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It’s November, isn’t it? Well, today I finally started the winter maintenance. There is still loads of snow at my place, so I pretend the spring is massively delayed this year. The side cover on right side was cracked by the former owner, and I am seriously considering to rip them off along with the air intake box. I have read about the cons but the pros are service friendliness and coolness. Isn’t it? I also consider to replace the fuse box with separate circuit breakers. At least the burned 30A one. Hope you all are well and healthy. Strange times indeed. My uncle died in November, so we’ve been busy all winter, and still are. A farm in bad shape, rebuilding of the main building, paper work, money, stocks, tons of paper, tons of timber. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Stirling Moss passes away at 90 with his wife at his side. The account of his Miglia Mille win is epic and made me a fan. Arguably Moss' greatest drive was with Jenks beside him. This is well worth a read. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1955/14/moss-mille-miglia On May 1st motor-racing history was made, for Stirling Moss won the 1,000-mile Mile Miglia, the first time in twenty-two years that this has been achieved by a British driver, and I had the very great privilege of sitting beside him throughout this epic drive. ------------------ Neubauer was ever present at the start, warning Moss to give the car plenty of throttle as he left the starting ramp, for Herrmann had nearly fluffed his take-off; he also assured us that we could take the dip at the bottom of the ramp without worrying about grounding. The mechanics had warmed the engine and they pushed it up onto the starting platform to avoid unnecessary strain on the single-plate clutch, one of the weak points of the 300SLR. The route-card which we had to get stamped at the various controls round the course was securely attached to a board and already fitted in its special holder, the board being attached by a cord to one of my grab-rails, to avoid losing it in the excitement of any emergency. We both settled down in our seats, Moss put his goggles on, I showed him a note at the top of my roller device, warning him not to apply the brakes fiercely on the first corner, for the bi-metal drums needed a gentle application to warm them after standing for two days. ------------------------ With a scream of “Castellotti!” Moss accelerated hard round the next corner and we twisted our way through the streets of Ravenna, nearly collecting an archway in the process, and then out on the fast winding road to Forli. Our time to Ravenna had been well above the old record but Castellotti had got there before us and we had no idea how Taruffi and the others behind us were doing. Now Moss continued the pace with renewed vigour and we went through Forli, waving to the garage that salvaged the SL we crashed in practice, down the fast winding road to Rimini, with another wave to the Alfa-Romeo service station that looked after the SLR that broke its engine. I couldn’t help thinking that we had certainly left our mark round the course during practice. Ever since leaving the start we had had the rising sun shining in our eyes and, now, with the continual effects of sideways “G” on my body, my poor stomach was beginning to suffer and, together with the heat from the gearbox by my left buttock, the engine fumes, and the nauseating brake-lining smells from the inboard-mounted brakes, it cried “enough” and what little breakfast I had eaten went overboard, together with my spectacles, for I made the fatal mistake of turning my head sideways at 150 m.p.h. with my goggles lowered. Fortunately, I had a spare pair, and there was no time to worry about a protesting stomach, for we were approaching Pesaro, where there was a sharp right corner. ------------------------ On the next bend we saw a silver Mercédès-Benz, number 701, well off the road among the trees and badly wrecked. We knew it was Kling and exchanged long faces with each other, wondering how badly hurt he was. . .

Finally got the oil drip from the bellhouse sorted. Next time I'll check the breather hose before I tear off the clutch and replace all the oil seals in there. Go on...

Yes docc Pete and 68C described it and its methodology nicely and here it is being installed. You end up with a hard packed ultra fine sludge in them that builds up on the outer internal face due to centrifugal forces and if the engine is old enough and esp if its a pre oil filter engine the whole crank gallery can fill up with sludge. I owned a Honda S600 car at one point and the engine in that actually had a dedicated centrifugal filter operated off the cam chain.Same principal. After you install the plug with loctite you also stake it in place just to be sure to be sure. There was 1 particular Ducati engine a few years ago (900 EFI engines from memory) that at one point in time had issues with the plug backing out and rubbing on the cases. Engines started making metal and that was the cause. Ciao

Big mistake, dont even think about it. The side covers tend to crack due to poorly located mount holes that mean they are stressed when installed. I recently modified my mount holes so they aren't loaded up and stressed when installed. Ciao

Haha! It’s a looong process, docc Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

One more thing my Sport knows more about than I do . . .

