the life of rolie

[Pombellett]

And lastly, my two personal favourites, for obvious reasons.

Behind Mr Theo Paphitis, with some way to go.

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And ahead....

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[Pombellett]

A bit of news for those Rolie fans out there....we tested the other day with our new Webers, and as the dyno results suggested, although they look cool and sound great, they've made little difference.

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What has made a difference though is our new GT box....this has closed the ratios up beautifully, and I'm now changing up into the rev sweet spot in all gears...it feels, and sounds, much more like a racing car now.
We shall now aim at a race at Castle Combe and/or Thruxton this summer...will keep you posted.

Mark

[Glenn]

A bit of news for those Rolie fans out there....we tested the other day with our new Webers, and as the dyno results suggested, although they look cool and sound great, they've made little difference.

weber.JPG

What has made a difference though is our new GT box....this has closed the ratios up beautifully, and I'm now changing up into the rev sweet spot in all gears...it feels, and sounds, much more like a racing car now.
We shall now aim at a race at Castle Combe and/or Thruxton this summer...will keep you posted.

Mark

Mark, did you also use the GT shifter? Any Pics inside ?

glenn

[Pombellett]

Glen, the GT box was adapted to a Sedan floorshift and a modified gear lever with the help of Tom Amos.
Sadly the box is buried under the car now, so I can't get a pic of it, I'll try and remember next time the engine is out!

Mark

[Glenn]

Glen, the GT box was adapted to a Sedan floorshift and a modified gear lever with the help of Tom Amos.
Sadly the box is buried under the car now, so I can't get a pic of it, I'll try and remember next time the engine is out!

Mark

Hi Mark, thats fine.... I was going to do a similar thing, fit a sedan lever to a 5 speed DOHC g'box for another project. But it didn't happen. PR91 gave me a shifter out of a local "Gemini" gearbox which apparently fits the 5spd box and the lever can be adapted to it. Probably a bit different to a GT box though.

If you do think of taking a picture or two in the future, I am sure others may be interested also. But I hope you don't actually need to remove it for a long time !

glenn

[PR91]

Standard Gemini quadrant box and shifter goes straight onto a twin cam box. Brings the stick out of the standard hole in the floor.
Vice versa with a twin cam remote shifter onto a Gemini box. Goes into a GT floor.
My Wasp is twin cam box and Gemini shift.
Race car is Gemini box with twin can shift.

[Glenn]

Standard Gemini quadrant box and shifter goes straight onto a twin cam box. Brings the stick out of the standard hole in the floor.
Vice versa with a twin cam remote shifter onto a Gemini box. Goes into a GT floor.
My Wasp is twin cam box and Gemini shift.
Race car is Gemini box with twin can shift.

Thanks for clarifying that Brett. I measured both sticks and they are near enough identical in length also. ie Bellett and Gemini.

[PR91]

But for the noobs reading this, Bellett and Gemini are not interchangable, but in sedan and GT.... Like just about everything else between the 2.

[Glenn]

But for the noobs reading this, Bellett and Gemini are not interchangable, but in sedan and GT.... Like just about everything else between the 2.

you do of course mean the gearboxes...........

[Nappe1]

Small world indeed Dave...but I wouldn't like to paint it, so they say.
It's really pleasing to know the car's development is being followed by one of it's earliest owners.

With regards to the next stage, we're looking to re-fettle the current SOHC engine for next season, but in the longer term we're going to push to get the car recognised by the FIA in it's present form...discs, twin carbs and the like, (we will obviously have to go back to the push rod engine)

This is going to be difficult as there appears to be a lack of homologation papers showing any form of racing spec...but we have plans, watch this space.

I know this is a old post but AND that the other finns have been very much in touch with, so you probably have these already, but for just in case...
The PR20 Group 2 Homologation papers can be found from Finnish Isuzu Owners Club web pages:
http://www.isuzuownersclub.com/fi/index.php?fid=10

The first line with all 3 links is the one, if you are up to Pre-1965 Rally or Touring Cars.

[Pombellett]

Cheers Nap, although I have seen these papers, plus others, none refer to the Sports Kit components and the PR20 model.
So, with our FIA technically incorrect (but very Belletty) Bellett we'll carry on raising eyebrows in the Historic Racing world.

Next stop, a circuit called Castle Combe....it's a lesser known circuit, which before it had a couple of chicanes plonked in, was really quick (much like Goodwood) it's still pretty quick as the chicanes are fairly well thought out.....but the real interest is the size of the grid....look at it, what a whopper!

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Should get a race somewhere in there shouldn't I?

[Dick]

Wow, Theo Paphitis is there too. And is that Chris Rea in the police Minor also a celebrity?
Don' t forget to aim and start your video cam, so we can enjoy the race too!
Gr Dick

[Pombellett]

Hi Dick....hope you're well.

