BritishV8 Forum

They are all named Austin Healey.

...I'll also guess Phil Hill and Paul Frere as the gentlemen in the first question

Graham really nailed that one... and quick too!

Austin Healey (born October 26, 1973, about two years after the last Austin Healey Sprite was built, I think) is an English rugby player. He played as a utility back for the Leicester Tigers, represented England on the national team, and now plays for Bishop's Stortford rugby club. More interestingly (to me anyway), he is apparently a remarkable dancer. He's appeared 11 times on the British equivalent of "Dancing with the Stars" and has received some of the highest scores ever awarded by their judges. He's also appeared on a number of other British TV shows, including their version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and "BBC Breakfast".

You can't really tell from the MGB photo that it's a pull-handle car... unless you notice that the photo file is named "BelgianGP-1964.jpg". Early MGB's don't have push-button door releases on the outside. That feature started in 1965, I think. I figured that filename would help identify the mystery driver.

Yes, the "passenger" is Phil Hill. Famous for all sorts of racing, including speed records at Bonneville in MG's "EX181". The "driver" is indeed Paul Frère, the Belgian driver who among other victories won the 1960 LeMans race in a Ferrari. (Aston Martin finished 3rd in 1960, after placing 1st and 2nd in 1959.) Paul Frère was also Road and Track magazine's racing columnist. (Presumably, he's interviewing Phil Hill in this photo.) He authored the book "Sports Car and Competitive Driving". I certainly wouldn't have recognized him from a photo... but I could probably have deduced it with the clues and a little Google research.

Did you recognize him, Graham? Good job - now it's your turn!


(p.s. I don't need much of an excuse for posting an Aston Martin photo, do I? This is the same model Frère raced against in 1960.)

I must admit, I did a little googling to identify parts of the previous answers.....
OK, another simple question, and let's exclude all who have successfully answered any previous trivia question and try to get some new blood in here.
       Identify the significance of the driver and car below.

 Some obscure info on the driver. One leg was 2" shorter than the other due to an early motorcycle accident and he was tragically killed in a bizarre train accident.

QuoteEarly MGB's don't have push-button door releases on the outside. That feature started in 1965, I think.

The pull-handle era (the first 57,885 MGBs) ended in April 1965.

There are 3 in our local club, including my Dad's original owner '63 B

http://www.britcars.net/

Now, back to our British Trivia Contest.

Graham...that is Cecil Kimber with "Old Number One"

Cecil Kimber is recognized as the father of the first MG albeit while in the employ of Lord Nuffield's (William Morris) Morris  Garages organization. Pictured is Old Number One (circa 1925), a much modified Morris Cowley which essentially started the  lineage for MG cars.
The Spurious Apothecary from Illinois has the floor........

Here's an easy one....

What was the VIN number of the first production MGR V8 and what month/year did it com off of the line?

Ooh, I know........it's on page 59.  

The first production RV8 had VIN#  "SARRAWBMBMG000251" and it came off the assembly line at Cowley on March 31, 1993

Easily googled, but I don't have a clue what "page 59" you guys referred to above. Printed media is so quaint, but guys, we're in a new century now...

Incidentally, an article about this MG RV8 has been promised for the next edition of BritishV8.

Actually, it was April, 1993..but I'll spot that one to you.

The vin number was 000251 (which was historic of MZG models having the first off of the line starting with 251...which incidentally was also the telephone exchage in for the assembly plant in Agingdon)....

BTW....printed material remains REALLY significant in my book.



You're up, Curtis!

Rick wrote:

QuoteBTW....printed material remains REALLY significant in my book.

You need to embrace progress, as Cecil Kimber's daughter Jean so eloquently blogged:

QuoteI was taught that life without growth become death-in-life.

She continued her warning to M.G. "purists" thusly:

QuoteIf the M.G. enthusiasts that abound around here and abroad ignore the future, their passionate interest will become an obsession with the dead, and the real M.G., the evolving M.G., will be no more.

(Okay, she actually wrote that in the preface to "M.G. by McComb", 2nd edition, but if I hunt around the internet for awhile I'll probably find a digitized copy.)  

I'll post a new trivia question shortly... something forward-looking and lively that can't be found in any printed reference.

X

It's actually a good book, Curtis.  I bought it many, many years ago.

MG V8  Twenty-One Years On... From Introduction to RV8  by David Knowles

http://www.aptfast.com/APT_Parts/Books/Book_Info/B-51_info.htm

There's a fine line between statistics and trivia. At the risk of crossing it...

