ST GOUENO 2015

I will go up in the loft and see if I can dig out the company I used last time.

Re power, last time they had a few big generator units spread around the paddock, so people had to use lots of splitters. Consequently we will need one frog connecter and a couple of splitters. I have a splitter.

I will get the frog lead then..........ribbit

Thanks Ed

Latest information from John (yesterday), medical repatriation insurance is not obligatory but is recommended. You will need a EHIC card however. The original low cost repatriation insurance from past years is no longer available and enquiries by several people to several insurers have indicated problems in obtaining it. The answer to me is therefore be careful.

Pete Richards

Shocked to hear that Irish hillclimber Simon McKinley died whilst hillclimbing in Ireland on Saturday. He was at St Goueno when we were last there in 2010, and he was a very impressive driver. A sad loss.

No long now

Ordered my HANS yesterday, and should get it on Friday. Ordered my new helmet today and should get that on Friday as well, just hoping I can get it stickered up OK at St Goueno.

Just need to sort out the charging/battery problem on the MK2, service the motorhome and change a tyre on it, and replace the hitch damper on the trailer which died a death last weekend!

Helmet arrived, its the new V2 Supervent. Its even lighter than the V2 Pro, but its gloss black instead of satin black, and I do prefer the satin black. This time the SNELL label on the inside is clearly visible, consequently the scrotes, sorry scrutes don't have to pull away all the lining to find it!

Still need to get it MSA badged, but apparently there will be three UK scrutes at St Goueno

HANS should arrive on Monday.

New alternator arrived yesterday and nearly finished making the mount for it. New higher power starter motor should be built by middle of next week.

Hows everyone else getting on with their preparation?

Oh Bugger its getting close the only preparation I've been doing is preparation H.

Fezza
1. Pedal box still out the car but master cylinders all cleaned up and resealed hope to get it all bolted back in on Sunday
2.Leaking Sump gasket : Still leaking
3. Water / Methanol injection kit still sat in the box
4. Toe Correction Kit : not correcting Toe as still sat in the box
5. Service brake clean up etc :Nope

Mercedes Sphincter

Service : Nope
Brakes :
Plumbing in Fridge to Gas :Nope
replace: external power cable into van Erm No

It looks like I will be taking the MGF ....................................... ARSE !!!! I SOLD IT

Tiger still on trailer, need to swap the front wheels with the round ones at the back as locking up at 100+ mph does tend to give vibration, a few wheel spins on the rear should sort it out

Got new leisure battery for the love bus, hope to fit tomorrow, might even fit an extra one in parallel if I have time.

Just took delivery of my new lotus charcoal bbq, well chuffed it is supposed to up to cooking temp In 3mins!!!! Due to a big electronic fanny thing.

Motorhome needs a service and an MOT next week.

After that all I need to do is polish my helmet and check my nuts are tight

Getting very excited now

Spent the weekend evicting the electrical gremlins from Silverstone, when the alternator was pumping 30 amps into the system and the battery boiled. No evidence of distress to the wiring so just replaced the battery and alternator, plus a higher power starter as the car need push starting in the pit stop. Fitted a new Denso alternator (lot smaller and a bit lighter) which needed a new mounting bracket, mounting bolt, adjuster and adjuster mounting bracket making, different wiring (not sure which of two terminal is the lamp and the coil exciter - so had an educated guess) which took a bit of time, then fitted the new high power starter, plus the new battery, which needed new mounts.
Switched on the master and all was well, switched on the ignition and the fuel pump started clicking as it usually does, then I could hear a hissing from the carbs, which usually means a float valve is stuck open, so went for a look and listen to see which was leaking Couldnt find anything and then noted smoke coming out of the nose grille Cut off the ignition, and master then examined the alternator as it could have been my guess on the wiring was wrong then removed the bonnet, nose and rad ducting expecting a frayed and shorted wire but couldnt find anything untoward. Was really pissed off by this time, so rather than strip and check the loom decided to put the power on again and see what would start to smoke. Everything was fine, so I wiggled wires, etc to try and get it burning again, which was when I saw there was no light on the transponder, which was duly removed and found to have black gloop oozed out of the back of the casing One of the effin gremlins had been inside the unit having a fag

I had only said to Ian a couple of weeks before " when have you ever heard of a transponder failing"!!!

