Well, It is a V4...

A while ago, I wrote about an extraordinary W9 engine.
Now a V4 - but not one you might have imagined. This V4 is based on the Ferrari Enzo engine and powers - a Ferrari motor-cycle!

When I think of the difficulty in building a simple modified Fulvia, I am staggered by the energy and resourcefulness of those who come up with such amazing concepts. This one was produced by Glinik from whose site the pictures here are taken. Not a lock-up garage project is it?

An interesting feature is that the project carries the Ferrari logo, which suggests that this project is very serious indeed.

A bientôt

A Round of Applause Please

Thomas Crook is one of my readers; he is also a talented animator as the following (quite mad!) video should show you:

Thomas has now completed university and is seeking a position as an animator; if any of you have any ideas you can contact him via my "Chatbox"!

A bientôt

Not Much News...

Hello.

I have no Fulvia news at present - except that a local chap - a rallyiste - has been in touch to borrow my rear hub tool (sadly he has his car worked on by some Alpine specialist - perish the thought!!!).

I thought though that I'd entertain you with a story from the 1968 race from Ron Dennis ,that appeared on Autosport.com today. Sorry if you've seen it already!

At the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, McLaren was celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the team's first victory - at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1968. Ron has plenty to say in the way of comparisons over the years and they are interesting - hit the link if you like F1 information.

For this blog, I just want to include the splendid anecdote which is very indicative of how much has changed in the past forty years. Here it is:

"This was a difficult race for us because we had two different types of engine in the cars and in Jack's car we had the latest Repco engine. In practice, one of the valve seats dropped out of the cylinder head and this was the only engine we had - the second one was locked in customs.

"We never worked at the circuit, we used to take the cars to a garage - there were all these local garages around and you would write to them saying 'Can we use your facilities?' during the weekend and they used to clear an area out.

"This was a difficult race for us because we had two different types of engine in the cars and in Jack's car we had the latest Repco engine. In practice, one of the valve seats dropped out of the cylinder head and this was the only engine we had - the second one was locked in customs.

"We never worked at the circuit, we used to take the cars to a garage - there were all these local garages around and you would write to them saying 'Can we use your facilities?' during the weekend and they used to clear an area out.

"As you know, there's a small airfield down the road, so the only solution was to take the cylinder heads off and Jack took them in his plane back to the factory, the engine shop in Guildford. They machined new valve inserts and literally took the cylinder heads home and put them in the oven.

"We were so tired when we got back to finish that night; we'd prepared all the engine - the engine was in the car to take the cylinder heads, and the next morning we got back to the circuit after working all night. And the Brabham trailer had a door that used to open from the bottom to the top and we arrived at the circuit, opened the door and one of the cars was missing.

"It had come loose, opened the door and it was about two miles down the road parked in the corner of a road completely undamaged with a whole crowd of people around it! So Jack arrives with the cylinder heads and he never knew the car had dropped out the back of the truck. It was very embarrassing! Needless to say, it didn't finish, but not because of that reason."

Then: Ron Dennis with Jack Brabham
Image source: Here

Now: Ron Dennis with Lewis Hamilton
Picture source: The Sun

A bientôt

Dodgy Photoshopping and Dodgier Cars - from Russia

From EnglishRussia.com comes a photo report of a rather dubious car show. I can without fear of contradiction, declare that the "photoshopping" is at least as bad as many of the exhibits (and that's saying something).

I did like this ZIL or perhaps ZIS, Packard copy though:

Picture source: Englishrussia.com

And I didn't see a single Italian car in the pictures - let alone a Lancia.

A bientôt

A Fascinating Thread - for the Technical

I have been a member of Atlas FI.com's forums for about six years (the main site is Autosport.com). Whilst searching there today for something interesting about the Fulvia that perhaps I could add to this rather (currently) under-posted blog, I came across a fascinating thread in the Technical forum.

This concerns an engine-design project carried out by a university student who is doing a master's degree. His project? A W9 engine of 2977cc predicted to make 526HP!

