Castle Combe - 24/3/2008

[Denis Bassom]

Just a reminder that if anyone with a pre-2000 2WD 'Saloon type' Car fancies a race at Castle Combe on 24/3/2008 then please feel free to contact me for more details.

Whilst you will have to meet the rules and regs of one of the CTCRC championships we can usually accomodate most cars.

Also, for this race only you don't need to join the CTCRC, just be a member of a MSA recognised club for insurance reasons.

Thanks.

[tim dodwell]

If my Scirocco is eligible to enter any of the races, I might be able to. It was racing in the DMN series and our Stowe races, and is basically a road going Mk1 Scirocco with a non standard engine (the 1.8 turbo used in Audi S3+TT etc). However, I am sure I looked before, and couldn't find any CTCRC series it would fit in.
Let me know if you find a class for it.

[Al Weyman]

Looks like I will be out with you Dennis as I will not have the IROC ready so am going to press the yellow PHTC car into service complete with pony cooking engine but just discovered we have been lumped together, Tim its time for revenge from last years Combe visit when you were lumped in with us in PHTC and I nearly paid your rear end a nasty visit (your car that is)!

[pugracer2]

Denis, will any required championship stickers for classic modified saloons be available on the day?

[tim dodwell]

Should be fun Al - just keep out of my way when I lap you (lol). Hope I can get Radio Devon up there on my radio. By the way, you said you were importing engine bits from the US of A. One of my sons asked me what he has to do (and VAT etc) to do that, and I had to admit I hadn't a clue. Could you fill us in with the procedure?

[R59]

It's simple Tim, you buy the goods, they ship them with 3 copies of the invoice on the package, customs open it up, read the numbers, and the shipping company (UPS/FedEx/DHL/Parcelforce) either demand payment on delivery (the first three), or send you a bill before shipping it to you (Parcelforce).
The only downside is they charge a £10 to £20 handling fee for "doing it for you". It's not too bad if the item is worth a few hundred or more, but when it's a $30 item, its nearly doubling the cost!

If you're lucky, the sender puts "Gift" on the customs declaration and a value under £100 - sometimes they go through without being touched!

Don't think you'd get away with that on an engine though!

So I take it, you don't want that steel crank then Al?

Rob.

[Denis Bassom]

Originally Posted by pugracer2

Denis, will any required championship stickers for classic modified saloons be available on the day?

We are working on it.

Fortunately the series sponsor is Mark Fowler (Impressions, they do recycle printer cartridges) who is 'one of us' so we can have a bit of leniancy for the first race.

[Denis Bassom]

Originally Posted by R59

If you're lucky, the sender puts "Gift" on the customs declaration and a value under £100 - sometimes they go through without being touched!

You naughty boy Rob!

[Al Weyman]

Also Tim if its sent US mail (and this was told to me by the postie when I questioned it) when it gets to the UK it is handled by Royal Mail and Royal Mail being Royal Mail do not pick out every parcel for evaluation just ever so many in a batch. How do I know this to be true? Because I just got three consignment boxes from an ebay shipper, two sets of steel rods and a set of roller rockers and one parcel was delivered straight to me, the other two I had to contact them and pay by credit card so work it out! I find Summit Racing to be very good and will give you several different shipping options, the cheapest is to have it delivered to port of entry (i.e. Heathrow) and go down there yourself and settle with customs and collect. Only problem for me is they are not open weekends (it is the UK) and so it would mean closing the shop for an afternoon and unviable so I pay a bit extra and get FedEx to do all the work deliver direct and pay them the fee. they actually deliver to me and bill me after trusting fools! Seriously its probably because its delivered to a business address.

I would have loved the crank Rob but a bit out of my budget on this rebuild so I have had the old one steel repaired and straightened and it was only 20thou over so not excessive. A little excess clearance on the journal that was repaired that I am not over the moon about but hopefully that may just mean a slight oil pressure drop so i am hoping it will be OK, its all gone together nice but the quish area was a bit excessive so I have had to order some thinner head gaskets than the .039 comp ones I was going to use, it will also up the compression half a point and as I have had to ditch the Edelbrock Alloy heads (regulation issue to comply with pre-93)for some old camel humps F5000 ones (nice heads as it happens with a pucker porting job, bronze guides etc) I picked up from Knights, oddly enough though they came in at 70cc larger than the Edelbrocks which makes me wonder if in fact they were used on an F5000 engine. We will see!

[Al Weyman]

Looks like a cold un on the Monday but at least the BBC says it should be sunny and dry, glad I bought all that Nomex underwear now I thought it would be too hot under a triple Nomex suit! http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=3456 Lets keep fingers crossed for a good seasons opener, who else is out to play?

[Paul V]

Don't forget to pack your silencers.
There is little time between practices to fix things if you have a problem.

[johnw]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

who else is out to play?

I'll be there with a few chums

[pugracer2]

I shall be out to play in Classic modified saloons and my usual Combe saloons championship.

[gixxer]

The Quarry hardcore will be there as usual from 8.30 waiting to be entertained,hopefully there's gonna be enough room in the paddock to fit in 300+ entry's.
And yes it does look bitterly cold do we care hell no cause we're hardcore sat on the bank at Quarry whatever the weather

[Al Weyman]

If I bring my later model car I have just fitted a massive US imported race silencer box if that don't quieten it I give up as I keep getting caught out by the sound police but as the engine is still on the stand its gonna be touch and go so I am fettling the older car tommorrow so I don't get caught out without a ride, not the fastest engine installed in that one but she runs well under the decible limit. I will probably have about 4 SuperTrapps of various diameters in my toolbox if anyone comes unstuck just remember where you borrowed them from after the race!

Pugracer I will have the CMS sponsor's windscreen decals with me as I have just ran them off for him.