akciddento

what's a dishwasher for ?

well, after the progress of the weekend i though i ought to carry on see what i can get done before lack of resolve sets in and i end up with another greasy pile of parts to deal with...

so... on with the new protective gloves, clear off the draining board and get the cylinder heads into the sink and start scrubbing...

half an hour later and they're looking better but not good enough...

into the dishwasher on 'intensive' wash. an hour later and hey presto!

they come out steaming and looking the same as when they went in...
..the dishwasher however is filthy.

end it's over...

well, the petolr head show closes tomorrow and i can scuttle back into the studio and clean down the walls, flush out the computers and archive everything ready for the next projects...
there's a whole load of emotion all tied up with this one but i think i'll give myself a bit of time to reflect on it.
i had a call this aftgernoonfrom the BBC in bristol, they want to send a camera crew down to the gallery to do a thing for BBC points west. I had a long chat this aftrenoon and i'm trying to get them along to the raceshack meet in tewkesbury tomorrow night... we'll see.

got some interesting stuff coming up too.
raceshack meet night tomorrow (the first one ever) looks like it could be fun, anwar form the supermashrik mini mart opposite akciddento towers says that he's coming and bringing some friends in to modded import cars so that could be interesting. nick B (the guy with the 2.1 wasserboxer) looks like he might be going roadtrip at the weekend to haul the engine down here and it looks like somehow i've been talked into buying a set of 112pcd (late bus pattern) compomotive split rim wheels. i'll post some pictures if i get them...

ollie came over last night and picked up an eberspacher heater from me and also collected his porsche wheels from the front garden... i had been eyeing them up to put onto the hightop wedge but i'd need adapter plates too and i fancy trying to get hold of some big wheels, maybe 18s or 19s to put on it. because of the water tanks, waste tanks and gas tanks underneath it i can't lower it at all andthe factory wheels look like ickle doughnuts on it. i saw some fantastic 19inch porsche 5 spoke wheels in a kinda cream/beige on ebay that would have been perfect but i think they went for about a zillion pounds....

ah well.

i've been reading and re-reading the various turbocharger & nitrous injection tech books i've got while down in the gallery invigilating the show and double checking over the plan.
all seems good so far the only major bugbear seems to be where to install the intercooler without creating too much hassle so what i might do is try and get the turbo install on the wedge sorted without the intercooler (much simpler!) and then see how it all goes. the intercooler may turn out to be a bit small anyhow but should not be too much hassle to plumb in at a later date once i decide where to put it all. i'm also window shopping for a welder as i discovered a patch of rot under the rear wheelarch/battery tray area (actually under where the airbox goes) in the wedge when we dropped the engine out last weekend.

will wonders never cease ?

more news at eleven !

more bits by post!

although today is going to be busy I still had time to go to the parcel depot and pick up the parcel tha they couldn't delver yesterday. More cheap parts off ebay..

it was a bargain and i couldn't resist...
shiny clean rocker covers.. delivered to your door. how good is that ?

also had a rather fruitful phone conversation this evening and it looks like i might have secured a 2.1l dj wasserboxer engine is reasonable order from nick in scotland. (thanks nick!) all i need to do now is work out how to get it from scotland to here and then it's onto the bench for a strip and blueprint and then i'll have the fastest bench in the west!

without a doubt!

well here it is....

the culmination of two years work, blood sweat and tears. permanent scarring, exhaust pipe burns and, at the eleventh hour, asphyxiation by spray fixative.
completely fixative'd my head too...

down to the gallery tomorrow to hang the pieces and get ready for fridays show.

fed up with it....

just checked my spam...

and found some email in it!

also found that some£%^$@^% with a bot had been spammign the comments in the weblog again so i thought it ought to clean it up a bit and have a look...
... well, i finally got round to starting the IP banning list as most of the spam comments are coming from just a few IP addresses.
I bothered to do a whois on one of the more prolific ipaddresses and it tracks back to a NYC broadband ISP. i found their phone number so i thought i'd give them a ring. had a nice chat with tech support them...
nothing doing. the IP address is on a dialup bank so it looks like the IP address has been spoofed anyway...

i don't want to switch comments off in the weblog but it's the electronic equivalent of waking up in morning and finding that crackheads have been doing rocks in your garden and the place is littered with wraps and condoms...

dah!
enough of it ! STOP!

briefly!

it's all a little busy this week as I have the show at centrespace gallery opening on friday so little time to post in the weblog.

in brief
sunday- louie and i actually got it in gear and unplugged the wasserboxer engine in the panel van (with the help of mr. anglegrinder) and dropped it onto a trolley jack just as it was getting dark - not as bad as we thought... next job- onto the kitchen table for a bit of a creepy dissection scene - just like the one on the nostromo in 'alien'...
..well, a bit like it anyhow. apart from that was a film, on a spaceship, dissecting a symbiant parasite...

think i might have located a running 2.1l dj wasserboxer engine, the 112HP one that i want. but it's in scotland... see what happens on this score. It could be aq good start to strip and rebuild.

