............. Building the Racer............

It all started with buying a 998 rally engine with a single webber forty from a chap who was packing in road rally's, (Important when buying an engine hear it running at least or take the head off to check for wear and general condition) I learned the hard way.

The spark to start of everything was a trip to Silverstone to watch some Imps racing in the HRSR championship....... That was it! Now was the time to go racing!
If I didn't do it now it would be one of life's regrets and because circumstances change the opportunity may never occur again. Anyway back to Silverstone, after the race a chat to John Lockwood (class winner in his Imp) to discuss what I had and what was needed, I was a bit lacking 998 sport, standard gearbox, Stiletto which the shape was not in series production in 1966 so not even the correct car either! Whaaah
Right so that was it! the search was on for a car with a sound bodyshell, which happened to appear whilst collecting a secondhand 998 race engine.
It came to light from Brian Patrick (very successful imp racer in New Zealand), that a saloon belonging to an elderly chap was up for sale as he was retiring from driving. So we nipped over and had a look that was that SOLD!!!!

Hears the innocent looking Hillman Nov. 1991	Underseal off bitumem on

Once the car was home the interior was stripped out, engine and box out and all the rear suspension removed.
Next the car was rolled onto its side on a mattress to protect the panels, the Underseal was removed with an air chisel on a cold winters day because in these conditions it shatters off easily, the floor was then resealed with a coat of bitumen which is a lot lighter than.underseal (weighed 26lbs).                     

The only bodge found was this rather obvious 40mm thick chunk of filler which was cut out and replaced with a new section of arch, as you can see in the photo above the car now has the roll cage fitted as per the blue book, the petrol tank is a foam filled and mounted on high density foam.This sat on top of a brace make from inch speed frame which had a mounting plate on each end at 90 degree to fit straight in between the spring platform's and bolt in where the front shock platform fitted.
The front radiator was a copy on the original Rootes rally item, from Auto Suisse which meant that the heater box had to cut out so that it was a flush fit to front panel, but you must ensure that it is sitting on some high density foam to kill any vibration which could cause it to crack in the future. The plumbing was done in 28mm copper pipe with flowing curves thus avoiding using 90 degree elbows which slow the flow of water round the system, its a long journey for a standard water pump to push it.

Mean time the all the suspension arms, crossmember and mounts were all being shot blasted and upon return they were all seam welded for strength, then given a coat of smoothrite paint, this is used because it is very hard and will show up any cracks in the future if the develop. Powder coating looks great but is not ideal because it hides the cracks due to its flexible nature.

Next new sets of wheel bearings, rally bushes, were fitted all round, also set of kingpins then fitting the front disks which went straight on, unlike the viva conversion I believe these were Talbot Horizon, then the Viva calliper's were fitted, and drums rear with VG95 lining's and braided hoses fitted all round. An adjustable brake bias kit was bought from Autocross in Bracknell, then I had the fun of working out how to fit it for the two master cylinders together and also calculating the effort to movement of pedal ratio this took some time.
I ending up with a hole cut, in the top of the black mounting plate, then extended the brake pedal out the top of it and mounted the two master cylinders .625 in the opposite direction to the originals position, whaahay it works.
Spax dampers were fitted all-round with 350 lb springs front and 800 lb rear with 6x13 weller wheels and Yokohama A008R tyres which are the dogs wotsits at the time.

The car had its shake down run on the local roads and all seemed well with no problems bar one trip down the M3 when there was heavy shower, running on the A008R tyres with the token gesture of tread these aquaplaned rather too well, so it was a good job a set of Avon turbospeed sport CR28 tyres were on order there are the best wets you can get.

The first race was at Mallory Park the car had the Race Trannex Gearbox in but only running with single 40 and sport cam, and a rear mounted Oil cooler.

Practice went OK I was mostly trying to keep out of everyone's way and qualify, for the race this put me on the grid at the back of course the lights go green roaring start keeping up with the pack nicely till the first corner, then I realise how much the sport cam and head restricts the engine from revving and everyone clears off (dohh!) never mind I'm still having a whale of a time, the car sounding sweet for about 5 laps then starts to miss slightly, checking the oil pressure says zero AHH!! engine off and coast to the infield well at least I have not left a trail of parts so that's good news!
The problem was traced to an oil pipe to the cooler was loose, spraying enough oil out over the race to cause the pressure lose, stripping down the engine the bearing shells were only slightly marked and crank was OK, as for the pistons 1,2 & 4 were fine but No.3 was damaged by the webber was badly jetted, too lean (yet another thing when buying second-hand don't believe that everything is sorted) already, always check as you see it makes more work and expense. One good second hand piston later I was back to 4 cylinders until I measured the bores for wear a little baggy you might say!

Never mind there is the race engine I had bought, so I stripped it down to find it needed some new valves and guides set of piston rings, also the oil pump was shot as the engine had never run with filters, hovering up the dirt which works its way into the sump.
To my surprise it had the standard big end bolts so these had to be modified to 3/8 cosworth, also new lead/copper bearing shells then simply rebuild, in the house of course to dirty in the garage.

Mean time an oil cooler still had to be fitted up front so a 13 row cooler in steel (for stone resistance and reliability) was fitted plumbed in with JCB hose as goodrige was a little expensive 30 a meter and I was not about to start another mortgage JCB pipe is internally braided and rated to 1000+ PSI and only cost 100 front to rear including bulkhead fittings.
Built and ready roll so a little running in had to be done up and down the motorway, boy everybody is driving milk floats this thing is quick.
The final stage was done on the A30 past Blackbush Airport in evening time, but as it was now dark and with no lights on the gauges I had to be followed by Pauline in the Cavalier, with lights on full beam to enable me to see them, but everytime I accelerated the Cavalier was left for dead so I had to wait to see that the oil pressure and temp were all OK.
The next race was at Oulton Park and what a deference an R23 BVH and twin 40's make, now I can have a go at the other class D cars Anglias, Imps, A40, Fiats. The car ran well but my skills were a bit lacking on rear engine cars and its a whole new ball game, 10 seconds slower than the fastest D class car, still 3rd in class can't be bad.
Next on the list was a trip to Tom Airey on the rolling road to set-up the new engine, when Tom checked the engine over before it went on the rollers he found that I had left the standard plugs in which are projected nose type, these had melted because they were the wrong heat range.
A set of NGK B8EV plugs went in, timing checked 40/42 degree full advance.
After being run up a few times and jetting leaned out the engine putting out 85 bhp so that's about 100 at the flywheel.
When you are round the back of the car at 8000 rpm it sound like it's going to bang any second, also on the odd occasion when chasing another competitor and I've hit 10,000 and you know from the change in the engines sound it screaming.

End of the season I received the best newcomer Trophy for 1992 a grand year out. With one hell of a lot of learning both handling the car and traffic craft E.G.: when the big boys in the yank's come by, you soon learn that slowing down to let them through will let others in your class sneak by as well (doouhh!!)
From here on the years pass and the modifications begin,to boost performance or alter set-up to suit my style of driving.
Have fun Adrian

A big thankyou has to go to my friends who helped me Buzz, Warwick, Hoppy, Bungo and my now wife Pauline (official timekeeper, pitcrew,etc)