Moffat Classic Car Rally - Part#1

Organised by the Scottish Rootes Enthusiasts. Rootes were a British Car Company that produced Hillman, Humber, Singer, Talbot etc. They had a plant in Linwood, near my home, where they built the Hillman Imp. 

So much good stuff I've split it into two parts.

 Scotland's own Hillman Imp.

Imp coupes - Singer Chamois & Sunbeam Stiletto

 Imp based sports car - a Clan Crusader 

 Hillman Avenger Tiger - a hotted up version of the saloon

An early "hot hatch" a Talbot Lotus Sunbeam from 1980. This would have been a fast car in its day with a 2.2 litre 150 bhp engine. 

 Daimler SP250 Dart

 2.5 litre V8 engine.

 Will the Talbot Minx every be considered a "classic"? - time will tell.

 TVR Taimar

 Volvo P1800ES with odd red/gold paint scheme

 Humber Super Snipe & Imperial

 A nice group of Triumphs - TR4,TR2 & TR6

Run to Dumfries & Galloway

A nice day today for a run to Ayrshire and Dumfies & Galloway in South West Scotland. I took my CBF250 because it was mostly back roads (and because the CBF burns half the fuel of the FJ) The panoramas were taken with a new camera - a Fujifilm XQ1 that makes them "in camera".

 The River Cree at Newton Stewart

 Contrails make Scottish satire cross

A banner in Wigtown protesting against proposed wind turbines. The development is called "California" for some odd reason. Then again it wouldn't be the only California in Scotland. The recent ending of subsidies for windfarms will be more likely to kill this project than local objections. 

 Wigtown

 River Bladnoch

 The ruins of Sorbie Old Parish Church

Another ruin - Sorbie Tower

 The CBF at Garlieston

 Isle of Whithorn (not an island now - but was in the past!)

 Port William

The coast north of Port William. The yellow flowers beside the road are Oilseed Rape. In the last few decades growing it for vegetable oil has increased and some has "escaped".

 Luce Bay - a field of Oilseed Rape in the distance. 

 The route

Good Taste

Yanis Varoufakis has become one of the best known politicians in Europe and has one of the toughest jobs - he's the Greek finance minister. He is known for wearing casual clothes and having the looks of a villain in a James Bond movie. He also has the common touch rejecting the usual limo for two wheels. Currently a Yamaha XJR1300 - a retro using the same engine as my FJ.

Meeting British Chancellor, George Osbourne

With his XJR at the Greek Parliament

Greek law seems to say you have to wear a helmet - it just doesn't say where on your body. The elbow seems to be the favoured place.

 Giving a colleague a lift

 Pestered by a groupie.


***Update***
 Yanis has resigned / was sacked from the government.

FJ Pad Failure

Before a recent trip to Yorkshire I noticed that the front tyre on my FJ1200 was a bit worn. I decided to swap the wheel with that on my old FJ that had a new tyre on it. When I removed the old bike's wheel one of the front pads fell apart. The pad material had detached from the steel backing plate. Moisture must have got in and caused corrosion forcing it off.

I don't think that the pad would fall out while you were going because there's no gap between the pad & disc but it's a scary thought that I'd been riding about with it like that.

 

 

Bad Driving

One from down under. A learner overshoots a junction then reverses back to the stop line. Only problem is that there's a bike on the line. No problem - the learner neatly parks her car on top the bike. The rider shows remarkable composure and bales out in time to avoid injury.  

story & video here 

CBF Clutch Fix

A short while ago my CBF250's clutch started slipping. Going uphill in high gear the revs would rise but the speed didn't. This was surprising. Although the little bike has done a fair amount of miles, bike clutches don't generally wear out. Especially since the CBF has modest power and low gearing so doesn't give the clutch a hard time.

Before proceeding further I checked the cable. The pull on the lever wasn't excessive but the cable seemed to be sticking. You can try squirting some oil down it but I thought I could do more.

I fitted a tube over the end of the cable, filled it with solvent and blew it through the cable with an air gun attached to my compressor. I then blew some chain lube through it.

Success! the clutch no longer slips. Seems that the resistance in the cable was enough to cause slippage.

Clutch lever

Operating arm on engine

Disconnect the cable at the lever....

....and at engine

Attached tube....

...and blew through some solvent then chain lube