Preparing a Mark II Zephyr for Racing
Part 3 of a continuing series
The previous two parts have listed the work done so far
in getting the car ready for the track. To recap, the
brakes, engine, front suspension and gearbox have all
been rebuilt. The body got a "quick 'n' dirty" paint job
in not quite the original "Buckskin Tan" but more a
"Mushroom Pink" which is distinctive to say the least.
Before a car is allowed on the track, it is
"scrutineered", that is inspected to make sure it is
roadworthy and has several safety items. These include
steering, oil leaks, fire extinguisher, helmet, wired
sump plug, competition numbers, oil breather catchers,
seatbelt, helmet and battery location marker. You don't
need the full racing gear such as full harness, roll-cage
or fire-proof driving suit for Regularity.
On Wednesday 26th (Australia Day) I had to locate some
plastic tubing big enough to go over the rocker cover oil
filler and on the side cover breather pipe. I also got
some aluminium strap to hold the catcher (4 litre plastic
container) in place where the old air filter used to be.
I replaced that with a nice chromed sports cleaner.
The big day arrived - Saturday 29th. We got up at 6,
left home about 7, filled up with petrol and pumped the
tyres up to 40lb. We arrived at Amaroo around 8 and
picked a spot in the Competitors' Paddock near the
southern side of the circuit. We got talking to our
neighbour Roland who was driving a Triumph TR7 in Marque
Sports Cars. He had a tarp and tent poles so we made
ourselves a shelter. Scrutineering was at 8:30 and the
car got through without any problems. The scrutineer
told me about the Zephyrs he used to do up years ago.
Practice for Regularity 1 and 3 was held together at
11:30. Reg 1 included some very fast cars including a
1949 MG TC which was lapping around 69 seconds. I later
found out that the driver was the PO. The new owner
was lapping in 61's in other races!!
The Reg 3 group of Classic Saloons included a '57 Austin Lancer,
a '57 Wolseley (similar to the Lancer), a '53 Bristol
403, a '55 Chev (400 c.i.), a '55 Morris Oxford (my
boss), a '49 Riley RMB 2.5 and a '57 Austin A35.
We set out in single file, all mixed up. It was
exhilarating to be out on the track again, and I was
pleasantly surprised how well the old Mk II went around
Dunlop Loop considering the rear shocks aren't too good.
I guess the 6"*14" mags plus 70series Dunlop Daytonas
were working.
My technique was to come up Bitupave Hill with foot flat
in top, reaching about 70mph, over the crest and hit the
brakes just before Dunlop, a downhill right-hand loop
with two apexes - back to second and flatten it. By the
time I reached the exit, it was screaming so into top
though the kink before hitting the brakes hard and back
to second for Honda corner, a fairly tight left-hander.
I was getting fuel surge coming out of Honda, as it
spluttered a bit. Into top again until the very sharp
right-hander which used to be called Winfield. Hold
second through there and up to the next sweeper into the
main straight, then up to top again.
Having only two gears (2nd and top) to play with is a
disadvantage compared with the four-speed boxes on the
other cars, but the torque of the big six helps.
As I explained before, Regularity trials are NOT races
and over-driving will be rewarded with a black flag! As
my speedo wasn't connected at first and the tacho that I
bought wasn't working, I had no idea of how fast I was
going to try and regulate my speed. In the event, I was
so busy keeping one eye on the track and the other in the
mirrors for overtaking cars that I didn't have time to
look at them anyway! The only tactic I could use to get
a consistent lap time was to try and drive flat out and
hope that the traffic didn't hold me up too much.
It is amazing how quickly 15 minutes can disappear when
you are out on the track. Before I knew it, the
chequered flag was out to signal the end of practice. I
was quite pleased with the practice times, being fairly
close to 84 seconds with a best of 82.5. The oil
pressure and water temperature gauges didn't change from
normal, unlike some of the other cars which had severe
overheating problems.
The Wolseley was a bit faster on 81.5 secs, but the
driver has been racing for many years (that's my excuse
anyway), the Chevy was much faster, 75 secs but boiling
at the end. The A35 was also boiling, but managed 83
secs. We then had to nominate our lap-times for the
trials. I was going to go for 84, but the A35 driver
said, "no, make it 83 because you'll get faster".
