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may 2012 the magazine of the bristol pegasus motor club cover club members after the lands end trial

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2012 bpmc events calendar month may may may jun jun jun jun jun jul jul jul jul aug aug sep sep oct oct oct nov nov dec dec date 14th 21th 26th 3rd 11th 17th 25th 30th 7th 8th 9th 16th 11th 13th 10th 16th 8th 26th 27th 12th 23rd 10th 27th day mon mon sat sun mon sun mon sat sat sun mon mon sat mon mon sun mon fri sat mon fri mon thur event club night touring assembly treasure hunt middle barton garage club trip ace tour club night gymkhana treasure hunt bpmc/bkcc/quantum track day shakespeare raceway drag racing shakespeare raceway drag racing club night treasure hunt bpmc track day club night club night autotest autosolo club night navigation scatter pegasus sprint club night navigation exercise/scatter agm buffet xmas noggin natter venue bawa southmead road 7.30pm gordano services 7.30pm middle barton garage oxon bawa southmead road bawa southmead road announced in time for the event announced in time for the event llandow circuit shakespeare county raceway shakespeare county raceway bawa southmead road announced in time for the event castle combe bawa southmead road bawa southmead road announced in time for the event bawa southmead road announced in time for the event castle combe circuit bawa southmead road announced in time for the event bawa southmead road announced in time for the event deadline for next backfire 30th may 2012 as always we are looking for contributions for backfire editor martin emsley email backfire@bristolpegasus.com or by post 61 simmonds view stoke gifford bristol bs34 8hq the views and opinions printed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of bpmc team pegasus enjoying a well deserved rest cover photo club members still smiling after successfully tackling the lands end trail picture courtesy of andy moss

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editorial martin emsley we are so lucky to have such a depth of enthusiasm and talent in this club and especially on our committee maybe you do and maybe you don t appreciate the time effort and enthusiasm put in by the people you elect each agm whilst they endeavour to look after the best interests of the club to keep it healthy vibrant and current it can be sometimes difficult if the activities are not well supported or the main membership desires unknown the club is very different from a business in one key respect it exists for the members it is our shared interest that creates a club and enthusiasm involvement that keeps it enjoyable and active sometimes it is good to review our own involvement and consider our contribution the reservoir like the water companies is running dry we have a shortage of articles for future editions of backfire please put finger to keyboard and share with us all your competition activities or a particular adventure you have had thank you contents editorial forthcoming events chairman s chat membership meet the committee escursioni articles event reports letters clubman s championship fantasy f1 market place remember when meeting details bristol pegasus needs you the successful running of club events requires marshals and organisers · · · · get involved be close to the action meet other club members no experience required we would encourage members to try and marshal on at least one event each year and would ask that competitors hoping to enter larger events such as the pegasus sprint show their support by making the effort to come out and marshal on events such as the gymkhana and autotest/autosolo.

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forthcoming events important information club night venue update our new regular venue will be bawa leisure centre 589 southmead road filton bristol bs34 7rg we will meet in room 7 which has excellent views of the sports field as well as parking visible from within the room there is a public bar area next to our room so members arriving early may enjoy a drink and a chat before the formal club night proceedings start during our summer meetings we will be able to open the doors to our room and have direct access into the car park please note there is no requirement to be a bawa member or show a membership card ­ simply mention that you are here for the pegasus motor club in room 7 as many members will know we will be returning to bawa which was our regular club meeting venue for many years we are very impressed with the updated room and bar facilities as well as the excellent view and access to our parking area we are also pleased there will be no issues for non-bawa members coming to our evening.

