Monday, 8th July 2019
PARIS

We made it to Paris! Arrived here yesterday afternoon about 2.30pm. It took us ages to get to the Place Vendome as the traffic was awful and it was hot so a few of the rally cars had overheating problems. A large crowd gathered in the square and it was great to see family and friends at the finishing line as we drove through the arch.

Since our last post we drove from Russia into Finland. Such a contrast. Neat and tidy houses, productive farmland (houses and barns all seemed to be painted in mission brown). Tractors on the roads.  Lots of trees. Speed limits enforced. A member of the Finnish Alfa Club met us at the hotel in Helsinki and we purchased a few spare parts in case we needed them. Large crowd of classic car fans surrounded the rally cars and asked lots of questions. Most spoke English.
From Helsinki we took the ferry (about 2 hours) across to Tallinn, Estonia. The ferry had the largest shopping area we have ever seen on a ferry.

Then it was on to Riga, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. There was a rush to purchase some Polish currency (zloty) as the previous three countries are EU.
After 3 days in Poland we reached Wolfsburg, Germany. Another interesting contrast as the people in Germany do not wave or cheer as we go by.

Reached Ypres, Belgium on Saturday after having time to see the Tyne Cot cemetery, Polygon Wood etc. The beautifully kept cemetery was a moving experience. So many young men fell here in the Great War and lovingly remembered though many were not identified.
Ypres is a lovely city which was flattened in the war and rebuilt to its original plan. At 8pm every night the Last Post is played by the buglers at the Menin Gate. Not a sound from the large crowd, another moving experience.

From Ypres we set off, without any time controls, heading for Paris (about 280kms). Handed in the Time Card for the last time.

Since St Petersburg there has been a side competition for the European Cup where the winner had the least penalties on the tracks and circuits. Some days there were two or three tests. There was a lot of rivalry between cars with a similar capacity (ie Alfa, Peugot) . Phil drove like a possessed demon which put us into 7th place overall so good result.

Thursday 27th June
St Petersburg, Russia
REST DAY

Arrived here late yesterday after a quick lap around a circuit about 35km from here. Most of the drivers are enjoying the track tests which makes a change from some long transit stages. It has been intense driving as there are so many Russian trucks on the roads which makes passing difficult. At one place a few days ago the line of trucks was so long it was taking over an hour to make the right hand turn. Timing has been very tight and we've had to be on the go the whole time. Many were late in last night as the traffic was so bad.
We passed kilometre after kilometre of birch, fir and pine forests. Houses in the countryside are still built of timber and have decorative window architraves.

We are staying in the State Complex, Palace of Congresses. Apart from the hotel it has secure "cottages" where visiting dignitaries are accommodated. It has airline type security. We are in an eight bedroom house, where the bedrooms are suites. Soviet decor and comfortable. There is a kitchen downstairs and the bathroom floor is heated.
Unfortunately the complex is a considerable distance from the city centre so had to take taxis downtown which took 40-60 minutes. It's a very large city and its heritage has been preserved. No Astana like skyscrapers here. The old buildings are beautiful lining the canals and river. Lots of tourists and the queues to the Hermitage and Winter Palace were long.

Yesterday the car developed a vibration which appeared to be a loose bolt on the sump guard which has now been tightened. Checked the plugs, brake pads which were all good.

Tomorrow we head to our fifth country, Finland.

repairs after suspension collapse

dragon at Great Wall start

entering Erenhot China

Navigator in her office

road obstacle

Ghengis Khan Monument

crowds at morning start

choose best track

catch up photos

broken suspension

tying to straighten sump guard, it later took a 40 ton press

rough track

tyre breaking rocks

"snow leopard" and team

broken axle carrier

after welding and strengthening

differential and axle carrier being reinstalled

Ladies in their gin tent

local costumes

half of a diff

UFA, Russia, Saturday 22nd June 2019
REST DAY
A misnomer if ever there was one...the car park is full of cars up on jacks, wheels off, bonnets up as everyone tries to effect repairs. We came into the city of Ufa about 4pm yesterday afternoon, unloaded our luggage and went straight to a workshop. About 5 other cars there as well. Here we replaced a lower ball joint, replaced 3 tie rod ends, tightened the drop arm on the steering box by way of a shim under the nut. We also cobbled together a new shock absorber lower mount using bolts, spacers and sleeves. The sleeves came from a length of steel tube which happened to be in our tool box. We also grabbed a pair of tyres which had come off the BMW as they had a full new set delivered and were throwing out the old ones. After hammering the dried mud from inside the wheels which had dried like concrete these new used tyres were fitted and a full wheel alignment carried out. We are particularly grateful to the crew of the Alfa Spider who provided the lower ball joint and 2 of the tie rod ends. We got back to the hotel at 9pm, just in time for dinner but satisfied that the car is ready to go again on Sunday morning.

