Photo montage

I put together some stills of the rally accompanied by a bit of classic Bob Seger. Quite happy with it...

Video

My navigator, John, took this video of us chasing down a Triumph TR4 on the rally...

Silverware

I've just arrived back from completing the DS's first rally - 1400km starting in the Champagne region of France, through the Black Forest of Germany, into Austria and then all the way back again.

The car performed magnificently and we were delighted to win our class (Class 2 - 1965-1974) against some stiff competition.

The rally was followed by a professional motorsport photographer:

All photos copyright of Tony Large - http://www.tonylarge.net/

I must say I have now developed a bit of a taste for competition - next stop will either be the Rallye de Maroc or the East African Safari. Adventure awaits.

Happenings

Since the car was completed I've not had a huge amount of time for the blog as I've been out driving the wheels off it.

The car is now back with Graham for a final twiddle before the first race starts at the end of October (Epernay-Black Forest-Jura Mountain Pass). I assumed, perhaps stupidly, that this would be just a bit of a polish and maybe a couple of nuts & bolts.

Oh no.

So far the list has run to:

New water pump
New hoses all round
New spheres for stiffer racing suspension
New radiator
New radiator hoses & pipework
New brake pads
Front track rod ends
4 new wheels (for the winter tyres needed for racing)
The rear (cutaway) rear wings fabricating, welding and painting

I'm sure there will be more but my wallet is already feeling like it has spent a night in a Turkish prison with Randy Mustafah.

I took the car for a bit of a road race at 5am one Sunday morning the other week to check performance over the twisty stuff and up the long mountainous passes. It performed very well considering the other car I was racing was a little bit faster...

The new Cibie spotlights are an absolute must away from lit roads, very glad I spent the money on them.

Now I'm off to start the inventory of rally equipment. I may be some time.

Before and after

Photos after collection

Perhaps unsurprisingly the car has been getting driven quite a lot since I picked it up on Thursday so below are a few more pics of the car when I collected it...

D-Day

I picked the car up last night and it is everything I wanted plus a whole lot more. The attention to detail paid by all the guys at GM Motor Services is incredible and I couldn't be happier.
The car is entered into the Hebden Bridge Vintage Weekend this Saturday and then the 28th Yorkshire Classic Car Show at Ripley Castle on Sunday.

This is how she looks:

Really pleased with the period Cibie spotlights and the colour looks fantastic. The vinyl bonnet mounted licence plate looks the dog's too I think...

Wheel trims are off while the pain on the wheels cures. Also looks pretty cool too I think. Meaner than your usual DS.

And here she is back at home. Now all I've got to do is wash and vac the carpets, polish the wheel trims, shine up the chrome and metal, clean the windows and give her a damned good thrashing.

Also she needs a name. I was thinking of Emmanuelle as she's a saucy little french piece.

24 hours

So tomorrow is the day that I collect the car, really excited. Sadly no photos to update apart from some particularly dull ones of me dyeing the armrest. It took ages to find someone who supplied leather dye but I eventually tracked some down and got busy in the garage. After a close examination I found that the top part of the arm-rest bolster is leather but the sides and bottom are vinyl. Damn et blast.

Still, after so much time and effort went into sourcing the leather dye I cracked on regardless! At the moment some bits are drying ready for the next coat. The leather, as expected, has gone a lovely deep black after 3 applications. The vinyl has coloured well but there are a few streaks - hopefully they'll buff out with a rag (or hammer.)

Top (leather bit) done and drying, grey vinyl still showing on sides.

This was soaking wet when picture taken, much better finish now.

Anyway, this is all just time wasting. What I can't wait to see is the new racing red paint in the flesh and on the car.

Not too long to wait now. Taking her to the Hebden Bridge Vintage Weekend on Saturday 6th August, the 28th Yorkshire Classic Car Show at Ripley Castle on Sunday 7th August and then a week later an doing to race/rally testing of the car through the Yorkshire Dales.

Waiting...

Well Thursday is the day, really looking forward to giving the car a good run out. Not going to be sleeping much for the next few nights...

Red is the colour of my love...

Well things have been cracking on and it looks like the car will be finished in time for the Hebden Bridge Vintage Weekend which I have entered the car in...

So, to begin the exhaust is on, the carb fettled with (including new DS23 jets - c.10% more fuel mix). It looks and sounds absolutely incredible. Combined with the bored out exhaust baffles in the front box it now revs so easily and loses those revs like a real racer. Graham has done some top work on this and I'm happier than I thought I was going to be (which was pretty bloody happy...)

This is how it looked before with the twin downturned pipes. They looked pretty but would be absolutely buggered if they took a hard knock when racing.

And this is how it looks now, upturned with a skid plate...