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bpmc club night monday 14th may this club night will take the form of a small touring assembly any car welcome classics or interesting cars even more so oh and of course drivers and passengers we start from the bawa southmead road at 7.30pm take an interesting little 30mile route to finish at the plough pilning once arrived there is an opportunity to take part in a couple of gentle challenges enjoy a drink and a bit of a social any questions contact martin emsley treasure hunt monday 21st may our first treasure hunt of 2012 start at gordano services 7:30 pm organised by bob bull middle barton garage open day 25th anniversary celebration saturday 26th may tony castle-miller requests the pleasure of any bpmc member for the middle barton garage open day 25th anniversary celebration on saturday 26th may www.middlebartongarage.com we will lay on a bbq and soft drinks although anyone who wishes to bring anything for the bbq is welcome bring your own beer and wine for those not driving we want visitors to bring interesting cars from fiat 500s to dragsters veteran or modern grey porridge will be consigned to the field next door ­ even caterhams that s a dyslexic spelling for westfield i look forward to seeing a strong contingent from bpmc with a variety of cars for those wishing to make a weekend of it there is some very nice en suite b&bs available troy farm being once choice the price range is £70 to £75.00 per night for a large en suite room with a full english breakfast for more details visit www.troyfarmbicester.co.uk troy farm ardley road somerton oxon ox25 6ng if you are interested in going please contact nick wood 07786936941 as he is liaising with tony castle-miller re numbers etc.

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the a.c.e 2012 charity classic vehicle tour sunday 3rd june the queen s jubilee tour all classic enthusiasts a.c.e jointly organised with bristol pegasus motor club this year we will be driving over the old severn bridge into wales £6 toll as always it is designed to take in places of interest that we are sure you will enjoy we shall once again have a communal picnic stop at a convenient and interesting location we again leave from the bawa pavilion southmead road filton bs34 7rg by kind permission of the management directions to bawa are available on their website www.bawahealthandleisure toilets are available at the start area please assemble by 10am entry fee minimum £15.00 per vehicle our charity for this year is the stroke association which is most deserving of our support please visit club website www.bristolpegasus.com for details and booking form llandow track day saturday 30th june bristol kit car club and bristol pegasus motor club are pleased to announce a joint track day at llandow circuit on saturday 30th june 2012 location llandow circuit is situated 20 miles west of cardiff in the vale of glamorgan near the country towns of cowbridge and llantwit major competition licences are not required all drivers must wear an approved helmet arms legs must be covered at all times noise limit is 105 dba at 0.5 metres a maximum of 10 saloon/sports cars will be allowed on the course at any one time 8.30am gates open 9.10am signing on 9.30am briefing the charge for the day is £75 per car the charge for an additional driver sharing a car will be £20 contact ken robson 201 juniper way bradley stoke bristol bs32 0dp kenrobson@btinternet.com 01454 202687 or 07900 007747 visit www.bristolpegasus.com for details and booking form run what ya brung drag racing weekend for bpmc saturday sunday 7th 8th july

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run what ya brung puts you in the hot seat www.shakespearecountyraceway.com/rwyb.asp bpmc has been invited for the weekend if you would like to come either for a day or the weekend please let nick know on 07786936941 the camping facilities are very good or there are plenty of b&bs nearby come and join other club members for a great weekend bristol pegasus castle combe track day saturday 11th august our popular combe track day returns to a summer date for 2012 saturday 11th august at castle combe motor racing circuit tickets now on sale to bpmc members at the same price as last year of £129.00 see the event website www.castlecombetrackday.org.uk for full details or call andy moss on 0117 9912702 if you would like a printed entry form posted tickets now on general sale send your entry in now summer classics easter compton saturday sunday 11th 12th august bpmc will be having a stand here for the weekend whether you ve got a classic car or not just come along to bristol s very own festival of transport saturday or sunday or stay the whole weekend we ve got something different going on all the time set in the beautiful countryside overlooking the severn valley at easter compton south gloucester just one mile from junction 17 m5 the self contained site is ideally placed for bristol and all motorway connections a vast array of classic vintage and retro cars scooters and bikes displayed in dedicated areas for british european and american vehicles with an off roadtrack for land rovers and 4x4s summer classics will look after everyone with great entertainment kids play area village green with local crafts traditional fresh foods bar trade stands autojumble and displays the main arena will include car parades and tech talk as well as the popular funzone for welly wanging horse shoe throwing pony rides and more contact nick 07786936941 01275 833098 nickswood@hotmail.com for more info http www.summer-classics.co.uk

