|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
  |
|
|
The UK's leading tuning specialist for "A" series engines |
News Archive Page (3)
| Forged Crank added to the "For Sale "page - 27/12/02 |
| Bill Richards racing now has a branch in Australia - 12/12/02 |
| Latest Projects + Ben Norfolk's Mini update - 29/11/02 |
| 'The Eight Port Project' + Sponsorship news + Lydden - 25/11/02 |
| Sprinting: The end of season report - 13/11/02 |
| Good luck to Mark Sayer, he's emigrating to Australia this week and will become, " Our man in Oz !" |
| Ron Watson's new race Mini + Two Minis at Lydden 26/10/02 |
| Castle Combe and Lydden - 02/10/02 |
| Latest from Luxembourg - 19/08/02 |
| Come and see the 8 Port Mini at Minispares shop + Sue Judd's Sprite has been added to the 'Customers' page - 02/08/02 |
| Bill's Race report for SEMSEC's Lydden Event - added 20/07/02 |
 News
Archive Pages
|
|
Bill
Richards racing now has a branch in Australia - 12/12/02
|
We
now have a branch in Australia, Bill will be setting up a unit of BRR in
Australia with our man Mark Sayer. We hope to be able to provide a
bespoke service for customer that require high spec road and competition
engines. Contact Bill Richards Racing at Ashford for more details of
this service,
|
Latest
Projects - 29/11/02
The Bill Richards Racing team are currently working on two exciting projects:
Anyone who would like to see the building of these cars at their various stages are most welcome to stop off at the workshop here in Ashford . |
The first one is a road/track day Mini
for city financier, Martin Breathwick. Martin's machine has an
interesting spec, it's being built with a 1425cc long stroke set-up but
has to be tractable enough to cope with the cut and thrust of London's
traffic, as being able to cope with the occasional track day. The shell
for Martin's project is the latest from Rover Heritage and has just been
painted in red/white ..it looks fabulous.
Our
other project is the re-build of Bill's 8 port project. As with all of
the team's race projects, some innovative new ideas are being formulated
and these will be applied to their work on the cars bodyshell . This car
will be running the tried and tested 8 port unit which Bill used to win
the South East Sports and Saloon car Challenge this past season.
|
'The Eight Port
Project' + Sponsorship news + Lydden
|
The
'Eight Port Project' (AKA Milly) is back in the workshop for a new
bodyshell. An accident earlier this year at Brands Hatch did quite a lot
of damage to the very lightened shell and despite extensive repairs, the
car has been very tricky to set up ever since. This new shell will still
be much lighter than standard but hopefully will make Milly's handling a
bit more predictable.
Good
news on the sponsorship front - both Pipers and Mini Spares have
confirmed their continued support of
Bill Richards Racing for the 2003 season.
|
Sprinting: The end
of season report - 13/11/02
Phil, Lee & Dave |
The
sprinting team have now finished their season, it all went very well
indeed, of the championships contested, they finished 3rd and 4th in
one, and 2nd and 5th in the other which is not bad considering that they
only contested a limited season due to funding. The highlight of
the season was finally beating Terry Brown's more powerful 1400cc KAD
twin-cam Lenham LeMans, just being on the same pace as this seasoned
competitor was a real achievement for the team. We also visited some new
places this year, Goodwood being a favourite although we had our fair
share of problems there, but it was still a fabulous place to
race. Over the season the Mini
has picked up a fair amount of body damage due to enthusiastic driving
and is now looking very tatty so during the winter it will get a re-fit
and and a few improvements so it will hopefully go a lot
faster. Philip and Lee will hopefully be competing in Mini Miglias
next year if some sponsors can be found but Dave will be competing in a
full season of sprinting and will be hopefully be fighting for the
championship. The team would like to thank everybody who has
helped them through the year including Peter Baldwin, Ian Curley,
Ashford Coachworks and John Baker,
|
Two Minis at Lydden -
26/10/02
|
Attack
of the clones ! - Bills glorious 8 port Mini (now called Milly) was
joined in the Lydden paddock by Ron Watson's new racer, built and
prepared by Bill and the team. This is Ron's first venture onto tarmac
after previous racing adventures in Minicross (1997 National Champion).