i went in to BBC bristol this afternoon to chat with Keith Warmington on the afternoon drivetime show about the bus racing and the upcoming exhibition. drivetime ?
it's about 1.5 miles away and because i took some canvases in to show him i drove.
it took nearly 45 minutes.

drive time ?

hmmm..

boing, off to bed said zeberdee (which incidentally i hear is being made into a feature film)

look what arrived today !

another ebay bargain,

a low usage second hand baja merged header...

although the port flanges are wrong for a wasserboxer head the plan is to swipe them off with a grinder, turn them round and bolt it up, take of the muffler and weld up some straight pipe ontop of the triangular flange and hey presto !

turbo manifold for £26 :)

at least thats the plan...

the kids came home from school to find this on the kitchen table and i did the explanation and they just started at me...

...not fair!

anyhow, tomorrow louie and I are planning on pulling the motor in the wedge and dragging it in and starting the strip down. I think i've located a pair of 2.1 DJ engines (which is the one that i want, 112bhp stock, from factory! as a starting point) i'm waiting to see how much though, the budget for the whole project, bus included is £1000 and i need to make sure that i save enough for the expensive bits like gauges and the nitrous kit....

maybe i'll write out and shopping list and budget next week so all you lovely peeps out there can keep track of how things are going (BOTH OF YOU !)...

on an interesting note, i found out that the new cylinder head i got from ebay for 99p costs £309.95 (with valves) from justKampers. it also came with a head gasket kit in the box which i wasn't expecting. the gasket kits are £89.95 alone !

bargainous... maybe i could sell the head and gaskets to get the money to buy the engine... all the economics of stuff is a bit screwy, dont you think ?

(btw i'll let you know if we actuallly get the engine pulled tomorrow...noit like i haven't got enogh to do getting ready for the show at the gallery.... doh !)

more flame and thunder

a damp, rainy bleary start to the day. it's been drizzling for several hours and the air is so cold it looks not too promising for racing today. It seems that the one meeting tha people thought would be dry is in danger of being a washout just like most of the others this year (later in the day i did text jimby to see if i could entice him into making a spreadsheet showing rain, racing and overall runs per weather pattern from the season - nothing yet but i'll post it if it appears...)

breakfast - in a suitably comfortable style sat in the wedge of doom and then onto a little bit of twiddling . ollie sorted out the valve timing on the bay bus and i fed him minced pies. seemed like a good deal at the time....



while you're here and christmas is coming i've give you the recipe for your own home made minced pies.

---

• you will need:
a big sack. a pudding bowl . some icing sugar . a nearby bakery.


go to the local nearby bakery and buy all the old pies they have and place in the sack you prepared earlier.


return home and place the pies you bought earlier into the pudding bowl.


mince the pies thoroughly. turn out onto a plate and sprinkle with icing sugar to taste.

-minced pies !

---

any how eventually the track gets dried and evryone is called into the fireup lane. i roll down with ollie and see him into the staging area and watch him slither off the line on a very cold track and run a slow 19s second pass. well off his dial in.
i stop and take a few picture s of conor in the RACESHACK proclass trekker. i saw conor and simon building this at big bang in 2003 when i did my first ever race and have seen them running through sportsman and into respectable & consistent pro times. The powerplant and engineering has evolved and now runs a STOCK VW CRANK 1915cc motor with a garret turbo holley carb and a BIG shot of nitrous through their own custom progressive controller. the little puppy from last year has grown up into a bit of an animal... it makes well over 300bhp at the back wheels using (let me say this again!) a STOCK VW CRANK!...

any how i take pictures and wish them well and toddle off up through the pits to see how Ollie got on.

then suddenly the racing stops and there's something going on on the tannoy. everyone is peering up the track at something. I wander over to the trackside wire to see. I can't make out what's going on and the teletubby that pretends to be a commentator isn't telling either. The emergency crew are there and it looks like someone has broken just past the finish gantry. or they've crashed.

luckily captain botch is also on the tower and on the mic with dipsy & lala and what is coming into my ears slowly rolls into my brain. Conor has crashed, well past the gantry which means a 100mph + impact.


i feel cold

i feel sick

i want to run up there and help, do something. but there's no point. conors crew are there. the emergency crew are there. i'd just be in the way.


so i stand there at the chainlink fence straining to see, feeling sick and helpless. i look at the faces around me and realise that it's just another car that's crashed. people feel bad but it's still entertainment.


i remember talking to my friend Captain marriott at santa pod a few years before when lee hit the wall in his pro car and rolled it into the field...
i remember the look on Andys face as we stood and waited to find out if Lee was ok.
thankfully on that occasion Lee walked away with a badly sprained wrist (if i remember correctly) but the car disintegrated, the roof chop came apart, the cage punched its way through the floor, the seat wrenched itself out of its mounts and the battery came loose and rolled about inside the cab with Lee...

suddenly the news comes through that conor is out of the car and he's ok...

i feel a bit better but i've still got the bitter taste of bile in my mouth. I feel like i won't believe it until i've seen him walking and talking with my own eyes.




i wander back to the pits and see Simon manouvering a trailer and help out getting the trailer up to the scrutineering area to stick the dead trekker on...
conor is fine though a little hazy... staring in disbeliev as the huge fork lift truck dumps the trekker unceremoniously onto the trailer.

he gets the timing ticket for the run, 12.3s @ 119mph. and he won. Conor tells me he lost the back end near the line shifting into fourth and went through the timing beam sideways. He tried to hang on but when he knew it was all over cooked and heading for the wall he let go the wheel, tucked himself in and braced for impact... brave man.

