Our first year of competition was highlighted by inexperience and the incompetence of youth. We ran on three cylinders for almost a whole season before I gave in and had a carburetor specialist diagnose a blocked main jet in one of the twin choke Webers. This explained why our 16 second runs were 3 seconds slower than Ron had been turning. It is laughable thirty five years later but was embarrassing at the time and I never told anyone. Another fiasco was spending a whole day trying to fire up in the Santa Pod play pen until Lee Johnstone of the Zyder Ryder team suggested we retime the Vertex Scintilla magneto by 180 °!

Eventually we were burning rubber, getting better times and consistently taking first or second place in class from this point on. Jon had secured sponsorship from his employer Burmah-Castrol; £50 per year plus Castrol brollies, Castrol jackets and all the GTX we could drink!

Carnival
Wellington, Somerset Jon second from right, Cliff far right, Stuart third from left.

Stuart Thomas had come on     board     as     our ‘engineering consultant’ and arranged for the Somerset Wynns Friction Proofing rep to provide product support.