Update 36 - Mega-update

It's been a while since I had time to get a decent update together so this is going to be a bit of a mega update. With two cars on the go we've moved forward on a number of fronts. bodywork, exhausts, engine mounting, gearbox, clutch.... fitting it in between what is a great busy period at the family business. So first up lets see how the bonnets came out on the blue and white car.

Bonnets Finished on the Blue and White car

In the last update they were still being finished off at Vintage Sheet Metal and needed their louvres to be punched. Well for those eagle eyed amongst you, you may have spotted in this months (August's) Miscellany the Blue and White car's bonnets are being used in Vintage Sheet Metal's advert - the new 5 inch louvre cutter being announced.









Next up, to get ready for having the exhaust repaired by Hayward and Scott we removed the bonnet and the N/S wing. This would allow Hayward and Scott free access to where the exhaust exits the inner bay panel.

Exhaust Repair for the Blue and White Car

First off to the exhaust fabricators was the blue and white sprint car. We took along what was left of the damaged original Hayward and Scott exhaust made for us now two years ago.

Luckily H&S made the manifold in two parts so it looked like we may be able to rescue several sections of the exhaust any only replacement sections made to replace them. You can just see in the original strip down photo's when we started some of the crushing the N/S wheel did to the 4-2 section of the primaries.



I dropped the car over to H&S for a week to see what they could do and I'm really pleased with the result. By cutting out the damaged sections most of the exhaust has managed to be saved and H&S have made it look like new.

The measurements of the exhaust primaries both in length and diameter are matched to the cam timing in order to pulse tune a kind of reverse supercharge effect at the following cylinder.











You can see the difference between a performance and race exhaust. This and Woodstock's exhaust will be dispatched for ceramic coating in order to help control the temps seen when we last raced.


Helmets finished

Next up is the result from the helmet painter. We picked up the helmets based on the designs I posted previously. Interestingly, when I went to collect them it turns out that the Williams Morgan drivers helmets were there getting painted as well. smile

Anyhow, here's some pics to show you the result which I'm really impressed with.

On the blue and white helmet the blues are finely metallic and all the black lines are actually clear lacquer and the black is the carbon showing through.













The cartoon's of Missprint and Harrison came out really well - Piers did a great job.

Missprints helmet came out equally as well - it's hard to imagine that each of these lines and shapes were actually masked off one by one painted and moved to get the layering effect.... lets just say nobody expected it to be this complex to paint.













The Woodstock image is on both sides and his trademark swizzly flying dotted line spirals around the helmet.

Missprint's over the moon with the result and looks forward to be wearing this out on the track.