06/06/12

2080 PO was purchased without an engine nor a gearbox and it was in a relatively sorry looking state. This clearly did not stop my enthusiasm about it as it was clear that it has had an interesting past as supported by some of its features shown here below....

No engine I kid you not !

The following list a few of those features that make the car somehow interesting.

 

		The car rear shroud, doors and bonnet are made of GRP. A mix of plastic and fiber glass used in the 60's. This makes the car very light indeed.
		The door are very thin and still have part of the side screens as shown on the second picture
		Both inner front wheel arches have aluminum panels to lighten the car.
		The floor of the boot compartment is made of aluminum and is reinforce with two steel bars. Yet again to lighten the car.
		The Front bonnet has vents in the same style than what is shown in the right hand side picture coming  from the No 76 second Quarter edition of "Marque One". The quintessential newsletter  produced by Ray English in Australia....if you are serious about sprite definitively get yourself a subscription this is an incredible source of information about sprites....
		Wide steel wheels were probably added at a later stage I would think by Lionel or Colin Starley...
		The steering wheel has the look of a Les Leston ...
		Having a 9000 RPM tachometer indicates that the engine must have bee highly tuned...all I know is that it was a 1098 CC when the Starley drove the car and that prior to that it was a 948 CC (as from the racing records)...
		Bucket seats are made of fiber glass and are in excellent condition....
		The period extinguisher was still in the car...hopefully I will be able to get it restored...but unlikely to be used in the final car because of MSA/FIA regulations...
		The SU pump is located near the right rear shock absorber underneath of the car and has a steel cover to protect it...
		The exhaust manifold and side pipe are definitively of the racing type...can t wait to hear the humming....
		You clearly can see the side exhaust on the right hand side picture that was taken at the European Hill climb Championship in 1967.
		The car had aluminum Alfin (I believe...correct me if wrong) both at the front and back and also aluminum spacers...
		The anti-roll bar is an Alexander one as pointed to me by Ray English and shown in one of the advertisement of the time he provided me with...
		Sebring looking bonnet with a grove on the windscreen side...never seen of of them with a groove...groovy !
		The car had a Brooklands aero screen similarly to another car that used to hill climb in the mid sixties at Lydden Hill in 1965 as shown in the WSMcar website. That car was also from the region as as it exhibited a registration 2833 PO....maybe it was made by the same garage as suggested to me by Andrew Forsters.
		Quite a sturdy roll bar ...but I am not so sure I will get away with it during scrutiny check...
		Well if the oil came out of it... it can go back to it....That is what we call recycling nowadays...I like the stand for the spark plugs....
		Nice roll top filler cap...
		Don t we all want a pair of Armstrong adjustable dampers ? those are oxidized but they  still have their 22 clicks and adjust the resistance of the damper effectively....so probably still in working order after 50 years....not bad...
		Yes it is my good old rusty back axle  which we should be able to reuse. The car had a brake booster....not used to often on racing car accordingly to Daniel Stapleton's Book...
		The differential's main crown has 39 teeth. .still need to count the other set of teeth to find out the ratio....The Sun and Planet gears have been welded so they help in delivering maximum torque (the cheap alternative to a limited slip differential) .... I think it probably had to do with the requirements of the speed trials and hill climbing...