Al and Andy Go Wild - Part 5 - Farther than The Proclaimers...

Alan O'Donovan September 3, 2019

OK, so we are not walking but we are doing more than 500 miles.

If you were wondering how far we are travelling on the rally here is a rough idea. If we ONLY went directly to the hotels we are staying at, starting from St Omer it would be over 2250km or about 1400 miles! So with sightseeing, daily challenges, getting lost and detours it is likely to be closer to 3000km or about 1865 miles. We will also be travelling from Prague to the Nurburgring on the Saturday to have a few days rest, another 700km or so or 435 miles.

We will try and keep a note of how many miles we do, starting from Sunday at the start of the rally in St. Omer.

Al and Andy Go Wild - Part 4 - A word from our sponsors

Alan O'Donovan August 30, 2019

As well as those that have helped us along the way, we have had several sponsors in the last few weeks and it is only right that we give them a mention.

Peppermint Panda make unique gifts and one of those gifts is made using Lego mini figures - ideal for our theme! Having met the owners at an event I mentioned our rally and that I would be putting in an order soon, not long after our meeting they said they would like to give us the item for free. So we have a bespoke Batman and Joker framed image, as you can see in the photos below.

Another of our sponsors is the Wessex Car Club, both myself and Andy are members and in fact met through the club.

During the mechanical preparations Andy was able to use the facilities of Triton Motorsport, based at Hurn Airport, so a big thanks to those guys.

A recent donation came from Dynomite Motorcycles of Boscombe.

As mentioned in a previous post Bex White of Bex Airbrushing donated her time and talents to decorating the car, it will certainly get us noticed!

The car itself was purchased for us by Vape of Good Hope in Christchurch.

And of course Countzero Photography is also a sponsor!

Links below

https://peppermintpanda.co.uk/

http://www.wessexcarclub.com/

http://www.tritonmotorsport.com/

http://www.dynomite.co.uk/

https://www.bexairbrushing.co.uk/

http://vapeofgoodhope.com/

Al and Andy Go Wild - Part 3 - The Transformation

Alan O'Donovan June 6, 2019

So, in my last instalment I promised to reveal the design for our banger Saab.

It’s fair to say it’s a work in progress, but much has been done already.

Recently we dropped the car off with Bex White to spray with liquid vinyl wrap and to airbrush some images for us. We had given her an outline of what we wanted and some example images but we were not prepared for how awesome her design would be!

Before I talk about that, I can officially announce that we are “Team BrickXit” and we are going with a Lego based theme.

To make the car stand out we decided to paint it bright yellow, safe to say that idea worked! We have not covered the whole car as we have a few other ideas to decorate it, to be revealed at a later date. Once we (Bex) had created a Swedish banana, we told Bex to just go crazy with the artwork. It is worth mentioning that her time and artistic skills were donated for free and we are very grateful to her.

One of the key images we wanted was of the Lego Batman and the Lego Joker, we plan to dress as the characters for the Rally. I have to say this dominates the roof of the car and is a great bit of airbrushing. Various characters and brick related images were added to the rest of the car, I think the wing mirrors may be my favourite.

As of today we also have another sponsor on board who will be donating their services but I will reveal more in the next episode.

For now enjoy the fun design.

With thanks to Bex White at https://www.bexairbrushing.co.uk/

Al and Andy Go Wild - Part 2 - "The Cleansing"

Alan O'Donovan May 10, 2019

So, as you would expect, a car that we got for less than £400 might be a bit filthy!

This is a bit of an understatement, so myself and Andy spent six (yes six) hours cleaning the car recently, in preparation for decorating it.

As well as washing it inside and out it was treated to new mats and a new key fob, with some badges on order as well.

First stage was to jet wash the car and I mean the whole thing, including under the bonnet and the door cards etc.

We then used Auto Finesse “Iron Out" on the wheels and then jet washed it again.

Next we tackled the interior, using a wet vac, a steam cleaner, leather cleaner, various household cleaners, carpet cleaner, leather renovator and a whole load of elbow grease! To say it was dirty inside is like saying the Pacific is a bit wet.

Once we had cleaned the interior we turned our attention back to the exterior and washed it with G3 professional body prep shampoo. Next we went over the paintwork with a G3 clay mitt and rapid detailer, removing a lot of contamination.

