Hispania did 13 between them.

Anyway. Second practice starts at 11AM GMT, so lets see what that brings.

Brake bits.

2010-03-09T12:24:00.000Z

Got up this morning with back pain... which wasn't nice. Anyway. The bits for the hand brake that was ordered yesterday from the MG Owners club came today. Very surprising. Their turnaround is quick, but this was amazing.

Checked everything was there and was quite interested with the brake rods. The original ones look to be a single casting, but these have the ends welded on. I hope that doesn't spell problems for the future.

Anyway. Hope to get them fitted soon. Next task on the list is new door locks...

Music to drive to...

2010-03-07T18:03:00.000Z

I went for a drive today and started musing on the best music to drive to. I came to the conclusion that there was three categories of note:-

Mad music. Angry music. Music to get your adrenalin pumping. Now I like this stuff, but its not good for your driving. Drum & Bass/Metal/Punk rock just gets you into it and pumped up. You lose perspective and get very intolerant.
Driving music. Its got a beat & you can sing to it. Good with friends for your Bo Rhap moment.
Chilled out music. Low key, get you through it; smooth away the journey.

What triggered me thinking this is what's on my iPod at the moment:-

Prodigy - Invaders must die
The best of Faithless
Space - Greatest hits
Mr Scruff (Trouser Jazz & Keep it Unreal)
Lemon Jelly (.KY, Lost Horizons & '64-'95)
Lalo Schifrin - Mission Impossible & Other Tunes
MoS - Clubbers Guide 2009
The best of Burt Bacharach

An eclectic collection, you may think, but the majority of it falls into the third catagory. Only The Prodigy falls into the first. Personally, I think people are missing out. Easy listening, and Trance are by far the the best things to drive to... or not as you may think.

I'd like your opinions on this, so leave some comments below.

Brakes and incompetent garages

2010-03-07T14:37:00.000Z

One of the neglected areas that the Midget has is in its hand brake. The stopping brakes are fine (disks front, drums rear) but the play in the hand brake is ridiculous. I'm surprised that it has been overlooked so long. The standard adjustment is 3 or 4 clicks on the hand brake ratchet - this was moving all the way to the stop.

Fortunately, I obtained the full service history for the car when I brought it; two boxes of it. It documents the car from the late 90's. Every single MOT is there and every single one notes either too much play in the hand brake or that it has been adjusted.

Anyway, I took the car to a very good garage that friends run and tested them out on their rolling road. Front and rear stopping brakes were excellent, but the hand brake was unacceptable. So yesterday, got the car home, put it on the ramps/axle stands and took the back wheels off.

Lo and behold, the problem becomes obvious. The MG Midget hand brake has two parts to it. A cable (which had been adjusted to the limit) and then brake rods to apply the brake to the drums. The clevis pins holding the brake rods in had almost worn through and the holes in the rods were badly worn (almost elliptical and they should be round).

The bits to replace and repair it are going to cost about £20 and its a ridiculously simple job. Never be afraid of looking something up in the Haynes manual (an invaluable tool that (for simple jobs) will save you a fortune in garage fees). So the question is, what were these so-called MG specialist garages doing when they said they fixed the problem?

When we were searching for the Midget, we had dealings with one of these so-called specialists. He was an absolute cowboy. I'm not going to name names, but I think he's one of the very few rotten apples in the orchard. Trouble is that the previous owners must have had dealings with similar disreputable firms as the fault is so blatantly obvious. From the amount of wear this has been developing for the best part of the last 30 YEARS!!

Anyway. I hope to get it fixed in the next week so.

DISCLAIMER
The majority of specialist garages are very reputable and the dealings we have had with many specialist MG garages and suppliers have been very, very good. They are mostly enthusiastic about their business and eager to help you out. There is only one garage of this type that I believe to be questionable (someone after money and no real passion). Don't let this dissuade you from visiting specialist garages.

The Midget.

2010-03-06T16:46:00.005Z

So here it is, the new car. Its a 1972 MG Midget. 1275cc A-Series engine at the front and driving wheels at the back.

Its in really good condition; mainly as it had a major rebuild in the late 90's. Its had a lot of neglect since...

When we picked it up, the previous owner insisted we collected it during the daytime... Can you see a problem here?

Turned out the brake lights, right indicator AND reversing lights weren't working. We also found that the battery was mysteriously draining. The previous owner obviously hadn't got a clue about engine electrics ; hence his eagerness to dispose of it.

The light issues turned out to be loose lucar connectors and a blown fuse. The draining battery was a car alarm that he said he'd disconnected.. what he'd actually done was disconnect the sounder, but not the alarm. It took a day of fetching out the hidden cables to sort it out.

BMC Electrics of this period are all really, really simple. Anyone can do them. It's not like cars today where you need a computer to plug them into. Having had three cars with similar electrics, it didn't take long to sort them out.

I took the opportunity to change the ignition circuit (plugs, HT leads, Distributor cap, Coil, Points Condenser & Rotor arm) for performance parts (except the plugs, which were changed for original Champions). There was a noticeable improvement in smoothness & performance.