Most people were fairly confused when they saw two, almost identical,
Minis gridding up - Ron's is a 1380cc '5 port' version whereas Bill's is
a full-on 1460cc '8 port' but they did look great together even if Ron's
is currently
lacking in sponsors. I hope to be posting race reports from both drivers
to these pages in the next few days but Bill was involved in some epic
battles with Nathan Mills' Escort. The Mini was running well, it was
found that by running only one of the two air filters, it retained a
richer fuel mixture at high revs. Bill was still not entirely happy with
Milly's handling, loads of horsepower is all very well but only if you
can transmit it to the tarmac - more development will be required in the
suspension department.
|
Castle
Combe & Lydden - 02/10/02
Prior to the weekend the mini's 8 port engine was
removed and a 1380cc rally spec unit was built using parts found around the
workshop. The engine was installed in plenty of time (for a change) for the
journey to Castle Combe racetrack.
Friday - With
the kind loan of Piper Cam's van for the weekend and stock supplied by
MiniSpares as well as Pipers themselves, we left Ashford and arrived in good
time. (3hrs including a stop) After quickly turfing out the people in our
allocated space the camp was established and within minutes of arriving the
Mini was receiving great attention. With a few last minute preparations and
bolt checks (after Bill's hasty engine out, engine in to reassure himself all
the engine was built up fully) we were able to retire for the evening.
Saturday - The
first of the sessions were beginning while we were trying to get
 the
mini through Combe's strict 100 DB noise limit. Without too much trouble the
extra silencer we had specially made and a 'Supertrap' was all that was needed
to pass. Within minutes Bill was entertaining his team and sponsors with laps
of the fast Castle Combe circuit in what turned out to be the fastest mini on
the day.
During one of the sessions a valve was bent.
Remembering an old valve lying in his camper roof box he quickly ran up top to
see if it was the same size. By some weird coincidence it was, and Bill could
be seen running through the Paddock with a cylinder head under his arm. The
head was bolted on and the sessions resumed.
The day was drawing on and there were still many
sponsors to entertain. A quick turn around time by the team and Bills ability
to talk his way on the track meant that we were able to show all the
supporters what it was like in a race car.
With the day over there was no time to relax.
Loaded up within 30mins we were on the road back to Ashford to change engines
again over night in time for the race at Lydden Hill on Sunday. The engine
change seemed to go smoothly and with the new exhaust semi hung and the second
seat and harness removed, we decided to run the engine up. Quickly identifying
a leaking float chamber and a non firing cylinder we decided that perhaps it
was time to leave and save those for the morning. So much for being trouble
free and ahead of schedule. We headed to Lydden arriving at midnight and again
retired for the night
Sunday - The
team quickly repaired the leaking float chamber and the cylinder
 not
firing was also quickly diagnosed, however
the remedy took longer. We had to qualify the mini on 3 cylinders, lucky not
to detonate the engine. The float was getting jammed on the weld where the
float chambers had been modified in an attempt to cure the flat spot. Quickly
trimming down the weld to prevent the float getting stuck we were able to
get out on 4 cylinders seconds before the race with the grid waiting for us
Because of the poor qualifying the Mini
struggled on 3 laps to pass bigger machinery including David & Goliath
battle veteran Nathan Mills and Steve Weatherly. However once up to speed, the
Mini enjoyed its 47 second lap time, stamping down its authority on bigger
machinery.
Results: Race 1 - 5th Overall Race 2 - 4th Overall
|
Latest
from Luxembourg
|
|
Minispares exhibit
our 8 Port Project Mini
|
| Bill's
Race report for SEMSEC's Lydden Event - added 20/07/02
However a clutch problem meant that the mini stalled on the line. Quick driver reflexes (with the marshals quickly approaching to remove the car) allowed Bill to start the race third from last, BEHIND the BMW minis! Quickly cutting through the field with the grunt of the new 8-port and using all his experience he managed to pass all but Warren and Alan Maynard without the use of a clutch. Hot on the tail of Warren he was constantly under pressure allowing Bill to take a faster lap than Warren in his Peugeot 205 GTi. The Metro was dominant during its qualifying session passing a majority of the other contenders. Despite having trouble to get a quick lap in the Cosworth Metro was on pole again alongside Alan Maynard in his Fireblade powered Caterham. The Caterham out dragged the Metro and lead the race for a couple of laps. The Caterham was under immense pressure from the Metro and he eventually conceded with a few aggressive manoeuvres from Bill. Bill continued on to win the race with ease conscious of being mechanically sympathetic to the tired BDH engine
|
Qualifying
revealed the mini had a big flatspot and that the suspension needed to be
softened up all round. However it still gained a very respectable
qualifying time on its debut, despite a hair raising spin caused by the
flatspot, putting the mini in 3rd place on the grid alongside Nathan Mills
in his Mk2 Escort and behind bitter on-track rival and friend Warren
Johnson.