Vintage Thing No.46 - the Austin-MG special

I was unable to go to the VSCC Wiscombe hillclimb this year so by way of compensation have been reviewing the photos I took last year.

This the Austin-MG special built and raced by Brian King. It's essentially an Austin 7 engined fitted with an MG ohc cylinder head but there's a bit more to it than that.

I like the way it's been fitted - and supercharged.

Most MGs of this era had a vertical shaft drive that doubled as the dynamo. It was notorious for getting covered in oil and not producing any sparks. For his Austin-MG special Brian chose a duplex sprocket chain drive.

With all that going on the front of the engine most normal people wouldn't have known where to put the blower but Brian extended the tail end of the crankshaft rather than the nose and moved the flywheel outwards so that he could take the supercharger drive inboard of the clutch.

The components date back to 1930 and 1934 so long before Austin and MG were bedfellows in the overcrowded king size divan that was British Leyland - there's no badge engineering with this little baby.

That's what I like about this car so much - nothing should really fit together but it does, because a considerable amount of artifice has been applied to it. It's a model of engineering in both senses.

And the exquisite machining doesn't end with the engine. Just look at the front suspension.

I had a brief chat with Brian in the paddock but he and his machine were being mobbed by enthusiasts desperate to know more.

He told me that he wasn't trying too hard on the day because he didn't want to bend it after all the hours he'd spent working on it. I can quite understand this but I reckon he was still enjoying himself.

There is always something hugely appealing about racing Austin 7s but this one is in a class of its own.

Vintage Thing No.41 - the Cattley 7

One of my fellow marshals on the Launceston Trial turned up in this delightful little car. Warin Kelly has owned it for years and say the best thing about owning a special is that you can add to its specialness. This car is one of those that invite closer inspection. And the more I looked the more I saw that I liked about it.

In recognition of its original builder, Warin calls it the Cattley 7 and, although he's owned it for some time now, it was originally built in the mid-fifties. Mr Cattley made the body himself out of aluminium on an ash frame and when Warin first got it the powerplant was the usual 747cc sidevalve Austin motor.

Curious, isn't it, that sometimes the numbers 747 make you think of jumbo jets and at other times of tiny willing 4 pot motors, revving far higher than their designer ever intended, thanks to ingenious backyard tuning by an enthusiastic but knowledgeable amateur?

However, just like anyone else, Warin wanted more power and found a 598cc overhead valve Reliant engine that had been used in 750 Motor Club racing.

There is a link between Austin 7 engines and Reliant's own design of powerplant. In 1938, Reliant renounced the JAP V-twins they were using in their girder forked 3-wheeler vans and adopted the Austin 7 engine. I don't know if the end of production was foreseen by Reliant or not but when Austin 7 production finished in 1939, Reliant began production of something very much like it in their own factory. Some say there was total parts interchangeability between the two brands of engine.

Reliant later moved the valves upstairs for greater efficiency and changed to aluminium instead of cast iron in the interests of weight saving - always a matter of concern when you have to meet an 8cwt weight limit to qualify for the cheaper road tax that a 3-wheeler enjoys in Britain.

The 598cc engine that Warin originally got hold off sounds to me like quite a motor. With a bore and stroke of 56mm x 61mm, it would rev to 8,500 rpm. 750 Motor Club racers could wring over 50bhp from these all alloy engines in full race form. (Well, obviously they weren't all aluminium but the head and block were and that's what makes them so appealing - "they don't weigh hardly anything" as we say round these parts.)

The only trouble was, all that power was delivered in the wrong place. Fortunately the Reliant motor grew by degrees to 848cc – 60.5mm x 61mm (sometimes quoted as 60.96mm but that’s the more exact metric equivalent of 2.4 inches) gave 701cc, an extra 2mm on the bore gave 748cc (compare this to 56mm x 76mm for the Austin 7) and then a longer stroke finally evolved into the 62.5mm x 69.1mm 848cc big daddy engine. Compression ratios also increased from 8.5:1 to 9.5:1 and power as standard ended up at 40 bhp (29kW) with 46 lf ft (62Nm) of torque.

These days Warin uses an 848cc version on a single SU carb and a tubular exhaust manifold complete with a reliant gearbox. It’s an interesting alternative to souping up the original Austin 7 engine, which often involves supercharging for a really good output. I mentioned some blown examples I’d seen before and he grinned and said one gearbox he had in the Cattley 7 was so worn everyone thought the whining noise was a blower. Naturally aspirated Austin 7s often use Phoenix cranks these days but they’re quite expensive. They can’t arf rev, though.

