The car is back from Full On Fabrications with the roll cage complete. Well it's been back a couple of weeks or more to be honest but as ever time is short and work gets in the way. It just needed the seat frame fabricating and one tube welding in to take the harness at the right height to feed it through the slots in the seat, which I have done myself. The welding isn't half as nice looking as James Heselton has achieved on the main roll cage, but I'd happily hang my hat on it.
I had taken last Sunday until this Saturday as leave from work, originally to go away with the family for Easter, but that fell through so I had time on my hands - time to crack on with the car then. after all the season start deadline is long past. Unfortunately on Saturday I came down with the great Granddaddy of all man flu's which has knock me for twelve.
Today however the eye bolts arrived for the harness, so I thought I'd just fit that in. I was feeling up to that at least. A word of thanks at this point to Luke Sparrow of Sparrows Recovery at Brough. Sparrows are one of a number of recovery agents I come across regularly in my day job, and it was whilst chatting to Luke I discovered he does a little Autocross racing. More importantly, I discovered that due to different rules he has to change race harnesses regularly as they are date expired under AutoCross regulations, but are still fine for Autograss. Worth knowing, as he had a couple of harnesses lying around surplus to requirements which I was able to grab gratis. Anyhow, as ever things are not simple - the offside strap is no problem, the eyebolt screws in the existing seatbelt position. The nearside for some reason is a different thread size, so I need a different eyebolt. There is nowhere to screw the crotch strap eyebolt so I'll either have to weld it to the seat frame mount (whcih in turn is welded to the floor and frame) or I'll have to weld a anchor plate with the screw mount into the floor. The rear shoulder straps meanwhile are of the wrap around the rollcage type, and as my rollcage has no suitable tube it's either weld a new tube in, or weld a short tube to some angle iron and bolt it into the rear seatbelt mounts - which is probably my favourite idea. The shoulder straps would then fix around that. Should satisfy the scrutineers.
Faced with nothing more I could do on that for now, I figured that even with my head spinning and losing my balance from an inner ear infection I ought to be able to paint, I set about making things look pretty. When I say pretty, that is to a certain value of pretty. I see many autograss cars that people must have spent many hours and much money on with beautiful paint jobs only for them to be trashed first time out. And I have noted that the shiny mirror flecked paint does not make them go any faster. With that in mind my plan is black hammerite for the interior and a simple plan to paint the exterior using a roller. Looks are not at the top of my agenda, ease and convenience of repair is. The rollcage is now looking good in black hammerite, as is the drivers floor area - but then I ran out of paint. The rest will get done ion due course.
Exterior wise I have gone for "Toolstation Blue" for the main body with roof and detailing in "Toolstation White." Some motorsport disciplines make novices paint the roof a specific colour - i.e white, but this is not the reason I have done it. The colour schemes for Autograss are entirely open, provided they are not deemed offensive. No there is a personal historical reason, plus of course aesthetically it looks good.
Back in the early 1990's when the Berlin Wall came down a friend of a friend of my sisters boyfriend at the time rescued a Wartburg Knight from a fate worse than death - well death at least and brought it to England. Originally mustard coloured many panels had been replaced with spare dull red coloured parts when it came into the possession of sisters boyfriend, who planned on making a three wheeler out of it. Always a sucker for the word and unusual, I bought it for £80 and saved it from a fate worse than three wheels. I ran it for two years until it succumbed to my yearning for an American car, and it was sold on. But in the meantime I had painted it (with a roller) blue, with a white roof and with a little thin pink heartbeat pinstripe down the side. If you lived in Hull in the early nineties you may remember it. It was certainly unforgettable, smoking around in it's little cloud of two stroke. Anyhow the racer will be a tribute to that little Wartburg.
The car now also has a name - Dennis, which was my late fathers name. Dad used to tell an anecdote: He served with the RAF in Germany in the late 50's and early 60's. Whilst out driving on one of their challenging mountain roads in his Borgward Isabella estate car he was giving a flashy Italian sports model a good run for it's money, and when he eventually stopped to allow the Borgward to cool down he was approached by the wealthy owner of the sports model who offered him a trial as a racing driver with a professional racing team. He apparently declined as with a young family to support and motor racing being much more dangerous in those days he did not want to pursue such a risky career - he remained a fast driver though as I recall from my young childhood, and he later mellowed and became a professional driving instructor, passing on those skills to many. I dismissed his anecdote as one of his many tale tales - until after his death two years ago, when amongst his treasured possessions I came across a photograph of him with the Borgward, and a mystery gentleman in an early Ferrari in the background. It doesn't look like Enzo Ferrari himself, but could have been one of the many drivers who worked for him - or maybe just a punter in a flashy car, but it might lend a little credence to what I always thought was one of dads Tall Tales. Either way, in honour of dad, the car will henceforth be known as Dennis the Datsun.
The body needs another coat of paint before I can finish off with stickers and the race numbers, but S99Y "Dennis" should be ready for action very soon - pictures to follow.