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invitations 9th wye run classic car event 2012 saturday 5th may bristol bath classic car run supporting avon riding centre sunday 15th july more details and entry forms for these events on the club website www.bristolpegasus.com chairman s chat andy moss preparations for our sprint at llandow have been overshadowed this weekend by the sad news of an accident at goodwood which sadly resulted in the death of a competitor sandra harrison-moore was a well known competitor in the lotus 7 club and our llandow event was the next round in the club s championship we all acknowledge that motorsport is dangerous every time we sign on however few of us expect this sort of thing to happen in club level motorsport thankfully it is very rare indeed that such a tragedy does occur i am sure the thoughts of everyone are with sandra s family and friends on many occasions we have commented that the top priority of any event is the safety of the competitors marshals and spectators and whilst huge progress has been made in our sport over the years recent events show there can never be enough emphasis on safety in motorsport returning to happier events i am pleased to report the first visit to our new venue at bawa was very successful ­ we had a good turn out of members for the green power talk and i was very impressed by the enthusiasm shown by our young visitors from mangotsfield school it must have been quite daunting at their age to present to a room full of people but i have to say they did a very good job and were a credit to their school and parents well done and good luck for next year the day before we had our trial at dundry ­ apparently we have had the wettest april in 100 years and of course our event did not escape despite this everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and even the marshals who had endure the worst of the weather managed to do so with a sense of humour ­ my personal thanks to everyone involved in running the event there is no doubt the hardest part of the event was getting into the field at the start and but for pete hart and his land rover we may well have struggled to get past the first hurdle.

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only one entrant with a low car and no towing point did not make it in ­ a shame as we had billed the event as suitable for any road car apologies the person who most deserves our thanks was of course duncan pittaway for again allowing us to use his field at the end of the event we were concerned at the amount of mud we had created in the field and as we exited we contacted duncan to apologise the next day and as always he was very generous in saying it was not a problem ­ thank you again looking forward as i write this our next event is the llandow sprint on saturday then we have a number of events that allow you to get out and use your car or perhaps just come along and enjoy looking at other peoples i am hoping for some sunshine for these events as they will be the perfect opportunity to get the westfield back out on the road i visited vosa at avonmouth today for it to under go a vehicle identity check ­ this was a painless process that was required as the insurance company had written the car off the inspector was the same man who had carried out the sva test on the car when it was new ­ the fact that he had to ask where the damage had been hopefully means i have done a reasonable job putting it back together the next challenge is a new mot which is due to be done on wednesday and all being well i can insure tax and get back to driving the car now all we all need is some sunshine meet the committee chris thompson competition secretary tell us about yourself born and brought up in halesowen in the black country not birmingham i moved to bristol in 1994 through work i live in bradley stoke with wife coralie and our sons outside of the club and work my time is taken up with my kids and their activities i also get dragged down to do some work on our allotment what do you do for a living i m a motor insurance underwriter but most of my time is spent working on fraud prevention and detection so i normally keep my head down when i hear complaints about the cost of motor insurance when did you join the club and why i have always been interested in motor sport an interest kindled by being taken as a child to watch the rac rally escorts were great but not as good as group b cars playing cricket and rugby got in the way of motorsport later on other than finding the time to watch the occasional rally and off road event i joined the club about 8 years ago after a corporate day playing with cars on a old airfield rekindled my interest in motorsport.

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i joined with plans to take part in sprints it was not until 2010 that i finally did let s say it took me a while to come to the conclusion that if i was going to do something other than marshal i should forget about project cars as i never finished them since the beginning of 2010 i seem to have made up for lost time having competed marshalled or acted as an official at virtually all the events put on by the club when did you join the committee i was co-opted on to the committee in 2008 and took on the role of competition secretary at the beginning of 2011 what does your role in the club involve the competition secretary is responsible for coordinating the competitive activities of the club ensuring that organisers are found for the events which the club promotes liaising with other clubs on the competition side keeping in touch with the msa and regional associations on all aspects of motor sport competition and regulations organising club championship well the above is the official version in reality other individuals within the committee help greatly with shaping competitive activities and liaising with regional associations what cars do you drive my first competition car was a comp safari and trials land rover 1952 s1 it was not very quick when i was 18 but never got to use it in actual competition my 2nd was the ginetta g27r that i sold last year one extreme to the other best to ignore the unfinished projects current cars are a vauxhall vectra 3.2 estate will never buy a vauxhall again peugeot 106 rally 1.3 road rally car suzuki x90 plus corrie s citroen picasso the 106 competed in the 2001 world cup rally the receipts for its preparation prior to the event make for interesting reading the 106 was bought to replace a road rally prepared daihatsu cuore which developed serious fun from its 850cc 3 cylinder engine x90 is newly purchased nick wood and i used it at easter to take part in class o of the lands end trial i had barely time to service it and for spence to kindly fit a sump guard before the event but she performed perfectly the event was great fun and we will enter again and other events.

