The Sylva Fury is perhaps the most beautiful of all Jeremy Phillips’ designs. I owned my Fury since new in 1996, and was terribly sad to see it go in 2018.

​My example was originally constructed in 1996 by Fisher Sportscars with a “Phoenix” nose, subsequently changed to the Fury Classic “big bulge” front end in 1998, when the car was fully rebuilt on a new chassis.

I gave it a light restoration in 2017, when the gearbox was rebuilt by Competition Transmission Services in Markyate and a new quick-shift fitted; the rear axle was rebuilt by Southern Axles in Watford with a new 3.77:1 CWP; and the chassis was rubbed down & repainted. Wide rear wheel arches were also fitted, the magnesium R500 split rim wheels were refurbished by Mike Barnby, and fitted with a new set of Avon ZZR tyres. Finally, all the rear suspension links were re-bushed.

The engine is the torquey Vauxhall/Cosworth XED “redtop”. It is dry-sumped, and fitted with QED rally cams, 2x Weber 45DCOE carburettors and MBE engine management. It was dyno tested by Novatech and produced 197bhp & 165lb ft. High 11 second ¼ mile times are predicted on the fresh rubber & new 3.77:1 diff ratio – it has gone low 12s on the old 3.89:1 axle ratio, which was shorter and needed an extra gear-change before the finish line. That works out at sub-4 second 0-60 times, and the top speed is 125mph. 

The car is fully prepared for racing, and eligible for the BARC Sport Specials Series, as well as Hillclimbs & Sprint events, track days or RWYB. The car is road registered and will come with a year’s MoT.

I competed in my Fury in the UK Street Racers drag racing series, finishing 3rd in the 4 cylinder class in 2003. It has also competed in the Jaguar Car Club Centurion Challenge, and the BARC Sport Specials series. It was featured in Cars & Car Conversions magazine when it was built in 1996, and starred in "The 0-60 Challenge" on Men & Motors TV in the early 2000s. It has been used as a road car from time to time, and been to France for road trips on a couple of occasions. All together it has covered around 25,000 miles.

Sylva Fury XE – Q128FLK
•Supplied and built by Fisher Sportscars in 1996
•New chassis & race preparation in 1998 by Aryliam Motorsport
•Light restoration in 2017 with freshly rebuilt gearbox, axle, rear suspension & wheels
•Featured in Cars & Car Conversions & Street Machine magazine
•Competed in UK Street Racer Series, Centurion Challenge, 0-60 Challenge, BARC Sport Specials

Chassis
•Spaceframe chassis by Fisher Sportscars
•Inboard rocker arm front suspension
•Front/Mid engine, with offset engine location for optimum weight  distribution
•Additional triangulation for strengthening of suspension mounting points throughout, and 5 link axle location by Aryliam Motorsport
•Full MSA roll cage
•Plumbed in fire extinguisher system
•Electrical cut out master switch
•Bodywork
•Lightweight fibreglass Fury Classic “big bulge”
•Black Gel Coat
•Wide rear wheel arches
•Aeroscreen

Drivetrain - Engine
•2 litre Vauxhall XED “redtop”
•2x Weber 45DCOE carburettors
•SBD Airbox
•SBD Carbon Spark Plug cover
•QED Cams
•QED Dry Sump system
•Bespoke exhaust headers with repackable silencer
•2x MBE Engine Management Systems
•Racelogic Pro Traction Control
•Dyno tested @ 197 bhp / 165 lb ft at Novatech, Slough

Drivetrain – Transmission
•Caterham 6-speed close ratio transmission
•Ratios: 1st 2.69:1, 2nd 2.01:1, 3rd 1.59:1, 4th 1.32:1, 5th 1.13:1, 6th 1:1, Final Drive 3.77:1
•Caterham Quickshift
•Paddle clutch
•Suspension & Brakes
•Dampers – Spax adjustable
•Cockpit-Adjustable brake bias valve
•Wilwood 4 pot front calipers, EBC brake pads
•Differential/axle – Ford English Plate LSD

Steering
•Caterham Ultra-Quick steering rack
•12” leather rim Mountney steering wheel

Fuel System
•Long-range tank, facet fuel pump

Interior
•Racetech gauges
•4 point harness
•Driver & Passenger seats

Wheels & Tyres
•Barnby Caterham R500 Magnesium split rims
•185/55 x 13 Avox ZZR
•215x55 x 13 Avon ZZR
•Plus KN Minilites with Avon CR500 wets

Performance
•12.4 @ 110 mph (on old 3.89:1 axle ratio - now has 3.77:1)
•Max Speed 125mph
•Overall mass circa 625 kgs

​The Veeteor LSR is my unique front/mid-engined self-designed V8 RWD sports racing car. 

It’s been my personal project since I started assembling the parts in 2004; I tested it with all its bodywork in place back in 2008. 

It has always been my ambition to design and build my own car, partly because that was what I dreamed of since I was a kid, and partly because I wanted to teach myself stuff about building cars that I had no opportunity to learn otherwise. As I've now achieved my goal, the urge to move on to the next project is nagging at me again and so the Veeteor LSR is for sale.  

So how did it come about? I’ve always had kit cars or modified cars, and back in around the year 2000 I was toying with the idea of dropping the new compact light aluminium block Chevrolet LS1 engine in to my Sylva Fury. But I couldn’t bear to cut up my Sylva, and when the finances fell into place I just had to do it, and set about designing my own sports car. 

