​​On a wet Wednesday afternoon, the OUMF team departed for the Goodwood Motor Circuit, with the Riley 1.5 trailered securely behind Ollie’s dad’s Land Rover Defender. The journey was made in persistent rain, which seemed to be following us down south. Upon arrival, the team established their base at the campsite, marking out the OUMF area before erecting the Le Mans tent. This task was made more difficult by frequent heavy downpours, leaving most of the team drenched by the time camp was fully set up. The paddocks were then organised into a functional workshop space, with tools, equipment, and spares arranged for use over the coming days. With the essentials in place, the team headed to a nearby country pub for a well-earned dinner, which provided a chance to dry off, warm up, and discuss the plans for the weekend ahead.

0. Introduction

Data Logging... a 1950’s sportscar... Top gear... University?! All these seemingly unrelated things have come together for us lucky members of the Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation over the last 2 months. My last report/update was written just after the Donington Historic Festival where the extremely kind people at Haltech and Race Winning Brands sponsored the team with a Haltech Nexus S2 and the climb up the Data Logging/Race Engineering learning curve began. The push to install sensors and study the produced lines has not slowed any. But I will pick up where we left off and even though this story starts quite similarly to the last one it definitely does not end the same.

After the exciting ‘high’ of getting the V8 engine rebuilt, reinstalled and hearing it fire up for the first time in years, everyone thought we had earned a breather. But in true project car fashion, that moment of triumph was just the beginning of the next wave of work. The first start revealed an engine that was running rough, something that was expected on a freshly rebuilt engine with a new increased airflow intake manifold and a fully stripped down and rebuilt carburettor. The first tweaks involved getting the timing right, so the team cracked on, timing light in one hand and workshop manuals in the other, chasing the sweet spot where the idle would hold steady and the throttle response would come alive. This combined with the fine-tuning of the mixture and idle screws on the carburettor provided a healthy sounding engine ready for its first full heat cycle. As the team found out, getting a newly built engine to behave is not just a technical job. It is part science, part instinct and experience, and in our case, a shared determination not to settle for “good enough”.

The famous Gold Cup weekend marked OUMF’s return to the spectacular Oulton Park circuit after two years - and the racing was as exciting as ever. The beautiful thing about racing historics is its like hopping into a time machine and travelling back to the golden age of racing. We took our Riley racer to compete in the Jack Sears Trophy, and “Little BeWT” the Sebring Sprite in the Dunlop Allstars. Of course, the mighty Ding Boston in the driver’s seat.

1. Acquiring A Data Logger

Data Logging has become one of the most important aspects of modern motorsport and being quite keen on becoming a race engineer I thought it was high time to dive into it. Looking around the HQ of the Oxford University Motorsport foundation I saw two primary forms of acquiring data: 1. The Vbox which only outputs video and speed via a gps and 2. A Motec data Logger from 2003 that sadly no longer fully functions. Not letting myself be defeated so soon I went to Ding with my query and he duly reminded me that I may have an opportunity to get a new data logger at the race retro motorsport show. Upon looking at the list of stands at race retro my ambitions to acquire the squiggly lines was re-lit with Haltech being in attendance.
At race retro we were met by Martin Stelleman and Mark Luney who both jumped right on board in my quest to learn proper race engineering and graciously allowed OUMF to ‘have a play’ with a Haltech Nexus S2. Not getting too personal, but my excitement was through the roof. 11 analog inputs! 6 SPI’s! A MAP sensor!?!? Once the Haltech (which is what I will refer to the Nexus S2 as from now on) was with us we put it on display at the Practical Classics Restoration Show at the NEC with many ooo’s and aahh's from not only the students in the club but many a show goer. I was just ready to crack on and get the thing into one of our cars!

Thanks to Chris Smith at Devon Racing, we were very kindly given some new engine mounts from another TVR, and the engine, with the gearbox, was finally mated with the chassis. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of the problems for Gerald. A lot of hard work allowed the engine to be plumbed in and started, after which we quickly realised oil was leaking out the back of the engine through an oil gallery bung that wasn’t properly sealed. We also found the coil would get extremely hot even when the engine wasn’t running, so that needed to be replaced too. The engine had to come out again.
However, every cloud has a silver lining!

Saturday January 4th had been a long and cold day of engine prep, and the OUMF team that had gathered for the start of our annual Action Week decided that to lift our spirits and give a boost to the start of the year, this was the moment that we should attempt to start the engine of the TVR 350i project. Its mighty Rover V8 motor had been meticulously rebuilt by our engine team, spearheaded by Tom Reid and James Biley, over many months - and we all really wanted to hear it rumble! So the last coolant lines were connected, the oil sump pan was sealed, and the distributor was connected. The engine was turned over to get oil pressure, the spark plugs were refitted, and the key was finally turned… and as it fired up on all 8 cylinders, a great roar of triumph and jubilation also rang from within the barn in celebration as the V8 lived once more for the first time in over 20 years! Alongside progress on the V8, Luke Crutchley had been hard at work removing, cleaning and preparing parts from various projects like our Elva and Toyo Golf for our upcoming visit to Mr Aston Martin and his Procoat business later in Action Week. However, as our hopes and spirits rose within the barn, the weather and temperature outside deteriorated. It grew colder and colder and then snow started to fall. The forecast promised much more, including freezing rain overnight, and so the team made the decision to cancel the upcoming visit to the Bicester Scramble the following morning with our Riley 1.5 rally car. As work was finished in the barn for the night, the OUMF team celebrated by making the most of the weather with an epic snowball fight and some last minute snow drifting as we headed home in preparation for the following day, before we set off for Devon.

In every project, there are certain moments that stand out, and we have just hit one of those milestones: the engine is finally installed in the TVR! This marks a pivotal step in bringing our vision for this restored classic to life.

The journey to this point was not without its challenges, as we spent months sourcing the right parts, restoring or modifying every single part, ensuring every detail met our standards for performance and compatibility. The freshly built engine was finally ready to go in, but after careful preparation of the engine bay, our first go at the installation uncovered that the engine mounting brackets were the wrong fit—a frustrating setback.

The 20th of October marked the final round in OUMF’s 14th year racing in the HRDC. Our Riley One Point Five competing in the ‘Jack Sears Trophy’ and the Austin Healey Seabring Sprite in the ‘Dunlop Allstars’. This event would be impossible without the support of the HRDC’s Race Director, Julius Thurgood; him being a key player into letting us race at some of the UK’s finest circuits. This weekend to many of the new freshers, including myself would be their debut race weekend, meaning Ding had his work cut out to pick out a team with the 92+ different members who had joined the club the month prior. The week of Silverstone a list was organized, being a team of 9 previous members to be supported by 10 freshers to ensure the weekend would run as smooth as possible, along with giving the opportunity to see how the freshers would fit in the team and compare to many professional race teams there that weekend.

​The preparations for me began on Thursday evening when I arrived having been away from OUMF due to the start of my placement. It was good to be back at the barn and part of the team again. The team gathered to give our trusty Riley a final once-over before the big weekend. Everything was looking good and by Saturday morning, the Riley was primed and ready to go. We packed up the van, loaded the Riley, and hit the road at 4 PM, bound for Brands Hatch with excitement and optimism.