The SCC was out in force at Prescott Hill Climb over the 1st and 2nd Ocober. 8 steamers were present and most of them climbed the hill in cavalcade. But the big event was the inauguration of the Steam Car Club of Great Britain Hill Climb Championship when Basil Craske in his model R and Mark Drake in his model 740 roadster set times for the ascent. These will be the times to beat next year.

Special thanks must be given to Ian Patton, of the Bugatti Owners Club without whom this event wouldn't have happened. Ian and his team of scrutineers, marshalls and stewards were very enthusiastic and helpful throughout Thank you, Ian.

A great weekend that brought steam cars to the attention of a wider public for whom the sight of steam cars at speed on their timed runs was something memorable, I'm sure.

Thanks too, for all those club members who brought cars or just came along to join the fun and who made the event one to be proud of.





Edited 4 times. Last edit at 10/23/11 12:29PM by Basil.

Alun,

What were the times recorded by Mark and Basil?

Mike

I have been informed that Basil did it in 82.62 seconds and Mark Drake in 98.35 seconds.

Basil removed his screen,lamps, etc. to save weight and had his steam pressure set at 800 psi.

I think Mark ran his car as is.

That’s right Barry, unfortunately I could only attend on the Sunday.

The weather all weekend was perfect, it was great to see such a good turn out of steam cars and the event was very well attended by the public.

I drove the 740 to the hill climb from Stroud, about 25 miles, and have made no changes to the car for the event. In fact afterwards I realised that I still had my toolkit and picnic in the back - and a full tank of water. At around 2 tons it can hardly be said that this car is built for lightness!

At the moment I’m running the car at 550 psi, which fell to about 475 when I got to the top. Both Basil and I attempted runs unhooked, but found that the steam consumption was too great for ‘timed’ conditions. I found that I could negotiate the hill hooked up and only had to unhook for the steepest section (which coincides with the sharpest bend).

All in all it was a wonderful weekend, and to top it all I had a very pleasant return trip to Stroud; reaching home as it got dark.

For further details of all the timed runs at the weekend, visit: [www.resultsman.co.uk]

Cheers,

Mark

I did intend to run my boiler pressure at 800 psi but due to the start system not being siutable to control a good get away I was in fact on 700 psi.

I had the boiler inspector inspect and pass the boiler for the 800 psi setting he also recalibrated the pressure relief valve .

It was a great week end and a lot of fun I can recomened it to every body.

Basil

There's a technique for Prescott which I worked out when we had the first invitation a couple of years ago. I was able to take 14 runs of the hill over the three days with the Model H, always with a passenger whom I tried not to frighten (honest guv)!

The trick first of all is to go down the road a few miles shortly before your run to get everything good and hot and ensure that the boiler is well filled. Turn off the burner before you approach the line to get the pressure down enough for the steam automatic to be fully open and the burner on full fire as you wait on the line. This way you get maximum superheat and the burner is doing its job all the way up the hill.

With a full boiler (and confidence in your sight gauge) you should be able to do the full 1100 yard run without pumping water which keeps up the heat and saves the horsepower needed to work the pumps. As you are not pumping you need a bare minumum of water in the tank which saves weight.

The last part, the Semicircle, is not very steep and has an intimidating drop off to the left, this factor was enough, on several runs when the car was really hot, for the Model H recover full pressure by the finish line.


Mike



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 10/13/11 05:59AM by Mike L Clark.

We've just added some more pictures from Prescott to the website. You can view them here...
Prescott 2011



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/21/11 09:05AM by Basil.

Thanks for posting these great pictures.

It’s good to see Mark Drake out with his newly finished roadster and himself in colour coordinated clothing!

Is there any video footage of the steam cars at this years Prescott?

Don

thanks Alpinemauve for the photos in your posting

Basil

Great photos recording an historic day.

Thanks for your comments Don, I was wearing black & white spats as well and I reckon I had more comments admiring my shoes than the car!

Although it's mechanically pretty good, there's still a fair bit to do on the Roadster - new roof, improve rumble seat and so on; but I hope to have it out touring next year - and further trips to Prescott of course.

Mark