Finally, Meguairs trim detailer was applied to the plastics and we also dressed the tyres and coated the glass with RainX.

So after six hours of graft the car really did not look like a bargain banger, don’t get me wrong it’s not winning any show and shine competitions but it no longer smells like a builders armpit!

In my next instalment we will reveal the paint scheme for the rally.

PS - Many Costco yellow cloths died during the cleaning process

Al and Andy Go Wild - Part One

Alan O'Donovan March 1, 2019

After being made redundant from my “day job” at the end of 2018, I knew I wanted to do something “a bit mad”. One of the things I had always fancied doing was a banger rally, however I am and have always been mechanically incompetent. Luckily my friend Andy Lee-Cann loves to fix things, secretly I think he breaks them on purpose, so would be the ideal partner for my road trip.

So firstly we needed a car, for less than £500.

For some reason I fancied something Swedish (love their meatballs) so a Volvo or a Saab were our targets and so began many hours on Ebay and Autotrader, together with late night WhatsApp conversations with links to various cars.

In the end we settled upon a 04 plate Saab 93 2.2 TiD, which we managed to get for less than £400 and this was paid for by our main sponsor Vape of Good Hope in Christchurch.

Once we had the car Andy set about fixing various issues and replacing the vacuum hoses.

As the project evolves I will be updating the blog and we hope to try and do so on the road.

The dates are 7th to 13th of September 2019 and we are taking part in the Motoscape Rally from St Omer to Prague, taking in up to 12 countries in total.

Our chosen charity is MIND and you can donate online now.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=AlanODonovan&pageUrl=1

https://www.motoscape-rally.co.uk/

http://vapeofgoodhope.com/

Carrol Shelby Collection

Alan O'Donovan September 28, 2017

A little known fact (well I didn't know until recently) is that across the road from Town Square shopping centre in Las Vegas, is Shelby American.

I found it using a combination of the local bus route, google maps and a lift from a random Brazilian couple!

As well as an extensive workshop, seriously it's massive, the rather nondescript building houses their Heritage Collection, along with some cars that are for sale.

One stand out car for me is the Shelby Series One, a rare beast with less than 250 cars being made in the original run, although there are some later "continuation" cars. If you think that doesnt't sound rare, consider the fact that Ferrari produced over 1,000 F40s. This was supposed to be the Cobra for the 90s and in many ways it was, it had a 4ltr V8 from Oldsmobile pushing out 320bhp, it was capable of 170mph and 0-60 times of around 4.4 seconds. There was also a supercharged version which almost doubled the power to around 600bhp and brought the 0-60 time down to a little over 3 seconds. Today if you want a Series One, should you find one for sale, expect to pay somewhere North of $100,000.

As you would expect, there are quite a few Cobras, including the legendary Daytona variant and the infamous 7ltr or if you're American, 427ci, Super Snake Cobra. Although nowadays the bulk of their business involves the Ford Mustang.

Before we talk about the Cobras, lets talk about the Mustang, along with the Corvette this is an American icon of motoring. The car has gone through many iterations but Shelby were there at the beginning with the GT350 and GT500. For a while Ford used the Shelby name under licence but in reality the cars were built by their Special Vehicles division, thankfully nowadays a Shelby is, once again, built by Shelby. If you are insane enough and have the cash, they will build you a Shelby 1000 and so far they have built 35. As you might imagine the 1000 refers to the horsepower, or should that be pony power? I was told that this was put on a dyno and came out at 1060whp, which makes even a Hellcat look under powered!

The GT350 and GT500 names are still in use and they also had a wide body concept on display.

Should you so desire, Shelby have also worked their magic in the Ford Raptor pick up and given the number of pick ups sold in the US this would seem a smart move.

Ok, lets discuss the elephant or snake in the room the Cobra, the car that started it all, a nimble little British sports car given a massive does of steroids and sent out to race against the Italian legends of Ferrari and Maserati. Whilst it had great success on the shorter tracks it had one major flaw, it had the aerodynamic qualities of a brick. The Cobra-Ferrari war has been well documented in print and on film and after Enzo got the final race of the season cancelled to prevent the Cobras winning, Carrol Shelby allegedly said "Ferrari's ass is mine".

