racer2_uk

Evenin Barry and all, Your Laverda was quite a choice back then, very exotic wonderful bikes, I have met Pierro Laverda a couple of times over the year's, he is very enthusiastic and talks at great length with owner's when you meet him, I last chatted to him at Goodwood FOS about 10 years ago after meeting with him at the Laverda museum opening in Lisse. Barry, I really like one of your descriptions of bike ownership " some Brough's " that is very big motorcycling achievement, well done for that alone ! I had one of the first batch of Ducati 851, I understand the reason for the regret with the 750 sport, a great bike. Andy

Evenin Barry and all, Barry, thanks for your kind words and interest, driving around the North Wales landscape is great in an old car, you see, feel and smell the surrounding's, just like back on a bike ! I used to have Laverda's mainly, 1200 Formula Mirage, Difazio 3C, 750 sfc, RGA and RGS's, I had a wonderful Norton Rotary, a CB1100R Bimota, and a few Evo Harley's, I got my blue RGA in'85 and I modified it with older Jota parts to give it an older look with the better handling of the newer frame, a very good bike. Andy

Evenin Wayne and all, Thanks again Wayne for your kind thought's, we had a great drive together but I had to overtake him on the way home, those sleeve valver's do leave a little oil in the air behind them ! Well the weather forecast was good and we set off for our favourite campsite in Llanberis, we arrived just after lunch and got on the Chalmers and headed over the Menai straight to the island of Anglesey and the local transport museum, the Robert Stephenson bridge was built in MDCCCL (1850) the owner of the museum came out to chat and I took him for a drive, we only just managed to get the Chalmers away from him, a great museum with a lovely family running it, a credit to them on Tuesday morning we drove out to Caernarfon air museum in what was to be an 82 degree temperature day, that is quite special for us, I think the museum curator's camera was a bit overheated ! a lunch stop in Criccieth was in order before going through Porthmadog, Beddgelert, and down the Llanberis pass, back in Llanberis we called into the slate museum, this place is amazing, it hasn't changed since it closed in 1969, it's 50' diameter waterwheel is still in operation driving the lineshafting to power the original equipment, even the foundry was preserved, a really good day was finished off with fish and chips. Wednesday was overcast and we drove back over the Menai straight and stopped for tea in Beaumaris, then on to Rhosneigr where we spent many weekends in our motorcycling day's, from Rhosneigr we drove to Llynnon mill, the oldest working windmill in Anglesey, at the mill they have a pair of replica medieval roundhouses you can walk around and get an idea of what it must have been like to live then, on the way back we found these great gates to Vaynol Hall near Bangor, The Chalmers went very well covering 220 miles in 3 day's with only an oil leak, this year's mileage is know over 1300, I have a new set of rear tyres to fit along with an oil and filter change ready for Prescott at the start of next month. Andy

Evenin everybody, Well the weather did the right thing and the sun was around all day for our trip to the Wem "Vehicles of Interest rally" as you may have guessed, if your car was interesting you would get an entry, the Chalmers and my Dad's Daimler got entries and we had a great rally which involved a lot of people asking about the cars, a drive in the 250 vehicle convoy around the town and a good selection of picnic food and drink on our return, the cars were surrounded all day and we had a great time, then something very unexpected happened, we were voted as the 1st and 2nd placed "cars of the rally" ! and it was the Chalmers that won ! I was presented with a beer tankard by the owner of The Castle pub in Wem who sponsored the event, thank you very much. me and my dad couldn't believe what had happened, We had a great run home of about an hour and I am now going to check the weather to see if another trip to North Wales is in order. What a day. Andy

Evenin everybody, After thinking back to when I stripped down the timing gears, I had noticed the factory marks didn't line up for the camshaft gear, it was a tooth out retarded, when I rebuilt the engine I used the factory marks, was this anything to do with the engine feeling flat ? I decided to re-time the camshaft gear to how it was, well it seems better, I use the village hill as my "dyno" and can feel an improvement going up and no overheating evident, would this be some sort of performance "tweek", a previous mistake, or the factory setting giving better mileage ? I also changed the clutch lubricant to a thinner mix and have found it clears much better especially when cold. We drove the Chalmers to the VSCC pub meeting and found a Star and a 3 litre Bentley, beautiful condition regularly driven cars, I found a great photo on the VSCC website from last weekend's Shelsley Walsh of the Chalmers approaching the Bottom Ess, Looking forward to some decent weather again. Andy

