TimFF Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 For my sins I used to have a Scimitar, and sprinted it with varying degrees of success over a couple of years - I even managed a 2nd in class once. I'm still a member of the club, and every year the annual sprint is held at Curborough, just outside Lichfield. I get roped in as Club Steward, which basically means I get to stand around talking cars all day as in 20+ years no-one has ever protested anyone (even when sportsmanship was being seriously 'exercised'). So for once I remembered to take my camera... And being 'signed on' means you can get closer than Joe Public Scimitar FTD of 62.82 secs was from a 1968 Coupe. This car is fast... It was a double lapper which meant there's a heavy braking moment for the hairpin return. Not everyone got it right each time. This is a Sabre which normally competes in Historic racing. It too is quick... The exit can be tricky if you get the entry wrong too! Nearly right This ones closer to standard This is one of the later Small Scimitars (SS1). They came with a Nissan Turbo engine in 1800Ti guise, but the previous owner of this one spent thousands on developing it to as it is today. It's a previous FTD winner. We don't just have Scimitars either. Oh no. This is the car I wanted to take home with me... It's no garage queen - it was driven hard! Ferraris don't always come in red either And as you'd expect this MG 1.4 turbo'd Vision would be really fast. FTD of 54.27 secs If you want to see a few more images, take a peek here or here. cheers TimFF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will370z Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 nice pics, looks like a fun day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarmac@TarmacSportz Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Nice pics Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MITZ@CougarStore Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Now that looks like a good day out, thanks for sharing the photos, Tim… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayhoop Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Ah Curby!! What times were people getting around there? I'm a member of club GTI who also hold a bi annual sprint there. My friend has won it twice in a row in his mk1 gti :-) Good fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 ta for the compliments... All the images are as taken, none have been edited in any way. But a lot got binned! FTD was 62.82 secs. I've never driven a double lapper so have no personal marker - but I have done a 36 something on a single lap test day; unfortunately in someone else's well prepared sprint car rather than my own. It's a great little place to drive as it's not that fast, and to watch others as you can see virtually all the track from the spectators hump along the straight. Before they were banned years ago, the pukka hillclimb cars (a la F5000 monsters) would hit 130mph over the finish line. They then had 50metres to slow downhill before hitting a slippery right hand corner back to the start. Somewhere is a photo of me legging it out of the way of an early Griffith who was heading for me (and my camera...) having failed to make the corner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Nice shots! My dad bought a Scimitar off a mate a few years back for about £400 and it then sat gathering dust as he did bits and bobs to it. I secretly hoped that he'd get bored and give me it when I have space to store but he just went and sold it I think the engine was a Ford V6 (3.5?) and combined with the GRP body I should think they're a lot of fun. Even the colour was nice, a dark bluey purple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I like Scimitars. Sitting on period wolfrace wheels they look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Nice pics and info Tim, didn't know you had dabbled in this motorsport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Just for you then Stew... This one was tuned the old style way - bored, lumpy cam, big valves, headers, Holley carb, ported, polished etc etc. Not a laptop in sight. Even so this still 'only' put out 200bhp (up from a rated 135) from 3.1 litres of Dagenhams finest converted diesel engine. Compare that to a stock DE or HR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hi Colin Dabble is the word, but here's the Scim long before I blew rather too much money on a bare gelcoat repaint! Funnily enough it's a not very crowded Curborough paddock and me on the hairpin trying to stop the inside rear wheel spinning up on boggo suspension and no locky diff. That day wasn't my finest day - I needed rain and no brain for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witstu Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Nice pics bringing back fond memories.First car i ever owned after a lot of motorbikes was a scimitar se5A, as a 20 year old.Remember passing my car test and mother saying oh well done you can get yourself a nice little mini!! Went to Curborough a few years on the trot for the meets.Think the car to beat at the time was the green meanie another se5a.Who was the dealer on the Wirral who i used to get all my spares from? is he still on the go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hi witstu The Green Meanie was Chris Lloyds Se5a - it bore little resemblance to any form of road-going Scim! It was the car (and driver...) to beat for a while as you say. Sadly Chris passed away some years ago and the car was broken up - but considerable important portions of it found their way into the red coupe which is the first pic above. The dealer you're thinking of is Graham Walker - they still trade in Scimitar spares and indeed hold the rights and moulds to the Scimitar so could theoretically build new ones. Mind you their showrooms are no longer full of Scimitars but other performance cars... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vision89 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 For my sins I used to have a Scimitar, and sprinted it with varying degrees of success over a couple of years - I even managed a 2nd in class once. I'm still a member of the club, and every year the annual sprint is held at Curborough, just outside Lichfield. I get roped in as Club Steward, which basically means I get to stand around talking cars all day as in 20+ years no-one has ever protested anyone (even when sportsmanship was being seriously 'exercised'). So for once I remembered to take my camera... And being 'signed on' means you can get closer than Joe Public FTD was from a 1968 Coupe. This car is fast... It was a double lapper which meant there's a heavy braking moment for the hairpin return. Not everyone got it right each time. This is a Sabre which normally competes in Historic racing. It too is quick... The exit can be tricky if you get the entry wrong too! Nearly right This ones closer to standard This is one of the later Small Scimitars (SS1). They came with a Nissan Turbo engine in 1800Ti guise, but the previous owner of this one spent thousands on developing it to as it is today. It's a previous FTD winner. We don't just have Scimitars either. Oh no. This is the car I wanted to take home with me... It's no garage queen - it was driven hard! Ferraris don't always come in red either And you'd think this MG 1.4 turbo'd Vision would be really fast. It is. But it still didn't beat the Scim in the first pic! If you want to see a few more images, take a peek here or here. cheers TimFF Hello Tim great photos but it was my son in the Vision who took ftd with 54.27 I was second with 56.90 the scimitar drive very well by Trevor Short was 62.82 the whole weekend was fantastic great weather great cars well done to you and all others involvedPete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 i know a bloke who used to make the scim bodyshells he know lives out in NZ but i sort parts out for his XK every so often and send him care packages of car parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzee Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Great to see the cars ripping around the circuit. Good on you for Steward'ing. It's all good, as long as no one goes wall-ward! i know a bloke who used to make the scim bodyshells he know lives out in NZ but i sort parts out for his XK every so often and send him care packages of car parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 Pete My humble apologies! I was relying on a 'mate' who was allegedly transcribing the times as they were read out over the PA. I think he only noted the 64 sec time posted on T1 by Matthew rather than the other 5 posted by Matthew and Peter which were all sub 60s... Initial post updated to reflect reality rather than Mike's addled brain. And I promise to search out the official results either from the paddock office board or the published ones now on ScimWeb in future. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 Funnily enough there's a thriving Scimitar club in NZ; quite a few made their way out new and a few have followed out since. I was fortunate to hook up with them in 1996 when I spent 6 months in Auckland. One of the guys had fitted 6 bike carbs to a hand made manifold - that engine was a sight to behold... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Interesting pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vision89 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Pete My humble apologies! I was relying on a 'mate' who was allegedly transcribing the times as they were read out over the PA. I think he only noted the 64 sec time posted on T1 by Matthew rather than the other 5 posted by Matthew and Peter which were all sub 60s... Initial post updated to reflect reality rather than Mike's addled brain. And I promise to search out the official results either from the paddock office board or the published ones now on ScimWeb in future. Tim Thats ok was a great weekend why not sprint the nissen would be good to see it going around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimFF Posted August 23, 2012 Author Share Posted August 23, 2012 Coz the cost is out of all proportion for the fun in entering just a few events now all the MSA regs on helmets and suits have been 'elf & safetied'! And the small matter of time! But when Lotto or Ernie finally deals the right numbers, who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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