Stotfold Mill report

Thanks Martin! An excellent report - the Crossley ran perfectly on the Thursday at home, then proceeded to fool around all weekend including a 30 degree retard of the timing due to an inaccurate taper on a previous repair. Two manual trips of the Wico EK mag left me with a sore shoulder the first time from holding the plug lead, and with a nasty ringing in my ears the second (flooded with the exhaust valve open!) - Martin stop fiddling ;-) After that I gave up, particularly for the 5 minutes it did run it sank up to its flywheels in the mud.

A case of lack of triumph over adversity, though we did get the better of the weather in the end.

Regards

Dan

Hi Martin, you are taking me back 25 Years when we had a lot of very wet years in Lancashire. I remember one rally on the Leyland test track when we were 9" deep in water all over. Another nearby show took 2 tractors to pull my car & caravan off the site. The car was sliding on the floor the mud was so deep. We have it very easy these days.

I've got to say that it's nice to hear from people that know how to enjoy themselves ;o))

Regards,

Kim Siddorn,

Not wishing to either preach to the converted or critisise a tractor driver who I have never met,I am always nervous about being towed by such things. I was at a classic car hill climb some years ago when it rained. sure enough, a lot of cars had to be towed out of the field. The local farmers wife arrived in a tractor with a chain on the back. Her technique was to reverse up to a stuck vehicle, attach the chain and drive forward. The resulting snatch damaged a number of nice cars. Since then, I tie my own tow rope to my car and attach whatever the tractor is using to the other end. My rope acts as a weak link and will break before my car does. This is particularly important if the car has a trailer or caravan on the back as the extra drag and inertia only makes the snatch worse. The classic weekend saw 2 tons of Mk2 Jaguar arrive with caravan. He drove into the field and sank after about 20 yds. The people got out and spent some time pushing and unhitching the van. The car ended up at right angles to the field track, well planted and going nowhere. My offer to tow him out was warmly accepted untill he asked what vehicle I had. A Mini says I. The look of "here's a joker" came over his face. Not detered I got the Min, skirted around his car and parked on the road. I then took my 100 ft tow rope from the boot and tied it to his tow ball. The problem was that the rope was at right angles to his car. "No problem", I told him Eengage reverse and rotate the rear wheels to break traction. I will then pull the back of your car sideways and around and continue to pull it out". I was reminded that a Jaguar weighs over 2 tons but since mine was the only option, he may as well try it. The thing that impressed him afterwards was that the Min not only did what was promissed but continued to accelerate said Jaguar as it dragged it through the mud. That earned me a friend for the weekend and the driver a lot of mickey taking from the Jaguar Drivers club. Deceptive things Mini's when they have big bore engines tuned for torque.

John

Sounds like our lovely Welsh weather, Martin.

An old friend came to visit on Sunday and between the showers we dragged out a couple of engines and started them for his entertainment (and mine). Neither engine got back in the shed without a passing shower giving it a good wetting!

Enjoyed the photos, glad I missed loading up Dan's Crossley :-).

Regards, Arthur G

Loading Dan's Crossley was part of the fun :-)) Dan as regards the the ringing sound, that was Stotfold Bell Ringers practising and its not my fault that some silly sod had the HT lead in his hand when I flicked the Mag is it :-))

Martin P

Further Pics at

The Crossley is now a

9cwt sulking mass in the shed awaiting a mag transplant. A mag shock does appear to be a swift cure for lethargy and hangovers!

Cheers

Dan