Michael’s Blog

The roads in Newfoundland are somewhat rough; that is to say they are actually very rough. In the 2004 event the first turn of the Clarenville stage was a down hill right hander with a steep uphill exit. I was set up for the corner and braking hard when a huge bump, which was actually a rock poking through the road surface, appeared directly in the middle of my chosen line. I tried to judge where to momentarily release the brake pedal to lift the front of the car over the bump but that tactic just didn’t work and I managed to split AHX12’s pan. As soon as I started to accelerate up the hill we could smell oil and see smoke behind us. Fortunately the stage was only about 5 km and 12 litres of oil takes a fair while to drain through a 1 inch long crack; furthermore, as luck would have it, this was the last stage of the day so we had time to get the pan off and braized and were back in the running next morning.

We weren’t smart enough however to think to raise the front suspension a little and two days later the same thing happened at the beginning of the 30 km Leading Tickles stage. Again we pounded a rock and this time split the pan around the drain plug. We took enough time to glance under the car to see a steady stream of hot oil running from the back of the engine but I figured that if we stopped on the side of the road right there and waited until we could get help we would be out of the event so I decided to press on as fast as I could in the hope that we would finish the stage before the engine ran dry. To add to our troubles the leaking oil was being blown onto the exhaust so we were leaving a smokescreen that would prevent anyone from getting by. As we didn’t want to be responsible for holding up another competitor, we really hustled. After 20 km the smoke stopped and the oil pressure dropped to zero.

This was the last thing we wanted to see but we decided to press on sure that any second we would hear the engine’s “death rattle” as the rod bearings started to give out. Amazingly that old Austin engine just kept on sluggin’ as we drove the last 10 km, at full race speed, and managed to clean the stage with the engine sounding as good at the finish as it did at the start. Ten kilometes at race speed with not a drop of oil in the engine. Amazing what a nitrided Diesel crankshaft and Valvoline Racing 20/50 can do.

Of course we weren’t out of the woods yet. There we were stopped at the end of the stage with a huge hole in the pan and one liter of oil that we had forgotten was stowed in the trunk. As we sat on the side of the road scratching our collective heads we noticed that no more cars came through the stage and were informed by the spectators that the stage had been closed because there had been an incident, with two cars off, very close to the end. To our relief the support crew for the Pacione Team, one of the crashed cars, didn’t hesitate to come to our aid. They hailed us over to their truck and, while trying to find out what had happened to their car, helped us clean off the pan and glue the hole closed with JB Weld. They then gave us oil to top up the engine and get us on our way.                                            

That’s the TARGA SPIRIT. Thanks guys…we owe you.

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I decided that I had better do some more checking on the root causes of the handling problems we experienced with AHX12 that I described in my previous post. I got out the old Alemite Portable Model 3064 Cross Sight Alignment System that I got from Aurora Cars way back in 1986. This is the front page of the instruction manual.

You can tell from the picture that the 3064 has a few years on it…I think that is a ‘63 Nova or something like it in the picture. Anyway I hung the gauges on the front of AHX12 and it seemed quite apparent that they were way out of calibration. I don’t have any setup instructions for the gauges but I figured that if I put them on to a pair of wheels which were mounted on the ends of the rear axle which by this time was lying on the floor next to the car and which hopefully will be straight, I should be able to “zero them in” so that is what I did.

Next I put the gauges back on the front of AHX12 and they appeared still to be out by a country mile. Well …to cut a long story short they weren’t out…it was AHX12 which was out. In our rush to get to Watkins Glen…and that is another story… we had decided to lower the front suspension a bit for track use. We only took time to do an eyeball alignment after lowering the car and as I recall thought things were toed out a bit, only to be expected after lowering the car, so we cranked the alignment in a couple of turns and off we went to The Glen.

When we got to the track things were somewhat damp during practice and both  Dick and I felt the car was a little “loose” down the straights.

In our infinite wisdom we figured that we hadn’t added enough toe in so we did our best, with no equipment, to correct this by adding a little more. This didn’t seem to change things in the wet but when the track dried up a bit the car was decidedly “twitchy” to say the least. Watch this and you will see what I mean.

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About 20 years back I started thinking about what I considered to be a completely new class of vehicle.