Since our last post we have spent four nights in Kazakhstan, having our last camping night  at Balkhashino where it seems all the local residents invaded the camp site wanting to talk and take photos. Our final camp called for a celebration so Bill & Kathy rigged up a canopy to their Mercedes which was dubbed the gin & tonic tent. BYO chairs and drink.

coffee table gin and scotch

Throughout Kazakhstan it has been the same. People gather to see the cars and families bring their children. The car parks are so full of people looking, talking, photographing that anyone trying to do car repairs has a difficult job as people want to talk or help or ask questions.
Our first night in Kazakhstan was at Pavlodar then on to Astana the next night. Astana has changed its name to Nur Sultan and is an amazing city. Whilst the rest of the country is sparsely populated and seems very poor, Astana is a big city with ultra modern buildings. We didn't see much of this city as there was a torrential downpour just after we arrived. Our final night in Kazakhstan was at Kostanay.
A lot of the houses are built from logs as we passed vast forests of pollarded trees. Much of the land is uncultivated and apart from wheat didn't see any crops growing, yet we have had ample fruit and vegetables throughout. Next day we crossed back again into Russia and on to Bannoe Lake. The resort at the lake is set among silver birch trees with accommodation in two storey buildings. Lots of  Russian families on holidays there.

We had some interesting competitive stages in Kazakhstan, timed sections on narrow tracks across paddocks. One shocking test was through a muddy section where cars slip slided their way through. Our car at the finish was a lovely shade of brown, in fact from the side it looked like a cardboard cut out. Some helpful locals were at the end of the stage with watering cans, buckets of water to get the worst of the mud off.

Back in Russia we've had a couple of track tests where there is a minimum and a maximum time. Our times on these have been respectable.

camping gin tent in blue

Novosibersk, Friday 14th June
On Wednesday on a gravel road, we broke the differential housing and waited four and a half hours for a tray truck to transport us to Novosibersk, missing two and a half days of the rally. We arrived here at 3am, having been driven through the night. The truck dropped us at a workshop and we took a Uber to the hotel about 4am. The truck driver stopped for dinner at a spotless place which simply looked like a two storey house. No English and we managed to get a delicious meal of chicken soup, chicken & potatoes, baked bread & coffee for a total of $25.
At 7.30 am we went back to the workshop and the car was assessed by a mechanic. The whole rear axle assembly was removed, the broken side removed and welded. It was reassembled and put back in the car. Many other items were attended to, such as the sump guard which took a 40 tonne press to straighten, headlights reattached, engine mount replaced and sundry small jobs. Achim, the mechanic was excellent with great work.
We've accumulated huge penalties because of the missed controls but better to have the car repaired and now concentrating on getting the car to Paris.
The roads in Mongolia were diabolical with huge gullies, ruts, bumps etc, very hard on the cars so a large attrition rate. We survived the camping in Mongolia and some of the camps were in spectacular places, beside lakes or running streams. The camps were set up with temporary shower blocks, toilets and a mess tent. The food was excellent and plenty of vegetarian options.
The people in this part of Russia are very friendly and helpful, a vast contrast to the people of Mongolia. Border crossings to date have been slow and bureaucratic, particularly the one from Mongolia to Russia. With a long line of 60 cars waiting to cross, the entire crossing shut down whilst the staff walked out for lunch.
Leading up to the Mongolian border the shocker mount broke. At the border we removed the shock absorber and continued on to the day's end camp not realising that the remaining part of the mount had worked loose, allowing suspension to be hanging on one bolt. That bolt broke as we turned off the main road into the camp where cabins were provided. We suspected something was wrong as the car was pulling to the left for the last 100 kms. Turning off the main road we hit a bump and the single remaining bolt broke and the front left wheel folded under the car as that side's suspension collapsed.
Passing locals jumped out of their cars and took control. Using jacks & some of our tools had us on 4 wheels again by way of a temporary bolt and a hammered in tapered pin.This was adequate to get us the last few hundred meters to the camp, where we worked until late to effect repairs. A couple of the helpers were working on the conservation of the snow leopard as very few remain in Russia. They were providing entertainment for local children so had one of the troupe dressed in a snow leopard suit. Quite a site with a snow leopard helping to do car repair by the side of the road.
The Russian side was closed for a holiday on Tuesday and 4 cars were unable to cross so had to stay in Mongolia for another day.
Lots of animals wander across the roads here and in Mongolia: horses, sheep, cows and goats.
The villages in Mongolia were like compounds with fencing all around. The colourful colorbond roofs stood out, bright shades of orange, aqua, blues and yellows.
The dust from the roads seeps into everything in the car, including us, and we arrive at the end of the day looking like vagabonds.
Internet service has been hit & miss, and the rally very intense so very little time to blog.
Tomorrow is a rest day before we head to Kazakhstan on Sunday.
The Russians are extremely particular about taking US dollars, anything old looking, creased, marked etc is rejected. Every note is examined twice and we've had a few rejected at the bank today.
Having had five blowouts in 3 days due to bad advice received about installing tubes in tyres, we are off tomorrow to have the remaining tubes removed and to obtain some cast-off tyres from another Australian competitor who has had new tyres flown in. Along the way we have purchased 3 tyres of varying quality, mainly second-hand. It will be good to be back on 4 good tyres with one good spare as we have driven the last 3 days with no spare whatsoever. We are also attempting to obtain another rim as we destroyed a rim in Mongolia.