One measure of an internet message board's health is how many new threads are being started.

For the month of January 2009, I've carefully counted exactly how many threads have been started on the following four popular forums pertaining to modified classic British sports cars:

(A.) The MG BBS's "MGB Engine Conversions" Section

(B.) The MG Experience's "MGB V6/V8" Forum

(C.) The Six Pack Forum's "Upgrades" Section (for modified Triumph TR6's)

(D.) The British V8 Forum (for all modified, classic British sports cars)

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Here are the results in random order:

(1.) 10 newly-started message threads

(2.) 59 newly-started message threads

(3.) 78 newly-started message threads

(4.) 3 newly-started message threads

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The trivia question:

Correctly match the forums (by letter) with the thread-count statistics (by number).



Note: to keep this trivia question manageable, I left out The TEAE Modified-Tiger and Modified-Alpine Forums (combined) which had 3 new threads in January, and The Moss Motors Forum which has 14 sub-forums that are labeled "Performance", but those 14 forums had only 5 new threads (total) in January. That's all the message boards I know offhand with designated forums specifically for modified British cars.

Obviously A and 4 go together.
Probably C goes with 1.
And since Curtis is bragging then it's just remotely possible D goes with 3 and B goes with 2, though those last 2 could be reversed. You do realize of course that statistics show that 96.8% of all statistics are incorrect....

Jim

Jim is absolutely correct!  

I think these particular statistics are pretty accurate, but the question is what to infer from them. The breakdown of new threads per sub-forum was: Pub-12, Journals-6, MG-16, Triumph-3, Healey-3, Other-4, Racing-3, Drivetrain-11, Handling-2, Bodywork-1, Classifieds-17. Moving the "pub" section to the top seems to have helped a lot. I think there's tremendous room for further growth in all eleven forum areas, but BritishV8 is certainly picking up steam.

Great goin', Curtis!

OK, today's question is going to be a combination trivia question and tech tip, and one or two of you who have been paying attention will know the answer right away. It has to do with the venerable BOPR engine. When stroking this engine to achieve higher displacements (no funnybusiness here, I'm talking about increasing the stroke.... uh this just keeps getting deeper, that is, using a different crank.... jeez I hope the womenfolk miss this.... OK say you want to use a 300 or 340 crank in a 215 block or a P76 block to create a bigger engine. We all know camshaft clearance is a concern. What is it about the cam that means a super high lift grind will clear as easily as the stock mild one?

I'll grant you it's an easy question, but it's not a good day for trivia here so let's just go with it and someone else can take over.

Jim

Okay. The base circle of the cam.

A cam ground using a a smaller diameter core with have increased clearance with the rods.

There are tradeoffs when using a small base circle cam. The lift will be limited and/or the lifter wear may be accelerated in extreme examples. Greater rocker arm ratios & roller lifters can help if a large cam is needed.

Close enough Carl.

In the case of the SBB and BOPR engines, the cam is already considered (by cam grinders) to be a reduced base circle cam, but high ratio rockers help to offset the disadvantages. In these particular engines the limiting factor is the diameter that the nose of the cam lobe represents if you were to take that point and make a complete circle concentric with the cam's rotational axis. This generally speaking will also be the diameter of the cam bearing journals, and this point cannot be extended outward any more without risking interference with the rods and/or making it impossible to install the cam due to interference with the cam bearings.

To get more lift, the cam grinder cuts into the base circle still further, reducing the base circle by the amount of additional lift required. This means of course, that any significant increase in lift is going to require different pushrods, whether the cam is described as having a reduced base circle or not. The high ratio rockers help here too, as a moderate lift increase of say .050" is only going to increase the pushrod length by .031" which the lifters *may* be able to take up.

So if you've ever installed a slightly hotter cam and then wondered why your lifters tapped occasionally, here's your answer.

Jim

Busy weekend, so I'll defer to someone new.

Webster says...

"de·fer"
Pronunciation: \\di-ˈfər\\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): de·ferred; de·fer·ring
Etymology: Middle English deferren, differren, from Middle French differer, from Latin differre to postpone, be different — more at differ

Definition:
1 : put off, delay
2 : to postpone induction of (a person) into military service

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If someone else wants to step up and ask a trivia question, that's cool...

But I tend to think it's Carl's responsibility not to leave us "put off", "delayed", or "postponed" any further!

Yeah Carl, surely there's something you know that we don't ;-) It ain't like we're in a hurry or anything.

Jim

Yes there is, but I can't discuss it on a public forum.