Anyhow, the new starter motor is amazing and the alternator works fine

Ouch Billy the transponder is a £300 kick in the balls ! I think they can be repaired by Tsl though.

past week or so has been a busy one for me. Replaced the big end shells re sealed the sump and added a separate return for the breather tank. BASTARD thing wouldnt start last night though I suspect the crank sensor did not like being in the parts washer.

welded in the toe correction kit on the back axle yesterday and fabricated some Arb mounts. The bar is mounted now im just waiting for some turnbuckles to come from Mcgill so I can make my droplinks. I suspect the two bars that link the correction kit to the diff nose may have to come off before saint goueno as there are sections of the floor that need cutting out and boxing in to allow suspension travel.

Main priority now is getting it running and bleeding the brakes thank god im not doing pomm as well as you and ed

ive got my local garage to do some work on my van do take some pressure off

Thankfully there is a transponder on the Mk4, so I need to make a mount for each car and have sockets on the wiring and a plug on the transponder so it can be swopped between cars, which will save me having to buy a new one. I will then have a go at getting the innards out of the transponder and see how bad it is.

After looking at the tyre wear from Silverstone, have added to some more negative camber to the FNS and both rears. Have also added some more toe-in to the rears.

Took the car out for a run last night just to make sure the Megajolt had not been affected by the lecky gremlins. 95mph on the St Ives B road seemed to confirm that was OK

You should have an email from John with the latitude and longitude coordinates for St Goueno plus the post code. These co-ordinates are very important as a rural French postcode relates to a very large area, sometimes including several villages (guess how I found this out!). Therefore put the co-ordinates into the satnav instead of the post code.

or just follow your love bus all the way to France

Absolutely knackered great weekend. Hill was wet on Sunday but we all came back in one piece tales of the weekend to follow soon

Ian

Well after 6 hours in the ferry crossing The channel !!!!! and being blown around in the motor home a cross all the lanes I returned home last night.

someone on you tube liked our machines going up la pomm


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F-NucqYiGfY

A more detailed write up to follow

Good find Ed

Liked the comment by the spectator at 9 min 13 secs

More knackering than the Birkett, but a great week in France.

First night stop at Rouen on the banks of the Seine with Ed and family. This was just below the old F1 track (public roads), so unloaded the Hornet and took in a few laps of this fearsome circuit, then explored what was left of the pit complex.

It was a good decision to take the Mk2 as it is road legal and so allowed recce runs up the hills before the roads were closed. it is not apparent on in-car footage how blind most of the corners are, so you really need to have an understanding of where they go and what to expect, especially when a trip into the scenery would probably wreck the car

Both hills were completely different and a real challenge, However by the final runs the tracks had been learnt and I was able to concentrate on the finer details of the lines through the corners. On the penultimate run at la Pomm I was third fastest Brit, splitting the single seaters, but on the final run I was put back to 4th by 0.2 sec just behind the third single seater. Minimising the ponderous changes across the gate between 2nd and third was crucial to a good time up the hill, which also meant you had to find more speed through the corners to prevent bogging down on the exits. Came away with a goody bag containing two bottles of wine and a T shirt

Lovely break between both events on the Quiberon peninsula. The west coast faces the Atlantic and is like Cornwall. It is called the Savage Coast, and the coast road was awesome which was duly explored by Ed and myself. Again I was able to use the Mk2 to tour the local area, visit restaurants etc.

Then moved onto St Goueno visiting Loheac motor museum on the way. Explored the hill with Ed, then took Ian up when he arrived. There were problems in the paddock as our pitch had been squatted on by some Mini owners, then scrutineering took an age. Then there were problems with cars on the Saturday, which reduced practice time, then it rained on Sunday. Despite all these problems though, I still enjoyed the challenge of the hill, though it was a real arse-nipper in the wet and several drivers retired! Good to see that while the HSLC drivers were all dubious of the conditions, they took it in their stride and set some impressive times. In summary La Pomm was superb and St G was good but not as good as it could of been.

There were lots of adventures all the time we were in France, plus great wine, beer, cheese and pate, lots of fantastic cars, and virtually empty roads, which all went together to make a great experience.

Currently planning to go back next year and do Loc Eguiner as well.

More la pomm footage https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gPP39nFsmr0

Found some in cat footage from Billys car at la pomm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m1D7H-g_hlk

Ed

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KkfJ4OtHAwE

One of my runs up la pomm with a scary moment towards the end