Good afternoon to all.

And here it is the start of the build diary for my son and I's new CK!!!
The challenge is to build this during the school summer holidays this year...note 'this year'...nothing like making it easy for one self.
Thank you to the committee for letting me go ahead with my front suspension design, a real back of a cornflakes packet type drawing,
that should at least look something like the original, if you squint at bit, whilst looking into a sandstorm.

Photos attached to show just how easy a build this should be, or put another way...how the hell did this ever seem like a good idea 

Some selected quotes about the original car that make it such an attractive project...
'the ability to create a car that was wonderful in some respects, but sadly crass in others'
'the E-type might have been a formidable machine. But as he concedes: “In some ways the car is a really lovely thing, and in other ways they just got it so wrong.”'
And finally... 'Racing GP1 is a real struggle because you never know what’s going to go wrong next!'

So with a hay hoo pip and dandy chaps, what could possibly go wrong 

Good afternoon.

Whilst looking for information about old racetracks I came across this airfield come racetrack.

https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airfield-fersfield-1455.html
About halfway down they start talking about the motor racing!

Not heard of this one before, anyone by chance got any more information???

Good morning all.

Have a slight problem and wonder if anyone has any ideas.
Need to fit a tow bar to my Toyota Corolla, the tow bars them selves are still
available, however the special wiring loom to connect to the ECU isn't, and if you could find one it would
cost more than the car. Punching a hole though some bodywork with some 7 core
wire and doing it the old fashioned way doesn't work the ECU goes nuts
and fries itself.
Any ideas, inspiration, really don't want to buy a different car as I like my Corolla.
But using the car I've used in the past to get to events isn't going to be an option any more.

Thanks in advance.

Gentlemen, while good fun was had at Tuesdays event there was a few things that I think require
at least acknowledging and consideration of how they might be avoided in the future.
I have been encouraged to write this after talking to one of our CK'ers.
Please note, names are not mentioned deliberately other than mine...because I was an idiot!

Firstly, refuelling.

I saw one case where two people were working together to refuel a CK, no fire extinguisher was evident, and even if there was one present, both people were occupied with the act of refuelling.
Conclusion, there should be a fire extinguisher at each refuelling, and if it takes two people to refuel a CK, a third is required to be ready with the safety device.

The second case, I was involved in myself (promptly shoots myself in the foot) three people were stood at a CK, it was about to be refuelled, one person said shall I get a F/E and I said 'Na it's ok, there's three of us everyone will assume one of us has it'
Clearly I'm an idiot, and conclusion the more people stood around a CK being refuelled the more people can get burned! Get the bloody safety gear! Yes let me award myself Donut of the year for that one!

Also I can't help wondering if we shouldn't just all donate a couple of quid each, rather than relying on peoples good will to bring a F/E and just buy one or two, and also maybe a bloody great first aid box?

It was also suggested by a CK'er if maybe we should have at each event a specific refuelling station, with the safety gear set up? Thoughts?

Driving and overtaking.

Couple of observations.
First a near miss, I was following a CK, we entered the main straight and I was kindly waved through, however despite being on the loud pedal I had only just got my front wheels to the rear of the front CK when quite justifiably having not been overtaken despite not being on the gas pedal he went to take his line. This manoeuvre almost sent me into the barriers.

Secondly, a chain of CK's went past one at the 'bottom hair pin' this in itself was fine, however the last CK in the chain rear wheel touched the front wheel of the CK being past. I feel wheels touching in these machines is a 'never happen' event. Space must be given at all time.

A few thoughts re overtaking, in the case were the car in front gives way.

From my experience, the best/safest place at Stretton is the bottom hairpin, the CK giving way can just take a wider line, waving the following through on the inside. I have done this both the letting through and the being let through on many occasions with no problems.
Trying to let people pass on the straight is not so easy. the best place I have found is (when going clockwise) the wonky straight just after the bottom hairpin where the road is very wide. Unfortunately this is where the wheels touched on Tues I believe.
On the main straight (again in the clockwise direction)this has worked best when the CK giving way goes to the left, and the passing car stays right.

Also I think we should consider when going past that each CK can get very squirrely at the best of times and allowance made for fronts understeering and tails oversteering.
And finally looking over your shoulders should be happening a lot more, especially if changing line/following a CK/being followed by a CK. I don't think any of us has working mirrors, if you are driving so hard you can't look over your shoulder, you are driving to hard.

