Upgrades all round

Crikey, I didn't realise it was October when I last wrote on here, a lot has happened since then!

We now have the 998cc engine fitted in the Imp, with twin Strombergs, an R17 cam, Maniflow exhaust and a closer ratio box. These changes necessitated an upgrade to more hefty half shafts as well! We have taken it on a few test runs and are sorting out the inevitable tweaks needed to the mixture and a mystery minor oil leak, other than that it goes like a dream. We are going to check the decibel level though, as it seems quite loud....
 

Alex enjoying a wet Wiscombe. Photo by www.teltphotography.com

 

Our first planned event is the sprint at Clay Pigeon in Dorset on 30th March, and then a gap until the first Wiscombe hill climb at the end of April which marks the start of the season proper.

Both Alex and I have upgraded to Nat A licences this year, partly because we took all the trouble to get the upgrade card signed! Partly because it makes us feel as though we've arrived, and partly because it gives us more choice of which events to do. Often when an event has both A and B events on, the Nat B classes are very generalised into eg. all road going cars, so we'd be better off in the Nat A classes. We'll see how it goes this year.

Last year people who saw us may remember we usually had our elderly Pointer dog with us, who was happy to sleep in the back of the van, but sometimes came out for social visits around the paddock where allowed! Sadly we lost him in mid-December so will not have his company this year, it won't be the same...  We have decided not to get a new puppy until the end of this season; it had been a concern of mine that we are planning to do some further afield events this year and some sprints, and I'm sure it would have been an issue at some stage, and definitely would be with a pup!

Last hill climbs and Goodwood Revival

I wanted to write a lovely illustrated blog post but I am using Alex's computer, so will have to add some photos later!

September was a mad round of hillclimbs, 3 weekends in a row which was pretty tiring!  Two at Wiscombe which were both wet, and one at Charmouth which was dank in the mornings, but dry for the afternoons. We like the final Charmouth hill climb as it is run by our Club, Woolbridge MC, and is a friendly event with the advantage of the camping being right next to the paddock which is a definite bonus with the dog!

After all the wet events we've had this year, our confidence in the car and how it handles has improved massively, and both Alex and I managed to post good new personal bests at each event.

Having competed in the MG Car Club hill climb on 14th September, we headed off the next day at 6am to the Goodwood Revival, in the Imp of course.  We had a cracking drive over through the Meon Valley with the sun burning off the early morning fog, and the Imp flying along enjoying the run.   The show was as good as ever, and although it started raining we had another good drive home without the Imp missing a beat.

Now we have finished the season and are looking forward to 2014, not only with the Imp's new 998cc engine and closer ratio gearbox, but we're also thinking of fitting some units into the Transporter since we will be spending every other weekend, for 6 months of the year, camping!

Wet stuff at Wiscombe!

The 5 Clubs (well 4 now) ran another great hill climb at Wiscombe Park at the weekend, and what an intense weekend it was!  The forecast was sunny mornings and showers in the afternoon, and that's pretty much what it did, with the addition of rain on Friday night to start off with a nice greasy track.

This event is very popular and was over-subscribed, we were fore-warned to enter early. One of my fellow lady drivers managed to get an entry for Saturday but not Sunday - the moral being "Get your entry in as soon as they open!".  Most of the friends we have made at various venues over this season were there which made it very sociable; and we made a few new friends as well.

So, Saturday morning dawned to the afore-mentioned greasy track and everyone took it fairly easy. By the second practice run it was stickier and most of us put up a good time, while casting suspicious looks at the black clouds looming from the south west.  It took its chance over the lunch break and started bucketing down; we ate our lunch in the Imp which has to be a first!  All we needed was a newspaper and we'd have made a good impression of tourists at a beauty spot viewpoint.

The afternoon runs were done in alternate heavy downpours and sunny spells, which arguably were worse as the track was half-dry half-wet. Alex managed some decent times but I lost interest and had two shocking timed runs so was in my usual spot at the bottom of the fleet. Never mind, tomorrow is another day and driving in so many different conditions is very good experience and does wonders for confidence.

On Sunday morning, having had a night in the tent listening to more downpours, I was thinking "urgh, do I really want to do this?".  Of course I did, and also couldn't possibly let down all the marshals who were doing a sterling job standing around getting soaked on our behalf.  Once I was up and ready I was feeling much more positive and practices went fine, with pretty much a carbon copy of weather and conditions from the day before. A first practice of 63.07 and second at 62.42 meant I was heading in the right direction to break my previous personal best of 61.25 (also achieved in damp conditions). Alex had a slowish first practice but did 60.95 in the second one, so I was chasing him.

We managed to get the tent down reasonably dry at lunchtime, the breeze having got up and the sun out during our second practices. By the time we'd walked back down to the paddock the queues for the food were too long so my customary Sunday sausage and chips was put off until after the first timed runs.


Yet again during lunchtime the heavens opened right on schedule, to many sighs of frustration from those with more powerful cars.  We weren't too worried in the Imp and our first timed runs were pretty good: 60.57 for Alex and 61.30 for me (0.06 off a new PB!).  That definitely got my competitive spirit flowing, and the secret weapon of sausage and chips completed it: I was determined to really go for it in the last run of the weekend.

