This month saw us with a massive honour.During the build up to Speedweek 2022 and 2023 we were in regular communication with a photo-journalist called Chris Tarling. Chris has been a long time friend and supporter of the project and he asked permission to write a story about our project. His plan was to try and sell the article to a number of magazines and periodicals in an attempt to cover some of the costs associated with his trips to Bonneville.Chris under his own steam made it out to the waterlogged 2022 event and somehow found the enthusiasm to try again in 2023. Despite yet again sitting in an expensive hotel room for a day or two watching the rain fall he did manage to get out and actually see some racing.Upon his return, he wrote an article that thankfully was picked up by one of the glossiest and most influential magazines in the UK.Octane magazine started in 2003 and was aimed at classic and performance cars. To have a full article in this magazine is a huge honour and really puts our project on a completely different level.We are so grateful to Chris and the Leggetts for the beautiful images.
February has never been our most productive of months. The weather is usually dreadful and enthusiasm is generally low. This year these symptoms were exagerrated by the lack of vehicles to play with.
In April 2022 our engine let go in fairly dramatic fashion on the dyno in Essex. Very keen not to see any repitition of this event we searched high and low for solutions. Part of the solution was to examine whether the lubricant we were using in the engine, which whilst correct specification for the standard engine may not be the best for the extra work we are now asking from ths engine.
Via social media we have expanded our family of land speed racers. Our Facebook page has regular ‘readers’ from all parts of the world. The majority are in either the UK or USA but a fair number are also in Europe and of course are friends in the Antipodes.
One of the family is our Italian brother Daniele Restelli, you first met Daniele in May last year as one of the riders that shared his inspriation with us.
Daniele spent a large part of his career working in the marketing department of a small lubricant company named BP, specifically in their european motorcycle oil arm named Castrol. You may have come across this particular firm.
Having decided we needed to look into our choice of engine lubricant the next step was expert advice. We contacted Daniele who put us in contact with one of the boffins in the R&D department. They came up with a wonderfully typical expert answer. Very comprehensive and non-committal. Having said that the answer was the solution to our problem.
To show our gratitude for this invaluable support we agreed that we would fly out to Italy to take him and his family out for dinner.
All of last year the opportunities came and went, but this year we were determined to rectify that.
The 9th of February saw Daniele celebrating his birthday so Janine and Ian flew out to his home town of Saronno to share the event with him.
It was almost unneriving how close Ian and Daniele’s sense of humour is, considering they had never met. Fortunately for all Daniele’s English is excellent so communication was not a huge problem.
Daniele took the time time to show them around the beautiful city of Milan and nearby Lake Como and it’s neighbouring town. Unfortuantely the constant and torrential rain they seem to have brought with them put a bit of a damper on their external sightseeing. This area of Italy is particularly wonderful and it’s a shame they didn’t get to really enjoy the aesthetics of the region.
Whilst passing a newsagent in Como town Ian couldn’t resist looking to see whether he could obtain a copy of this months Octane in Italian. Whist they did have a copy it was in English. Daniele was particularly pleased to see the magazine and whist carrying out the financial part of the transaction couldn’t resist introducing Ian to the shop staff whilst showing them the relevant page in the magazine.
International fame! At least in one store in Italy!
Dan then asked Ian to sign his copy.
On the last day of their ‘yet another rain affected’ trip, Daniele took Ian and Janine to a local engineering museum. To show them the width and depth of the local area.
For those unfamiliar, Italy is land locked with a number of countries on its border. During the early days of electrification of train networks there was a disagreement on the correct voltage for these networks. The Italian solution was to fit a large diesel engine to run a generator on Italian trains so that they could travel unhindered despite the local systems.
One of these engine was on display in this museum.
Ian was particularly amused that the turbocharger on this monster was of a very similar size to the one on the car!
Sadly, it then came time to say farewells and bid each other adieu and safe travels. Whilst this is the first time they have met in person we are confident it will not be the last.
Daniele has rebuilt the bike he campaigned at speedweek in 2017, removing the issues and now ready to set his own records.As they left him he is finalising his plans to compete at the BMST this year. A motorcycle only event held a few weeks after speedweek. Of course we wish him all of the best luck and look forward to seeing just how fast he can make his 50cc motorcycle go.God Speed Daniele