A fan of circuit racing, drag racing, and top speed events like Bonneville, I wanted a car that could be competitive in all three of these disciplines, and could be road legal if I wanted it to be. I also wanted a platform that was strong enough to handle power upgrades without a problem. 

In the early 1990s, a Keith Black powered 4th gen Chevrolet Camaro ran 216 mph in a Car & Driver article that was known as a “Triple Threat” - a car capable of >1G cornering, 10 second ¼ mile, & 200mph+ top speed. I loved this concept of an all-rounder and that thought was in my mind when I was dreaming up the Veeteor. 

At first I imagined a sort of supersized 7, but instead of a bolt on cage I wanted the chassis and roll cage to be an integrated structure, to create an exceptionally strong platform. Like all the best hot rods, the Veeteor needed to use the best reasonably priced and readily available components, to create an affordable vehicle greater than the sum of its parts. To make the best use of your power you need lots of gear ratios and I’d seen the trend of the worlds fastest street cars combining an automatic transmission with a Gear Vendors overdrive to enable them to race while still having good on road manners. The GV units are based on the Laycock design, but are super strong and with electronic controls produce an inexpensive way of producing an 8 speed sequential gearbox. 

With my choice of engine/gearbox/overdrive in mind, I settled on a front/mid engine design due to the abundance of engines and gearboxes available, for safety, and also just because I like the layout! 

I commissioned Jon Webster of Webster Race Engineering to design and build the chassis, due to his experience as a draughtsman. Jon has built the UKs quickest & fastest street legal cars and he has piloted Top Fuel cars capable of 300 mph. At the time he was building an MG SVR for the Street Eliminator series, which eventually ran 8s in road legal trim. He had removed the independent rear suspension from the MG and replaced it with a 9” Ford axle to take the power, so a ready made rear suspension set up was available and sitting right there... 

We used a Caterham SV nose cone and bonnet as a template for the shape of the chassis, and based the chassis design around the rear suspension roll centres and taking into account the useable width of rear tyre (295) and then worked forward to design a bespoke front end. Jon constructed the chassis from high quality tubing certified for speeds up to 300mph. 

Once Jon had finished the chassis, of Aryliam Motorsport, a team specialising in Caterhams, Radicals, and vehicle development completed the fabrication & preparation. Knowing that the car would have a very high top speed, we steered away from 7-esque shape. 

I set about styling an aerodynamic body with a flat floor, starting off with sketches inspired by some of my favourite sports racing cars such as the Mallock P31, Panoz LMP1, and Lotus 2-11, and eventually produced a 3D clay model about 18” long.

Aryliam boss Clive Denham used that model and my sketches to produce a wooden buck, on top of which we infilled with foam, carving out the shape as we went, and then fillered over the top of the whole shape so that we could take a mould from it. 

Fibreglass Unique of Leeds produced a set of high quality moulds which are capable of producing many sets of bodywork. These moulds are available together with the right to produce more cars at additional cost. 

I tested the car without bodywork at Santa Pod and it ran an easy 11.42 second quarter mile, on tyres which by this time were already old. With the bodywork on, and with a lot of wheel spin, the car ran 11.9 @ 136.75 mph. It was also tested by Clive Denham at Bruntingthorpe proving ground who found it has excellent handling and ride, & with only two pedals drives like a big go kart! 

In 2019 I removed the bodywork and converted it to a seven-esque shape so that it would be easier for me to run the car on the road. I used Caterham SV nose cone and bonnet, a Caterham Levante scuttle, and custom rear bodywork with the help of ace Caterham race mechanic and fabricator Dave Keen. In this guise, the LSR has been renamed the LS-Seven; I sold the bodywork to MNR Sportscars for a project they are working on, so the LSR will be reborn with one of their chassis. 

by Paul Edwards 7th April, 2015

The majority of us will only ever take one ride in a Hearse. Hopefully it will be something with a little class.  No offence intended, but personally, I would rather not make my final trip in a dodgy cut and shut Granada estate, even if it has the Cosworth motor.

There are two obvious ways to ensure that the last ride won’t be the only one that you take in such a form of transportation. Either work for a funeral director – not a business that’s ever going to be short of customers – or buy one.

In 1984, I persuaded my then boss to do exactly that, purchase a ‘68 Daimler Majestic Major hearse, NCJ 700G, from a coachbuilder in Gerrards Cross.  As the company that my boss owned was a small engineering service company, it was, of course, an obvious addition to the fleet of Transits and diesel Pug vans that filled the yard. There was also my promise that I would buy the Majestic from him as soon as I could afford to do so. The £450.00 asking price was more than a month’s salary then, so we both knew that that might take a while.

At that time, the Thames Valley Trader was the weekly publication most pawed by men of all ages. Exchange & Mart had no photographs, and ‘Internet’ was a suggestion that at weekends you wore stockings. Alone.

Peter, the firm’s ace mechanic and myself went off to see the old lady and make the decision.  The body shop was a thing to behold. I would have been 19 years old then, listening to a lot of metal and punk, so a huge hangar full of Mason’s black wagons was a kind of heaven in itself. I recall being very taken with a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in box carrying form, truly beautiful, but more than a little beyond budget. I could have – and would have, stayed there all day watching the coachbuilders at work. Really, how many of us have the opportunity to see that craft in practise? Hand shaping panels and roof pieces; it was all rather beautiful.

