WEEK EIGHTEEN

Monday, 17th March

Jim’s on holiday for a week. (sensible man)

It’s 6 AM Monday morning. Pav and Gary are in early to fit the reconditioned air brake valves to the Kenworth, ready for a booked 11.00 AM MOT. Only trouble is Securicor lost the one of a kind reconditioned foot valve which did/nt turn up Saturday AM. All the best laid plans still go wrong if you rely on a parcel carrier. We decide to take the trailer to meet the test time, bring an ERF tractor unit booked for test Friday forward for today to take the trailer with and hopefully the valve will turn up sometime to test the Kenworth by it’self Friday !! All that work out of the window !!

To round the morning off, by 8 AM a road motor breaks down with a rear air brake chamber gone in Tewkesbury on a new sensitive contract, on trial. So by 8.30 AM I am completely stressed right out, needing therapy to cope with Monday AM, let alone all week. I’m off in the car to collect a new chamber from the main agent in Oxford for the road motor stranded in Tewkesbury by 9.00 AM - while Gary is getting his tools ready for the roadside assistance morning we hadn’t planned, while Pav finished washing and coupling up my old ERF tractor and race trailer for a quick getaway to test at 10.00 AM when I get back, with the chamber and do a hand over to Gary. Who’s champing at the bit to get to Tewkesbury in record time.

These are the times I’m glad I’ve got my fast response Mercedes E55 V8 350hp family road car, for minimum time on the roads around Oxfordshire, when in a hurry.

When I get to the test station half an hour late, I get huffed at for being late. So we all get off to a good start. Well todays modern truck MOT testers never fail to amaze me. With all the moving parts on a 5 axle outfit that worked efficiently, they still failed both the unit and trailer to get re-test fees from me, to wind me up a bit more for the rest of the day. How about this then - the nearside headlight aim of the tractor was just a bit too low (not too high!) and one mudflap was ½ inch too narrow to the tyre tread width. (Remind me not to go out on the public highway if it’s dark or raining!!)

There you go - my faith in modern MOT’s confirmed - not advised or anything helpful like that - failed !!

You’ve got to come back with both tractor and trailer after 5 minutes work back at base to rectify as if I’ve got nothing else to do all week !! Can’t wait to take the Kenworth on Friday to see them all again.

When I got back to the yard Ben checked I didn’t have a yellow coat wrapped round a Ministry man still hanging by his collar from the rear ramps of the transporter, giving him a ride round in the country at high speed by his neck, as a bit of a pay back !!

Anyway, back to the race truck. We’re waiting for crucial parts like the mounting rubbers for the rad, the fuel tank to return from Sheffield, all the electrical bits for the cab, as well as special fabricated parts made at Cherry’s machine shop, and the electrician to wire up the engine management system so "Rolling Thunder" will actually start and run in a fortnight !!

The cab is off again on it’s stands after the interior paint job with colour to match the chassis. But there’s still enough for the boys to keep busy while they’re waiting.

Water tanks go on. Intercooler trunking pipes to manufacture and fit which they hit a snag. The direction of intercooler to inlet manifold is all wrong. We would have to use a higher degree of bend than we are happy with to couple it together, so stop, remove inlet manifold, cut and shut it with a friendly local alloy welder called "Winny" to make the angle much more friendly, for 5 bar air boost pressure to arrive at the valves in a swept hurry !!

The turbo’s on, with the manifold re-seated and faced for minimum loss of exhaust gas and power.

It’s much easier to see and work on these parts without the cab on in the way.

Parts vans just keep arriving on a ½ hour basis. The electrics for the cab and chassis, the air brake valves and pipes and various other weird looking things have arrived together with front shock absorber brackets, and hand made parts from the machine shop. When I think of what we’ve spent on parts this week it’s similar to a complete 4 year old road truck in just a few boxes on the workshop floor !!

This new race truck is going over budget on a daily basis. I just hope I pick up a decent sponsor soon to help with it all !!

Meanwhile the foot valve has turned up 3 days late for the Kenworth, so Gary should be able to spend Wednesday and Thursday getting her ready for D - day (Friday)

It’s now Wednesday and I’m off to the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC, Birmingham with my portfolio and video, to meet the Managing Director of ERF Trucks to discuss the possibilities of marketing opportunities for his brand. Wish me luck !! I’m looking for backing to run "Rolling Thunder" on the track !!

Ben and Pav are flat out putting the race truck together , still making what they can’t buy - the cab’s going back on for the last time Wednesday PM. (photos next week)

Nearly the end of week 18 (Weds) The magician didn’t show up so I’m now looking for an illusionist !!