Evenin everybody, Shelsley Walsh was sunny, the weekend was great but really slow ! the Chalmers felt really flat, I will have to check a few things to see what has happened, I also got clutch slip which doesn't normally go along with a flat engine, must try harder ! but I still can't stop smiling, lot's of mad crazy and interesting car's out for the weekend, the Napier Bentley was in fine form as usual, Brazier with a WW1 Hispano aero engine, a Mitchell racer, GN Spider 2 A great weekend but lot's to do, I think it's workshop time. Andy

Evenin everybody, The last thing I put on here was " managed to get home before the rain", the rain then went on for nearly 2 weeks, we had floods and the Chalmers stayed inside, until Monday when I put it on the trailer and set off for Snowdonia, North Wales, we got a great campsite in Llanberis and I rolled the Chalmers off the trailer, we had drive around the town which is next to a lake, with a narrow gauge railway and slate mining museum, on Tuesday we drove out to visit The Real Car company in Bethesda to look at the car's in stock, I forgot to take any photo's as the Chalmers started running rough and missing now and again, this diverted my mind a bit, sorry about that, we then drove out to Caernarvon with this occasional miss that I couldn't pin point, Caernarvon castle was very nice, we decided to carry on, when I came to start the Chalmers it kicked back hitting my hand right across the back, something about the ignition didn't feel right but everything looked in place, I gave it a second go and it started, I decided to head back to the campsite and check it over, it turned out to be the point's contact on the point's arm had worked loose and was moving up and down like a loose rivet, I re-crimped the arm and cleaned up the face's, refitted the point's carrier and it fired straight up and ran beautifully ! a run out to a pub was in order. Wednesday morning we set off for Beddgelert, after a wonderful drive through the mountains a lunch stop was in order, we drove to the coast at Porthmadog and across the estuary barrier and looped back towards Beddgelert and stopping to look at this wonderful old gatehouse, next direction was towards Capel Curig, we were going higher all the time, we travelled down the Llanberis Pass and back into town and stopped at the slate museum and railway workshop's, I could have done without the bruised hand but it was a great few day's and we covered over 150 miles in the sunshine, there are a few thing's on the Chalmers that need some attention then we should be ready for Shelsley Walsh in a week's time, finger's crossed I get on the entry list. Andy

Afternoon everybody, A friend of mine has had a great week, "Wink" is a sidecar passenger at the TT, he has had a 1st and a 2nd ! he is now a double TT winner, 5 years apart. Last night we drove over to The Wharf Classic Car night, a very informal meet with every type of car you could imagine, a lovely model T oval racer, 1916 with a 1925 motor, a very sweet Morris, a very distinguished Alvis TD21, we had a great night and managed to get home before the rain. Andy

Evenin everybody, The weather has been excellent and the Chalmers has been out and about a lot, it looked great in sepia through the pub window at lunch time, while driving on to Norbury junction I noticed an area of forest that had been felled to reveal a WW2 concrete bunker, there are still a few of these left around the area, normally near river's and canal's, lot's of canal barge's awaiting holidaymaker's at Norbury, Today we drove out to the Klondyke steam party, always something to see, this steam lorry was beautifully restored, we had a great afternoon at the party and headed back, calling in on friend's on the way, when I came to start the engine to leave, on the first pull it kicked back and whacked my elbow really well, then at about 15 miles from home I noticed the strangest thing, the radiator filler neck and mascot was wobbling from side to side, I stopped and the solder had come away all round the base, I simply lifted the neck off the radiator, taped up the whole and carried on home, the engine wasn't overheating, everything was happy so I have to put this down to age, the solder seems to have gone crumbly and then split, I have re-soldered the filler neck, I have to clean everything up and remove some excess then let it patinate back to how it was. I have never heard of anything like this happening before, I am so pleased I had a roll of insulating tape with the tool's ! Quite an eventful day, I am helping my arm recover with a cool beer ! Andy