A 120 mph impact and he walked away. Lucky man. though looking at the cage that der botcheinvolks put into the trekker - it's so stiff that its barely moved and preserved the floor and whole cab of the trekker. possibly the only Procar to survive a top end crash. The front end is a bit mashed, the battery got crushed and exploded (gel batteries suddenly seem a good idea) and the front beam is bent by about 30degrees. Sadly both of the erco racing wheels on the back are toast....



back in the pits we wait for the rain to stop. it drizzles, it rains, it stops, it clears and it clouds over again but all is no good. the ground is so cold that there's really no hope of getting any racing in.

and so ends flame and thunder...

and OLLIE FINISHES THE SEASON FIFTH OVER ALL!


CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!


ollie told me he won't be racing next year, just this one season...

but he might apply for a license and just do one or two, maybe just a few... ;)

spot the differences between these two pictures,
although they were taken only 5 minutes apart there are no less than SEVENTEEN subtle changes.
can you find them all ?


Picture A



Picture B

flame and thunder

it's the last meeting of the year and it's a dry fine night on friday.
The journey up to the pod across the country is long and gloomy. I feel empty and stressed. It's been busy getting everything ready for the show at centrespacegallery and there's too much else going on...

i meet up with paul botch venners on the way, he's in his bay window panel van (which looks lovely) shock horror! he spent hours t-cutting all the old paint and it's shiny! (even he's amazed by this strange activity..)

the rest of the journey up there is fine, folling at a respectful distance behind the panel van and watching the oil from pauls engine slowly distributing itself across the windscreen of the wedge bus in tiny little splatters - praying that i won't have to use the windscreen wipers.


arriving at the pod it feels really good (and odd) to be back again - i've missed (and missed) the last few race meets since i sold the samba and i've been trying to review how i feel about it all. i remember leaving bugjam (on a low loader having kippered the gearbox) and thinking

'i never have to come back here again'

i get parked up near team botch and ring ollie (who is racing his baywindow, i'm crewing for him...) to let him know where we're pitting and then off for a wander about. my mood lifts and suddenly i remember all the friends i've met.

the greeting is warm and friendly and unconditional. we're all friends for the weekend, all with something in common and this odd abstract (airfield shaped) space to share it in...



and then it's 4am and botch is still bending my ear and i have to be up early to do my pitcrew duties - maily making ollie tea and biscuits at regular intervals and making sure he doesn't start twiddling with the big bits in the engine bay...

dontcha just love it...

dontcha just love it when...

well, trying to flog off the 84mm procomp crank from the old race engine in the samba.
spun a bearing last november in the bus on the M4 being (barely) pursued by botch and joss in an SRi.. (see november 9th 2003 weblog entry)
send the engine off to a trusted builder and eventually get the answer back that the crank has micro factures... a bit suspicious at the time but accept and buy another crank and rod set at HORRENDOUS cost and all is (Not) well...

any how, after having the old crank and rods in a box for nearly a year i decide that I will get the crank tested myself, just for my own satisfaction. after all, either it's a huge chrome moly paperweight or it's the heart of a big race motor....
well, conor and kevo at raceshack promptly do the testing biz with me taking impressed and slightly awestruck & impressed at their engineering prowess type pictures and the verdict is that apart from polishing number one journal the crank is fine.
so much for (other) professional engine builders...

so i bung it up for sale inviting offers and guess what ?

if there's one person i've met in my (few) years in the VW drag race scene that has really disappointed me about the good in the human race...
...well...

the great thing about entering into a battle of wits with an unarmed man is that you can be as pleasant & courteous as you like and know that it'll all turn out alright.

so that's a good thing, right ?

bleary...

well, it's the evening of the morning after and i still feel a little bleary...

hubbs called over from the farthest reaches of the empire to pay us bristle folks a visit and ollie, hubbs and i had a little bit of scrutibeering in the pipe and slippers round the corner in advance of racing at flame and thunder this saturday...

inevitably the discussion was dominated by the relative virtues of different wheel designs and the best place to pick up cheap turbochargers....

there was also a lot of discussion about the season and which buses had done what. i think the main thing to come out of it all was that we hadn't seen the fast buses we thought we would, some quick ones to be sure but after last winters rumours and speculation about who was doing what there seemed to be very little travelling at warp speed anywhere...

but then i had a rather interesting phone conversation in the afternoon with a shadowy secret organisation about some rather interestign work that's going on not a million miles from where i now type and it looks like next year could be rather interesting..... ;)

just remember, you didn't here it here first.....