So far it seems that the engine has not been run, but it certainly exists - here. Here's a picture taken from the site:

The article on the site contains a lot of interesting detail which I heartily recommend to any of you with an interest in technical matters.

The subject of the Fulvia came up early in the thread on Atlas (which runs to six pages).

One poster wrote:

There are some pics here: http://www.viva-lancia.com/huib/sor.htm

and some cutaway drawings on www.carsfromitaly.net if you follow the links through to Lancia models then Fulvia.

A beautiful engine IMH

I agree - although those of you who have read my "Developments" series on this blog will know I have my reservations, notwithstanding my enthusiasm for the Fulvia in all its forms.

Finally I commend the thread to those amongst you who are technically inclined; the depth of knowledge of some of the regulars there is breathtaking. Some of the contributors are obviously senior engineers in the industry who have plenty to say on some of the subjects I have touched on hereabouts (and on other things too).

A bientôt

Anecdote from the Hungaroring

The following, lifted from Autosport.com - the Daily Grapevine amused me; I hope you enjoy it too:

PS: The other story that emerged from the dinner was of a poor newspaper journalist drafted in for his first F1 race as replacement for their regular correspondent. Sitting down in the Bridgestone motorhome, which was situated in this paddock right next to Ferrari, he thought the Japanese tyre manufacturer actually ran a team.

Turning to Hamashima he said: "I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but when do you think you're going to start competing on level terms with top teams like Ferrari and McLaren?"

Hamashima was a bit taken mystified by the question until another Fleet Street journalist leaned over and said, "Er, Bridgestone is a tyre company old boy." Cue much laughter...

A bientôt

Apple iPhone 3G - Could be for You!

The picture above shows the new 3G iPhone, for which there have been reports of people queuing for days to be amongst the first to have the new toy. Apple reportedly sold 1,000,000 in the three days following the launch.

Since then developers have been busy coming up with new applications for the phone and one I found yesterday really was quite a surprise and should be of great interest to those of you who are developing your cars - or who even just take a close interest in your Fulvia's performance.

The new application has the rather unfortunate name of Dynolicious (how do they think of them?).

As you can see from the pictures, all the performance data you could need are provided.

I learned about this from Gizmodo, from which the pictures came. The article explains that the iPhone has a built-in accelerometer which is used to generate the data.

Now all you have to do is a) get an iPhone; b) load up Dynolicious; c) find a police-free zone or a race-track to get down to some serious testing!

Best of all is the price of the application: $12.99!

A bientôt.

New Look

You will no doubt have noticed the new look: blue for Lancia and Yellow for Turin... Sadly this blog page is somewhat corrupted I suspect and I was unable to change the colour of the hyperlinks to something more contrasty; I have urgent need of someone who understands the nightmare that is HTML!

I have been sent some more restoration pictures and these will go up here this weekend. I shall do my best to try to post a bit more and once again, apologies for the dearth of activity.

One of my regular Fulvia correspondents is experimenting with programmable ignition, an excellent idea in my view although not entirely easy - unless one has a great deal of dyno time available. His car is highly developed with many exciting features; he knows who he is... I hope that before too long he will allow me to "lift the veil" a little and show off some mouth-watering developments. However, my readers will, I am sure, understand that it is perfectly natural to keep original ideas "under wraps."

À bientôt

Restorations

I am flattered that from time to time some of my readers take the trouble to share information about their cars and in particular details of the work that they are doing. Recently I have been sent two sets of pictures showing restoration work - either done or "to do". I have always found such pictures instructive and often inspiring, so, presuming no objections from the senders, here is the first selection I have chosen.

No doubt those of you who have worked on your cars will be familiar with the areas shown!

I await your comments with interest.

À bientôt

News from South Africa

Those who you who look at my "C Box" - RH side of page - might have noticed that I have received contact from Phil at the Cape Lancia Club located as their website says, in beautiful Capetown.

I recall meeting, many years ago in Harry Manning's place a splendid South African enthusiast who ran an early Flavia. I asked him how he managed for parts... His response in best pioneering style: "I make 'em - and I can fix your TV set too!"