I like the colour of this engine, too. It reminds me of the egg shell blue I used to paint my Airfix kits and looks sort of aeronautically technical.

Warin said there are four bolts that mount the engine in the frame but the chassis flexes so much the fourth one is never done up tight – it’s there more as a helpful guide, really, politely suggesting where the engine should be but not getting too wound up if it wanders around a bit in the engine bay. Do them all up tight and you run the risk of breaking the ally mounting points on the block.

To make the Cattley 7 even more suitable for its intended purpose of trialling, he fitted the lowest back axle A7 ratio he could find, namely that from one those little vans they used to do with an 8/45 crown wheel and pinion (5.625 final drive ratio). An 850 Reliant Kitten used a 3.23 back axle and boasted a top speed of 80 mph. Warin reckons anything over 50 mph is a bit cruel on the Cattley 7.

It’s had an illustrious trialling history, though, beating works Morgans and many other more powerful machinery. It doesn’t get out so much these days because of the roughness of modern classic trials sections. Warin had to re-shape his rear mudguards the last time he entered.

He gave me a lift in it after we’d finished marshalling and it was great fun blasting through the mud in Lew Wood. Because of the narrow track, the Cattley 7 is always sliding into and out of one set of wheel ruts, which can slow you down but makes for more of a challenge. Leg room for me as a 6’ 1” passenger was okay but my knees were wedged up against the dashboard so a long journey would probably have been out of the question.

Warin has been in touch with Mr Cattley’s son who remembers his father bending sheets of ally round drainpipes and banisters when he built the car. He also said that his dad had no time at all for Lockheed brakes but thought the world of Girling, the other big name in brakes in the British motor industry. He asked for their advice in designing the hydraulic braking system – essentially using parts from an Austin Big 7.

Girling sent an engineer rep who stayed with the Cattley family while he worked on the car. He’d brought a pair of master cylinders with him, expecting Mr Cattley to opt for a hydraulic clutch, but he was quite happy with a cable arrangement. So, instead of taking the surplus master cylinder back with him, he fitted a dual circuit system. If you look closely in this picture you can see their fluid reservoirs snuggling up to each othe rin teh engine bay. I’ve no idea when this was all fitted but it seems that the Cattley 7 was highly advanced in the braking department for its day.

2009 Exeter Trial

The weather was good and the going was dry for the 2009 Exeter Trial over Friday night and Saturday. Here's Barry and Fiona Smith in their 939cc MG PB "getting it on up" as Kool and The Gang might have said had they discovered the wonderful world of classic trials and not made a successful career out of disco, in which it is frequently necessary to -- and I quote -- "get it on down, get it on down, get it on down."

Or maybe they're taking Curtis Mayfield's advice to "Move on Up."

(My personal favourite trialling track is In a Rut by (appropriately enough) The Ruts. Listen to the words if you can. The middle bit always reminds me of looking for Warleggan in the mists of Bodmin Moor.

I spectated at Simm's this year, which is generally reckoned to be one of most spectacular trails hills anywhere. Blue Hills on the Land's End Trial must come close but since they put the wriggle in at the top, I think it has to play second fiddle to Simm's in terms of foot-to-the-floor all out blasts. This year, the crowds were the biggest I've ever seen on this section. Lots of bikes and cars got up this year so there wasn't quite so much applause as usual, since a "clean" run without stopping, or putting the foot down for the motorcyclists, was nothing out of the ordinary.

It was also the opportunity to meet up with some old friends. Start line official for the Class O section was none other than Jim Travers, with whom I had marshalled many years before. It must have been back in the late 80s and, if my memory serves me correctly, that year the Land's End Trial was filmed for a pre-Jeremy Clarkson Top Gear programme. Jim remembered this - we thought it was Tony Mason who featured - and said that the section that we were on had been Hobb's Choice. Bearing in mind my subsequent scribblings about Mick, Hob, The Horsepower Whisperer, perhaps this early experience of motorsport created a significant subconscious impression on my already fevered imagination. Hobb's Choice took a bit of finding. It was an earlky hill on the Land's End Trial and we had to set the section up in the dark. But Jim had got there first with a generator-driven lighting set to create a little illuminated oasis in the middle of countryside that was as my trialling mate Col wouldsay, "As black as a cow's guts."