Alex, to my surprise, came in a bit slower at 61.02 in his second timed run because he left a gear change too late in the Esses.  It was all to play for!  On the way down to my start I could feel the adrenalin building up, this was my last chance.  Alex and I had been talking about the "brake LATE and HARD" advice we'd had; and that when you want to brake you should say "A thousand" and then brake.  Clearly even experienced drivers suffer from the automatic caution that our brains use to protect us! I'd been getting braver with late braking into the Gate and two hairpins, and on this run I totally forgot about any dodgy track conditions and went for it; the whole run felt fast, but that can be deceiving.  When I got to the top my heart was going hammer and tongs, and I was desperate for the loo!  Once I got to look at the time I was amazed to see 60.37 and had to check it several times before I believed I'd knocked almost a second off my PB, and beaten Alex... I had the biggest grin on my face then for the rest of the day, and all the way home in fact!

The Only Imp in the Village

Alex got the interior back in the Imp, and the newly cleaned/treated fuel tank back in yesterday.

We wanted to take it for a quick run so headed over to Beaulieu Motor Museum to their Simply Classics day. If you turn up in a classic car you pay the usual entry fee but park within the museum grounds for visitors to see, like an unofficial show. Being Life Members we got in free, even better!

We got there about 2.15 just in time for a look round the cars before they started leaving; everything from a GT40 replica to numerous MGs, Triumphs and Healeys. There were some interesting cars there including Lotuses, Skodas and a hillclimbing Volvo Amazon. Not a single other Imp or derivative though!

We were just there for an hour and a half, and Alex had a long discussion with a family of Imp owners from Somerset who were visiting for the day.

It was so good to get the car back out on the road after a fortnight, we've missed it!

Impish August

Here are a few photos from the last month:

Castle Hillclimb 3/4 August was interesting! Our first visit to the event and the Sunday was very wet; we did ok though since there are advantages to lacking power!  The long drag hill on the second half was a bit painful as were stuck in 2nd, the gap to 3rd being just too large.

This is what happens when a single seater racing car cleans the mud off its wheels right in front of you....

Stripped out to remove sound deadening and bitumen from between the ridges in the floor... 13kg plus! 

Our sexy new Sparco Rev seat is around 7kg lighter than the previous Cobra one, but is rather more snug (extra trips to the gym required for me!)

Roll cage in position.  We don't need one for our road-going class, but we were offered it at a good price and any extra safety has to be a good thing.  Even adding this (15kg) the car will still be lighter than before.

Stripping out!

The Imp has been stripped out of carpets and seats, temporarily. Alex has been removing anything heavy and not required, mainly bitumen from the floor! 

Scrupulous weighing of items and the discovery that our current race seat weighs twice as much as a Sparco Rev led us to reassessment of what we wanted/needed in the car.

With two weeks to go until our next hillclimb at Wiscombe Park, the clock is ticking on getting the floor painted and the car put back together. I will post some photos shortly!

A couple of events and plans for 2014

Since I last wrote, we have taken the Imp to Wiscombe Park again, and to Manor Farm at Charmouth which some people consider a 'mickey mouse' course but we quite like.  It is very different to Wiscombe, being open apart from going through a bridge under the A35, which provides the threat of concrete contact!   This year it was a damp weekend so we spent it experimenting with how the car behaved in the wet, while still keeping it on the black stuff. At least spinning off at Charmouth you're not likely to hit anything too hard.

The car is going well with the 930cc engine in, but we have our sights set on going faster and have just ordered a 998cc engine to be built for us, by the chap who built the 930cc and is ex-Hartwell.  It's a bit of an investment but once we have that we won't need to tinker with engines any more, at least that is the idea!    There are loads of ways we could make the car lighter to be more competitive, but firstly we want to stay in the production road car class, and more importantly we like the car as it is.   We don't want to strip out stuff to the limit of the class because we get a kick out of competing in a car in genuine road-going standard condition; and we think other people appreciate that too.

Photo www.simonrawling.com

We are making more and more friends as we go along on the hill climb circuit, whether it be ladies who have been competing for 26 years, or other newcomers to the sport, and everyone in between.  I was discussing the welcoming spirit of hill climbing with the aforementioned lady and we were comparing it with other sports and hobbies that we had done, most of which seem to have a hierarchy, snobbery and bitchiness which hill climbing just doesn't have.  We could chat away to a chap by the burger wagon and find out that he had won fastest time of the day, while we were slowest, and it doesn't matter! It's really good to feel part of it, I can't imagine anyone feeling like an outsider in this sport.

 

Photo www.simonrawling.com

Our next event will be at Wiscombe on 27/28 July, a National A Championship event as well as National B, so all the fast boys will be there (and girls, but usually there are only 2 or 3 of us at events).   The week after that we are venturing down to Cornwall to a circuit we haven't been to before, at Castle Hill which is near Lostwithiel.  We then have the rest of August off before a full programme in September, and that is the end of the season!  

The 998cc will go in for 2014, we'll run the rest of this year with the 930cc, firstly for consistency and secondly to save stress mid-season trying to get a new engine set up and running properly.