The Majestic was in a corner, very dusty, but all there, with very few marks or dents visible. She fired up first time with a proper V8 rumble. Peter was happy that the 4 ½ litre mill would keep running and off we went.  I had never driven an automatic before then, let alone one with a column change that also happened to be 20 odd feet long.

Out onto the A40 and back towards Heathrow, our yard being in West Drayton. Prior to this day, I had always thought that the guys driving in black & white films had continually moved the steering wheel for effect, but it was now clear to me that that was the only way to keep pre 1970’s cars in a straight line – a prejudice based entirely on my first drive in the Majestic.

She was, however, very, very smooth – and surprisingly fast. Peter had told me to watch the shaky speedo needle – and eventually I actually did. The auto box changed up and down in that way that they only ever do when married to a fair sized V8 – and oh, that sound. 

So then, we arrived back in the yard to a round of applause. Until I could afford to buy it, NCJ 700G would be my company van – meaning that the firm would pick up most of the petrol bill. There was, of course, some ribbing to be done, I was just a kid at the time. It began happily enough - ‘no more driving it until it is clean’. 

Two hours later, she was gleaming inside and out, the older blokes on the crew having taken great delight in making me clean out the storage section under the coffin shelf. Oh, yes, they’re double-deckers, didn’t you know? Yes, I had to crawl into that space with a dustpan and brush. Never mind, that done, I took to gently waxing the acres of walnut veneer and furniture polishing (tut, tut) the leather on the massive bench seat – and the pall bearers single seats. Yes, I opened the bonnet. Yes, I cleaned everything that was visible there too. I stopped short of polishing the aluminium, well everything, but I gave the inner wings and all of the plastics a good going over.

So, then – she was gleaming. Gleaming, but not legal. As a working girl, she wasn’t required to hold an M.o.T. and with the weight there came a general fear that the Majestic might have to be plated, and that was never going to happen. Only one garage in Drayton had a pit rather than a ramp for M.o.T.s and Peter, whose gypsy family still had picking rights in the area, had fallen out with the owner over a scrap metal deal. I should perhaps explain picking rights. This means that certain people have the legal right to go onto Council tips and landfill sites to pick for metals and other valuables. It was uncommon even then, and almost certainly does not exist at all now. 

Peter told me to drive and he had a word with the owner when we got to the garage. That day I saw the fastest man alive. In the queue before the Majestic was a 60’s Mini. The bloke doing the test was already in the pit when the Mini was rolled over. He was checking the sub frames of course and then, as was still done in the early 80’s, he started prodding about with a screwdriver. Straight through the petrol tank it went, showering him and the roll-up sticking to his bottom lip in two-star. I didn’t actually see him move, I just became aware that he was standing next to me, shouting obscenities at the Mini’s owner while various brave souls pushed the thing back out into the street and left it cocking its leg against the kerb.  

The Majestic was going to cover the whole pit and the tester knew it. There wouldn’t be any way out from underneath should anything similar occur. He smoked another roll up and told me to bring it on. 

She failed of course, but only on steering, everything else was in perfect working order. Pit man told Peter how to sort it out and we drove back to the yard. Obviously, no plug in and play with your ECU here. Peter stripped down the steering and on the spot manufactured some shims and rubbers, tightened the lot up as much as he dared and a day later we were legal. And it was Friday.

The Feathers Public House in Rickmansworth is on a tight bend and adjacent to a walled 17th century graveyard. It was also my local. The Majestic was simply too long to fit into the car park, so I left her on the pavement, mostly in the road and went in for a pint. Audi Quattro? Forget about it. Porsche 911? So what. If you want some auto attention on a summer’s eve in Hertfordshire, turn up in, well, I’m sure you know by now - a hearse - and park it on the pavement near a slightly neglected church.

I did exactly that every night for a few weeks and, one Thursday, was summoned to the public bar by Percy, the landlord at that time. 

‘I've had a visit’, he started, ‘About the car’.

‘Oh, right,’ I answered, thinking that I was in for one of his legendary telling’s off, which occasionally ended in the too small car park, particularly if a punters actions had brought the completely unwelcome local constabulary onto the premises.

‘Who from?’ I continued.

‘From Peddle, the undertakers’ he explained.

‘Oh, right, what did they say?’

‘They said that they’ve had complaints, and think that they’ve lost business because the hearse is parked outside a pub every night of the week.’ He did not look at all pleased. Much of his trade came from other local businesses, particularly at lunch times.

‘Sorry,’ I started, ‘I’ll move it now and I’ll, err, park somewhere else, ok?’ I said, taking a slight step backward.

Taking me gently by the throat he spoke directly at me…

‘No, you won’t. What you’ll do is park it there, just where it is, every night until I say otherwise, is that clear?’

I nodded, quizzically.

‘I will not,’ Percy continued, ‘Have some jumped up arse in a black overcoat telling me what I can and can’t do in my pub. Oh, and you can leave it here tonight, put it in the entrance to the car park when everyone’s gone. Large Scotch?’

I was less a question than an order. I drank it, though and several others besides. The Majestic spent the night in the pub car park. I got home.  