Crankshaft sludge traps work well by centrifugally trapping fine particles inside the crankshaft. The problem comes if the bike is stood for many years, twenty or so. The sludge hardens then loosens., if not cleared out during a bike rebuild it will block the oilways and trash the motor. Happened to many old Brit parallel twins, the new owner buys a barn find bike, does the minimal to get it running, spends time and money on cosmetics but blows the motor on its first long run.

I was chatting with friends about this amazing chronicle and stumbled across start-to-finish imges that are fun to juxtapose and ponder . . . Thanks, again, LuckyPhil!

A very large number of infections and deaths in Oz can be traced back to passengers who were rapidly and unceremoniously disembarked from one cruise ship in Sydney with no health, or even immigration checks! Someone needs to be held accountable for that. One has to think it was a case of 'Shit! Make this someone else's problem! Fast!' and the supervising agencies dropped the ball or simply didn't care. Someone we know came back just before the border was closed and saw people completely flaunting the all ready imposed social distancing requirements at the arrivals lounge in Sydney airport. She approached a couple of Border Force boot-boys who were looking on and asked why they didn't try and do something bout it. Their sneering reply was, "Not our job. That's biosecurity." What a pack of bloody jobsworths! Not really surprising though. Look at the Minister responsible for their oversight. Dutton the Potato-Head! A slovenly would be autocrat with the social skills of a worm farm! God help us all!

If we have to point at the worst generation, we can look at our own (Boomers). I mean the promise of love and peace in the '60s has lead to horrific outcomes that have spiraled since the 1980s. So I am more ashamed of my generation rather than criticizing the youngers'. I have no idea how this is coming out. But I think a severe recession and even worse health outcomes for the next few years. Then those younger folks will have to put it all back together.

Chuck....Yes, especially when it is the MG world! Lucky Phil...Thanks for the Euro Moto addy! I forgot about them, several years ago I bought a valeo starter from them for another bike. Anyway, I placed an order for the fuel hoses, their product is overall less expensive and I won't have to worry about bend radiuses. Gstallons... I've got an "87SE too! Have a good one & stay healthy, Art

My daughter dropped her (previously mine!) 2004 Balabio yesterday. She had only taxed it the day before! 3K,s from home at 04:30 in the morning on cold tyres and a damp road. She grabbed a handful of front brake and lost the front end at about 70 kph. Lack of practice and a failure to recognize the conditions and situation as a car pulled out in front. But she was wearing all her gear and after a slide down the road, got up minus a small patch of skin and walked away. Her jacket now has battle scars and the bike will need a few bits and some clean up, but nothing major. the parts list includes: clutch lever in black gear shift lever left foot peg a new set of cans as the old one did not do too well at 70kph a head protector as the old one did its job, some rocker box cover bolts That will incorporate a new head protector a plug cap in red and some new bar end mirrors After that it will need a bit of paint. anyone got surplus parts or suggestions on where to go for the parts and which mufflers as one is toast and the other has a couple of scratches from an earlier learning experience in the garage! I am in Canada but have a US postbox in WA which I can’t get to until th current excitement goes away so have the time to do the paint job and at least get all the parts even if they are the wrong side of the border. Thanks in advance for the advice. LangleyMalc

Sometime last night my 2002 Lemans was stolen out of my garage in St Louis Missouri. Red and grey color scheme. Rich Maund seat. 44,000 mile Please keep a look out. attached is a recent photo. If you see it or hear of it, please contact the police Thanks Todd Davis St Louis Mo, USA