Technical Days / Technical Help
Rain did not stop play on Sunday the 8th of March at the workshops of William Medcalf Ltd in North London for Medcalf 'Squared', aided by the ever entertaining Brian Fenn , for the annual W.O. Memorial Foundation Vintage Technical day.
Early sunshine with the threat of showers (big 'uns too!) allowed a creditable number of vintage and a Mk VI Special to reinforce the ethos that we are all members of a Driver's club.
Tea and stickies were provided by the Eastern Region ladies in the (dry) workshop, pleasantries were exchanged, then it was 'time gentleman (and lady!) please' for 40 'students' to troop in to the inner sanctum for lessons.
William and Jimmy then took us through the spectrum of Vintage maintenance at a healthy canter while Class scribbled notes, attempting to keep up with the banter at the same time.
The well-oiled double act kept our attention all morning, explaining the mysteries of various parts of the vintage anatomy. Brakes were dealt with in timely fashion, with 'How to adjust all four corners in five minutes' causing scribes to resort to scribble! Malcom Tearl demonstrated how to change and modify the camshaft with expert ease, a task which frightens this Vintage novice to death! The handy visual aid of a 3 Litre engine which came to pieces in minutes made the task look ever so easy! All good stuff.
Lunch was followed by a viewing of a Very 'special project' being undertaken in the adjoining workshop – A chassis lay under a large dust sheet upon the walls where a large array of photographs and notes of one of the greatest Bentleys ever raced. William talked everyone through the preservation of this powerful beast; records have been made of the reconstruction of various bodies so that every hole in the frame could be accounted for. To think this before us, had once lapped Brook lands at 143.6 MPH held the out right outer circuit record, set the fastest ever British race lap, sill holds the class B record and is the fastest car engined car ever around brook lands was amazing, then finally the dust sheet was pulled back for all to see the The Barnato Hassan Spesal!! It good to see such a important Historic race car in such safe simperthetic hands.
Many other Vintage Bentleys of all sizes were also viewed in various states of undress – useful for reinforcing the morning lectures. The Vintage Spares Scheme goody-store was open for viewing; Shopkeeper Fenn took orders and explained the ethos for the next batch of parts being made. Fenn also stated that there would be a pocket search on leaving – typical schoolboys in a sweet shop!
Back to 'skule' we trotted, listening attentively to further gems of information from improving water pumps, Sloper setup and wheel wobble, to a warning of 'shiny parts' from dubious sources which don't quite match up to spec!
By the end of the afternoon ours brains were brimming with gems of engineering wisdom – well worth getting out of bed early on a Sunday!
All that remained was to thank our hoarse hosts for a thoroughly entertaining and informative day, and to wend our way home through a neatly timed thunderstorm. I didn't notice the rain – I was forming a maintenance schedule for the 3 Litre using my new found knowledge!
Thanks again to William and his team, Jimmy and Malcom for continuing to educate the Drivers with technical knowledge which will keep these cars on the road for generations to come. That is after all, the aim of the Club.
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