Evenin everybody, We have had a few nice day's and that has allowed several good trip's out, We called in for lunch at Ford Hall farm near Market Drayton, at our local Vintage Sports Car Club pub meet we had a new car turn up, a really well made and engineered Riley 9 special, the owner has done most of the modifications including making the alloy body after making his own English wheel ! very impressed. I found this great photo by Alan Raine taken at last year's Cholmondeley Pageant, Andy

Evenin Wayne and everybody, Wayne, cheap shot accepted but it really does mean both of us ! I had a great run out today, I went through the beautiful village of Hodnet, on the way to Sleap airfield near Wem, the airfield was a WW2 RAF bomber training base and it still has the original control tower, After the airfield I headed towards Cheswardine and called into the Wharf pub, weather permitting we will be dropping in on their classic car night in a couple of weeks, We have now covered 500 miles this year, the Chalmers is giving about11-12 mpg, we are having a lot of fun along the way, I might have to look at some rear tyres sooner than later. Andy

Evenin Wayne and everybody, Wayne, I have so many "details" I need to do, I usually go out for drive and don't get anything done. Today we drove over to a Military Vehicle event at one of our favourite local places, Foxfield steam railway, as well as working steam locomotives there were loads of Army vehicles, large guns and even a fibreglass tank ! I am impressed with any vehicle that has an "engineer's vice" bolted to the front bumper ! The Chalmers went well and the sun shone, until we set off for home and we got caught in a rain shower, no need to wash for a while now. Andy

Evenin everybody, I finally got round to fitting a set of bonnet clips I bought last year, I found a set that were usable and had a good patina then made some mounting plates, they are working very well, the bonnet fits better and there is less rattling ! I will get a bit of paint applied and that is one more job crossed off the long list. Andy

Evenin everybody, I had a visit from fellow VSCC member and racer Marcus in his Riley with co-driver Darcy, while we looked at his car he realised the race numbers were still on, here in the UK they are frowned upon when on a competition car, so 5 minutes latter, sorted, Yesterday I sorted out a problem with my dad's 1914 Daimler, it was running on 3, a new set of plug's and a contacts clean up and it was back to health, the sleeve valve engines do have a lot more oil in the cylinders for lubrication and the plug life can suffer a little, I do apologise as I forgot to take photo's but this is the car with the Chalmers, and from it's rebuild the pair's of sleeves in position, Andy

Evenin Barry and all, The Hoghton Tower weekend is a good laugh, you never know what will turn up, Barry, the bike at the back is a Levis, I am sorry I don't have any more detail on that bike, the crazy expansions are fitted to a Krauser 4 cylinder 2 stroke sidecar racing engine, I would guess at about late '80's, and you are right about the amount of GN's in the VSCC, probably more than they made ! I decided on a short trip today to my favourite pub, The White Lion at Barthomley, there were a few bikes parked up which means question time about the Chalmers ! Andy

Evenin Wayne and all, The steam lorry was a wonderful thing to see trundling along, it had a belt driven tipping body ! The whole event was very good. Today we dropped in at Mill Meece pumping station for one of their open day's, this beautifully made steam engine had so much detail, It started to get cold so we set off, 350 miles and everything feels reasonable. Andy

Evenin everybody, We had a run over to the bikers café near Whitchurch last night, I parked up on a very wet car park and totally forgot about starting the engine to leave ! yes, I got wet feet, "must try harder" ! After drying my feet on the way home we arrived back with a petrol leak, it turned out to be a fuel pipe flare had cracked at the fuel tap, I removed and re-flared the existing pipe and secured the full length to stop any vibration. Today we drove to the Tracks to the Trenches event near Newcastle under Lyme, this ex-heavy industry area is now a parkland and heritage narrow gauge railway centre, we were welcomed in and parked next to a Rolls-Royce armoured car replica, a Vauxhall staff car and a 1917 Foden steam lorry, They had 6 or 7 WW1 engines on a great track layout that went from a station and marshalling yard to the trenches exhibit, This is the event, http://www.ww1-event.org/ It gave you another perspective of life in WW1, a lot was going on as well as the shelling and shooting, The Chalmers ran really well, everything that has been done seems to settling in nicely, another trip tomorrow if the weather plays ball. Andy

