AndyV

I've not done a trackday at Llandow but have tested my Spitfire racecar there. It is cheap, friendly and with a good value cafe. The track is fun though not up to the "big track" standards of Castle Combe etc and this is reflected in the price. You can carry a good lick of speed down the back straight and flicking through the chicane, then cane it throught the last bend onto the start/finish straight.  Its heavy on the anchors then for the chicane/hairpin at the end, keep off the kerbs or your vertical links will be screaming at you! IMO its worth a visit for the money. Andy

Jigsaw do a full cage. Safety devices also used to do one. You could try to buy a front hoop only and door and roof bars to link it to your fitted rear bar. My cage started as the safety devices bolt-in cage, long since modified to be taller and welded in. However the front hoop is still the same. Mertlin motorsport (at Castle Combe) will cut and bend tube to your own specified shape for you to get welded in yourself which is how I did my tall rear cage. For UK club motorsport you do not need a FIA homogulated cage but it does have to comply with the MSA 'blue book' rules. Cheers Andy

I did have a cracking race having to work very hard in my battle with Chris Edward's TR, we swapped leads many time but his grunt always had me when it mattered over the start/finish line. It was my good fortune (wiley driving? ;) ) on the last lap that I managed to get some traffic between us simultaneously to being lapped by Josh, so holding up Chris just long enough for me scamper across the line in front. I now have new valve springs on their way to fix the 7500rpm valve bounce that was restricting my straight line speed. It still won't allow me to conquer 6cylinder grunt, but will help a little and sound less painful! Bring on Jigsaw racing 2013, but until then I'm next out in the Swinging 60's at Donnington with a smattering of other Triumphs on September 16th. Cheers Andy

It was a great race, I just got lapped in the final hundred yards and only by 1 second! Good driving and nice cars all round. Congratualations to William Hildyard in his first ever race in his newly built Spitfire. Despite the car spitting out its dummy and a fair amount of oil in the assembly area 10 minutes before race start, he got out there completing the race, and beat a couple too. AndyV (PS Josh Files is a Clio driver on the TOCA BTTC support package so look out for him)

Normal torque is fine, I have a 11.25 compression race engine and still go by the normal figures. Do not assume that the head gasket is leaking, any oil from the rocker gear/cover will gravitate down to the top of the block and due to capilary action just rest in the little gaps. Best solution is to just wipe it off. Andy

I use good old STP oil treatment in a 50/50 mix with engine oil. smear on the crank main, big end and thrust bearings, cam bearings, cam lobes and fill/prime the oil pump with it. Mine being a race engine it gets rebuilt every year for the last 12 and the above seems to do the job. Andy