Boxing Day - Sunday 26th December - CRX returned - Testing begins

Left to Right - Rod and Colin Taylor of Southam Mini & Metro Centre (+44 (0) 1926 815681) handing back CRX after completing the gearbox overhaul - Thursday 23rd December.

Alastair Vines and Peter Moss are entered into the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique (car 282) http://www.acm.mc/ which will start on Wednesday 26th January and finish on the 2nd February 2011 in Monaco. Nigel Chetwynd and Simon Wheatcroft will provide back up to the team tackling running repairs, refuelling and maintenance throughout the event. The team are attempting to raise £10k to support their entry and raise money for the charity Bliss http://www.bliss.org.uk/ which concerns itself with babies born too early, too small or too sick to fend for themselves. They have to date won the backing of sponsorship from Mini Spares http://www.minispares.com/ and Norton Insurance http://www.norton-ib.co.uk/ and continue to seek more help with funding to secure their ambition. If you would like to help please call Alastair Vines on 0776 437 7322.

After having brought the car home last weekend to fit the grille muff, and found ourselves wading about knee deep in snow, it needed to go back to SMMC in order that suspension, heat sheilds and additional engine breathing could be fitted, followed by a final setting up on the rolling road. I got the call on Wednesday to say that all the requested work had been done; the MOT was successful and the car would be ready for collection on Thursday after final set up on the rolling road.

Thursday 23rd December - Colin Taylor of SMMC puts the CRX through its paces on the rolling road in order to check carb settings and complete the final set up.
 
On road test the engine ran very sweetly, was nice, crisp and responsive; cold running is less sensitive to choke setting, so it does not conk out so often; the gear changes are smooth without being too notchy, and we have a clutch that works. Handling on some well used Colways was vile, and did nothing to inspire confidence for snow driving. Steering response was soft and spongy with poor traction in the snow. Adjustment of tyre pressures did something to improve matters, but we won't be winning the Monte-Carlo on these tyres. I can't wait to get our proper snow tyres fitted and try them out.

A flat tyre on the trailer coupled with a seized spare wheel lock, which had to be cut off,  put paid to doing anything else useful that afternoon.

Garage doors remained firmly closed on Christmas Day, although news arrived of the impending change in the weather forecasting the onset of a slow thaw from Monday 27th December. It was -11C here in 'sunny' Redditch on Christmas night, so great conditions for a Boxing Day assessment before everything turns to slush.

The objective of the assessment was to simply get the feel for the car on hard compacted snow mixed with sheet ice on the roads in our vicinity. The Christmas Bank Holidays mean that I don't expect to be able to mount our Monte-Carlo tyres onto rims until at least Wednesday of next week. The tyres for the Boxing Day drive were Uniroyal 145 x 10 ice compound and proved to give the car a great levels of straight line stability, and the driver good confidence in cornering, braking and acceleration without tendency to pull or snatch. Handling was fairly neutral without any tendency for twitchiness through excessive over steer at the rear or dullness in the front due to under steer. A small lift in mid corner was sufficient to gently unstick the rear and promote a mild four wheel drift through the bend. When nightfall arrived, so did the warmer weather - the thaw had begun. I popped out and focused all of the Lucas front lamps in our traditional 1964-5 works lamp layout before the 'black top' showed through again. Some improvements may be required here as the little 5 inch 576 bonnet mounted fogs even with halogen bulbs are fairly hopeless.

Overall I am very pleased with the excellent work that Southam Mini & Metro Centre (+44 (0) 1926 815681) have completed to help us get ready, and the fact that the car has not demonstrated any particular vices so far which require further attention.



Icy conditions in Love Lyne, Redditch, Worcestershire.

Handling assessment near Ham Green, Redditch.

Here some video of our initial handling trials








See below some in car video from our Boxing Day drive. John Clarke who is helping me with some of the Blog content takes up the commentary. I assure you that the screaming is excitement and not fear.







