Gavin Watson 2012

STOP PRESS 2012

We have had the engine rebuilt over the winter at great expense. This process took three months and in the end turned out to be a bit of a rush as everyone seems to work on a just in time basis.

The net result is I picked up a beautiful rebuilt engine which included another cylinder head being gas flowed etc AND completely different valves, valve springs etc. Also four new bespoke pistons and a true compression ratio of 11.1:1. This engine gave 118 bhp on the dynamometer and had definitely much more grunt on the road.
This was really exciting for Castle Combe: we’ve got a load of oomph and it’s probably going to be wet where the Borgward has previously excelled and if I don’t crash we might get a really good result!

Unfortunately the engine was only great for two miles as the cylinder head gasket promptly blew! VERY annoying.

The engine has gone back to the builders and I am now waiting for a bespoke copper head gasket to be made. More fettling has been done to the cylinder head and fingers crossed it won’t happen again, so hopefully out at Snetterton on the May bank holiday.

PS also waiting for our limited slip differential. These guys don’t even bother with just in time. I’ll get it when they are good and ready!

Gavin Watson