During this time, I had a lot of fun with men my age who were driving – well, anything that they could afford – or that their parents would lend them. Traffic lights, one Majestic, one Capri/Chevette/Maestro whatever – and hey presto, leave ‘em in the dust.

The local Police soon got used to seeing the car late at night – and, knowing that I would be sober, stopped pulling me over for a laugh after a few months. I think for a couple of young officers, it became a bit of a ritual – at least, the older copper was always the same bloke.

Running costs were, of course, astronomical, but as I wasn’t paying for most of them, that didn’t bother me at all. The Majestic was very easy to drive, the power assist on steering and brakes was superb, and the turning circle was tiny, in comparison with many modern cars.

Reverse parking was therefore a doddle – even more so as the back window was the back of the car. Visibility – 360 degrees of perfect, naturally, well nearly, apart from the massive rear pillars. 

Fun factor? You’re kidding, right? 100%.

Wait for one of your mates to turn up dressed as a priest and cruise around. Pick up a hitch hiker. Simply park outside someone’s house.  Go to a supermarket. All of those things that you do in any car; it’s just more fun in a hearse. I never did buy the car from Maurice – and left the firm about a year later. I last saw NCJ 700G being backed into the workshop by Peter.  I knew that she was in good hands.

The Daimler DR450, Majestic Major, & Wilcox Limousines
by Chris Jenkins, Editor, RWD

After receiving this story from Paul, and realising I lived only a mile or so from Wilcox Limousines, I dropped in to visit them to see if they had any information about NCJ 700G. 

Wilcox Limousines was founded in 1948 by Bill and May Wilcox, having recognised the longevity inherent in this line of business. In those days it was possible to purchase a new chassis and take it to an established coach builder to have a Hearse body built onto it. Soon the franchise for Austin (Vanden Plas Princesses) was obtained and Bill started building his own hearses.

The business moved to it's current premises in Chalfont St. Peter in 1970, and this is where I met current owners, Paul Wilcox and his son Louis, who kindly treated me to a cuppa and a quick tour. Wilcox no longer build coach build cars in Chalfont St. Peter; their ultra modern production facility is now based in Wigan, having moved from Northampton in 2012. There they build up Limousines and Hearses from the latest model Jaguars and consequently have become experts with Aluminium. Wilcox tends to employ ex-Aston Martin engineers and artisans to do their interiors and panel beating by hand, as they still know how to coach build - sadly, a trade that is fading away. 

Louis Wilcox confirmed another fact from the story, that hearses are made as "double deckers" - in that they can conceal a second coffin below the one on display, which is for logistical reasons, as when visiting the morgue to collect bodies, often it is easier to pick up the two that they will be taking to be buried that day, instead of going back and forth to the morgue all the time. Some can in fact, take three bodies. 

The Daimler Majestic Major was name given to the passenger car variants, while the limousines and hearses were called DR450. Paul Wilcox recalled that the DR450 was made from steel and rotted, adding "it was very heavy, and they went very fast but didn’t stop!". 

It's 4.5 litre hemi-head V8 engine made 220bhp and 283 lb ft of torque. No wonder Paul Edwards found that his hearse left the line well! 0-60 for this 2 ton behemoth was “well under 11 seconds”, and it could reach 114 mph flat out. 

Paul Wilcox correctly pointed out that Daimler should have fitted this engine in the SP250 Dart, instead of the smaller 2.5 litre Hemi-headed V8 that it came with. Now that would have been some car, and indeed some people have had this very idea. Click here to hear one run. And click here to ride along in one. 

As a result, the DR450 with this hot rod of an engine was not the most popular hearse, as being made of steel it was heavy and drank fuel at a rate of 14.7 miles per gallon! As a result, the aluminium bodied Vanden Plas Princess hearses were far more popular with undertakers as they cost much less to run. 

NCJ 700G - the hearse Paul Edwards bought from Wilcox - was taken in part exchange, as Wilcox never built DR450’s themselves. It would have been built by a coachbuilder called Thomas Startin of Birmingham (now called Startin Motor group, no longer a hearse manufacturer); Startin’s were founded back in the 1840s as a horse drawn coach builder. 

About The Author
Born in Hertfordshire, England in 1964, Paul now lives and works in the rural county of Lincolnshire, where he is best known for the performance art play 'Finding Myself at the Door' and his various musical incarnations.

Presently available from Paul's library are two novels, 'Metropath' and the notoriously strange 'Beyond'; as well as several of his children's titles to include 'Jim's Castle' and 'The Lazy Robot'. Paul Edwards on Amazon

It is amazing how quickly time has passed but the Veeteor LSR was last run in anger at Santa Pod in 2008, where with its body fitted for the first time it ran 11.9s @ 136.75 mph, with rather a lot of wheel spin on 3 year old tyres...a year earlier without the body it went 11.42 @ 118.43 mph, so with some slicks it should easily be in the 10s. 

Since then it has been sadly rather neglected, but I have been inspired recently by seeing one of my fellow competitors from the old UK Street Racer Series "Monkeyboy" getting the bits for his Pro Street mk3 Cortina project together. Now that I can devote some time to it I finally pulled my finger out and made quite a long to do' list.  

