Race Engine Forum UK

Pictures from member Simon-Spanner, competitions manager at Richard Thorne Classic Cars near Reading, UK.
I have entered the photos after some editing, I'll leave Simon to tell us about them in the next post.

GC

Firstly, thank you Guy for resizing those- i dont have a problem looking at the large pictures on broadband, but i understand that, for some it could be a problem.

And so to what i'm playing with
well, the top picture is a series 2 Lancia Fulvia Zagato sport 1600, which we are in the process of restoring for a client, the shell was dipped to entirely remove all traces of paint,filler and under seal before being zinc chromate dipped for corrosion protection. This is the first time we have used Surface Processes in the midlands, and have found both their service and product excellent

This is one of the best/most original shells I have ever seen, and ony needs limited repairs to the bases of the wings, and also a repair to a fractured chassis leg-an unfortunate problem with the Zagato bodied cars as much of the body strength was cut away when the body was changed from the coupe

In the second picture are the 2 cars I'm currently preparing for the Britcar/Silverstone 24hr race in september
In the foreground is a Morgan Roadster Lightweight- the classic bodied morgan- Yes it does have sliding pillar front suspension, a live rear axle on cart springs, and no the chassis is not made of wood-the wood simply acts as a substructure for the cockpit area bodywork to hang off (interestingly Morgan have recently put several classic bodied cars through the rigourous crash testing prcedures and were delighted to find the wooden substructure passes all the current and perceived future legislation-just what you would expect from an organic fibre composite!)

Weighing just 800kg, and with nearly 300BHP from the 3ltr V6 engine, i expect very good results and reliability in the race

In the background and 3rd picture is the Morgan Aero 8 GT cup car, all aluminium bonded chassis, inboard rising rate suspension and BIG AP brakes all round

The engine is 4.6ltr 32v V8 drysumped, and on Motec management it knocks on the door of 390BHP and 400lbft of torque

certainly puts a smile on my face!

Currently I'm refettling the installation in the aero to make maintenance and access easier and also simplifying some of the plumbing- with gearbox and diff coolers, as well as the drysump system, it was a bit of a snakes nest, and whilst it all worked, working on it was an absolute bear!

I'll post some more piccys as work progresses