Yeah, my old nemesis Mr Paphitis.....I'll try not to get so cosy with him this time....he brings back painful memories to my wallet.

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And yes indeed....that is THE Chris Rea, of 'Road to Hell' fame....he's been an enthusiastic club racer with the HRDC for a few years now, and a good bloke as well.

[Nappe1]

Next stop, a circuit called Castle Combe....it's a lesser known circuit, which before it had a couple of chicanes plonked in, was really quick (much like Goodwood) it's still pretty quick as the chicanes are fairly well thought out.....but the real interest is the size of the grid....look at it, what a whopper!

Should get a race somewhere in there shouldn't I?

Castle Combe might be lesser known, but every british GT / Prototype racing fan does recognize it as the place where Mini Marcos won it's first race ever in september 1965 by lapping everyone else except 2nd placed Ginetta G4.

Interesting grid... It seems that Finns are more strict about FIA Historic classification as there's no way you could run 1965 Imp in TC63 class here. But same goes for the OHC powered PR20... Another interesting point is the last car of the list... Is it really 1965 GTA or perhaps replica? only 523 examples of GTA variation of Giulia Sprint GT were made (someone could ask, how it was eglible in Group 2, as 1000 examples was needed for homologation in 1965.... but that's another story. ) and first GTAs ran in latter half of 1965 season (at least in ETCC) so as being hand built variation by Autodelta team, probably not that many came out before 1966.

There's some differencies between national car clubs about how they intepret the rules obviously. Maybe it is due finns being very competitive no matter what series they ran and that's why we need more strict rules to prevent some late 1960's group 5 replicas (like Cortina with Cosworth FVA...) crushing the opposition in historic racing / rallying by too big margin.

And yes, that grid has huge variety of cars, which should get plenty of racing no matter what car you drive.

[Pombellett]

Not just the Finns Nap....I think your compatriot Ari summed our situation up well....he said "Brits got their own rules".
Basically, most championships are run as a club, and as long as the championship doesn't go overseas, the club co-ordinator sets his own rules, and decides who's in and who's out.
The key wording in our club's manifesto is something like "the cars should be prepared 'in the spirit of' Appendix K"....in other words: don't turn up with a Garrett Turbo bolted onto your 1963 push rod engine or Cortina with a Cozzie!!...because you'll only do it once.
As long as the system's not abused, it works well, and can throw up these enormous and varied grids.

With regards to the GTA, I don't know whether this one's real or not....but I do know they are currently the 'weapon of choice' of the super rich historic racer, and consequently they are being 'discovered' nearly everywhere.

[Pombellett]

Well, Rolie fans, I can report a success from Castle Combe.
On a hot Saturday morning we parked up next to my old mate Borgward Gav, who was sharing his Alfa with Cresta Chris in the same race as us.

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Considering we had forty two cars on track, qualifying was pretty well behaved with only one red flag. I managed to get myself in a half decent slot after the restart and put in a lap that got me twentieth on the grid...
....In the race, I got the world's worst start, and crept a little, and as I checked the creep the lights went out...coupled with the fact I haven't learnt how to get the car off the line yet using the Webers....the field just drove away from me.
It wasn't long before I was in amongst it again.

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It was the first time I'd raced against a whole bunch of the super speedy little Austin A30 and 35s, and I can't imaging being able to have more fun on a race track....you'll see what I mean when I've edited the in-car footage.
This was a 45 minute race for two drivers technically....because of the huge entry, I was shunted into this race at the last minute, and didn't have enough time to organise a second driver...I still had to perform a pit stop..

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I spent another 20 minutes scrapping with the A35s, before coming home Class winner.

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This sets us up nicely for a race at the famously fast Thruxton circuit in late September.

[redback]

Well done Mark - I can't wait to see the video now after your recount of the race.

[Glenn]

Mark, you may be interested to see a famous A40 built and raced in his very early days by the legendary Peter Brock here of touring car fame in Australia. (sadly, Peter was killed in a Rally accident some years ago)

This one is a replica of the original car, and features a 179Cu Inch Holden (GM) in-line 6, as did the original. Set almost amid-ship. It was a giant killer of the period.

[Pombellett]

Glen, what a wonderful looking missile, I'd love to have a run in that. Built in the days when sex was safe and motorsport was dangerous.
Have a look at this Redback.....when I pulled up to the grid, I suddenly thought that some of you guys have followed Rolie's progress right from Greg's shed to the Revival, and know the car better than most folk here in the UK......
.....and one of those guys was my old Marina loving mate Yellow Peril....hence the slightly sentimental squawking before the lights went out (it's funny what adrenaline can do)

https://youtu.be/FZ4EC8i7BQk

See if you can watch this without your toes curling at my appalling start.

[Asroc66]

Hi M
You have her sounding really sweet.....revving beautifully with that Weber drawl
Cheers
J