Pulling the covers off, I found a box containing 3 pairs of rectangular aeroclips to join the bodywork together, so a straight forward job is to fit them on. Before I can do that I need to trim the bonnet edges to get the correct panel fit, and while I am at it I will cut out the hole in the bonnet scoop to allow air to be rammed into the intake. On close inspection there are lots of chips on edges of the body & wheel arches to fill so that the body is ready for paint. 


The wiring behind the gauges is a bit of a snakes nest, so I need to tidy that up; I need to make up a dashboard and dash-top cover, and also fit a cover for the B&M ratchet gearchange to finish the interior. The Stack dashboard needs a new piece of glass fitting, which has to be done at the factory for correct sealing.  

Then, when funds allow, it needs paint - I always planned on Ford Focus RS Mk1 blue, with black details, though the shade of blue that the old V10 BMW M5 came in would work just as well. The car needs a pair of exhaust silencers, and a torque converter stall speed tuned to the cars mass and power, which I will have done by none other than Penn Auto's Andy Frost. Should I fit the Fiat Grand Punto headlights on, the shape of which the bonnet was modelled around, and some rear lights? Hmmm...

As Robert Burns famously said, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" which pretty much sums up my attempt to go circuit racing last year! The small matter of getting made redundant put paid to my efforts in the 750 MC Sport Specials series, but I did manage to get the Sylva out one more time before winter set in. I couldn't resist taking the old beast along to Santa Pod for a RWYB and on a crisp Saturday last September I bolted on the eight and a half inch wide Avon slicks to see what it could do.  It had been a few years since I last visited the Pod as a driver, and the (admittedly shonky) bootlace I had used as an arm restraint for dozens of passes over the years was finally questioned by the marshall, just as I was about to make my first pass of the day. They let me go this time, but I have since acquired some proper Sparco items thanks to Santa Claus so won't run the risk of being turned back again. 

As I steered into the burnout box, I felt at home right away and was straight into the groove. A short burnout cleans the tyres, and then I moved into stage. Dial up 4,500 rpm, watch for the three yellows and go...0.17 second reaction time, and 1.85 second 60 foot. The car ripped crisply through the gears and amazingly, ran a 12.33s @ 109.64 mph, the best pass it's ever done, reaching 90 mph in under 8 seconds along the way. Surely an 11 is on the cards with a tenth or so off the 60 foot time? It is said that every tenth you save in the 60 foot translates to two tenths saved at the quarter mile mark. The best 60 foot I did in the Sylva was in the 1.7s, so not impossible. 

I came around again about 20 minutes later for another pass. Not a bad launch, but at around half track I felt the throttle pedal stick, rather like what happened at Brands Hatch, so cautiously completed the rest of the pass, and still managed at 12.68s @ 105.77 mph. Subsequent investigation found that one of the two throttle cables had snapped, and remaining one on it's own wasn't returning to the stop properly when the throttle was released. 

Such is the camaraderie of amateur motorsport, there is always a kind soul somewhere in the paddock willing to help out with a spare part...and sure enough, we managed to blag a grub screw and pull enough of the broken throttle cable through the linkage to make a temporary repair. Alas, on my next attempt as soon as I tried to get on the throttle properly the cable broke free again and I aborted the pass. 

A shiny new pair of Weber DCOE throttle cables were duly ordered and are now on the car ready for it's next outing, likely to be on 7th March 2015 at Santa Pod for the RWYB Dial In day. Will it crack the 11s for the first time? I can't wait to find out. 

750 Motor Club Sport Specials, Rounds 1 & 2 at Brands Hatch April 26th 2014

Pre-Race preparation

With 3 weeks to go before the race the last bit of preparation I had to do was to rebuild my Wilwood front brake calipers. With the help of the internet, I found a guide on how to rebuild them and ordered a set of new seals. The car had been parked up for about 5 years, having last been driven in about 2009, and in that time 7 of the 8 pistons had seized solid. With the help of a high pressure air-line (thanks to ARL Coachworks) and a block of wood I managed to cajole the seized pistons out and gave them a good clean before putting them back together again. Unfortunately, with my gleaming rebuilt calipers back on the car, the brakes still weren’t working. With a lot of day job work on and no spare time I had no choice but to send the car for professional surgery, and Motorvation in Sarratt kindly stepped in to help, finding that both master cylinders were also seized; they managed to rebuild one but had to replace the other.

While the car was with them, they also noticed that the position of the Fuel Pump on the back of the drivers seat bulkhead near the rear axle was such that the rubber fuel pipe was chafing on the axle as it moves up and down, so they repositioned the pump to a safer location, and also fixed the brake lights; the car was now ready to race. Unfortunately with 14 hours labour plus parts and collection, the bill has eaten into my racing budget somewhat, so I fear that it might be a rather short season…

Friday – Arrival at Brands Hatch

Having collected the trailer from Motorvation in the morning we loaded up and made our way to Brands Hatch while eagerly watching the weather forecast. After at least a week of lovely sunshine the outlook for race day was rain. They say if you race in England the one thing you can be certain of is that you will get wet! How very true. 

We arrived at Brands Hatch and set ourselves up in the paddock next to Paul Collingwood, who races a beautiful Sylva J15 powered by a 210bhp Honda Civic Type R motor, and sporting some aerodynamic tweaks front and rear. A few others had also arrived early to get some testing in – including Colin Benham last years champion in his purple Sylva Fury, and the lovely mid-engined Eclipse SM1s.