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escursioni martin emsley difficult to know where to start this month which is unusual for me been having a wonderful time a week in indianapolis followed by a splendid mx5 weekend tour to west wales something of an experiment both absolutely fabulous in their own way and will be subject of articles when i find time to put finger to keyboard time seems to be in short supply at the moment and as we head towards the `summer i am finding any weekend that i am not working there are maybe three or so events i would like to attend very difficult and that is on top of things which need doing at home work on cars and other hobby activities such as bpmc this is without things going wrong like charlie s matiz lovely little car and great fun but somewhat worrying when it just died whilst negotiating a roundabout took a while to restart and clear then a little while later she was a couple of miles down the road and it again cut she managed to park off the main road it would not start so she called for recovery of course when the truck arrived it restarted and drove onto wagon off at this end i decided to try to get it to `die for me and ran it for 40 miles and guess what nothing but when i got home noticed it was very lumpy at idle and running rich made me wonder if it had stopped and flooded those times for charlie she drives it gentler than me anyway friend read fault codes to reveal a camshaft sensor problem there is a default get you home map on the ecu if this goes yet it appeared this had not triggered also no dashboard warning light anyway new sensor fitted all codes cleared and off it went again running an awful lot better charlie a bit nervous of it stopping again took alison with her to tesco couple of miles and again it stopped aa came car started on own and aa followed her home mate came again and this time dash light on and fault codes revealed a manifold mass sensor not cheap but had to be done so plugged on the codes cleared and it has run some 100 miles since charlie is saying it feels less powerful than before i don t think so but as i said i rev it more i wonder if it was getting gradually richer so lets keep fingers crossed it is now ok and charlie regains confidence in it the copper metallic renault megane coupe certainly appeared stylish but style does not always translate into practical indeed experience shows that practicality is often sacrificed so i was interested to see what this modern machine would be like during my approx 100 mile acquaintance from home to heathrow again not really a fair test as 98 of the journey would be on motorway i managed to sort a seating position which felt good though even with the seat in its lowest setting i felt too high for the rather squat windows i do prefer sitting more upright than many people.

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was very impressed with the range of steering wheel adjustment and visibility of the instruments though rapidly fell out of love with them i strongly disliked the analogue rev counter whilst the rest of the instruments were digital display certainly could not miss the speed readout but the temp and fuel `gauges were not clear at a quick glance no the thing i absolutely hated was the up down arrows beside a `gear lever icon in the rev counter indicating when to change for i presume best economy they were distracting and most annoying i could not complain about the way it went though the six-speed gearbox was superfluous certainly 1st was a waste of time in my opinion the longer i spent with the car especially in some very bad weather the more i disliked it the rear window glass was badly distorted and quite small i also noted that if i had to reverse it had appalling rear visibility and gave absolutely no idea where the rear of the car was i felt too high in the car and the rake of the a pillar gave me a fairly large blind spot the boot opening was a joke too narrow and too high a lip most unnecessary and unexpected which made getting my case in and out very difficult and almost impossible not to bang sides or bottom of opening the car had so many `controls that i had no idea about them with no handbook available but i found all the necessary ones by trial and error did i have front or rear high visibility lights on i have no idea overall it was very competent as one would expect from a modern car and quite well finished however it would not be for me i disliked it and was not unhappy to hand it back holiday motoring in south africa dick craddy three weeks holiday in south africa last year included two weeks travelling east from cape town along the garden route towards port elizabeth it was a journey that provided both motoring surprises and disappointments we selected a toyota avanza mini mpv as our hire car because it is capable of carrying four people and four medium size suitcases with very adequate internal space in achieving those basic requirements it did not disappoint however it is designed with a suspension system that can accommodate both metalled and un-metalled roads.