Here Jim is marking the card of Simon and Adam Browner from Tavistock. I bumped into these two last year at Fingle Bridge and had a brief chat with them. Their Sunbeam Imp Sport now sports a 998cc engine. They were competing again in Class O, which features slightly gentler sections than the full on classic trial. My chat with them this year was even briefer than last time but they'd had a good event and cleaned all the hills so far. I had just time to wish them luck and then Jim waved them on. I expect I'll hear more detail of their exploits later.

Sorry I didn't get a better picture of you, Jim, but you just moved too fast for me.

Back on the main section of Simm's, there was plenty of grip and lots of successful climbs. The most favoured technique was a crowd-pleasing balls out, brain off blast up the hill. Only one or two really had to work to get up and their success was rewarded by a round of applause from the still appreciative crowd, who particularly liked it if the car concerned was really old. The motorcycle sidecar outfits also got great cheers as they roared their way to the summit.

I was really pleased to see the Imps do well. Bill Rosten and Ian Moss both took their cars up the hill in fine style and I was particularly intrigued by entry number 149, crewed by Tris White and Michael Richards. According to the programme, this car had an engine of 2000cc. I would very much like to know more about this device, which shouldn't be difficult, seeing as it is based in Bodmin, which is where we have our monthly Cornish Imp Club meetings.

The highest speeds that were possible in such conditions caused some mechanical damage. A few storming climbs were brought to an abrupt fall and a horrible clattering and then there was the added spectacle of clearing the section so someone else could have a go.

One Marlin broke its prop, apparently at the axle end, about two thirds of the way up the hill. This meant that they could not go backwards down the hill so the tractor that was already in action on the Class O section was summoned. It slithered down gently and, after being attached to the Marlin with a cable, took up the slack only to discover that it could get up the hill again. We were incredulous. We'd just seen ordinary cars romp up the hill and now here was a four-wheel-drive tractor spinning its wheels in perplexity.

Everyone started making helpful suggestions then, some more practical than others and some not particularly helpful, either, to be perfectly honest. At times like this it's best to remember that every marshall is a volunteer doing it for love. Without them, there would be no sport like this, so we gathered round as helpfully as we could to move the car and spread the love.

Then the bank we were standing on gave way.

There was a chorus of "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" in an appeal to gravity's better nature but it wasn't having any of it and the next thing I knew there was a pair of inverted Wellington boots in front of me as the man underneath them did a kind of headstand in the ruts made by the tractor's front wheels. It was just as well the tractor was stuck. He was fine, though, just a little muddy in some unexpected places and with another story to tell when he got home. As he said to his grandson who was found underneath him, "It's not everyday you get steamrollered by grandpa, is it?" Although the youngster's bottom lip was going a bit, at this he burst into laughter.

So did the rest of us. It was that sort of day.

In the end, the resourceful marshalls and crew hooked up the dangling prop shaft by running a strap underneath the car and over the cockpit. This then allowed a graceful descent without any pole vaulting for the Marlin and a pensive slither for the tractor at a safe distance behind.

A horsey lady next to me said that the tractor driver should've tried the hill again immediately to restore the tractor's confidence but, judging by the successful ascents by the cars, he wouldn't have been able to go fast enough to get up. It seemed to be a question of momentum and bouncing.

The Primrose Special of Neil Bray and Julie Fleet made a spectacular leap just after I took this photograph but came crashing down afterwards. There was a horrendous bang and their rapid progress up the hill came to a sudden halt. A great sigh of sympathy went up from the crowd for Neil has been competing in this car for years and I well remember his familiar style from another spectacular climb that he made on the 1984 Land's End Trial. Somewhere, I've got a photograph of that, too, with him waving his hook out of the window in typical fashion. I think this picture gives an idea of the speed at which he was travelling. Bearing in mind that the light was good and that he has just come around a sharp right-hand blind corner and you can understand what a gutsy driver he is. I think it's a good looking car, too.

Eric and Di Wall in this 1600 Mk1 Dellow had a good blast, too. I remember seeing this car at Crackington many years ago, obviously freshly restored and looking immaculate. It still looks good and has been actively campaigned regularly. I think its overall condition and competition record are a real credit to its crew.

One of my favourite shots from today is this picture of Simon Rogers holding onto his hat in his Austin 7. Or maybe he's just remembered that he's left the gas on and is thumping his forehead. He certainly had the gas on at Simm's....