It seemed obvious to me that the ubiquitous pickup truck, so much a part of the American culture, was, and still is, one of the most useless vehicles ever conceived. Apparently I was not alone with these thoughts as you can read here

I really started thinking seriously about this after studying, and pricing, a flatbed truck as used by tow companies to move cars around. The idea of lifting the car more than a meter in the air so that it could be carried over the top of the differential and suspension of the flat bed seemed to be ridiculous. I figured that a much better solution would be to use a front wheel drive vehicle and carry the load on a deck between the rear wheels. At the time 1982 -5 the Chrysler Minivan was a new concept but it only sported a 4 cylinder engine which just didn’t have the power that a vehicle of the type I was envisioning would require.

I had, on a trip to the Carolinas, seen a similar type of vehicle built from of a Cadillac Eldorado but this was a pretty rough sort of rig using the original Eldorado chassis with a tray big enough to carry a car fitted where the read seats and trunk used to be.

Other projects and working for a living got in the way for many intervening years but in the late ’80s and ’90s the minivan really came of age and they were now fitted with powerful V6 engines which would be more than adequate for my purposes and I started giving the idea deeper consideration. I felt strongly that if the rear suspension were designed properly the vehicle could be made to kneel down, like a camel, for simple loading eliminating the need for loading ramps. Over the years the concept started to take shape and, after I learned how to use a good 3D CAD program I started to sketch things up.

I looked at many possibilities for the rear suspension from swing arms to lever actuated systems and everything in between. I finally hit on the idea of using air springs. These things have been around for years and are very reliable. I managed to design a suspension system which used a trailing and a leading arm on each side. I could find no information on a leading arm suspension system and had to spend quit a bit of time studying the dynamics of such a system to ensure that it would behave in the manner I required.

A couple of years ago I decided that it was time to either build the vehicle of forget about it, so build it I did. I started off with a perfectly good 1994 Dodge Caravan and had Dwight Auer cut about 1 1/2 meters out of the middle.

Because the minivan is a unibody type of construction we had to build a fairly substantial subframe inside to attach the deck to. What we did was probably overkill but I figured better safe than bent. Fortunately the fuel tank on a Caravan is easily moved forward but re-routing the fuel filler took a little time.

The deck was constructed of rectangular tubing with heavy expanded metal as the load surface.

The suspension arms pivot on the steel shafts that you can see poking out the side of the deck. Once the deck was completed the entire thing was sent off for hot dip galvanizing. This turned out to be a bit of a disaster because, despite my sending detailed instructions that the frame was to be used as an air reservoir, the galvanizers decided that they had to cut holes in every closed member for venting, which they proceeded to do with a gas torch. I managed to convince them that they had screwed up royally and they agreed to weld all the holes closed and make things good, which they did.

To get the air springs to inflate I installed the air suspension compressor from an Oldsmobile under the van floor and using a series of solenoid valves and relays managed to set things up such that I can inflate the air springs in sequence to ensure that the leading axle gets up to full pressure before the loaded ride height is trimmed using those of the rear axle.

The deck brakes are straight off the Caravan and I built an air cylinder operated compensator which adjusts the pressure to the rear brakes in proportion to the load that that axle is carrying to prevent premature lock up when unloaded.

We have been using the transporter for some time now and all the engineering is working very well. No major issues have arisen and on a trip of over 3000 km to Newfoundland hauling a Mini rally car, all its support equipment and two people with all their gear we averaged over 23 MPG (imperial).

Loading is really easy with the onboard winch and the expanded metal deck prevents the slipping and sliding issues i had with my previous trailer.

The rig remarkably easy to manouver although the turning circle is somewhat increased as a result of the extended wheelbase. Vision through the huge rear window, particularly when unloaded is fantastic and I can back up to within a few inches of a car to be loaded.

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I wrote this article in September 2002 after returning from the first Targa Newfoundland.

TARGA SAGA

When the Targa Newfoundland was first announced in June 2002, I was immediately interested in competing in my Austin Healey 100S. I have owned my 100S, Serial # AHS3903 and one of only 55 built since 1983, but I have not been able to use it much. I had built it up as a competition car and, as a result, it did not make a great road car. The restoration of 3903 from a total derelict took more than six years and was completed just in time for the 1990 Healey Challenge Series. Although I enjoyed circuit racing the 100S, I found my Bugeye more fun to race and a lot less expensive. The 100S was put into retirement, emerging for the occasional show or meet.

When the Targa Newfoundland was announced, I discussed the associated risks with my wife, Judy. Always tolerant and very supportive, Judy agreed that the car was built for such an event. We both agreed that the blood sweat and tears that had gone into the restoration would be sufficient incentive to ensure that I would not take unnecessary risks.