Mornin everybody, The sun was out and the temperature up, time for a run out, for a change I headed towards the city, I stopped by at the world famous Gladstone pottery museum, the photo below show's how big the "bottle kiln's " were, there used to be thousands of these building's at one time, I also dropped in to see a great tractor restorer friend Mack, he has been collecting and restoring for over 50 year's and has fixed just about every kind of construction and agricultural machine known to man, The Chalmers has covered over 250 miles so far this year, I have carried out an engine oil and filter change, a few small adjustment's, a bit of greasing and it feels very good. Later in the year I have been invited to "The Great Dorset Steam Fair", 600 acres of early steam and other aged vehicles for a long weekend of showing off ! http://www.gdsf.co.uk/ Andy

Evenin Wayne and all, Thanks for finding the British Chalmers outpost Wayne, your kind word's are appreciated, you are right, I just find the car so much fun to have. Because of the age and unknown history with these types of vehicles you always find something to do some work on and which people seem to enjoy when you show them, we all have the same sort of madness I think ! A lot of the event's I take the Chalmers to are organised by the Vintage Sports Car Club here in the UK, the member's of the club have and use some of the most amazing and historical car's, I just take a few photo's and post them up. This weekend I left the Chalmers at home and went with a friend to a motorcycle sprint at Hoghton Tower near Preston, a great weekend's sprinting with great motorcycles, If the weather stay's as it is I will go for a few run's this week to add a few more miles on the Chalmers. Andy

Evenin everybody, A repair was needed today, the drivers side brake band location casting cracked, when the part was removed it was obvious there had been a repair that could only be seen at the back, I hit the location boss a few times with a hammer and it came off, after cleaning I had this, I did this repair on the passenger side part a couple of years ago, this side had no sign of a break or repair until now, I repaired and strengthened the locator, when it was two separate part's I put them in the lathe, turned the ends flat, drilled and tapped the end's, made up a strengthening strap with a distance spacer on the shoe location boss side, I could then weld the two part's while bolted in position, The part went on nice and straight and is now a lot stronger, The drum, wheel bearing, the brake shoe and band all were good to go straight back on, I made a small adjustment to the handbrake and went for a short test and everything was back to normal. Andy

Evenin everybody, I have found a couple of youtube clips from last weekends Curborough sprint meeting, The sun has been out and I have had a few runs out on the Chalmers, the clutch is working well, the air start is still starting ! Andy

Evenin everybody, Curborough was very nearly almost dry ! the few spots of rain didn't cause any problems but it was really cold today, the Chalmers sailed through scrutineering and the practice runs went well, the first run was the quickest at 57.06, this was .44 better than my handicap time and .64 better than my previous best, a good day ! The usual incredible cars were in attendance, the De Dietrich 16.5 litre of Richard Scaldwell, Mark Walker and the Darracq, A great time was had by all, I am really looking forward to Shelsley Walsh. Andy

Evenin everybody, We had a great day on Saturday at "The Bird on the Rock" tea rooms on the England / Wales border in South Shropshire, we met up with Chris Williams for the opening day and displayed vehicles out front, We had great food and lot's of tea and cake ! Chatted to lot's of vintage car people that dropped in, And generally had a lovely day ! I have changed the clutch lube again with a lighter weight mixture and a slightly smaller capacity and the clutch disengages quicker than before giving a must better engagement especially when cold. Getting everything ready for Curborough sprint on Sunday. Andy

Evenin everybody, The compressor went back on and pressure went up with only one small easy fix leak, I removed the air start timing disc and set it a little after TDC, engine turned and started first time, a really good result. The weather was good so a trip out was in order, I called in to Whitchurch, the old part has great buildings, 150 miles so far, everything is settling in well. Andy

Evenin Barry and all, Thanks for your kind thought's Barry, it is really a load of fun to do ! We are starting to get warmer weather here, today in particular was very warm, just right for a short trip out on the Chalmers, 80 miles completed so far this year, the engine is a smoother than before, the flywheel does feel that bit heavier with a slower pick up but has nice cruise ability, the clutch has been dragging to much but I have reduced the oil capacity a couple of times and it now engages well with no drag or slip evident, I have never been able to get the clutch lube mixture or quantity just right until now. I am going to refit the compressor chain drive and that should be the final part to go back on. Andy