In Ulaanbaatar. Part two

having technical issues so continued here.

We bent a wheel and had a flat tyre yesterday day 4.
Destroyed our tyre so we bashed the wheel straight(er) and purchased a new “similar sized” tyre from a yokohama tyre shop today.

Also fabricated new shock absorber rubbers and fitted those..  Tidied up the car and did a few other repairs and now ready to go tomorrow.

For photos and organisers reports visit. www.endurorally.com.  There is a photo of us on either day3 or day 4, can,t remember which.
No time so far to add our own photos but maybe at next rest day.

Now into email blackout for next fed days.
We are well and looking forward to next desert stages.

In Ulaan bataatar

Following day two we have been in  camp on day three and now in UB last night, end of day 4
Day  3 from Erenhot in China was spent mainly at the border, exiting China not too bad, entering Mongolia a complete and utter shambles, more than three hours to be processed. The people engaged by the Organisers were useless
Heavy snow meant our original route to that nights camp was flooded so we spent more time congregated whilst a new partial route was found and we were convoyed in groups to a point on our original route. After leaving the hotel at 7am we arrived at camp around 6ish, heavy wind and a melted shock absorber rubber which phil replaced whilst Laurette and friends erected our tent
The shocker rubber disintergrated and we banged our way along for the last hour into camp not knowing what the problem was.

Next day was a late strt with several timed speed sections of up to 70 kms on sometimes smooth gravel at 125 kmh and the ditches and many rocky section we had to crawl over at low speed.  We flew through the first section and would have had no penalty but for confusion at the start line where other cars were jumping the queue and we think we left around 30 seconds after we should have.

The next stage we did easily, the Alfa going well.  We use our headphone intercoms on these stages as the engine is revving hard, around 4 to 5000rpm most of the time and rocks and gravel hit the underside of the floor.  Very loud.

The next stage, both of our GPS units went blank at the same time and we got lost, driving over a dried lake bed to rejoin the road. Eventually found our way.

Arrived at UB and parked up. Good dinner at the hotel, at 11 pm last night 15 cars had not arrived.
One car rolled several times after hitting a ditch at high speed. Parts of the car were found 150 meters away.  Only a broken arm and concussion we hear.

The organisation and timing has been a shambles and a real dissapointment and despite being in 14 th place, we believe we should be closer to the top 10.

On our way, end of day two.

Yesterday we started at the great wall, dancing dragons, musicians etc
A long day left the hotel at 6.00 am and got to the evening finish at 7.00 pm.  One car crashed on the short hillclimb speed test so it was cancelled for the rest of the classic cars we didn’t get to do it.