END

Sunday 19th December - Big Snow

Alastair Vines and Peter Moss are entered into the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique (car 282) http://www.acm.mc/ which will start on Wednesday 26th January and finish on the 2nd February 2011 in Monaco. Nigel Chetwynd and Simon Wheatcroft will provide back up to the team tackling running repairs, refuelling and maintenance throughout the event. The team are attempting to raise £10k to support their entry and raise money for the charity Bliss http://www.bliss.org.uk/ which concerns itself with babies born too early, too small or too sick to fend for themselves. They have to date won the backing of sponsorship from Mini Spares http://www.minispares.com/ and Norton Insurance http://www.norton-ib.co.uk/ and continue to seek more help with funding to secure their ambition.

Friday 17th December - CRX waiting in Southam Mini & Metro Centre yard after clutch hydraulics over haul.

The excellent fellows at Norton Insurance http://www.norton-ib.co.uk/ came up with an additional bonus on Friday to help the CRX team by adding to their already substantial contribution through sponsoring our incremental rally insurance. Well done Norton, thank you very much. This will help both the team and add a bit more to the Bliss fund.

I am taking some time off work in order to help support the family preparations for Christmas and get to spend some time on the car myself. In consequence we were hoping to get the car finished at Southam this week in order that I could have it at home, however ..the best laid plans of mice and men.... The Southam boys have done a fine job of sorting out some of the fettling jobs such as the clutch hydraulics, and improving oil pressure pipework. Our service chief Nigel Chetwynd helped me collect CRX and take it off to be weighed in order that I could establish after 25 years in my ownership how obese it had become.

Friday 17th December - Loaded and ready to be weighed.

The homologated weight of a standard mk1 Cooper S in 1966 is 651kg (with normal equipment, water, oil, and spare wheel but without fuel or repair tools). Whilst we were not rigid with the weighing standards criteria, I was somewhat startled to find CRX weighing in at a flabby 740kg - Uurgh! Diet time. We returned to our base in Redditch to draw up urgent plans to turn this fat boy into a lean alpine crag hopping fighting machine.

On Saturday, the busiest shopping day before Christmas, it snowed for about 12 hours non stop. In sunny Redditch we received a dump of not far off a foot, which brought everything to a standstill. No work done today on account of the struggle to get out to the shops and the desire to take the family sledging.

Saturday 18th December - Evening scene from "sunny"  Redditch under nearly a foot of snow.

Sunday was more productive as I was able to complete the assigned task for the weekend of the important grille muff fitment to keep the heat in the engine, stop the carburettors from freezing, and keep the occupants warm. When the weather gets really cold, the engine does not generate enough heat to do all these functions, and so needs a bit of help.

Monday 21st December - The Southam MCR team cars side by side - rather less snow in Southam than in Redditch -  a slush splattered CRX (with grille muff) sits next to Peter Barker's DKG.

With minus 20 degC temperatures seen in Pershore on Sunday night, just a few miles away, and deep snow in abundance, these are ideal alpine conditions in which to test our new snow tyres, and give the car a general shake down. Sadly we will have to wait just a little longer until we get our MOT. If the weather men are to be believed then these conditions will last until at least mid January so our chance to have a play in the snow before the rally will come eventually .

CRX is back at Southam now for some improvements to engine breathing, a final set up on the rolling road and the all important MOT. Should get it back mid week. Next up on the jobs list when it comes home are to sort out navigator comforts for seating, map lights, map stowage and inter-com etc.

If I don't get to update this blog again in the next few days, then have a great Christmas where ever you are, and drive carefully - it's tough out there on the roads just now.

Sunday 12th December - CRX89B Team Day.

Pictured here left to right - Alastair Vines (Driver), Nigel Chetwynd (Service Chief), Peter Moss (Navigator).

The chaps at Southam Mini and Metro Centre at Napton-on-the-Hill near Southam in Warwickshire have done a fantastic job in putting the car back together after its gearbox refresh by lunch time on Friday. Their sterling efforts have enabled us to have the car as planned to support our team day Sunday on 12th December, although it will need to go back on Monday for some final fettling.

Peter Moss travelled up from Surrey, and Nigel Chetwynd from the Cotswolds to spend the day together pouring over route instructions and maps to work out the route, and to agree on the final jobs list to improve the car. Our meeting was very necessary in order to start to build up our team relationships, be aligned on where the rally is going, and select the best places for the Mini to receive service.

