Tom's UVA fugitive, Tom runs a 14s quarter mile :)

RWYB will be fine....... and would have done drag days had I been in the club, known about it, not been off on holiday etc

Chatting to Steve whilst he was up there, and this photo were contributory to joining



But on the subject of safety gear, I’ve got hold of some secondhand gear. Mostly because after chatting it was offered to me and it’s an open climbing frame with engine and fuel tank just behind me. And £150 seemed reasonable for some sort of protection (and if we don’t pursue drag racing in the future hopefully will sell on for not much less, as it’s only been worn a few times I was told.

So now have an OMP suit which many many nomexes had to be slaughtered to make
Some gloves and boots (Sparco?) boots are spot on, gloves are a bit tight to get on... but fine when on
We have helmets (mine is an Arai quantum F. Pretty old (2002?))
Have a set of arm restraints.

So think I have most of the safety gear (?)

Yeah, saw photos and it looked awesome...... the weather was cracking too Next year!!


I’ve got a Arai helmet, I bought it new, and it’s not been worn much... so I’m happy to use it in the Fug (Tom also has an Arai, similarly out of date) to my mind it’s mainly to make travelling comfortable and means we can communicate with each other, Tom listens to music etc.... it’s not in date but I can’t see that being much of an issue it’s not a motorsport environment, and I’m not relying on it like I would be on a motorbike (we’ve got a space frame to protect us first)
Guess I need a newer one to compete (but not sure for RWYB?)








Been used a couple of times only, he said he’d bought it last year to sit in with a mate, mate has stopped racing, so he was going to sell.... but couldn’t face internet auction sites.





Says it’s FIA 8856-2018, so assume that’s just the newer version of the 2000 standard.
TBH I would have been happy with an out of date one for RWYB, just thought it was worth having a bit more protection... seemed wrong to look a gift horse in the mouth though. And though I’m shorter, fits really well



Not sure, these say FIA 8856-2000, so will again be fine for what I need, though maybe not for competition ?







Yep (They also have the FIA 8856 standard on them.... so probably means gloves are right too)






Haven’t got a neck brace..... probably be bad enough to turn up with all the gear and no idea anyway so I’ll wait and see how it goes, unless someone else has one and offers it to me in the course of conversation Though looks like I can get one for about £25 if needed.

That AGM was our first one.... I remember it (and the aftermath) well... like you say though, ancient history now...

I'm sure John said he had arm restraints further up the thread... they're mandatory I think for buggies even in RWYB....

Was hoping to have a decent update here, but have failed, sorry

Like others including Hardcore and Dez, we’ve been having a purge,
I haven’t got many cars, there are 4 but they all seem to have a role. Therefore our clear out isn’t interesting like those mentioned above.... so instead of an interesting thread or two, the only reason to mention it is to justify our inactivity.

Anyway, we’ve lived here for just over 25 years so have accumulated plenty of other junk.
Got a container a few months back, and have been tidying out sheds and taking down rotten ones, organising work junk (used to employ some people and when they left I got kit and bits back, that half filled a shed, a van change or two and some clearing off of sites filled the rest). Though it’s profit, it doesn’t generate any hard cash without effort so with enough work it makes more sense to crack on with that instead...
Come the lockdown that all changed !

We did some work at home, changed some flooring, decorated a couple of rooms, Tom and Ella swapped bedrooms (as Ella is in Wales now anyway) and a fairly brutal declutter

A skip was filled which presented some parking issues for a week or so.



Still have the front shed to sort but nearly there now, anyway enough excuses

We’ve done a few little bits to the Fug, but were holding off doing anything much until it had been to Martin at Marlin Motors to be put on the dyno.

On the Sunday before we dropped it off we swapped the HT leads to some Pertronix yellow ones, gave it a once over to make sure it would start etc.
Then on the Monday I towed it over to Bletchley.

First thing, because I’d taken it over on the a-frame I didn’t think about fuel, was asked how much fuel we had, and there was about half a tank.... so rather than being that guy that runs out of fuel on the dyno. I collected a Jerry can and filled it around some running around and other jobs and dropped it off a couple of hours later.

By then, Martin had the Fug inside and was starting to set it up.