Lancia at one time had an assembly plant in South Africa, which, I imagine, together of course with the perfect climate, accounts for the very considerable numbers of classic Lancias still in use there - see the beautiful Lambda in the picture above - sorry Phil, I couldn't resist...

I hope to hear from some of the Cape Lancisti - and I think if one of them would care to contact me with some information, I should be delighted to add a piece about Lancia's South African operations; and of course I hav added a link to the club's home page in my links list (RH side of page again!).

À bientôt

Fuel Consumption News

Hello.

I do not for a minute imagine that I have to remind you that the price of crude oil has now reached $145 per barrel, and nor do I have to point out the impact that this is having on our lives!

Nevertheless, "necessity is the mother of invention" so the old saying goes and now a chap in America is claiming that his 1987 Ford Mustang can do 110 miles per gallon. Not bad you might think; in fact since he is an American, he will be talking in US gallons; the equivalent in Imperial gallons would be 132 mpg - or for my continental readers, 2.1 litres/100km.

There is nothing like a pain in the wallet to stimulate development is there?

À bientot

Rallying is Dangerous

Yesterday, I spent most of the day watching our local rally: Le Rallye du Pays Rochois. It was my intention to write a piece illustrating the glories of the French countryside on a beautiful sunny day whilst various French men and women competed over the special stages.

This will have to wait for a little while, as sadly in the penultimate "special", there was a tragic crash: a Renault collided with a tree. The driver actually survived the accident but tragically died of heart failure after being freed from the car by the emergency services. His co-driver was taken to a hospital in Geneva - the usual procedure with very serious injuries.

However, for now I attach a little video clip that I think will entertain some of you



À bientôt

P.S. By the way I have had the same problems with this post as with the Nantua one: again I had to delete a load of HTML gibberish, before Blogger would accept the post - and again all I did was type out the post onto Blogger's page!

Bloggrrrrrrrrr

Anyone know a better blog-host than Google's blogger? I apologise for the appalling appearance of the previous article which was in no way my fault. I spent an hour trying to edit it to no avail.

To start with, Blogger rejected my publication on the grounds that "Your HTML cannot be accepted."

What HTML? I hadn't made any or written/created/cooked up any. The stupid program does this allegedly by itself. So I deleted great tranches of rubbish until it accepted the article and if it finds this bordel acceptable then that speaks volumes for Blogger.

Now the various fonts that appear in the article do not appear on the draft page; anyone who doesn't believe me is welcome to a screenshot!

Finally it is about time that Blogger produced a preview page that at least vaguely resembles the item that will appear on the blog.

Grrrrrr!!!

A Grey Sunday at Nantua

Despite its Italian-sounding name, Nantua is a picturesque small town located at the west end of the Jura mountains in the Departement de l'Ain about 50km or so from my home. The landscape is delightful in the area helped to a great extent by the lake pictured here.

So, I can hear you ask, what's this got to do with this blog? Well, sadly not much, although it does concern cars at least. I was in Nantua to meet a bloke concerning some possible work and the occasion was an English car show or more properly, gathering.

On arrival I saw plenty of Jaguars as the French have a great affection for these - yes even including early XJ6s! However there were one or two more recherché items, for example the bizarre Ghia Austin-Healey 3000 and the stunningly lovely Swiss-bodied Alvis:

I was introduced to an Englishman (who like me has a French name) resident in Switzerland, who had arrived in a splendidly restored 1953 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn, quite a rare car in England - the Bentley version, the Mk VI being much more common. Incidentally I have read that R-R marketed the Bentley in the UK as at the time there was a "strong wind" blowing from the left in England and it was thought that the Bentley radiator grille was a little less "obvious" than the Rolls one.

The chap was very friendly and invited me to sit down with him and share a pleasant lunch and an excellent bottle of wine, which I did. Later we drove together up to the prize-giving where my new acquaintance received first prize for his car - deservedly so in fact.


