Today was much shorter including a circuit dash on a dusty rough paddock, around the flags. We did 2 min 33 seconds which was 23 seconds slower than the fastest cars, but quicker than a lot

Our good friends the Gills in the 73, mercedes had a crash today when a taxi pulled out in front of them on a dual carriageway. They do this here, simply join the road without looking. We have all had to take avoidance action at one time or another.  We reckon the Gills, who are now back in Hohot, will get the Merc going again within 24 hours and rejoin the rally. The driving standards here are appalling.

A short report and no photos today and we will probably be out of contact now for a few days

Tonight in Erenhot. A much easier day today.

Phil had a stomach bug all yesterday and is recovering today, hopefully now got some immunity.

There are probably half a dozen cars with problems so hope they can keep going.
Another team pulled out at the end of the first day. Probably a bit more than they expected.

Off to dinner shortly so all for now

Will post this whilst connection is working

Ready to go

Saturday

After breakfast we went out to the carpark and saw that the queue for scrutineering ( checking for our safety equipment and vehicle eligibility ) was still quite lengthy so we repacked the car as all tools and spares had to be in boxes for shipping and we have lots of places in corners where bits and pieces go.

We then wandered off to try and find both Gin and Tonic for the desert camping nights in Mongolia. We had looked extensively in the preceding days and found Gin but not Tonic.  This time we went into a coffee shop for coffee and spotted Tonic in their display case. Bought 6 small cans, making sure the staff did not open them for consumption on the premises.

By the time we returned to the hotel the queue was short so we joined it and a little while later were checked and signed off.

We then signed on at rally HQ in the hotel foyer and are now ready to go

Collecting the cars and a lesson on driving laws in China

On Thursday, we had a lecture from the senior traffic officer in Beijing, via an interpreter, as to how we should drive in the PRC.  This very informative lecture included advice such as determining which side of the steering wheel was on, being prepared to brake at green lights, and no sliding down hills.  Also, casual lane changing was prohibited.  The people who would have benefited most are the other thousands of drivers on Chinese roads.

Friday morning having been given such valuable advice yesterday, we were able to collect or Chinese driving licenses and a number plate for the car.  When Laurette checked details on our number plate we discovered that we had been given someone else’s number plate. We quickly tracked down the other team and exchanged plates

Later that day we were bussed out to a warehouse an hour or so from the hotel to collect the cars.
The fuel tanks had been drained in Melbourne so that they held only a couple of litres, or in our case it appears that the engine had been left to idle for several hours to reduce the fuel load which resulted in fouled plugs.

After removing and cleaning each plug Avanti started and unlike some others made it to the nearest fuel station to fill up. Quite a few cars ran out of petrol or sputtered into the filling station on fumes.

After a drive back to the Hotel we parked up and left scrutineering for Saturday due to the queue of cars already waiting.   That night we had cocktails on the lawn and then dinner in the dining room.

A Sunday reflection with one week to go

Today being Sunday means that we have 7 days until the start of the event.
The packing is completed and we are ready to fly to Beijing.

Tomorrow we fly to Beijing and have a couple of spare days before the pre event activities begin

Thursday we have the Chinese Police briefing on “how to drive in China”, and where they lecture us on abiding by the local driving laws. We will see how that allows us to survive on the crowded roads.

Friday we collect cars and commence scrutineering and signing on. We also collect our Chinese driving licenses and number plates, having now been advised of how to drive.  Welcome cocktails and dinner follow that night.

Saturday we have paperwork and a competitor briefing from the ERA officials.

Sunday we are off to the Great Wall for the official flag off and start.

Two weeks till the start

So,  sitting at home this morning in Melbourne we note that it is only 2 weeks, 14 days or half a month until we drive off from the Great Wall to start the 14,000 km journey to Paris.  Final packing is taking place in the household, clothes are packed and then some are unpacked and discarded as surplus to requirements.  

There are plenty of clothes, objects, “things” and equipment that might be useful but with weight and space at a premium we decide on only what we believe will be essential and will in fact be used or worn.  The quantity of electronic goods and associated bits and bobs we travel with is astounding.

Prince Borghese of course knew nothing of these things and whilst he may have benefitted from them, he made it without them. He had no need of a vacuum flask and water heater and I am reliably assured that he did not travel with a Sat phone, vehicle tracker, laptop, ipad or digital camera and dash cam and probably had no need of various charging outlets and the accompanying octopus of cables.

In closing today, the start is nearing after 3 years of preparation and planning and in a week or so we shall be in Beijing going through the pre start formalities.