Above is a front to back shot - the original flexi metal bead hose is now welded onto the fully bespoke system. It is straight through from the front box to the tailpipe and has been mounted as close to the underside as is practical for racing. More shots below...

Next up is the improved ventilation/airflow on the front. At the moment it looks like this:

The pair of intakes at the bottom feed air directly to the inboard front disk brakes. The one above it is a general radiator intake (I think) and the black metal with the single circular hole is where the registration was mounted. On that piece Graham will be drilling some auxilliary ventilation points and also feeding through the mounts for the front spotlights.

Next the chassis. These photos give a good view of the nearside renovation/strengthening that has been done:

So now onto the colour. I changed my mind so many times about this over the first 4 weeks but after seeing the bodywork today I know I made the right decision. The pics below are still wet and have had two coats (for the paint visible on the interior. The exterior is being painted later today/tomorrow and will be three coats. The colour is absolutely perfect in my opinion and I can't wait to see it all back on the car...

(These pics were taken under odd lighting while paint was still wet)

Interior and shut of front nearside door:

Interior of offside rear wing:

Interior of nearside door:

Well that is about it I think. 11 days and counting until she's ready, I am finding it hard to think about anything else at the moment...

Josephine helps

My daughter Josephine has pointy little fingers - ideal for pulling the messy, sticky foam backing from the DS's carpets.

ben.williams@bjjw.com

Sent using BlackBerry®

And they are go, go, go

The FIA and MSA (Motorsport Association) papers are in and the car is now race eligible and accepted. Even if it is in a million tiny pieces...

Genesis

Just digging around in some old photos and found the wedding pics where my obsession with DSs began...

Fantastic day...

Change of mind re colour

Everyone at the garage thinks that the Rouge Massena paint is a little dull for the UK weather. The original Citroen chart said it was a red for sunny climates so I've had a think and made a decision.

I love red cars so it needs to stay and when I think of red cars my mind is drawn specifically to a certain thing...

The red of the classic racing Ferraris is called Rosso Corsa (Racing Red) and I think it is pretty much the best red out there. Not too dark, not too orangey.

We have located a supplier of the paint (code FER 300) and I've decided we're going for it. The roof will remain black and the bonnet, wings, doors and boot will be finished in the Ferrari colour. I think it is going to look pretty damned good.

On the final stretch

Ok, had a great visit to the garage yesterday. Lots has been done and, although it doesn't look like it from the photos, things are all starting to come together.

Firstly the interior is back from the vinyl magician. They look like new and I'm delighted with the finish.

Next up is the body work. All panels have now been welded, taken back to bare metal, primed and are ready for the spray booth.

Onto the exhaust. The front box has been sorted out and been worked on. It originally had two (small) outlets from the box. These have been taken off and a new wider, faster breathing single outlet fabricated and welded. All it needs now is the fully bespoke stainless middle and back box fabricating and fitting.

Another day another rally

I've now entered the car into another rally - this time a winter race through the Champagne region of France into Germany and back over 4 days in November.

Called the Alpen Run (website http://www.15-50ac.org/) it looks like a great challenge. We'll be up against a Morgan V8, Volvo 1800S, MGB, Hillman Imp and MG Midget amongst others, lets hope the DS is ready for a thrashing...

Workaplenty

Ok, had a great morning at the garage and lots has been going on since the last update (though from the pics it may be hard to tell...)

Firstly all four doors are now welded, rust/rot free, back on the car and primed ready for the new paint.

The two back wings and front nearside wing are also sorted...

This is the front offside wing about to be given the treatment, should be finished by the end of the day...

As for other things... the interior is nearly finished and is looking great. No pics yet as it was all covered up at the garage but it is basically as new (black vinyl) with extra support put into the two front seats to make the twistier parts of rallying easier. At present the interior is bare:

Mechanically the main bits have yet to be started but the whole exhaust is off. The front box is currently being worked on by Graham. I saw the section he'd been tinkering with and he's enlarged the baffles and opened it up a bit to allow for a faster breathing system. From the front box back it will be a fully bespoke stainless system exiting in one slightly larger back box and pipe. Should sound nice. Combined with the new four branch carb and a damned good service it should pump the output up a bit and give an easier breathing engine.

Speaking of which we're going to do some work on the front airvents. At present a lot of that area has been taken up with the registration plate...

The plate will be coming off (the bugger is riveted on) and new airvents created and a vinyl bonnet mounted licence plate popped on like the early Jaguar E Types...

I think that about covers it for now. Work has begun today on the sills and chassis so by the time I go back (in about 3 weeks) it should be nearly there and ready for the complete respray.

Oh, I managed to pick up a pair of period spot lights - Cibie Super Oscars. They were bloody expensive but will be much needed in the low/no light sections of various rallies.

Ok. Over and out, I'm off to Devon for a week with the family...