The Cobra's aero problems were solved when Peter Brock came up with the design for the "Daytona" as it became known, a car designed to compete with the Ferrari 250 GTO, which was much faster than the standard Cobra, especially on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans. Just six of these cars were built and whilst Ford backed, they were raced mostly by the British Alan Mann Racing team. The car raced in period in '64 and '65 but Ford and Shelby moved on to the also legendary Ford GT40, again the base for this car was a British car, the Lola Mk6.

The Ford GT, as it was originally designated became known as the GT40, based on the fact that it was 40 inches in height. This is the car that broke Ferrari's hold on the Le Mans 24 hour race, taking the honours from '66 to '69.

People unfamiliar with the full Shelby story may be surprised to find Chrysler cars in the collection but he did work with Dodge on quite a few cars from 1983-1993 and then later in the early part of the 2000s, including being involved with the Viper, which is in many ways is a modern day Cobra. The collection includes a Shelby GLH - which stands for "Goes Like Hell" and there was also a GLH-S, "Goes Like Hell S'more". A hot hatch derived from the Dodge Omni.

For those wanting to visit the museum, entrance is free and there is also a free guided tour or you can choose a self guided audio tour. The tour includes the workshop area and in fact you can only gain access to this if you are on the guided tour, which runs twice a day but check availability direct with Shelby as it doesn't run the tours every day.

There is also a well stocked gift shop full of all the Shelby merchandise you could ever want.

Six Idiots Go To Germany

Alan O'Donovan May 30, 2017

Sir Jackie Stewart nick named it the Green Hell, to others it is the Nordschleife, the Nürburgring or to many simply "The 'Ring"

Opened in 1927 the 'Ring has a fearsome reputation for breaking cars and drivers, the original track comprised of the Nordschleife and the Sudschelife - north loop and south loop -and was a massive 28km long. It took 3,000 workers and roughly 15 million Deutsche Marks to build it, that's a lot of money now but back in 1927?

Officially, there are 73 turns - 40 right and 33 left - the actual number is disputed as there are very few parts of the track that you can really call straight.

The track has become a Mecca for petrolheads and wanna be race drivers, especially after featuring in an episode of Top Gear and numerous video games, not to mention the huge number of YouTube clips, many of which feature drivers getting it very wrong.

Those of you who have watched the movie "Rush" will know that it was also the site of Nikkia Lauda's accident in 1976.

The current outright lap record still belongs to Stefan Bellof and was set way back in 1983 - 6.11.13 in a Porsche 956C, even the mighty hypercars of today with their 4 digit horsepower are some way off this achievement.

The current track is roughly 13 miles long and has an elevation change of 300m between the higest and lowest points - something that no amount of Playstation time will prepare you for.

Due to the nature of the track and the sheer length of it, many cars can reach their maximum speed, this is most apparent when you are bombing along at 130 mph, thinking to yourself, "this is quick", only to be passed by a Porsche GT3 or BMW M something or other at 160mph. Indeed a GT3 or GTRS is a common track weapon here along with pretty much every M badged BMW.

So given all the above and having watched many horrendous crashes on YouTube why did I and 5 of my fellow Wessex Car Club members strike out for the Eifel mountains and the Green Hell? Because it is simply the best track in the world and attracts so many cars, drivers, exotics not to mention there is always the chance you could see a prototype car being tested you cannot call yourself a petrolhead without visiting at least once - which was my original plan back in 2011.

The Wessex vehicles were a MX5, RX8, Civic Type R, Boxster, Focus RS, motorhome and a motorcycle - sorry they all look the same to me so apart from it was 600 I can't tell you what! So a fairly varied bunch I think you will agree.

If you are a track day driver or indeed a race driver - you have to visit the 'Ring.

As well as the obvious attraction of the Nordschleife there is also the GP Circuit, we were lucky enough to drive the combined “VLN” layout on the Saturday. In addition to the two tracks the area itself has stunning scenery and fantastic driving roads. The road between Nurburg and Adenau would not look out of place on a tarmac rally stage.

Even if you are not lapping the ‘Ring it’s worth lapping the car parks to look at some of the cars that turn up, especially at the weekend if the weather is good.