The guy had also been using normal 95 RON (research octane number) petrol. The car spec is for 97-99. The higher octane improves performance, economy and stops pre-ignition. I stopped buying 95 petrol in 2005 as my car at the time (my current Mk2 Corsa) liked the better petrol.

I only ever use BP Ultimate (97) or Shell V-Power (99) nowadays as they are the best on the market. The Midget is now exclusively on a diet of Shell V-Power and I favor it in the Corsa as well.. The fuel flow was improved when I added an inline filter.

The car is really fun to drive - Very responsive. There are lots more things to tell, but I'll save them for another time...

Erm... Scrap that... New plan!

2010-03-05T15:29:00.001Z

I have gazed into the bottomless pit!! (well)

A lots happened since I last blogged on here, so here's the poop.

Dad & I went to the Westfield factory to have a chat about the eleven kits in December 08. We were not impressed. The company seemed disinterested in their own product, almost as if it was an inconvenience to talk about it. The demonstrator they had had been sold (but still there) as was the showroom model. Never the less we asked lots of questions.

The head of sales wasn't really forthcoming with information (he had previously been dealing with a customer who was interested in a seight and answered all questions very well).

The final nail in the coffin was when we were shown the engine in their showroom model - It was FILTHY!! Covered in grease! I've had two cars in the past with A-series engines before (a Mini and an Austin 1100) and they were never that dirty.

On the way home, we agreed that if we were to get a kit car, it would be a Caterham 7. This was a pity really as I liked the simplicity of the Midget mechanics... The Westfield kit used them.

A year went by and the itch to play came back, so in autumn 2009, we started looking for a 1275 MG Midget/Austin Healey Sprite. Nice simple mechanicals and a fun little car to drive. September came and we acquired a 1972 example from a gentleman in Burton (who obviously didn't know much about cars).

This hasn't stopped the desire for a Caterham 7, in fact its inflamed it! Anyway, I'll tell you about the car in the next blog...

The BMC A-series straight-4 engine

2009-01-18T15:48:00.001Z

Created in 1951 by the Austin Motor company, this engine (and all its variants) is the most produced engine in history (Rover stopped making it in 2000).

Originally designed in as an 803cc (yes, 0.8l) for the A30 and Morris Minor, it has been fitted to countless BL vehicles, and was even licensed to Nissan and became the basis for many of their engines.

BL improved the design in the 70's with the A+ series. More power, uprated components.

It still however remained the simplest engine to work on. It's the one I learned to work on.

I had a 998cc Austin Mini City made in 1984 as my first car, brought as a present from my Sister. Affectionately named by my then university mates as the BunterMobile.

With the miles I was putting in it from here to Manchester, something was bound to give, and it did.

Every 200 miles or so, the head gasket would blow for no reason (always on my way home). The first time my Dad and I stripped it down and replaced it, it took us the best part of two days (with the workshop manual). At the end it used to take me on my own an hour dead.

Turned out that some smart-arse had fitted it with an A+ series head. Something you can do, but there is no breather pipe to it from the block, and to make it fit right, it needs to be skimmed. Whenever we took the head off to change the gasket, it always went in the same place - between the two centre cylinders.

Eventually, we sussed out that this same smart-arse had skimmed too much off the head, and the centre valves were hitting the block and lifting it, causing the gasket to go (the biggest clues was the two feint imprints of where the valve had hit the block).

My 998cc Mini, and the 1098cc Austin 1100, had given me the foundation to know how to repair and tinker with engines.

The Lotus Eleven

2008-11-18T21:09:00.001Z

This blog is about something I love and hate as well - Cars.

Just to get you in the picture, I love cars. I'm a real petrolhead and love the vehicles that just make you go woah as you here an E-Type Jaguar V8 with a racing exhaust roar into an arena.

However, I also HATE cars with a passion. 90% of the cars in the world are virtually identical to look at. It's as if the manufacturers aren't interested in something beautiful anymore, just bland ultra conservative and mass-produced.

Herbert Austin's 7 was the über mass-produced car of it's day. He licensed it to Mercedes, the French and Americans, and Nissan used the cars for their original design (but not under license).

The 7 was a cheap car, that lended itself to modification. After WWII, amateur racing in the UK took off under the 750 Motor Club. Their original 750 formula used the standard Austin 7 rolling chassis, engine and transmission. Everything else could be modified. One such enthusiast was Colin Chapman. His first few Lotus Mark cars were made for 750 Club racing, and he was good. He learned how to apply the rules in such a way that he could maximise the performance of his cars.

The Mark 8 brought with it a streamlined chassis (designed by Frank Costin and built by Williams & Prichard), but the revolution came with the first car not to be given a number, but a name - The Lotus Eleven

"Hang on a minute - Seven comes before Eleven"! I hear you cry, well it does, but the Lotus Seven was developed after the Eleven, and was named after the Mk 7 number became available (with Chapman's disassociation from the Clairmonte special).

The Lotus eleven was a big winner. It won it's class at LeMans - three times. I also think it's beautiful, and it was this car that made me fall in love with things Lotus.

It's the little highly tuned engine + lightweight chassis that does it for me, and always will.

In these days of boring cars, something like this gem is missing, so I'm intending to build one using the Westfield XI kit. Stay tuned as developments appear and happen.....