In Targa rallying, the specifications for classic cars are extremely comprehensive, and 3903, having not seen competition for more than 10 years, needed a lot of preparation. My long-time buddy Dick Paterson, an accomplished racer himself, barely hesitated when I asked him to co-drive the Targa so, with one major decision behind us, we set about putting the car in shape. With only 50 days until the event, we rebuilt the engine, brakes, front suspension, gearbox and diff, fitted Weber carbs and a special exhaust system, modified and re installed the roll bar, extinguisher system, and heavy duty front and rear anti sway bars, made and installed special racing seats, replaced the fuel tank and some of the fuel connections, installed air horns, a special period headlight flash stalk, a Brantz Pro 2 tripmeter, my own design of next-turn indicator, new Yokohama tires, five point harnesses, intercom system and roll bar padding, fitted a pair of NOS SLR700 driving lamps on special brackets, and attended to a host of other small details, all without drilling any new holes in the car.

By the beginning of September, after seven weeks of preparation and several shakedown runs, we were confident that we had a safe and competitive car. By an amazing coincidence, as this work was proceeding, my Parts Manager, Van Worsdale, won an entry to Targa Newfoundland. While he and his wife, June, were anxious to participate, they did not have a suitable car but, as luck would have it, I was able to lend them my 1965 Mini Cooper, guaranteeing them a berth in the trials section of the Targa. In another bit of luck, the organizing committee wanted to have 3903 on show at their inaugural event and, to ensure it would be there, they offered to ship both 3903 and the Cooper to Newfoundland and back, free of charge. The cars left by truck on September 9th, while Dick and I hopped a milk run for St. John’s, Newfoundland.

We arrived on Friday the13th, a superstition I had never put much stock in. When we got there, 3903 and the Mini were already inside the huge Mile One Arena, and we set about cleaning the cars and installing the sponsor decals. We were a little disappointed to find that there were fewer than 50 entries at an event that was expected to attract some 200. We were also quick to note that there was some awesome competition, including a 1939 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder from Australia and a Viper Coupe from Detroit.

DAY 1

The first day was devoted to documentation and a car show at One Mile Stadium. As we had never entered this type of event, we took this opportunity to find out exactly what we had got ourselves into. There was a very steep learning curve, but with help and guidance from experienced ex-Targa Tasmania crews, we soon figured out that we were in a very competitive position. In this type of event, cars are classed according to age and modifications. In each “Targa” (read competitive) stage, a car is allowed a specific time to complete the stage before penalty points begin to accrue. Given its age and mods, 3903 was allowed some 20 to 30 percent more time than the modern cars and, since the only other car in our class was a 1947 Citroen, driven I might add by the local vicar, we just had to keep 3903 on the road and running to capture a top spot.

DAY 2

The first day of driving was a demonstration day around the government buildings in St John’s on a route that had previously been used for a Formula Atlantic race many years back. This was to be a driver observation day for the organizers, and an opportunity for the entrants to run their cars at speed. As we had hoped, 3903 performed flawlessly and both Dick and I were observed and “Okayed” for the event.

Some of the driving by other competitors was a bit hairy and a 1964 Falcon was almost put on its roof. Although we all got through, a couple of drivers had ‘interviews’ with the organizers regarding — their driving “techniques” as I recall.

DAY 3

This was to be the prologue day, consisting of four ’transit’ stages and two ‘Targa’ stages. A steady rain was falling and, being one of only two open cars, we were forced into our wet weather gear, but we were ready and quite comfortable.

The purpose of the Prologue was to determine starting positions for the “real” start the next day. The cars would be starting in the main event slowest first, at 60 second intervals, so we figured that there was no need to go “balls out”, as the Australians put it. The chances of our having to pass anyone, when most of the stages were less than six miles long, would be unlikely. Everything went well for the first prologue stage; no ’offs’, no snags.

The second stage got exciting when a Sunbeam Tiger, did a big ’off’ on a fast left-hand curve. No one was hurt, but the underside of car was sufficiently damaged to put them out for the week. We cruised nicely through both prologue stages with a performance that put us in eighth start position. Things were lookin’ good!!

After this day’s running, we found that we needed to install a new battery.  The capacity of the one that we had fitted wasn’t up to running the car for long periods with all the lights on, particularly as I had made and installed an oversize pulley to prevent over-speeding of the generator. We also adjusted our accessory wiring set up so that the intercom would not come on until the headlights did, thus avoiding penalty points for driving without them.

