An eventful, intense and exciting journey to and through the UK has come to its end. Trying to share and put across the experience and motivation to do the LeJog classic car rally to others is difficult – it is somewhat crazy, and it may very well be that a lot of people cannot related to this. But let me assure you – it is amazing and fun if you have a relaxed mindset, are willing to face changes & uncertainty and the team chemistry is right. This worked out for me.
When my driver Martin came to Bonn Wednesday last week – we started with a last check of his Mini. As a start: It is important that driver and copilot know what is in the car and where exactly things are stored in the car. Safety equipment, tools, spare parts, food & water – as well as Our luggage – which should be light and compact. After unloading everything to my workbench – we checked all spare parts, tools and fluids we might need.
During this time the engine cooled down enough to check the valve clearance. Martin had done this in Hamburg – just 500km earlier and all should be 14thou but valves 6 and 8 just had 11thou. Not a huge issue – but a compression test also showed that cyl 3 and 4 did not hold 90psi. Nevertheless, the engine started well at this point, and we packed everything pack into the car together and were ready to go in the late afternoon.
Our plan was to take the 4am Eurotunnel connection and meet team Flying Squirrel in Exeter for breakfast. Enough time for a dinner and a 3-hour nap. But right at the start in front of my house – the engine did no longer start on the first turn of the key. It took several attempts but eventually we were able to leave.
When doing 2500 to 3000rpm everything seems to be working fine – but after some 300 odd kilometers we noticed that accelerating was not as smooth as it should be. Martin had to quit last year’s Lejog early due to an engine failure and even though the motor was completely overhauled now – we both felt that we will not finish with the Mini and suspected a problem with the cylinder head.
Going through options like turning around, renting a competition car from Hero (organisation behind Lejog) – Martin suddenly said: maybe we can ask Swiftune for help. Initially I hesitated – because I could not imagine that when we show up unscheduled and unannounced that we would get immediate help and make it to the technical scrutineering on Friday morning. But then again – if there would be one company on our way that could get us a cylinder head – it should be Swiftune.
We somehow made the 40min drive from Folkestone to St Michaels and tried to find some sleep in a fully packed-rally prepared Mini with roll cage and minus 5 degrees Celsius until they open at 8:30. When the first employee showed up at just before 7 am – I was quite relieved and halfway frozen. We explained that we want to do the LeJog and our issue.
Jamie immediately got the car into the workshop and offered us a coffee. Before I could take the first nip from the cup and warm up again at 7:15am – a pressure lost test confirmed that the cylinder head must come off. By 7:50am the head was on a workbench and valve seat issues identified as root cause. To our luck – a just finished modified head with the same cast number was also on the bench – but it was meant for another customer. Also, it had 2cc more volume – which would not match the compression we needed. But Swiftune has a machine workshop that is cleaner than some hotel bathrooms – skimming the head is not an issue for them.
A few phone calls from the Swiftune team to an open-minded, understanding and flexible customer and it looks like we might get the Mini back on the road on Thursday evening. At this point we were just standing in the way of the Swiftune team – the best we could do was to get breakfast.
When we returned at 10:45am – the head was skimmed and back in the Mini – all we had to was a test drive, retorquing the head and checking valve clearance again. Before lunchtime we were back on the road to Land’s End again. In just under 5 hours – Swiftune saved our Lejog2023.
Due to traffic, it took us 8hours to get to the start and went straight to the pub to meet other teams – just when dinner was served. Friday morning started early. Swiftune said we should check the torque settings of the cylinderhead after 500km – so before having a coffee I did the required work on a sidewalk in Sennen Cove with the Atlantic Ocean just a stone-throw distance.
Technical scrutineering was our next stop – where we showed up 5min before they started – ensuring that we will not run into timing issues. This worked out fine – by 9:30 we had breakfast at Land’s End Hotel. As this was my first Lejog I joined the newcomer briefing at 10:15am. Some important information were given – but everyone was excited to get the Road book for Leg 1 and 2 at 11am.
I joined Horst (Team Flying Squirrel) and Ruut (Team Kakatoe) and we all plotted the routes we were given for Saturday. It is important to read the instructions precisely. My preparation with training sessions from Horst and Graham Raeburn as well as the HeroClub training paid off – I might not have been as fast as the old cracks – but when we started comparing and helping each other at 3pm – I had the same routes worked out. Martin and I then used a few minutes to do a calibration round for the Brantz Internation Pro and headed to the dinner event. More instructions were given followed by a dinner. Out of (if I recall correctly) 48 registered teams 44 showed up. Fewer than in the years before I was told. Excitement for the start of Leg 1 did not let me sleep much… more about this in part 2
Fixing C6622 
Sounds like great fun Tim…
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