August 2009
what a shame the stray is going to be a mud pitch again this year
www.hcvs.co.uk/hcvswelcome.htm Read more
Now that the summer looks like a washout,has anyone got any good recommendations for petrol heads?
Two from me are: A Passion for Porsches (formerly Porsche Past and Present) by Denis Jenkinson (so much more than just a car book: brilliant travelogue as well)
Drive on! by LJK Setright: Not Clarkson/Hammond lite but rewards perseverance as absolutely fascinating. Read more
Thanks Mike I'll have to get hold of a copy of Motoring My Way as looks like a book I would enjoy. I have several Setright titles and love the mixture of history and engineering. The guy must have had a phenomenal intellect. His unfinished autobiography that you mention is good too. His writing style in that is much more warm and personal and I'm glad they published what he had finished. Other good books include My life full of cars by Paul Frere, Into the Red by Mark Hales and Nick Mason. Jenks the collected writings of Denis Jenkinson is good too along with The Road to Muckle Flugga by Phil Llewellin: which contains a lot of his driving adventures. I followed him right through to his writings in Diesel Car and wish he was still around. I picked up that mag the other week and they had a drive story in a Porsche Cayenne in South Wales that was as thin as turps: yes I miss the old guard!
After the news yesterday, that Swindon is to stop the use of their fixed speed cameras, but continue with police mobile units, there was an interesting follow-up on BBC Teletext. Apparently stopping the use of their 5 Cameras will save them £250,000 a year out of their £320,000 road safety budget! They additionally stated that only 6% of accidents were down to speeding and that the money raised from fines all went to Central Government - I am sure how they work out the first statement and if the second one is even true, but it may be interesting to see what happens there.
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>>so I wonder which five cameras have gone?>>
The ones which generate the least income.
I actually thought there were more than 5 fixed cameras. And the news seems to be they got rid of all fixed cameras in Swindon.
It only makes me wonder if they hope someone will speed past one thinking they are all off and then find that one is still working ;-)
My friend has treated himself to a very tidy early Z3 as a toy and has spent the past week getting to know it.
In the process he has noticed a loop of plain pipework, about 8mm diameter (guess), at the front, right behind the grille and in front of the radiator, that has a bit of surface rust on it to be cleaned to match the rest of the car.
Thing is, we can't figure out what this length of pipe is for. It's completely separate from everything else and our best guess is that it's either a transmission oil cooler or perhaps part of the fuel return system. He has invested a huge sum of money in the official workshop manual - paper, not a pirate DVD! - but can't find it mentioned anywhere.
Can someone elucidate? Read more
Almost certainly a power steering cooler Mike.
I have a fault on my Heater Blower, everytime when i drive my car, when the engine has warmed up sometimes only takes 5 minutes, the blower fan stays hot constantly even when i set it to the lowest temperature or settings. I had also tried with the aircon on. Very occasionally, it blows cold air but if i drive it for a long period it goes to the hottest setting and gives off a plastic burning smell. This is causing a big problem when the weather is hot and raining which i cannot roll down the window.
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If it's fitted with a water valve to control the heat, that is probably the problem. Fiestas' suffer a lot with the same. If the heat is controlled by air blending flaps, then the control for those is lost.
Either way, it'll take someone with a bit of knowledge of what to look for.
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Yes, they were definitely 1950s - Brooke Bond (tea) had dozens of them. They did indeed - until 1952 apparently - have an odd two-stroke engine that dated back decades, I'm not sure but some may even have had solid tyres.
Wikipaedia has what seems to be an illuminating entry. There is, IIRC, an active owners' club which used to be run by a refreshingly eccentric character called something like Group Captain Scroggs.