Firstly let us start with an apology, we have been working every available hour since the event at Pendine. As a result we quite simply haven’t had the time or energy to keep everyone informed as to progress.
So with that out of the way, the really good news is on Thursday 12th Harry and Ian delivered the car and trailer to the shippers in Tilbury Essex, where it was loaded into its container and then onto the boat.
All the flights are booked and most of the final arrangements are in place. Ian will be making his way to Houston in early August to pick up the car and get up to Utah (only 1600 miles!).
We are very excited to recommend that everyone should try and find a copy of this month’s (July) Practical Performance Car. Not only are we featured in the magazine but they even put us on the cover!
Preparations have not been easy as a couple of unexpected problems have caused us to adapt our plans.
The first problem related to the American EPA, alas they could not proceed with clearing all the vehicles until all the paperwork was fully in place. Our van was held up due to the registration paperwork taking some time to arrive from the DVLA. The upshot was that we did not get the required clearance in time and are now unable to ship our van out to the USA. We are very keen not to upset the guys at US customs so we decided not to take a risk and ship the van hoping the paperwork would arrive en route.
The second issue has proven to be a lot more serious and has caused us to change our plans once on the salt.
Due to the possibility of some very serious illness, our engine tuner has been forced to temporarily close his doors. While this couldn’t have come at a worse time for us, far more importantly we wish John all the best of health and hope the tests come back clear.
The upshot of this development is we have had to remove the turbocharger. This puts a real dent in our plans as this was essential to reach our top speed.
The decision was taken to run the car without the turbocharger this is now pretty much at the spec we ran at Pendine. As the car ran flawlessly in Wales this means we will have a car that is capable of running all be it at a lower top speed.
We are shipping the turbo and all the necessary (and very complicated) plumbing out with us. If we can find a friendly tuner on our arrival we will get it refitted and hopefully run with it.
This message is not deliberately short but all the work done over the last few weeks while vitally important it’s quite simply not that interesting.
The intention going forward is to send the odd update on the way to Bonneville and daily through speed week.
As usual we will be asking for your assistance if you can help in anyway. The money spent purchasing and preparing the van has now been to all intents and purposes wasted and that cash would have been very useful to cover the costs of hiring a van in America.
If you could ask anyone that may be interested please ask them to contact us.
