15-10-2020, 11:51 AM
(15-10-2020, 10:40 AM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote: I believe the car was bog standard - the driver anything but, just as it should be.It's almost true (about the car, anyway...). It always used a 24T2 carb (I've no idea if it was the correct version, but it appeared to work). The standard head was planed down a bit to get a bit more squish, and that was it. I did try an Alta head on it once, but fitting that put in into the Modified Sports Car Class, so it was rarely employed. However, the car was used daily, so everything was well run-in and free. The trick to getting a reasonable performance appeared to be a careful preparation together with regular grinding-in of the exhaust valves - those fitted probably being some low-quality, third-party production fitted by the usual impecunious previous owner. It was all great fun; low-cost motorsport with lots of trouble at little cost (though at the time we didn't have the money to do otherwise).
Here's Mike Costigan trying out PL 3002 for the first time at Mallory Park in about 1969. Mike has his eye on the apex, while the terrified passenger trying to get under the dashboard is David Wortley.