However, for the Italian car fan, all was not lost; any of you who go to these kinds of event will know that the car park is often as interesting as the event itself. On this occasion, I found a delightful Ferrari 250GT, that I would very much liked to have driven home!

À bientôt

It's Been a While Hasn't it?

Sorry for the silence; apart from the fact that I have had no inspiration, I have been rather busy with various things, and in particular my computers...

Anyway an old friend sent me a link which I was delighted to receive. It concerns my boyhood hero, Mike Hawthorn, Britain's first Formula 1 World Champion.

Hawthorn won the championship, by just one point fifty years ago in 1958. After winning the championship he immediately announced his retirement; he was killed in a road crash in January 1959.

In those days Grand Prix drivers did a lot more than just F1 racing. Like most of his contemporaries Hawthorn raced sports cars and also saloons. On his day (and it must be admitted he was inconsistent) he was awesome in the D-type Jaguar - fastest lap in a D-type at the terrifying Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland is just one example of his talent and bravery - and he was one of the very few who could go really quickly in the tricky Ferrari 750 Monza (Ascari died in one of these).

Anyway, here's a delightful video, made in 1956, where Hawthorn equipped with microphone takes us on a lap of Le Mans in a D-type.



Given that it is the fiftieth anniversary year of Hawthorn's success and that the Le Mans 24-hour race is in progress as I write this, I think that this post is really jolly appropriate - as Hawthorn himself might have remarked.

As a parting shot, I think I should add that Hawthorn - and his father Leslie who were based at Farnham in Surrey, were great Lancia fans; Chris Nixon tells an hilarious tale of young Mike's adventures in an Aprilia, and Leslie Hawthorn's Aprilia EYE 606 was at dear old Harry Manning's garage until the end.

À bientôt

Speed test

Well as you can see above, I have now added a new speed test. It is not the one to which I referred the other day, but unfortunately that one cannot be made to work with Blogger.com. Still, it doesn't look too bad!

À bientôt

Internet Speed Test

Sorry about the delay on the super new Broadband Speed test, I am trying to find a solution - I have the code uploaded but it doesn't work and the instructions are no help at all. I am, in the words of Lou Reed "Waiting for my man" - in other words it is NOT a "Perfect Day."

The test can be seen here - car enthusiasts will appreciate the design.

The company offers an Internet Speed test too. Well worth a look.

À bientôt

Didn't see the joke...

Picture source here

Now this chap knew exactly what to do with his £50 banger when some obnoxious official clamped it... Read all about it here.

I once bought a Fulvia for £50 - and drove it away, but that was a long time ago!

À bientôt

Back

Hello all; yes I am back home in France after my spell in England, much of which was spent in front of a computer and a bit underneath a Land-Rover about which, more anon.

I have been away about five weeks in which time the price of a barrel of oil has increased by about 32%, with Goldman Sachs now saying that the barrel price could reach $200 in six months...

So how topical is the idea pictured below?

Picture: Gizmodo

Yes, it's your own fuel-producing plant; it makes ethanol from sugar, water and yeast, or stale beer amongst other things. It can produce 35 gallons (US) - about 132 litres - of 100% pure ethanol in a week. Yes it costs $10,000 but with the way prices are going it will start to look like a bargain. The full story can be found here.

Ethanol does not have the same specific heat as gasoline, so your Fulvia would require some re-jetting to run the richer mixture required, but ethanol has a Research Octane Number of about 110, so pinking should be a thing of the past.

Of course this is another example of dynamic American enterprise, a commodity conspicuously lacking in certain other countries. I can imagine that anyone attempting to make his own "environmentally-friendly" fuel would quickly attract (in England) the attention of HM Revenue and Customs and most likely, the anti-terrorist squad as well (28 days in jug, possibly rising to 42). In America, according to the article, tax breaks will be available.

That's progress.

À bientôt

A bit quiet...

You will have noticed that things are a bit quiet hereabouts. I do have an excuse: I am in London at present and rather busy helping a friend out.

As soon as I have a chance I will try to write something new, so in the meantime, thanks for your loyalty.

À bientôt