Further posts to follow, censorship in China and connections in Mongolia permitting.

Off to the shippers

Finally after lots of work and effort, Avanti was driven out to Secon Logistics on Thursday 21 March for shipping to Beijing.


I can do no more work on the car so that is that for now!

We must thank Richard Anderson of Avanti Spares who has helped all the way with preparation, advice and spares.

Also we need to thank our mate from the Morgan club, Jon Bate who has worked most Tuesdays at our factory, assisting and helping out with lots of the work completed.

Advice has also been helpful from Peter Ffrench, Nigel Tait, and Con.  These knowledgeable car people are sometime denizens and lurkers at the Elfin Heritage Center in Moorabbin where a regular Wednesday lunch invariably turns into show and tell or a problem solving session. 

I should also mention Charlie and Sam at "The Italian Job" near my factory in Oakleigh who have provided expert help.   

Thanks to All

Dust Sealing

Our prior driving on gravel and dirt showed that were still getting some dust into the interior.
I discovered that a disc jockey "smoke machine" could be bought for under $40.00 so purchased a unit along with the liquid which is turned into smoke, glycerine and water.

It only takes 5 seconds to fill the cabin with "smoke" and the smoke can then be seen wisping ( or pouring ) out of any badly sealed areas.   With the help of my Morgan mate Jon Bate, we managed to plug up many penetrations where dust could enter.

Not on fire!!!! just testing for leaks in door and boot seals.

Fitting of Rally Tyres

Following the dirt training, we took Avanti over to Stuckey Tyres for the fitting of 6 new Pirelli
P Zero K4 rally tyres.   These had not been fitted earlier for two reasons.  The first reason was that learning to drive the car on gravel with normal radials will allow it to let go at lower speeds and when the rally tyres are fitted it will have greater grip than I am used to.   The second and main reason was that with 14,000 kms to cover on Peking to Paris they had to be saved for as long as possible.

Whilst Avanti was having tyres fitted, I took the time to inspect the Land Crab in their foyer.  this car competed in many rallies including the same "1993 London to Sydney Marathon" as Avanti did.

I imagine that is fairly rare that two cars which competed in the same rally 26 years ago would be under the same roof by coincidence.

Gravel Practice

Gravel practice at the Ballarat Light Car Club

A few weeks ago we attended the BLCC driver training day where instructors sit next to the driver and show the way to drive fast and advise on car control on gravel surfaces.

The track is a km or so in length and witches hats are put out to keep drivers from cutting corners etc.  We first walked the track and were shown turn in and braking points.

My instructors for this session were Darren Watkins and Ben McKee, two very experienced rally drivers.

This first picture shows the rear squat under acceleration which is required in order to get power onto the ground. This indicates good rear suspension set up.

A good dust trail

Some of the many witches hats around the circuit, these survived, many did not!!

During the afternoon my times came down but there is still a long way to go on car control at speed on gravel.  It was a good chance though to find out the limits and characteristics of Avanti on loose gravel.

As Peking to Paris includes many dirt / gravel stages this is most useful to me.

Thanks to all at the Ballarat Light Car Club.

Tarmac test day at Winton Raceway

In order to get a feel for how Avanti handles on tarmac, I entered the "Test & Tune" day on a recent Friday.  you pay your entry fee and drive what you bring.  The field is divided into 3 classes with each class getting quite a few 20 min track sessions.  All untimed, no racing each other.

My class was road registered cars and few others such as GTR XU1 Torana's, Corvettes and Mustangs.   Certainly the only car there with driving lights, mud flaps and fairly worn rally tyres, therefore the slowest car on the track.  Spent more time looking in mirror than through the windscreen.

Had 3 x sessions where I learned how well it brakes and has fairly neutral handling.  tendency to oversteer with no weight in the boot.  A bit hard to really tell with the car on crook tyres and not set up to rally weight.

With only a few weeks to shipping date....................

Rule 1 for the day was.....DO NOT break the car
Rule 2 for the day was.....DO NOT break the car.
Rule 3 was.......................Learn as much as possible for future track events on P2P.
Rule 4 for the day was.....DO NOT break the car.

Apologies for poor quality video but it had to be reduced in size

So, after 3 track sessions I quit while I was ahead ( refer particularly rules 1, 2 & 4 ) and we headed back home.

