Morning Listers!
I wanted to tell you guys about my experiences over the weekend (sorry Fred et
al, I'm one of those working guys who can only post during the week!) It was an
eventful weekend, and hopefully by reading this some of you will be encouraged
to join your local club, or to participate more actively.
On Saturday a couple of guys from my local TSSC area took our cars to the track
day at Castle Combe, near Chippenham. I went with them, and took my '77 1500,
Christine. I've never been on the track before, and I was really curious to see
how a fairly stock Spitfire would compare with other cars. And there was a fair
range of cars to compare it with. There were a few un-modified older street
cars, a Mk 1 Ford Escort for example. There were also a couple of geniune
modern sports cars (TVRs, Porches, and so on). But most of the cars there were
"boy racers", GTis, XR3is, and so on - some *very* race-tuned, and others
apparently pretty stock.
The weather was pretty bad. It had been raining non-stop for a few days, and
the track was very wet. On the few occassions when the rain let up, the
officials were reminding drivers that the track was still slippery. The wind
did let up a bit for the day, though.
The first thing I noticed is that the Spitfire, in a straight line, is *slow*.
Christine really stood absolutely no chance of out-accelerating any of the other
cars there except for the real tail-enders. But we all knew that. We also know
that the handling of Spitfires, especially later ones, is pretty good, and that
was certainly what I noticed on the track. Sure, things like TVRs were
sometimes passing me in the bends, and there were plenty of trained or semi-pro
drivers who could out-drive me with their eyes shut. But on one occassion I saw
a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth coming up behind me as we approached a right- hand
bend. I kept well over to the left to leave him room to pass, and he took the
racing line, but still couldn't get past me until after the bend.
I was having a great time, as was my mate who was riding in the passenger seat.
(BTW, my mate also went on the track in the passenger seat of a club-member's
Lotus Elise. His independant verdict - the Elise is brilliant. You can go
sideways into corners at 100mph, and it feels completely safe. But although
it's nowhere near as fast, he said the Spitfire was much more fun. You can
really feel every corner and every slide, and you feel much more like you're on
the edge than you do in the Lotus.)
Then I lost it. It was a long 180 degree right-hander, and the back end started
slipping out as I was going into the corner. I over-corrected, and ended up
spinning the car to the left. I then put on full oposite lock to try to correct
the left-hand spin, and was just starting to control it when we hit the grass.
Any hope of regaining control disappeared then, and the car slid round 180
degrees before hitting the tyre wall.
After the recovery truck towed us off the track, we tried to figure out what had
happened. It seemed that at the moment of impact I had the wheels turned fully
to the right, which resulted in the front of the right hand wheel protruding
from the wheel arch some way. Since I had turned 180 degrees before the impact,
it was the right-hand side of the car which impacted, and it just happened to be
the protuding wheel which took all the force of the impact. The impact had bent
the inner shaft of the steering rack downwards at about 25-30 degrees,
preventing the direction of the wheels from being changed from their
right-hand-lock position.
Having reviewed the damage, I knew there was no way the car was going to be
driven the 80 miles back home. My recovery plan won't cover me for damage
incurred on a track, and since the steering was jammed, I couldn't even push the
car away from the track and tell them I drove into a tree.
One of the club members I was with, Phil, took a look at the car. "Well, it
might not be as bad as it looks. Let's take the gaiter off and see what's
actually happened." He produced a whole load of tools from the boot of his car,
and started removing the gaiter and disconneting the track-rod end. He then
pulled out a hammer and started hitting the steering rack, but without any
effect. His next plan was to place an axle stand underneath the end of the
steering rack, jack the car up on hydraulic jack, then let the jack down and
drop the rack onto the axle stand under the weight of the car, as I stood by
helpless and horrified! Sure enough, after the first attempt, the steering
wheel could be moved. Only about 1/16th turn, but it was definitely moving!
For ages, the car was jacked up and dropped onto the axle stand. The track
closed at 5pm, and everyone else had left. The track officials came by, and
told us how to get out if the gate was locked when were ready to leave. Still
Phil was jacking the car up and dropping it onto the axle stand. Finally, he
got to the point where the rack look to be about straight vertically, but
pointing slightly forward horizontally. No problem - place a scissor-jack
between the rack and the frame, open up the jack, and straighten out the rack.
After a little over one and a half hour, the steering wheel was able to be
turned through its full range. Phil re-assembled the front of my car, then
drove it round a small figure-of-8. "It's a little stiff, but it'll get you
home".
I tried it myself. A little stiff? That's got to be contender for
understatement of the year! The tracking was way out, so the steering wheel
didn't centre itself at all. Even a small movement of the wheel required
muscles like a wrestler. But there was no doubt about it, the car was, just
about, driveable.
The plan was to drive to the motorway, and if I thought the car was ok, we'd
carry on. Otherwise, we'd then be far enough from the track that I could call
the AA and tell them I'd driven into a tree. (That's Automobile Association,
not Alcoholics Anonymous - I realise they could both be linked with driving into
a tree!!!)
Well, the drive home was one of the toughest drives I've ever done. I stuck to
about 50mph, struggling to make those small adjustments to keep the car
straight, the kind you never even realise that you're making normally. By the
time I got home, I was mentally and physically exhausted.
Sunday morning, I drove the car (again keeping to 50mph) round to another club
member, Jim. Jim is currently re-building his Spitfire, so I figured he'd have
a steering rack that he's not using at the moment. It only took a moment to
take his rack off his frame and put in into my boot. (It's amazing how easy it
is to take a brand new piece off a frame, with no bodywork getting in the way,
and no rust or grease to battle with!)
>From Jim's, it's only a short drive to Phil's. In return for washing two of
>his
cars, Phil then removed my damaged steering rack, and replaced it with the new
one from Jim's car - a job which would have taken me days since I don't have the
tools and didn't know what I was doing.
The car is now back on the road. Sure there are some little things that need
doing - the tracking's out, there's two little dents in the front wing (I
presume caused by flying tyres leaving the tyre-wall) but thanks to two club
members, my car was back on the road, less than 24 hours after the incident, and
without having to pay a fortune for a tow-truck.
I'm now going to call John Kippings to order a new steering rack for Jim. But I
hope that, reading this, anyone who isn't a member of their club, or who reads
their club magazine every month but never goes to meetings, will decide to
actively participate in club activities. Maybe you'll be like me, the guy who's
completely stuck with no idea how to get home. Or maybe you'll be the guy with
the knowledge and the experience to help out people like me. Either way,
joining a club is a valuable way of making new friends who share an interest -
so go for it!
(Oh, in case you were wondering, both me and my passenger were fine, except a
bit stiff the next morning.)
Dean (with a now driveable Christine - thanks Phil+Jim!)
--------------------------------
|