There are also several places you need to visit on your trip – one of those is the Pistenklause restaurant, it is absolutely crammed with racing memorabilia and very good value for money. The speciality being the steak on a hot stone, this is a large chunk of steak, with chips and a salad, that comes to you on a hot ceramic brick. Whilst you may say that you are cooking your own dinner it is a must visit venue, just don’t put pepper on the hot stone!

Ristorante Pizzeria Pinocchio – or simply Pinocchio’s on Adenau is also a popular restaurant serving up good Italian food – try the pizza.

I’ve been coming to the ‘Ring since 2011, when I visited as a “one off” Birthday present – I was hooked straight away and have been organising trips for the Wessex Car Club since 2012. It is a very special place and a destination that should be on every car lovers bucket list.

And yes, I’m already planning for 2018.

Chronos and Cars

Alan O'Donovan March 28, 2017

On Sunday I attended Chronos and Cars at Shelsley Walsh.

Shelsley Walsh is one of those places I've wanted to go to for some time and this was the perfect excuse. A combination of an early morning drive and the clocks going forward, I decided to stay over in nearby Droitwich Spa.

When I got to my hotel, a wedding and disco were in full swing - oh the horror! Luckily I couldn't hear it from my room - which was about as far from the reception as it was possible to get. I say room, I've had bigger wardrobes but as it was only for one night...

After failing to get more than 3 channels to work on the tv, coupled with the fact that, despite the guest information saying I could dial "0" for reception (there was no phone in the room), there was no room service - I ventured out to the nearest KFC!

Despite the room and the bed, I managed to get some sleep and awoke to find it was a beautiful day for a drive. The back roads to Shelsey were, thankfully, largely empty and very twisty, with one road having a 12% incline, sorry to any of the little villages I may have awoken with the exhaust on the RX7.

Shelsley Walsh It is one of the oldest motorsport events in the world, and is in fact the oldest to have been staged continuously (wartime excepted) on its original course, first having been run in 1905. On that first occasion, the course was 992 yards (907 m) in length, but in 1907 it was standardised at 1000 yards (914 m), the length it remains today.

Not only steeped in history but just plain steep, the course rises about 100m from start to finish, it is also quite narrow at about 12 feet, so it is almost incredulous that the course record is 22.58 seconds! The record, in fact the top 3 fastest times belong to Martin Groves.

So on to the event itself, a ticket only affair with limited numbers, a much more relaxed feel than the usual scrum at these events. The spread of cars was impressive, with everything from the daily work horse to the Prancing Horse of a La Ferrari, piloted by Marino Franchitti. Other cars of note were a Honda NSX, McLaren MSO HS (1 of only 25), two RX7s (including mine), a variety of Porsches from classic to the GT3RS, a Ferrari Dino and the Arrinera Hassarya GT.

I'm guessing at this point quite a few people are saying an Arri what? I first became aware of the Arrinera brand at Goodwood Festival of Speed last year. An ambitious, Anglo-Polish project, which I have to say has resulted in a stunning looking and sounding car. The car is built on a spaceframe chassis which doubles as an FIA-compliant rollcage - which is nice. So it's a true GT racer for the road or at least it will be when they get round to the road legal version.

Their website states, rather modestly that the 6.2 V8 LS engine, produces "over 500BHP" all this in car that weighs less than 1250kg - less than my Mk2 MX-5! To stop this monster they have fitted some serious anchors, Alcon 380mm Discs with 6 piston monoblock calipers, mated to a Bosch ABS system.

Enough with the figures, all I have to say is just look at it, it's both menacing and beautiful all at once. The example they brought to Shelsley was in Zborwski Green, the previous car I had seen was in a light blue - no idea if it had a name.

And whilst it only ascended the hill once on Sunday it certainly looked quick from where I was standing, with Nick Heidfeld behind the wheel. Nick, you may recall has some form in this area as he still holds the outright record for the hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed at 41.6 seconds - if you've not seen it, look it up on you tube. The 22 second record was mentioned to Nick with a "no pressure" comment thrown in for good measure.

The event is owned and run by Omologato Watches, I happen to own one of their Laguna Seca watches, they are also the official time keepers at Shelsley.

As well as Heidfeld and Franchitti, guests included Richard Attwood (LeMans winner in a Porsche 917), Freddie Hunt (son of F1 champion James) and rising star Katie Milner, 2016 Junior Saloon Car Champion. Freddie took the opportunity to announce his return to racing in European GT4.

