I hate Bodywork

It’s been a while since my last blog. I have recently changed job which has caused me to put racing on the back-burner for a while. It’s easy to let racing dominate but unfortunately sometimes the boring stuff like career and paying the mortgage takes priority…

That said we still managed to get to the Brands Hatch Mini Festival for a couple of days to watch the se7ens and Miglias, as well as some fantastic Historic Mini races. The highlight was the allcomers race with some pretty special driving from the front runners especially Bill Richards and Endaf Owens. Endaf came from the back of the grid and about 30 seconds down to snatch the win with a lap or so to go with his new KAD engined spaceframe Mini.  It was an even more impressive victory when you consider that when I’d seen the car at Endaf’s worksop 3 weeks earlier it was only just being started.

So after a great weekend of mini racing I was fired up to get my car finished? Well, I would have been other than the next job being bodywork and paint which I hate with a passion!

The car had by the looks of it quite an eventful last race in the hands of Graeme Davis with lots of minor scratches and dents that needed attention. The passenger side A panel was badly damaged so had to be replaced, and new brackets fabricated to it for the removable front end complete with captive nuts. Then after what seemed like a never ending task of sanding, filling, grinding and welding we are somewhere near ready for spraying now.

Finishing the spray job will allow me to fit the engine and box, after which    I can set all the engine stabilisers and the exhaust, fit the radiator and associated plumbing & all the little brackets that will need fabricating, basically all the fun bits that I enjoy better than bloody bodywork (did i mention i don’t like bodywork?).

I have at last sourced a decent Stack tachometer which I purchased from ebay at a reasonable price. Only problem was it didn’t come with a wiring loom… After a bit of a panic , and using the power of Facebook, a couple of racing friends came to the rescue with the correct part number and where to get them. Many thanks to Granville Cottle and Gordon Pocock who helped me after I’d drawn a blank. I’m often pleasantly surprised by how helpful people are with advice, even if, as in Gordon’s case, I’ve never met them!

If you ever need a race wiring loom made Gordon is your man, as he has many years experience working with the Williams and Benneton F1 teams and his work is fantastic. Check out his GP Systems Mini Miglia below

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Hopefully the next blog will have a picture of a nice freshly painted mini miglia 🙂