There was another big car show at Mile One that night and the locals crowded around 3903 and the Cooper. The people of Newfoundland are really fantastic. We were overwhelmed with their generosity, kindness and enthusiasm for the event. From little things like running us up to the local hardware store for some wiring connectors to inviting cold P.F.A. (People From Away) spectators into their homes for a cup of tea and scones.

DAY 4

This was the big day, as it turned out, in more ways than one; the first day of real competition. Again, 3903 was running flawlessly and although the roads were wet, the rain had stopped and the sun was threatening to come out. The first stage was a transit to get us from town out to the first “Targa” stage. When we didn’t get lost getting there, despite serious butterflies, we began to feel a true sense of optimism.  

As we arrived, we found how tricky the course could be.   Regrettably, the pace car, a brand new Jaguar X type, had crashed out in the first two kilometers resulting in some long delays. At last the stage got under way and we were to be eighth car out. 

“GO” and the red Volvo P1800 of McCrory and McCrory went out in front of us with tires spinning on wet asphalt and a howling engine that was clearly reaching the rev limiter. This produced an enquiring glance from co-driver, Dick. Our turn…..FIVE, FOUR, “The road is still wet.  I’m going to take this real easy”, THREE, “we forgot to put the video camera on, OK next stage” TWO, ONE, GO! We are off on our first “Targa”, driving hard, but with the caution necessitated by the damp road conditions. Our average speed is about 10 K.P.H. above what we needed to “clean” the stage and, according to the route book, the second half of the stage was going to open up and be much faster.

This stage was the reverse of the second (prologue) stage  of the day before, and despite having only driven the road once I could pretty well remember the turns and nature of the road. Why can’t I remember people’s names like that? We didn’t even see the Jag off the road as we passed; such was our concentration on the course ahead. Four kilometers in we came upon a fast left-right-left “S” curve. I could see the exit and remembered that there was an off camber left after the fast, swooping right.  

We entered the curve at about 100 K.P.H. We were both comfortable with our speed and the handling of the car. And then everything went wrong. Ten feet from the position of the above photo we were confronted with a racers worst nightmare.  The P1800 had, for some inexplicable reason, continued straight ahead at this corner and crashed badly. It had gone into the ditch directly below the pole (in the centre of the picture), launched into the air off a driveway culvert, bounced off a high bank beyond the driveway, spun clockwise 180 degrees, skidded down the road on its side and fallen back onto its wheels completely blocking the road ahead of us (it was still very close to this position when I took the above picture). There was a huge ditch directly to the right and the back of the Volvo was about 3 feet from a very hard looking Armco barrier to the left. We were doing 100 K.P.H. on a wet curve and had only 60 meters of clear road ahead of us. We saw the driver of the Volvo wandering up the road to the right, just a few meters from the car, there was no sign of warning triangles and his navigator father was just starting to get out of the crashed car on the side facing us!!

Despite the terrific brakes on 3903, there was just not enough adhesion or room to pull up. I can remember making about 10 decisions before the impact, but I had to aim for the rear fender of the Volvo and just hope that the navigator was smart enough to jump to the right.
There is no noise that I can remember quite as sickening as the one we heard as the two cars collided.  The 100S punted the Volvo around 180 degrees and off the road into the ditch on the right.

We were out of the car with our safety triangles in about four seconds, sprinting up the road to warn the cars behind us.  Believe it or not, after our incident one of the cars that had already started into the stage behind us went off right beside the Jag about two miles back. In the aftermath, the organizers and locals were fantastic. Everything was done for us that could possibly be done.  And our special thanks goes to Officer Roach of the St John’s division of the Newfoundland Royal Constabulary who was of immense help in arranging for the transportation and storage of 3903 and for running us back to our hotel A close examination of the car revealed that the damage was too severe to allow us to do any running repairs and continue; although not so bad that we won’t be able to have 3903 back on the road in a few months.

FINISHING

After a day of getting over our disappointment and arranging things with the organizers, we decided to accept an extremely kind offer from Van and June to use the Cooper to continue the rally. June insisted she wasn’t enjoying being bounced around in a little green box anyway. In the Cooper, we managed to run three days of competition and pretty well cleaned every stage, despite the penalties of running a kilometers rally with a very inaccurate M.P.H. speedometer and no trip meter. With 65 horsepower and 90,000 miles on it (without ever having had the head removed) the Cooper performed flawlessly. I had a fabulous time howling through the suburbs of Gander in a continuous four wheel drift and Dick gave the Viper a big scare by staying hard on his tail through the downhill twisty bits into Leading Tickles. (You should check the names of some of the towns in Newfoundland) We will be back next year, perhaps not in 3903. It was a great rally, and the hospitality and friendliness of the people of Newfoundland are very addictive, fond memories we will have forever.