Finally, I'd just like to thank all involved in making this event happen - cannot wait for the next one.

Full album on Flickr

F1 Nirvana

Alan O'Donovan March 23, 2017

On Saturday I visited Williams Grand Prix at Grove in Oxfordshire.

This was not to visit the actual factory but to have a tour of their Heritage Collection.

If you are into F1 or even just into motorsport in general, I can highly recommend this tour. The collection consists of roughly 40 Grand Prix Cars, spanning nearly 40 years - Williams was founded in 1977, with their first season being 1978.

As you enter the building your eye is drawn to one of the more recent cars, sat on a central plinth, it can take you a moment to realize that, suspended above this, is another F1 car of the Villeneuve/Hill era (I think). An impressive sight, I think you will agree. In fact before you enter the building there is a topiary representation of a pit stop.

We arrive at lunchtime and were treated to a hot buffet and tea and coffee.

Following our lunch, we were led through their Hall of Champions, with photos of the seven Williams drivers that won the drivers championship, as well as the two founders, Sir Frank Williams and Sir Patrick Head. From here we move into a small movie theatre, for a very short introductory film about Williams. Then comes the James Bond moment, as one of the walls moves, to reveal the entrance to the Heritage Collection.

Our guide assures us there will be time for photos later, so we can turn our full attention to the tour, which is punctuated with anecdotes connected to the cars in the collection. This includes the "Moving Wall" of the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, surely one of the greatest driver excuses of all time. If you don't know the story, take the tour, or google it.

Once the tour was complete, there was indeed, the promised time to wander around the collection and take as many photos as we wanted. There was also more tea and coffee available as well as the chance to visit the shop.

The building that houses the collection is a legacy of the BMW Le Mans project and I'm told at some point the collection will feature the BMW LMR.

One unexpected treat was the Metro 6R4, along with a Renault Laguna touring car.

In summary the tour was very interesting and went at just the right pace, with enough information about each car, without it being too geeky - if you get the chance to visit, don't turn it down.

Finally, hidden away in another building, I spied the Jaguar C-X75, seen in the last James Bond movie.

The full album of photos is on my Flickr page.

PS - If there is an anorak out there that can correct any of my "facts" please do!

Wet Weekend

Alan O'Donovan March 14, 2017

So last weekend I went along to the regular meet at Shamrock Quay in Southampton.

As is typical, I had washed the car the day before, so it was tipping it down on Sunday, hopes for a good turn out were not high, especially as there was another local show the same day. Mark, the show organiser was also fairly pessimistic regarding attendance but at least he had brought his Lotus Esprit.

The good news was that there were't many people to get in the way of my shots and I could also use the HDR modes of the EOS 80D. They say that every cloud has a silver lining and there were certainly plenty of clouds on Sunday.

However, as the rain eased off, a steady stream of cars started to arrive and in the end there was a reasonable amount of cars. Some of the more oddball vehicles included a rare Chevrolet SSR, a VW Rat Rod and a Fire Engine!

The Chevrolet SSR was only made for three years and was somewhat of a disaster for GM, who were trying to tap into the nostalgia market, with retro inspired design, harking back to the pick up trucks of the 1950's. The early model had a 5.3L 300 bhp V8, however the later models were gifted the LS2 V8 from the Corvette, adding roughly another 100 bhp. They are also pretty unique in the fact that they had a retractable convertible hardtop. So safe to say the sort of person who owns a SSR doesn't go in for run of the mill! This particular example has custom art work, exhaust and side steps. Due to our weather being less than Californian, the owner has replaceD the chrome bumpers grill with stainless steel.

The Rat Rod was also a pick up, with some serious camber on the rear wheels and shot gun cartridges for wheel nut covers! The bonnet, if you can call it that, was made of an old sack, definitely a unique look and oh so cool.

As I was also attending a Wessex Car Club meet at lunchtime, I left the show around 11.30am but there were still cars coming in.

Photos from the show are on my Flickr page.

Just goes to show that just because it's raining, it doesn't mean people won't show up with their pride and joy.

Thanks a million!

Alan O'Donovan March 6, 2017

Just a quick thank you to everyone that has viewed my images on Flickr

Part worn tyres - good idea?

