Not Pikes Peak, because we have just had that, but the next race for the Retro cars is at our local Bira circuit on September 9. At the last meeting at Kang Krachan I managed to clout a wall after having gear selection problems and had a one and a half barrel roll in mid-air and another one and a half on touch-down.
Initially it looked as if the body shell would be a write-off, but never underestimate the skills of Thai panel beaters. One little chap said it would be no problem, he had a jig and he would do it. His jig turned out to be a long piece of 8″ RSJ with brackets welded on and he chained the shell to the RSJ and then with block and tackle proceeded to wind the roof back up, pull the rear guards out and simply do an amazing job. As you read this, it should be painted and back in our workshop, where the full extent of the mechanical damage is becoming (painfully) obvious – bent rear axle, bent steering rack and steering arms, bent tramp bars at the rear, bent front suspension arms, the gearbox still to be pulled down and rebuilt, windscreen smashed, one side window smashed – and so the list goes on. We are racing against time with now two weeks till the meeting.
The Nitto 3K Retro meetings are lots of fun, and you will see older E30 BMW’s, a few Ford Escort Mk1’s, several Toyota DX models and much more. I will give more details next week, but cross your fingers for our Securitas Retro Team. We need some luck. In the meantime my crew has demanded I write out 100 times “I must not crash!” Go to this link and you will see what I mean <http://oldfordparts.blogspot.com/2012/07/mk1-escort-circuit-car-crash-repair.html> not a pretty sight!
