Winter break

Now that we are in between hill climb seasons we've been looking towards next year. Alex thinks the 875 Sport engine should be able to go straight in without him having to take it apart which is good. He's been investigating the new carbs and reading up on them since we've never had Webers before. The Imp is certainly proving educational as well as fun! 

Alex has taken it up to Newbury for the weekend and reported that it's going well though still the odd tick-over issue. We're not going to worry too much about that though since we'll be changing the engine soon; we're just waiting for some info on the clutch and flywheel requirements.

On the 7th Nov we are doing our first navigation rally with Woolbridge Motor Club over in Dorset/Devon which is quite nerve wracking... We're not planning to use the Imp though, as we have a 2 hour drive just to get to the start!

Shopping!

By Jenny

Just back from a weekend's camping and shopping, not IN the Imp, but FOR the Imp. The final collection consisted of:

One Imp Sport engine 875cc
One standard spare engine 875cc
Twin Weber carburettors and manifold
Montecarlo springs front and rear
New handbrake cable
Brake kits
Replacement dash from which we can take a temp gauge. At the moment we just have The Light of Doom.

So that's a few things for us (well mostly Alex let's face it, while I'm studying) to work on while waiting for hillclimbs to resume in April!

XLB's biggest fan

Whenever we are working on XLB, Django's preferred spot is on the back seat and he will pester and get in the way until we relent!

Vehicle choices, and collecting engines

Sometimes friends ask us why we need to own a VW Transporter van, surely a normal car is sufficient? Mostly these are people who rarely travel further than 20 miles from home. Also, if any of them had owned a van themselves they would understand just how vital it is for:

• Filling with camping gear for a week in Scotland + large dog
• Being able to see over hedgerows, and the car in front in traffic jams
• Using to collect car engines, bonnets, and other sundry large items
• Room for a double sofa bed mattress for in-van sleeping
• Taking 3 months worth of garden rubbish to the tip
• Moving house

This weekend it will be collecting two Imp engines won on eBay for a bargain (one Imp Sport, one standard 875cc), as well as carrying gear for us to camp for a night in the Peak District, plus dog of course.

What do you mean, "camping? but it's October!"   We camped for 2 weeks in Scotland in November once; it rained for 12 out of 14 days, so I'm sure we'll manage...