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After a 2 year hiatus I have decided to enter the Targa Newfoundland again in 2007. We (Dick Paterson and I) had a disastrous start to our Targa career when we crashed my 100S into the remnants of a Volvo P1800 which had crashed ahead of us. You can read all about the preparations of the replacement car. (I have vowed never to compete in the 100S again) here http://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/ahx12.html AHX12, the replacement car, I drove in 2003 and 2004 with Blair Harber, the owner, did pretty well. Finishing in itself is something of an achievement in Targa Newfoundland, and in both of those years we managed to get a finishing silver plate.   To keep people coming back Targa Newfoundland, and most other events of this type, award a more prestigious award when you finish a certain number of events. In TN for example, 3 consecutive finishes produces a gold plate. I’m assured that in this case “consecutive” means finishes which are not interrupted by a DNF, or a Targa where you failed to collect a silver plate and that not entering for a year or to does not disqualify one.   

So…. After 2 silvers AHX12 should be eligible a gold plate if we manage to complete the course in ’07. Dick and I ran AHX12 at Watkins Glen in the Australia / U.S. Healey Challenge in 2005. There were some very fast cars in that event and AHX12, being set up for rallying was something of a handful. Dick managed to loop the car several times on the main straight when it got loose under braking in the wet. Unfortunately I didn’t see it but from his description and the way he was waving his arms around it must have been quite an “occasion “. I came very close to doing the same thing in the left hander heading down into the boot but just managed to gather things up before the back overtook the front and things got really out of hand. I had noticed that driving the car at speed down a slightly twisty section did give one the impression that you were driving along the top of a hand rail or something. After a lot of measuring and running the suspension up and down with gauges on it I think I have figured out the cause. The half elliptic rear springs are slightly curved at the normal ride on this car. We have raised the ride height by about 1” because of the rough roads in Newfoundland. The problem with this is that as the car leans over the spring on the outside straightens and despite the radius arms tends to push the axle back on that side while the inside spring shortens and moves that side of the axle forward. This is called “bump steer” and results in some very rapid oversteer which means that the car turns into the corner much more than the driver  intended by his steering wheel input. There are many ways to minimize this but, with the very limited axle travel available on a Healey 100, correcting the problem without lowering the car back to its “design” ride height is a substantial challenge. 

More later  

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I’ve been listening to “Field Notes from a Catastrophe” by Elizabeth Kolbert. Quite a contrast to “State of Fear” and somewhat more convincing. The question of CO2 in the atmosphere is definitely looking like the biggest problem that has ever faced mankind and it isn’t just going to go away.
It strikes me that convincing the world not to use fossil fuels is going to be really tough. If you want to achieve something like this a better, for whatever reason, alternative has to be presented. Having travelled in the deserts of the U.S. south west I cannot believe that all that solar energy that beats down on that huge area almost every day is not the solution to the atmospheric carbon accumulation problem. Not to mention all the other hot deserts in the world.
Just considering Arizona for example. I figure (and I could be wrong) that sunlight in that part of the world produces an average of almost 5Mw/ square meter/year. The area of Arizona is 114,000 sq miles or 2,589,990 sq meters so the energy falling on Arizona is something like 12.95 Terawatt hours (12,950,000,000 kilowatt hours) which, as I figure it, is about 60% of the total energy used in the US annually. That’s all the energy not just the electricity.  Now I have gone over the math but would appreciate anyone pointing out any errors.
So all we have to do is cover most of the south west with 100% efficient solar cells and the problem is solved with energy to burn so to speak. Of course there could be a few issues, like how to make photovoltaic cells more than the 24.7% efficiency the best of them are now (most are less than 10%) but for heavens sake the U.S. has spent something like $100 billion…yes billion on the Star Wars Missile Defense System and it still doesn’t work.  If they just could figure out how to spend that sort of money on solving the greenhouse gas problems we just might come up with a solution.
Here’s an idea …….what if everyone in the world paid a 5% premium to purchase fossil fuel generated electricity or to purchase fossil derived fuels. Just 5%, that’s not much like $0.04 on a liter of gas, everyone, no exceptions. Heck the U.S. spends $3,000,000,000,000 per year on oil imports…$3 TRILLION with a “T”.  5% of that would be $150 billion and that’s just the imported oil. Wave that sort of money in front of industry and see what they can come up with.

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