I still had one job left to do; fit a Tow Loop on the front on the car. Although I usually tow the car off the roll cage, when visiting the gravel trap a car can submerge when towed from a high point by marshalls vehicles and so the Blue Book Regulations now state that one must fit a tow eye or tow loop made from a contrasting material no higher than 18” off the ground.

We stayed at the Thistle Hotel by the entrance of Brands Hatch which was comfortable and our room had a great view of the track; it cost about £95 for a twin room.

While I was twittering away in the room I calculated that with a 1:1 6th gear and drag race 4.1:1 diff ratio the top speed of the Sylva at 7,000rpm is only 118.8mph! That won’t be too bad for Brands Hatch but at somewhere like Snetterton I will be on the limiter nearly everywhere…and in the wet it will be quite a handful, especially on the ancient Avon CR500s that have been on the car since about 2005…

Qualifying

After an early morning Driver Briefing I took the car to scrutineering in the rain. Pit crew in the shape of John & Cristian Callero arrived and helped out with an umbrella. All went well…apart from the issue of the towing loop. Although the one I fitted to the front of the car yesterday was fine (and made it look like it was sticking it’s tongue out), I hadn’t fitted one to the rear. I had checked with 750MC officials and also other competitors who had passed scrutineering without one, but the blue book rules does mention tow loop in plural. So a quick dash back into the paddock and I made one up out of an old harness I brought with me just in case. Phew.

On to qualifying – having not driven the car at anything other than low manoeuvring speed with no brakes for 5 years, it was to be a baptism of fire to drive the car again in wet & slippery qualifying conditions at Brands Hatch with a competitive 32 car field. But all I had to do was to complete at least 3 laps to qualify, and ideally, not crash into anything or make an arse of myself. Somehow I knew I wouldn’t get near the 47s laps that I can run in GT6 in the dry, or sub 50s in full wet conditions in a virtual Caterham with the same power to weight ratio as my real world Sylva.

The short gearing was quite an eye opener; I hadn’t thought that Druids hairpin was a 4th or 5th gear bend until now, and I was getting wheelspin in 5th and 6th gears coming out of Graham Hill Bend and onto the Cooper Straight. Good fun, but not fast. Surtees in GT6 is easily flat out but in the real world I was braking hard and teetering through the corner at what felt like walking speed!

The other thing that simulators like GT6 can’t replicate (yet) is the wet steamed up visor; I had to open it up and peer through an inch high slot. This wasn’t ideal as through the slot came grit and dust from other cars which went straight into the eyes; Another thing you don’t get in computer games!! So qualifying was more like survival and in only 13 laps while avoiding spinners and front runners I never got close to a consistent rhythm, and so all I managed was a shockingly slow 1m16s and 27th on the grid out of 32 cars. But no death. 

Race 1

Thankfully, by late morning the sun had poked out from behind the clouds and it turned into a lovely spring day. Off to the holding area at the far end of the pits and we were allocated a waiting position as per our grid slot. As I was waiting someone pointed out that one of my rear tyres was a bit flat, but my pit crew rushed to the rescue with a foot pump. Cheers Paul! We were then sent out on to the track and straight to our grid positions, with no warm up lap. The 5 minute board was hung out, then about 10 seconds later the 2  minute board came out another 10 seconds later the 30 second board, brain says “better get ready”, and suddenly the red lights are on. Revs up, watch the lights and go!!!!

I make a good start but the car in front gets rather too much wheelspin and slews sideways. I am wheelspinning but hooked up – but there is nowhere to go as there are three cars abreast right in front of me and we are now heading for Paddock Hill. Out the corner of my left eye I see some tyre smoke and a Westfield is suddenly coming across the track at a jaunty angle – how the pack missed him I do not know. He spins all the way down the hill and into the gravel – out at the first corner of the first race. How annoying I think to myself, as the cars behind including me have to slow right down to avoid a crash.

As far as I am concerned, I am here just to enjoy myself, try and learn the car, and not crash or die. I know the car is old and not competitive, but it is still fast. Once again I am learning the circuit from scratch as it’s now dry and memories of where to brake from GT6 are more relevant than what I learned from wet practice. I have to drive the car by ear as none of the instruments seem to be working other than the ammeter and I recall delighting in the awesome rasp as I run up through the gears on the Cooper straight.

I am still hugely slow into Surtees, and find myself in a dice with a pair of MX500s. They are much quicker in the corners, but out of Clearways/Clarke Curve and onto the Brabham Straight the Sylva shows it is still no slouch in a straight line and I pull away enough on the straights to keep them behind and indeed, open up a modest gap.

I spend the next few laps keeping out of the way of the front runners as they lap us down the back of the field but then with about 5 laps to go the throttle sticks open as I come off the gas at the end of the Brabham "straight", scary to say the least! I brake early for Paddock Hill and take a wide line but am forced to brake early for every bend or else retire. “No way” I thought, “I have nursed home sick cars so many times on the road, just do it again”! Going downhill from Druids and approaching Graham Hill bend in 5th gear the car feels particularly hard to stop which distracts from concentrating on taking the ideal line. The two MX500s catch me at the start of the last lap and being wounded and at the wrong end of the field there is no point in fighting so I let them past, and finish the race a car length behind them in 26th place.

