The MOT continues

The test continued without much of a hic cup. The lights were good even though they conformed to French ‘regs’, the brakes just about stopped the vehicle, the CO2 emissions were not required on a car of this age and since there was no windscreen, wipers or washers were not necessary. But the prime concern was that of the tracking; which was 2.5 degrees out of alignment. Kevin attempted to adjust the track whilst on the ramp but this really was just a guessing game and soon this approach was abandoned. The car had past the MOT with only 11km on the clock. However there were a few recommendations that should be undertaken ‘as soon as’. The rear handbrake cable should be protected by a metal shroud as it passed through the body before travelling to the hub together with, once the car has settled, tuned properly, the emissions should then conform to modern regulations. But, worryingly, the initial tracking was hopelessly incorrect.

When Kevin returned to the workshop he tackled the problem of the out of line front wheels. The nearside was grossly ‘positive camber’ whilst the offside front was the opposite. With a few adjustments to both followed by the ‘pad test’ it seemed that both were aligned within 1.5 of neutral camber, which at this stage was genuinely ‘OK’. On Kevin’s advice I whizzed the Burlington up the road for a ‘settling in’ test. The handling was totally different. The ride was straight, uncomplicated, comfortably firm; the car felt 100% better. Most importantly she felt safe. We thanked Kevin, paid £40.00 for the test plus all the work on the tracking, but at the same time planned a convoluted route back to Standish, to test the car further.

The car has experienced its first full tank of unleaded petrol; the open road is before us. From Eccleston we travelled to Robin Hood lane so that the ‘two mile stretch’ past the ‘Duck ponds’ would allow the overdrive to be engaged. By this time I was becoming quite confident increasingly accustomed to the wide gate of the box, the spongy brakes and the idiosyncrasies of the back end twitching, but immediately returning to the correct line. Going so well, the decision to drive the four miles down the motorway to Orrell wasn’t in doubt. And so we did. The openness of the cockpit plus the peripheral protection from the ‘aero screens’ meant that we were buffeted relentlessly, nevertheless the underlying strength of the reinforced chassis together with the robust body tub kept the car glued to the road. With the overdrive engaged in top gear the engine roared along at 3000 revs.

Unbelievable! The final technical set up will only improve every aspect of the vehicle. Presently, the vehicle is possibly at its worst, the best is yet to come. We returned north again using the Motorway to Westmead in an attempt to analyse the wealth of data from just a short ‘maiden journey’.