Alan O'Donovan February 28, 2017

At first glance part worn tyres seem like a bargain, especially as a good set of tyres from a premium brand is not cheap nowadays.

Did you know that a lot of part worn tyres come from Germany and other European countries where the legal limit is 3mm? So that seems ok as they are still "road legal" in the UK - right? Well let's think about this, that means there is only 1.4mm of life left in that tyre, so how long is that going to last you? A new tyre, for those that don't know is 8mm, so at the very least you will be changing your tyres a lot more often. It may also be difficult to buy a tyre that matches (or is close to) the tread pattern of your other tyres, or buy a full set of matching tyres. In fact the legal limit for a part worn tyre is only 2mm so about the depth of a credit card from being illegal.

But Alan, a part worn is only £20 so who cares how long it lasts, you say. According to Tyresafe the cost per millimetre of a part-worn tyre is on average £6.33, compared to just £5.32 for a comparable new tyre. Not looking like such a bargain now is it?

Add to this you don't know the history of the tyre and unless you know where to look, the age of the tyre, it sounds more part safe than part worn. You may be lucky enough to buy a part worn tyre with plenty of tread left, say 5-6mm but make sure you examine it for any cuts or nicks and most importantly check it's age. To do this you need to look for a 4 digit code on the tyre, this will show you the week and the year the tyre was made, so 12 15, means the 12th Week of 2015. If your tyre has only got a 3 digit code then it was made before 2000 and you should definitely ditch it before it ditches you. If your tyres are over 5 years old it may be time to replace them, regardless of how much tread they have left. On older tyres you will often see some crazing on the side wall as the compound of the tyre dries out due to UV exposure.

Dealers will often put part worn tyres on a car, especially those at auction, so make sure you check the age, condition and whether they are a matching set, at the very least per axle.

A 2017 survey by safety body Tyresafe found that only four out of 67 used tyres it inspected met legal regulations. More than half had defects compromising their safety.

So apart from the obvious safety issues what other consequences are there?

Penalties for driving a vehicle with tyres below the legal tread depth: Up to £2,500 fine and three penalty points - FOR EACH TYRE!

I'm not saying don't buy a part worn tyre and sometimes, for instance, if you are buying a second set of wheels, you have no choice. But be smart, stick to brands you've actually heard of and check them over.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR

- Cracking in the sidewalls or tread
- Unsafe repairs (look for plugs in or near the sidewalls of both sides)
- Objects such as nails and screws in the tyre
- Bulges or lumps in the tyre

The 4 digit code on the far right gives you the date of manufacture

Welcome

Alan O'Donovan February 27, 2017

Hi everyone, hopefully that means more than one person is reading this!

Welcome to Zero Interest, my new blog.

This is a first for me and quite scary when it also accompanies my brand new website.

Over the next few weeks and months I hope to share my ramblings with you regarding cars, cars shows and anything else that takes my interest.

Let's start with this weekend just gone and the Peter Saywell charity day at Goodwood. The day did not get off to a good start as the RX7 was filthy and I wanted to get it clean before turning up at Goodwood. Headed to the nearest jet wash, which itself was being washed! No problem off to the Tesco jet wash - closed! In the end I took the plunge and paid my fiver to the Eastern Europeans down the road, not a bad job.

Upon arrival at Goodwood it seems that the Pistonheads convoy had beat me to the punch and I was relegated to the car park, to be fair so were they.

The convoy was very McLaren heavy and if I'm honest, I struggle to tell the difference between many of the new McLarens - reminds me of when TVR released a new car every other month, that was basically the same as the last three!

Bumped into the usual crowd, AdamC3046, Ben aka BD Supercars, Steve aka CarSnapped and Rob Denton - there may have been a few others but my memory is not what it once was...

The weather was bordering on Arctic and operating the camera with gloves on was a little frustrating but still managed to get a few (183) shots.

As I was slowly turning blue I left around lunchtime and managed to miss (again) ThisLifeofCars - next time mate. Also missed my friend Andrew who didn't get there until 2.30pm.

Photos from the day are now on Flickr, cars of note - LaFerrari, P1, P1 GTR, Zonda PS, 458GTC and a Tech Art 911 GT Street R.

ZERO INTEREST - THE BLOG BIT