Testing on dirt roads

A few days trying out the cars on dirt

Our friends from Adelaide, Bill and Kathy Gill had organised a few days away in the Wimmera where they, Phil and Lyndy Blunden and ourselves could try out the cars on some rough, dirt, sandy and otherwise roads which will be hopefully similar to what we will see on P2P.


The Gills are competing in a 330 Mercedes whilst Blundens are in a venerable EH Holden.


We all met at Nhill caravan park on a Friday late afternoon.   We chose to practice camping in our new tent whilst the others opted for cabins.

We were the first to arrive with beer and wine waiting in our salubrious plastic ice bucket.

Next day we drove through the Big Desert and spent the night at Balranald.  On the way we drove through sand as well as some moderately rough dirt roads.   The cars ( apart from the Merc ) had quite a lot of dust inside by day's end.

The following day we drove through Mungo National Park - very dry and quite hot

The three P2P cars at Mungo Nat Park

All of this was whilst following a complex waypoint route put together by Bill.

That night we were again back in Balranald, Yes, us camping and the others in their cabins!!

We learned a lot about unpaved roads, driving in sand, camping and also about the need for more dustproofing of the Alfa.

Many thanks to Bill

Further works for Peking to Paris ( P2P)

Lots of work has been carried out over the last few weeks

Engine
Considering that we had a fairly old 9:1 compression engine which does not have a particularly modern ( efficient) combustion chamber, the decision was made to reduce the compression to 8.25:1 given the low quality fuel which MAY be encountered en route.

Laurette and I drove the Alfa back up to Brisbane to the Avanti workshop where Richard with the assistance of John Spencer, a former QLD Rally Champion rebuilt the engine with lower compression pistons.   As Richard stated, this was somewhat uncharted territory as everyone goes for more compression and there was little info around as how to LOWER the ratio.

Richard machined around 1mm from the piston crowns and they were then ceramic coated.
The engine work was carried with my assistance / interference as they both showed me how to carry out many tasks such as setting cam shafts, valve clearances etc etc.

The head was also given an overhaul with new inlet valves and full valve grind
I also saw the special inlet tubes which create faster airflow for mid range torque

Steering
Whilst the engine was out, the gearbox was given a new rear seal, a new clutch master cylinder was installed as was the new billet steering box which Richard had inported and assembled.  Alfa 105's have a problem with the old cast aluminium steering boxes now being aged and many have cracked housings.  we did not want to set off with a possibly dodgy steering box so this was considered a good move to have a totally new solid housing.


Front Shock Absorbers 
When we went to fit the front shock absorbers at auto One, see previous post, the fronts were too tight a fit in the existing top mounts as built into the car in 1993.  Again, with no engine in the way it was a day or so's work to cut out the old upper supports and fabricate and weld in new items.  this was done by a friend of Richards who spent a hot day in the engine bay

Many other items were checked over and my education continued in the care and maintenance of the Alfa.  Time very well spent as i now know lots more about how everything works and what to look for to avoid or fix any problems.

After 5 days we set off home again with a virtually new motor. 
Having driven around 9,500 kms now on both engines, I am not able to tell the difference in power between and oldish 9:1 engine vs the new 8.25 unit.  However we are all now confident that detonation inside the combustion chambers will not be an issue to worry about.

As the car had been most recently used for tarmac rally events such as Targa Tasmania and Classic Adelaide, it was sitting on tarmac road springs giving a fairly low and stiff ride, not what we wanted for P2P where ground clearance and supple suspension is required for at least the first half of the event through Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan.

The shock absorbers were also a bit tired and of a type not allowed on our event as the rears had separate canisters for oil.   Whilst we were still in Brisbane, Richard asked his good friend Murray Coote to manufacture a set of custom shockers to suit the Alfa and the rally.  Murray is familiar with the car and has won his class driving it in Classic Adelaide.  he is also a former Australian Rally Champion and runs MCA Suspension, making world class competition shock absorbers.

https://mcasuspension.com/

Those shock absorbers were manufactured and shipped down to Auto Projects Performance and restoration in Ballarat where Tom Bilston spent a day with me fitting gravel coil springs and the new MCA shockers.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Auto-Projects-Performance-Restoration/281813312359872

The new ride height gives around 160 mm ground clearance under the sump guard, far more than we have ever had when rallying in the Puce Goose, '69 Plus 8 Morgan.   We look forward to rallying with respectable clearance for a change.