We had our first trial around 2:30pm in quite warm
conditions. Again we were led out in single file but
this time with the faster cars up front and the slower
ones behind. I was about the middle of the field of 40
cars. It was great fun, but as with practice, I had a
busy time keeping an eye on the traffic. I was greatly
pleased when the results were posted; I had come second
to the Wolseley! My boss in the Morris Oxford came third
(on a nominated lap time of 97 secs).
The official times were: 83.8 83.2 82.0 82.8
so the penalties were: 8 2 20 4 Total 34
(Double penalty for being too fast!!)
I should point out that only four laps are timed for Regularity,
we stayed out for 15 minutes so got in about 7 or 8 laps.
The rest of the racing was very interesting as well,
including the open-wheelers and the Appendix J cars. We
went home quite pleased with ourselves, winning a trophy
in our first event.
Sunday morning was a bit cloudy with some forecast of
showers. I wasn't too happy with that, as I have hardly
driven the car in the wet, and wouldn't have a clue on
how much slower my lap times would be. (You can change
your nominated lap time before each event). As it turned
out, no rain fell; in fact it was quite hot again.
Our event was the second of the day at 10:15. Again we
went out in order from fastest to slowest but strung out
in single file so the whole field was spread over a few
hundred metres. At one stage, an MGB came up behind me
and assuming he was faster, I let him through. He then
proceeded to hold me up so next time through Dunlop I
took him again. (remember it is not a race!!). I also
lapped my boss - but he was on his way back to the pits
with a run bearing.
On the last lap as I came around Dunlop, I heard a
strange noise and the steering was a bit funny - I
thought I had a flat tyre, so eased on the brakes to slow
down. The pedal jumped up and down then went straight to
the floor!
I slowed down in second on the grass verge and pulled up
at the marshall point. Smoke was pouring from the back
left wheel. I got a tow back to the pits and let it cool
down. I figured that the handbrake had been on slightly
and had overheated the drum and boiled the fluid.
The times were not as good as the previous day - 89.2,
89.4, 83.8. 86.8 for 172 points total and 4th place. The
handbrake sure was slowing me down!
Around this time John and Alf Casha arrived, but too late
to see me on the track. I let the car cool down and the
pedal seemed quite firm, so I decided to take it for a
test-run outside the circuit. As I got to the entrance
gate, the brake pedal went straight to the floor again!
I left it in first gear and crept down the hill to the
first car-park. After lugging tools from the pits I
started to investigate. Just then our President Doug
arrived. We took the wheel and drum off and as we did,
the brake linings fell out!! The bonding had melted.
The wheel cylinder was also chewed up a bit, particularly
the dust cover.
Well that was all the racing done for the day. To get
home was the next major challenge. Suggestions were made
about blocking off the hydraulic line with a rivet, nail,
ball-bearing or just bending the pipe over. We found a
nail in the toolbox and tried to get the pipe onto the
wheel cylinder. All we achieved was a buggered thread
which (luckily) we were able to fix with the help of a
tap set borrowed from another competitor (Lotus Cortina).
To cut a long story short, we finished up putting a worm-
drive hoseclip around the wheel cylinder to keep the
piston in. We were then able to bleed the brakes and
proceed home with brakes on three wheels.
Took it to my usual service station as I figured Joe would take
at least a week, and as it wasn't too specific a task.
They weren't too excited about the job, but said they'd
try. First problem was the wheel cylinder, where to get one?
Joe couldn't remember where he had got the others. Anyway
it was going to take a couple of days to get the parts so I
might as well keep driving it to the station.
All was well until I approached a set of traffic lights that
turned amber. Being a law-abiding citizen I hit the brakes
... a bit too hard ... I felt the clamp go and the pedal hit the floor.
Not too much of a drama, just keep going through the lights,
except I was now going down a fairly steep hill of 6-lane
main road. The only option was to go back to second gear and
peel off into a side street. Rounded the corner fairly quickly,
but without hitting anything. I was then able to get back to the
garage, slam it back to first (no synchro) and switch off the
engine to stop.
All is now repaired and all it took was a week and another $200.
Note to 'net readers ... these articles were written for the
Zephyr & Zodiac Owners Club newsletters, hence some loca
references. Hope you find them of interest.
paulr
_____ ___ ___ ___ _____ | Paul Rodenhuis
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| ___/ | |/_| |/_| |/ | |__/ |/ | paulr@pwd.nsw.gov.au (02)-372-7037 B
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