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the consequence is that it is equipped with long travel well damped suspension that initially provides a somewhat un-nerving driving sensation until you become familiar with the somewhat imprecise feel especially when cornering nevertheless while it is adequately comfortable it suits neither road surface particularly well obviously this is not an easy compromise to achieve regrettably the avanza is equipped with a 1.5 litre 102 bhp no more than adequate but `bullet proof engine that precluded any `press on motoring the most puzzling feature was the 9/10 gallon capacity fuel tank which as we discovered is inadequate for travelling in a country where distances between centres of population are significant and fuel stations are notable by their absence especially in country areas for us the consequence when running low on fuel was that we had to divert to a township named clarkson where petrol was available in re-used 5 litre plastic containers from the earthen floor village store yes you guessed correctly the fuel was stored alongside the meagre food stocks available for sale the avanza is a toyota badged daihatsu a visit to the south african national railway museum in the town of george was an interesting interlude both for the railway aspects i had intended to give adequate time to the railway exhibits in order that i could talk with some knowledge to martin baker about the dubs 4.8.0 and the garratt 4023 steam locomotives but also because of an unexpected and significant display of enthusiasts cars if ever there was a display that illustrated how the british motor industry dominated the market in the 1950 s and 1960 s this is it most british marques were there together with a display of fire engines made by dennis commer and thornycroft a collection provided a depressing evidence of a lost opportunity that said a nice lotus cortina with period but non standard minilite type wheels caught my eye as did an austin healey 3000 again with non standard wheels that regrettably spoilt the appearance a line up of late model borgwards reminded me both of the stylish designs of those cars especially the two door coupe but also that not all motor manufacture failures have been british a coffee break stop at storms river village produced the biggest surprise that was in the form of an `elvis themed rock n roll café what was the surprise on display inside were four large american cars of the late 50 s early 60 s each was in immaculate condition and registered for the road the collection consisted of a 58 chevy bel air in black and gold a light pink 59 cadillac a mid pink and cream 59 chevy impala sport coupe and a pink 60 cadillac eldorado the pink theme was widespread and a little un-nerving especially given that the gents loos were also decorated in pink the biggest disappointment was our failure to give enough time to visit the franschhoek motor museum this stylish museum contains 100 cars from the last 100 years of all types from a messerschmitt `bubble car to a ferrari enzo the website at www.fmm.co.za is well worth some of your time.

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finally and continuing the ww2 german aircraft theme we found the last outpost of the dornier family which is a vineyard in the stellenbosch an excellent place for lunch and of course wine julian bronson julian bronson martin emsley a handful of us were most fortunate to be guests during march of julian bronson at his workshop in bristol

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this is scarab f1 america s first grand prix car and the last front-engined gp car from 1960 this was built by lance reventlow only son of woolworth heiress barbara hutton whilst he had mega money he went down some very strange blind alleys they didn t get the engine quite right because the mercedes gp cars had desmodronic valve operation he decided to do the same it is a great thing but just not necessary had he gone with a 2.5 litre offenhauser 4 valves per cylinder high compression fixed head 280 290 hp would have been achievable no problem which would have put it right in the ball park it was too late anyway because he messed around trying to develop their own drum brakes based upon aircraft technology using balloons and he experimented with automatic transmission and all this took time finally it was about 2 years too late when it came out it rear-engined cars were the thing to have it is beautifully made just fabulous colin chapman designed the suspension looking at the rear you can see the relationship to lotus 12 16 the chassis is beautifully made by troutman barnes the quality of the tubework is just fabulous it has a halibrand transaxle and a chevy t10 gearbox they did experiment with a 2 speed rear end i bought it direct from donington because i always wanted a front engined gp car and i had been after one for a while would love a maserati 250f but genuine ones are out of my league at the time i was negotiating for a cameron millar maserati 250f when friend joe twyman said why don t you buy the scarab don orosco is the only one with scarabs a genuine one and a replica i was not even aware that there was one at donington that was on friday so we went up there on the sunday and i bought it on the spot mind you i didn t have the money but they know me there and rick hall who handles the sales gave me 3 months to pay so i sold my mclaren m1b to fund the project quite unique it has the original bodywork you see it has never been raced it was the spare car and they never used it they only did 5/6 gps anyway it just didn t work lance reventlow also made the sports car and to many people they are the ultimate front engined sports racers they made 3 of them and they won everything and he thought they would do the same with the gp cars come over to europe and blow us into the weeds but he got a real big shock so he went home took the cars and retired so this is a real iconic car today our historic races are split front rear engined cars so as the last this is as fast a front engined gp car as you will get once we get it sorted.

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