On the cooling down lap the engine is now idling at about 4,000rpm and so I just trickle it along in 6th gear and pull into the parc ferme where even after switching it off and pulling the battery cut out switch it runs on for at least 10 seconds as so much fuel has dumped itself into the hot cylinders. Fortunately I get it to start again and can drive over the weighbridge where with me on board the car comes in at a lardy 735kgs. Most other cars are around 650kgs with driver on board, the quickest nearer 600kgs with driver; the Vauxhall Twin Cam while being a lovely torquey unit has an iron block while the leading cars nowadays have all alloy engines of at least 15 years newer design and a far more race oriented chassis construction. I have to remember that my Sylva Fury is an 18 year old road car that has only just been pulled out of the garage and driven in anger for the first time in 5 years, on 9 year old tyres!

Back to the pits and a mild panic between races to get the car fixed. I find that one of the two throttle cables has come out of its runner in the linkage, so at first think I have found the problem, but it seems that the spring is also a bit sticky and not returning smartly as it should. Not much more I can do at this point so I lubricate it and leave it at that. I go to start it to see if it will now idle but – nothing. A few more tries and the big Webers flood the engine; so I take the spark plugs out and allow them to dry off while the engine cools down. We pick up the time sheets, and it is no surprise to see that my best lap is a very slow 1m00.1s, miles off the fastest in my class who are in the 52s. Time for some lunch, and to get some photos from around the paddock.

Race 1 Result
1st Paul Boyd, Eclipse SM1
2nd Clive Hudson, Eclipse SM1
3rd Edward Ives, Eilte Pulse
4th Paul Collingwood, Sylva J15
5th Stuart Fenton, Tiger RS6

Race 2

I see the others from my class start making their way to the collection area, and nervously I start the Sylva up. It fires! No time to waste, I go straight over to the collection area, and park up in my spot hoping that it will fire up again when we are called to the grid. It still feels like it is idling a bit too fast, but not like before. No time to worry about that now.

As in Race 1, and with no mention of this in either driver briefing, there is no warm up lap and we go straight to our grid slots. I watch for the inaccurate time boards, and then the red lights…revs up to around 5,000 and this time I make a great start, passing around 6 cars before Paddock Hill corner on the inside line.

I manage to run a better pace at the start and can feel I am getting on the power a little earlier out of each corner on each lap, but am still finding myself braking very cautiously early into corners in case the throttle sticks again. I just can’t stop my foot doing it! To add to the distractions the old Caterham 6 speed gearbox my car runs keeps popping out of 4th gear which I use at Paddock Hill, Druids, and Surtees, and I keep finding the car is coasting just as I am getting back on the power; aside from upsetting the cars balance it loses vital seconds until I realise what has happened, find another gear and get going again.

About halfway through the race and the leaders having just lapped me, Paul Collingwood running in 4th position half spins in front of me at Druids on some oil but makes a great save from being fully 90 degrees to the track; I duck through on the inside but being a lap down and a Sylva fan I don’t want to slow him up and wave him back past to chase the leaders before we get to Graham Hill Bend.

A lap or two later and I see Colin Benham’s Sylva with the right rear wheel at an angle that some would say is “stanced” but is actually “broken” – he pulls off and I later find out that another car had tapped the left rear of his car into a spin and then assaulted his right rear and broke the upright.

Every lap seemed to be action packed as I am either avoiding a spinner, letting leaders past, or nursing the car in some way; with no pit signals I had no idea what lap I was on. Suddenly the chequered flag was out again and I ripped it through the gears one last time and crossed the line to the symphony that a 100bhp/litre normally aspirated 4 cylinder on Webers makes; I finish 23rd out of 29 starters, up 4 places from my grid position. 

Race 2 Result
1st Clive Hudson, Eclipse SM1
2nd Paul Boyd, Eclipse SM1
3rd Edward Ives, Elite Pulse
4th Paul Collingwood, Sylva J15
5th Stuart Fenton, Tiger RS6

The second race was much more enjoyable than the first and my best lap this time was a 59.49s. Compared to the other cars in Class C I figure that I am losing at least a second at Paddock Hill, another second at Surtees, half a second at Druids, Graham Hill, and Clearways for >3.5 seconds per lap which I can put down to driving around the throttle and gearchange problems; perhaps a little more time can be attributed to the fact my car is 20% heavier than the competition and the design is now simply outclassed by newer mid-engined cars with vastly better aero such as the Eclipse SM1, Sylva J15, and FRS Arrow. All the quick Fury’s have front splitters, rear Gurney flaps, and diffusers nowadays too which tell you something – they work. With these issues / excuses aside, I ought to have be running in the 54s or 55s, which is fast enough to be competitive if not on the podium, so I think my next outing on track will be not be until after I sort out the sticky throttle linkage and get some serious practice in to get myself familiar with and confident in the car, and perhaps also after I have made some aerodynamic changes. The slippery slope of development starts here!

D-Day. Dyno Day. The day we find out exactly what power and torque this old stager puts out. 

Why? Well the regulations for the 750 Motor Club Sport Specials championship demands that I have the power and mass independently certified, so today with a good weather forecast on our side, I took the Fury to Novatech in Slough to be put on their corner weight scales, and to make a few dyno-pulls.

