OK! You asked for it!

More pics. Same car, different day.

The spoils of victory.

....and very well deserved, Alan.

Rampant tailshafts.

Talking about tailshaft problems, Tim B still has a complete left arm after this little incident.

Pile-ups.

When I first saw this photo I thought "only in America".

Then my mind went back to the big million dollar pile up at AIR in 1983.

Brocky's Monza dropped the tailshaft at the start, spearing him into the wall. This took out a pile of cars including the Richards BMW, Browne's Porsche, Hubbard's Falcon, Trenoweth's Jag and Jolly's Commodore.
Only 10 cars took the restart and Rusty French in the Porsche took the gold in fine Steven Bradbury style.
Remember that?
I recall Brock saying that it was his first major prang in 15 years of racing and if he could go another 15 years before the next one that'd be good. Well, 13 years later he lost his life at Targa West in a replica of the famous Daytona (designed by another Peter Brock).

How the bloody hell do these things happen?

40 years of searching.

Finally find one.......in a bloody T-bucket!

They should be reserved for proper cars like the Repco special.

Who in SA owns this Atom?

History repeats itself.

It seems.

Wow! Who would have thought?

Million Dollar fire. This is the Mordialloc factory, not the one where the cars and design studio are. However, it's the factory where the money is made.

Trackace.

Trackace Wheel Alignment

I have found this device which does laser wheel alignment, toe in/out only. As this is usually what ends up being adjusted I thought it might be worth a shot, the theory behind it seems very strong. Its very portable so could be used at track days.

Plus I had the whole front suspension out of the Nagari Sports and rebuilt it so was setting up again from scratch.

So I spent my $145, as a normal alignment is $45-$75 and takes 3 hrs by the time you wait at the place! Then tried it on 4 vehicles, 1 had been aligned in the last few 1,000 kms so I was expecting it not to have moved or worn.

Mazda 6, done 2,500kms since last aligned was within 1’ or 0.1mm from the last setting, which equals perfect.

Ford Ranger 4X4 ute, done 11,000km since last aligned, was within 5’ or 0.7mm from the last setting.

So assuming the last settings were as per the work sheet it all seems to make sense and the product works very well. It’s very quick to use, about 3 minutes, which is good as you have to redo it each time you make a adjustment. It also recalibrates ever time its used so each measurement is perfect.

NSX which has done about 16,000km since last aligned was within Front 1.4mm and Back 0.7mm from the last setting. They say it works on 100mm ground clearance, which my standard 1995 NSX is to under the front lip, but I think you can make it work lower than that. They don’t say it will do rear alignment as its not checking with the front for reference (see web page) but it still gives a perfect aft toe reading.

I tried to “trick” the unit by making it read incorrectly but if you follow the instructions, it seems to be nearly idiot proof!

http://www.trackace.co.uk/

Video of it. It is actually better in real life.

http://www.trackace.co.uk/Videos.html

Anyway I found it very useful and quicker than hanging around alignment shops reading old car mags! Plus I know it’s done properly…..

Scott B

Not a bad roll-up.

Who said Ford didn't build cars in SA?

This is the Ford assembly plant at Birkenhead before the site was taken over by James Hardie Industries.