We have a new team member joining our service crew - Lisa has had to bow out due to unavoidable prior committments during the rally period, so we are pleased to announce that Simon Wheatcroft has agreed to join the team. Simon will be well known to many Mini Cooper enthusiasts, but was not able to join us today at such short notice.

An objective for the day was to have Peter sit in the car in order to assess what we might need to adjust in order to make him feel comfortable. Peter is quite tall so we will have to change the navigators seat in order to get him sitting lower in the car. He has also given me some other co-pilot aids to wire in so that he can feel really at home and be able to concentrate on the job in hand.

The Automobile Club de Monaco http://www.acm.mc/rmch/rmch_main.php have now issued the list of 328 starting numbers for the rally, and we have drawn 282. The other minis in the Mini Cooper Register team are listed as follows:

218 - Gandy/Stephane Campo F 1969 Austin Mini Cooper S Glasgow

222 - Jean-Paul Burnier/Patrick Alibaux F 1975 Innocenti Mini Cooper Glasgow

273 - Peter Barker/Willy Cave GB 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S Reims

282 - Alastair Vines/Peter Moss GB 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S Reims

319 - Anthony Hart/Graeme Allan GB 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S Glasgow

321- Bill Richards/William Morrow GB 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S Reims

Many of the crews will come together for a Mini Cooper Register Rally Team meeeting on the 8th January in Coventry in order that our individual preparations can be aligned with our team mates in an effort to maximise co-operation and mutual support.

It's getting very exciting now with so much beginning to happen.

Mini Cooper Register Team Entry

Peter Barker and Willy Cave's DKG 1965 Austin Cooper S - Reims starter, outside Southam Mini and Metro Centre's base in Napton, Warwickshire on 10th December looking ready for the off.

The Mini Cooper Register will field an international team of six classic Mini Cooper S cars and has been accepted for the prestigious Rallye Monte Carlo Historique 2011 which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Rallye Monte Carlo 1911-2011.

The team entries are:

Anthony Hart/Graeme Allan GB 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S Glasgow
Gandy/Stephane Campo F 1969 Austin Mini Cooper S Glasgow
Jean-Paul Burnier/Patrick Alibaux F 1975 Innocenti Mini Cooper Glasgow

Alastair Vines/Peter Moss GB 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S Reims
Peter Barker/Willy Cave GB 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S Reims
Bill Richards/William Morrow GB 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S Reims

Additionally MCR Honorary member and 1967 Rallye Monte Carlo winner Rauno Aaltonen will be competing in the rally with navigator Helmut Artacker SF/A in a 1969 Austin Mini Cooper S starting from Marrakech.

All team members will face a demanding drive of many thousands of kilometres from starting points over western Europe and North Africa to the famous competitive stages in the Alpes Maritimes and Ardeche regions of France.

Details of the route, timing and possible spectating points are available at www.acm.mc

Ruano Aaltonen will begin his non stop 2660km drive from Marakech to Monte Carlo at 10.00am on Wednesday 26th January. Glasgow starters have a run of 2060km and begin at 5.30pm on Thursday 27th January, whilst Reims teams have to cover just 1010km and will get under way at 6.20pm on Friday 28th.
Whilst the distances look a little unfair, teams have a free choice of which town to start from, although only the smallest (up to 1150 cc) and oldest (pre-1966) cars may choose Reims or Barcelona (960km). Newer and bigger cars must choose either Marakech, Glasgow or Warsaw.

The CRX 89B team of Vines, Moss and their Chetwynd service crew will have a Team day on Sunday 12th December to sort out routes, service schedules and final car preparation. More on this in my next blog update.

10th December- CRX On The Mend

Mini Spares http://www.minispares.com/ have very generously supplied us with new 2nd and 4th gears to refresh our tired gearbox. Work has been substantially delayed due to the parts being stuck in the snow for more than a week somewhere in the frozen wastes of the Midlands.

The parts arrived at 4.30pm on Thursday afternoon and our friends at Southam Mini and Metro Centre are now working full tilt to get the car ready to support our Team and press day on Sunday 12th. This is 3.30pm Friday and the engine is already in. Great progress lads.