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Those of you who have been following OUMF recently will have seen that we now have a current project in the form of a Riley Kestrel. This has been on display to the public at the NEC Classic Motor Show in November 2022, and many will have seen it in a particularly sorry state… body panels missing, half painted, no interior - the list of things that were missing or badly damaged was probably longer than the list of what was present. Some of you may wonder, what prompted this departure from the dedicated competition car projects to date, and where did this car come from?
However, before I address these questions, I should first say that – possibly to the surprise of many - this wasn’t how we got it, even though it was fully running and driving when it arrived! So, how on earth did the car end up in the state that is in now? This story begins - remarkably - in the winter of 2019. OUMF were having one of our weekly team gatherings, at which Ding informed us that a functioning Riley Kestrel was being offered, as the owners thought might be adopted as a race car project. The couple presenting this generous proposition were none other than Harris and Carol Khairuddin, uber-enthusiastic leading lights of the hugely OUMF-supportive Riley Owners Club. We were told that the car was now running, driving, and in roadworthy condition, having spent thousands of pounds on renewing the floor – right before they moved house and lost their garage. Its 24,000 miles from new had prompted their desire to save it, but it still required some further work and dry storage to prevent it from dissolving on the street. We obviously didn’t quite know what it was or what kind of race car it might represent, nor what we’d do with it - we just wanted to save it.
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The problem that we had with the 1968 Riley Kestrel project arose only after painting the interior of the shell and then comprehensively lining the floor, doors, and other panels with a sound-deadening product called Kilmat. This is a butyl rubber backed foil, similar to other products like Dynamat, and is a dense, malleable sheet - very like the bitumen panels found on older cars - that absorbs drumming, and drivetrain and road noise very effectively. Once the lengthy process of cutting it to shape, sticking it down, and thoroughly rolling it into place is completed, it is extremely difficult and very messy to remove. The Kestrel came to us following extensive renovation of the floor, including replacement of the sills and much of the floorpan. We stripped the floor inside back to bare metal and it was very sound prior to painting with Rustbuster epoxy mastic , and top coat in body colour. The underside had been finished with a coating of black ‘schutz’ type underseal which was lavishly applied and did not appear to need further attention - all of which gave us the confidence to apply the Kilmat.
It was at this point that two issues arose in quick succession. The first was that we were kindly donated an LCB manifold and pipework by John Ashley Exhausts, and Joe Ellis at BTB Exhausts generously offered to help by undertaking various modifications in the course of making it fit as snugly along the underside of the car as he could. His artistry resulted in there being very little clearance between the stainless steel silencer boxes and the walls of the tunnel - which looked fantastic, but spelled big trouble for the very meltable Kilmat now glued just above it. The second problem was the chance discovery that the schutz underseal had been applied to bare steel – without any signs of it being primed or painted first. Water had already made its way underneath the schutz in places and surface rust was starting to take hold. As you can imagine, this disappointing find meant a very serious rethink of how we were to take the project forward. My arms are sore, it’s cramped, and for gosh sake, this underseal does not come off easily! This was my situation before the holidays as I lay on the freezing barn floor with a flathead screwdriver and a hammer trying to prep our 1969 Riley Kestrels underside for a new coat of paint (or even just any paint!) and then some Zircoflex in the exhaust tunnel. Before any of that though, we need to rid the car of this horrendous underseal.  (The State of the underside)
Firstly, I’d like to take a moment to say a big thank you to all of our sponsors and the individuals who made this week possible. Without you, this would not have been feasible and we are all better off for experiencing this opportunity. Sunday
The start of action week began on Sunday the 8th of January. We converged at the barn at 11am to begin preparation in order for the week to run as smoothly as possible. Now I must say we were extremely productive and put our engineering minds to the best of use: we invented crutch cricket and kicked an increasingly muddy football around whilst we waited for Ding to get some PayPal issues sorted out with the help of Bobby Bragg. Whilst our own, slightly disorganised, version of the OUMF Olympics was underway we sporadically packed up Ding’s Volvo with the engine blocks that were going to go through the baths at Lenton Treatments, packed laminates of the sprite and team photos that had been lovingly signed by all the team taking part in Action Week and packed all the teams personal kit. It was a struggle, but somehow we managed to fit all 10 of us into two cars, plus the kit and the engine castings. In Bobby’s car was Marcus Ward, Arran McLuskie, Archie Stewart and myself. In Ding’s car were Seb Paul, Luis Albas, Eddie Scheer and Sean Harvey. Luckily for us, Ollie Raja-Brown would be meeting us at Fuchs Lubricants the following morning so that there would be space for Joe Taylor, and all our kit to be distributed between the three cars. The drive to the Taylors home in Congleton was mostly uneventful though we now have learnt not to trust Bobby’s navigational skills, with him leading us away from the right destination even though everyone in the car saw Ding take the right turning. ‘Surely he’s going the wrong way?’ No, he went the right way, although we did get a more scenic route seeing all that Congleton town had to offer. Roughly 15 minutes behind Ding the second car arrived and we were shown around Joe’s home. A very warm thanks to the generosity of Joe’s parents for letting all of us stay. They kindly put us up in the garage which had been converted into a lovely den with a pool table, sound system and fridge liberally stocked with beer – and for that fridge we were very grateful! Before we settled in, John Taylor, Joe's father, offered to show us around his workshop which was a short 10 minute drive away. Here, John supplies used Amada sheet metal machinery, all expertly renovated to ‘as new’ condition. We were shown around machines we could only dream about having at our HQ, and not just because they were all bigger than our workspace! One was probably the size of the shed! He also had some interesting classic cars stashed away, which we really appreciated being shown and of course we all got a closer look. Welcome to the latest OUMF update - and the most important news is that we are still going! - despite the best efforts of Covid, Putin, and the economic downturn to kybosh this amazingly resilient & resourceful student initiative. This edition of the OUMF Newsletter reflects one pithy bit of feedback about previous ones: “Nobody wants to read a telephone directory of thanks you’s. We all know you’re grateful! Just give us the highlights – and make it snappy!” Wise advice, acted on, and we hope you enjoy the shorter, clearer, more digestible result! If your appetite is not appeased, and you find yourself hungry for more, please see our OUMF website for further news, detailed race reports, great photos, the roll of our many great supporters, and much more. So here goes…
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