Please no one take offence, or let this go into a he said she said type argument, accidents can and will happen, when they do or nearly do the important thing is to learn from them. Suggestions and thoughts as to how we can improve safety are welcomed and encouraged.


Moderators please feel free to edit this to your harts content.
Sorry to everyone else if this has been a bit waffly.

Good morning all.

As we all know the CK's use chain drive, and each chain has a breakable link, which can be a real pain to ping that darn little spring plate bit off.
What I found makes life much easier is
take a cheep pair of needle nosed pliers and remove approx. 2mm from one end only, now it can fit on straight giving more force and not angled to the spring plate making life a little easier and less likely to slip off.

OK not exactly a build dairy, but a few details of how, why, and maybes some pretty photos if I can get it to work!!!

Firstly why this particular car, well I personally like the more aerodynamic shapes of the 1930's cars, and the challenge of the more complex shapes...however this is not necessarily the sensible option if you want a quick build.
Also it's a V8 in a see of straight 6's and 8's, it looks so cool with a pair of pipes one down each side!

The first thing to decide was some dimensions, wheel base decides all lot and is listed as a maximum of 66", mine is 63". It should be noted the rules are very much spirit of, if you choose an inspiration car that had a ridiculously long wheelbase or engine compartment that's fine to go over the allowed, if however you did it just to improve say straight line stability...shame on you! IMHO the most important dimension is the waist bulkhead, build it bigger height wise than you think you can get away with, it so affects the ease with which you can get in, and get out. It's worth mentioning, when calculating dimensions, be prepared to fudge things a bit, well actually a lot, base in mind the simple plan to shrink the car hits a problem as soon as you cant shrink the driver, trust me I've been trying to shrink myself for years! So to make some room I removed the scuttle area this bought me several useful inch's and so far no one has noticed.
The other thing to base in mind when scaling is take a thing from model railways, the track can be a different scale to the train, so in CK terms the height can be one scale, the length another, capture the spirit and character is far more important than scales acreate to 1/100000 of a mm.

Method of construction, the main structure is a plywood monocoque or if that scale you a bit, a box, yup a simple box. bulkheads of which there are 4 are 12mm plywood, the sides, base, and top are 6mm ply. With some 16 x 38 PB where they join. They were joined together with screws and Evostick waterproof wood adhesive, good stuff that is.This is then wrapped in fibreglass bonded with epoxy resin. Why you might ask epoxy as it's dearer, well personally polyester resin causes me breathing problems so really wasn't an option, and the designer in me likes that's weight for weight Epoxy comes in a little bit stronger. Please also note a small number of people can have reactions to epoxy, so if your are doing this for the first time whatever type of resin you are using do it outside in fresh air and be prepared to back away in a hurry.
For the curves of the top of the front I cut what felt like hundreds of stripes of 6mm ply approx. 7/8th running down to 5/8th...it would have been nice to have had access to a band saw for this and with hindsight probably using flexi ply, or Rhys's method of bending ply would have been significantly quicker.
The rather complex shape of the nose was created by first making some thin plywood formers, IIRC about a dozen, these were hot glue gunned to the front bulkhead, and the space between stuffed with polystyrene, which was then attached with first a rasp and the sand papered. Please not when working with polystyrene if you have several layers do not glue them together as the glue lines sand at a different rate to the polystyrene itself and will not end up smooth. One other thing Epoxy is safe with polystyrene, polyester attacks it.

So if you've got this far you have a lightweight box, that you need to attached things to, so two lengths of 3 x 1 steel were ordered and bolted to the box, where possible use threaded rod so you can go across the whole of the CK, that way any shock loads on one side are shared with the other reducing their effect. Front suspension attached, engine mount at the back, paint and you have your self a working CK.

Pictures to follow...

Good morning all,

I'm writing a small article for my local parish magazine about the CK I built and CK's in general, it only has a audience of a few hundred but what the hell.
Any suggestions as to what I should include, or that people think I should mention?
So far I have...how it's built, what I built, brief outline of rules, Stretton, this website, the international website, and the fun it is. Emphasis on the fun. Oh and some pictures.

So what have I missed, what should I include, any must do suggestions?

Thanks in advance. 

Just seen this on a f/book group, someone might get inspired or just plain enjoy it :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-rYGg_74PE