He wasn’t happy with the spire nuts that hold the top of the air filters on. They were what was installed, I hadn’t given them any thought (but when pointed out, not a great idea to have a lump of metal that could fall into the inlet!) but an easy fix to install rivnuts instead. And then if a screw comes out the nut is still captive.

Secondly, he said the throttles weren’t opening fully! He thought they were only opening about 60% as if the rods were 10mm too short.
This was a bit puzzling, we’d fitted a lovely CSP linkage and didn’t seem right that the rods were too short.... but after wandering off, it dawned on me that because it’s stroked from 69 to 78mm the heads are 9mm further away than normal, so it wouldn’t be opening fully DOH!!

He agreed to lengthen the rods too, as I couldn’t order a longer set easily/straight away.

Spoke to him the following week and there was a small list of issues he’d sorted.

It needed bigger idle jets
He thinks it needs smaller chokes, but needs to get it back on the dyno first.
The pushrods, we’d been advised to set them up as loose enough to spin but no movement because they are chromoly. But when warmed up they were too tight... the backfires when on the dyno knocked some lights down! Gaps are now set to 6 thou
He had some issues with the fuel regulator

We had a chat, he was going to get it on the dyno again, I said it wasn’t urgent and to fit it in when he could...

Then we got locked down again So it’s still at Marlin, it isn’t urgent, I’d probably struggle to justify going to pick it up (I guess if it’s in his way then it would become an essential journey) but it’s not exactly the choice transportation in the cold and wet. So it’s not really an issue that it’s away...... except it’d be an awesome update to show a dyno chart showing either a) a thousand horsepower or b) 40


In the meantime we have a huge pile of scrap to sort for weighing in





It’s so big, it won’t even fit on one photo anymore we’ve not sorted it since before the first lockdown, which is good as we’ll need some cash for the remedial works and dyno time

Also have time to sort and tidy the front shed, did get a air fed mask though to use when tig welding at the bench



Hopefully next update will be something awesome and not excuses, and fingers crossed for this year too!

It’s back!!!!!!!!!eleven!!!!!

Got a call about lunchtime to say he’d done it, so swerved off a bit early and collected it



Using A-frame seemed sensible option since the MOT ran out in December
Got it home and manoeuvred it onto the drive, so not really driven enough to get a feel for it.
But it started easier and idled lovely


And the important bit!..... we are calling that 100hp



Think we were hoping for a little bit more, but on reflection we didn’t build the engine only reassembled it, so the fact it runs and didn’t stick a leg out of bed on the dyno is a testament to our skills, the power was defined by the guy who did all the hard work years ago (and we ruined by fitting a road cam )

Anyway, it’s a nice straight line and power and torque are pretty equal, so should be nice on the road.

First thing to do is make a throttle stop, as he said if you stomp the throttle it pulls the cable through and next time doesn’t work.

Second thing is get it MOTed and get out for a drive (to collect some milk or something )

We haz MOT!!!



Minor panic as the battery was flat and it wouldn’t start... and all the jump leads are elsewhere. But some 25mm tails, cable ties and the spare battery sorted that (in a dodgy way) and then I borrowed a jump pack to come home

Couple of little issues, the o/s/r indicator wasn’t playing, I split the connector and reconnected and it was fine. So we’ll go through all the connectors when we are playing.

Also n/s/f brake flexi was close to the track rod end, when he lifted the front. He let me adjust it and he was happy, but we’ll have a better look at that too



And it started to rain about half way through the test
So I got wet on the 1/2 mile trip home

But it’s so much nicer to drive, no surging, idles nicely, will pull away in the first 3 gears and pretty sure it would wheelie if I’d have given it more beans!

Think he put one of the trip mileages in for mileage
But don’t think it’s done a lot more than 200 miles since the last MOT



We did also make a throttle stop at the weekend too, needs a bit of fettling and finessing, but it’s got two slotted holes so is adjustable up/down to adjust the throttle position

What is the cable on the brake pedal for?

Good news on the MOT test tho

It’s a link to the a-frame, so when the nose of the frame moves the brakes come on.

Think it only weighs about 500kg, so doesn’t need brakes to be a trailer, except the rules are if it has brakes they need to work or something.
So it’s 100% within the rules if we get stopped with it


Thanks. Yeah, there isn’t much to go wrong, but having not driven it, it’s still a bit scary

Looking great !

Has that still got the stock box in there ?