The day didn't start well, as after half an hour of trying to get it to start it barely spluttered into life, running on 1 or 2 cylinders at best, and so had to be pushed onto the trailer. And that was after I managed to gash my head on the garage rafters!!! So with blood pouring from my head we made our way over to Novatech and hoped for the best...but as any bad mechanic knows that you have to cut yourself before you finish a job! 

After we unloaded the car from the trailer and wheeled the car into Novatechs shiny new premises at Ipswich Road in Slough, Bernie and Andy quickly pulled the spark plugs to check for condition and a spark, cleaned & dried them off, then took their time to understand the wiring loom and how it routes to the MBE ignition from the coil pack. Having confirmed that all seemed to be in order, Andy hooked up a good battery and Bernie fired her up. Now running on at least 3 cylinders, Andy checked the exhaust temperatures with a laser guided gauge and found number three cylinder was still quite cool and so not firing; a quick tweak with a screwdriver to the carburettor idle mixture screw and suddenly the engine started to run on all 4 cylinders. 

After carefully positioning the car on the lift, Bernie lowered the car down on to the corner weight scales, and it turns out that my Sylva is a bit of a fat boy - 655 kilos with a full (endurance sized) tank of fuel. I reckon there must be over 50 litres in there so my estimate of 620 seems about right, but shows how heavy that old Vauxhall/Cosworth XE is compared to a more modern 4 pot. Fury's with a K Series weigh in at about 525kilos and those with a Motorbike lump are well under 500. Only a Pinto is more of a boat anchor, but I must remember that the XE was the class of it's day, but that day is now nearly 20 years ago! 

Next up - the dyno test. As you might have read in my previous blog posts, I had done some calculations based on actual drag race time slips and figured out that it must only make (a rather weedy) 165bhp at the rear wheels, equivalent to about 200bhp at the flywheel. 

The engine is a lightly modified Vauxhall Cosworth XE "red top" - 2 litres in capacity, normal aspiration via 2 Weber 45 DCOE carburettors; SBD dry sump lubrication, and SBD airbox; QED cams of unknown profile; a hand built exhaust manifold with Caterham R500 silencer; and stock bottom end. In the road cars such as the Astra GTE or Calibra 16v with fuel injection these engines made 156bhp at the flywheel. 

Bernie fired the Sylva up and made the first of several dyno pulls. It sounded really crisp as he ran it through the gears, and with a strong flapping from the carbs it sounded torquey as he accelerated from around 3000rpm up to the rev limiter. We had trouble reading rpm from the electronic rev counter so obviously still a few gremlins in the system but plugged in a laptop to the MBE ignition and used a timing light to determine actual rpm. 

Spitting flames from the exhaust with a snap, crackle, and pop as Bernie backed off the gas, the dyno pull proved that the car was making 179lb ft torque @5,000 rpm and 197.9 flywheel bhp @7,000rpm (164.7bhp at the rear wheels). So my calculations were pretty much spot on...and even having sat in storage for several years this is still a 100bhp / litre carburettored engine. So power to mass ratio with fuel but without driver stands at 306bhp/ton or 267bhp / ton with driver. In metric that is 302bhp/tonne static or 263 bhp/tonne with driver; to put this perspective this sort of power to weight ratio is on a par with a Porsche 997 GT3. An oil change along with new oil filter and air filter will do the world of good and might release the last couple of horses to reach the 200 mark.

With so much weight to drag around the car is hardly going to be a front runner in the 750MC SS championship, but it will certainly be a lot of fun to drive. Here's looking forward to Brands Hatch at the end of April! 


Massive thanks to Paul for his tow car skills, time, and for the ride in his awesome 30th Anniversary 4th Gen Camaro SS this morning! 

The next stage in my preparation for racing activities in 2014 is to ensure that my car and myself are up to the safety standards required to be eligible to race. 

Having recently passed my ARDS test, and to complete the application for the MSA National B racing licence, I have to get the sign off from my doctor that I can see, my heart isn't about to give up, and that my arms and legs work. So tomorrow I am off to the my local doctors for a racing medical, which should take about 20 minutes and will cost £60. 

On the car front, I have bought a transponder, which is a neat little electronic device that sends a signal to the circuits timing systems, and allows them to record your laps and work out who has come where in a race. Supplied by MyLaps, the Flex" transponder I bought comes with a 1 year subscription and mounting bracket, at a cost of around £140 including VAT delivered to my door. The system comes with easy to use software 

Other safety items I need to install to meet the championship regulations are a fully plumbed in 2.25 litre Fire Extinguisher, and a new safety harness, both sourced from Rally Design. My existing fire extinguisher is only a hand held item, but the new one can be operated with a remote pull handle, and will discharge into both the cockpit and engine bay simultaneously. This cost £99.50 plus VAT.

Safety harnesses have an expiry date to avoid deterioration in the webbing, and my existing harness had expired. So I had to invest in a new TRS 4 point harness with aircraft style release latch, costing £84.50. 

I will fit both the harness and fire extinguisher to the car over the weekend so more pics to follow; all that will be left is to make sure that all the lights work and then I can book the car in for a dyno test, as I also need to confirm power output.

Once the car is ready to go I will have to decide whether or not to enter the 750 Sport Specials, or a new BARC Front Engined Open Sportscar series, which has rather more open regulations than the 750MC SS and is aimed at producing a face off between a bunch of lairy Caterhams and Westfields. Hmm....