Front Page 8-7-2010
Thursday, 08 July 2010 19:50

Update July 2010

 

The first official outing, apart from our practice runs, was racing the Steam Train on the Cullinan Run, which is an annual event arranged by the Morris Minor Club.

The train and cars leave Pretoria and “race” to the grounds at the Cullinan Diamond mine, actually the Studebakers idle in overdrive, while the Morris’s race.

  

 

For some interesting facts on the Cullinan Mine go to the end go this page.

 

 

After this trip we decided it was time to sort out the fuel consumption.

 

Lesson One: Step One - in the process to improve the fuel consumption. 

 

Take two identical carburetors strip them, compare all the best parts and reassemble that carburetor including some new parts that you machined because the old ones were not up to spec.

This can be done in the kitchen accompanied by a glass of good South African wine, and the hope that your wife has not planned a dinner party for the next day Put the carb back and go for a 250 km drive.  Fortunately, we did not have to go past lesson one as this exercise worked. Now, all we have to do is try out various jets for the best performance and consumption.

 

 

 

After a few runs to check the improvement in the fuel consumption, we took the 29 on her first rally.  The Mampoer Rally starts in Pretoria and is a 230 km run ending at the Willem Prinsloo Museum at the annual Mampoer (Moon Shine) Festival.  The ladies (our better halves) decided to join us in the 1950 Bullet nose. We had a great day and for those that want to ask the obvious question, yes they beat us. Our excuse was that we decided that discretion is the better part of valour and we let them sneak in at the last time check. After a few more local trips, we set off with the Studebaker Club on an outing in Witbank to a Coal mine town 120km east of Johannesburg.  This trip was not that successful, but proved to be very important.  On the way there a noise which I had been hearing was getting louder.  On the way home, with a few kilometers to go, this noise finally manifested itself as a blown exhaust gasket. This is not what we wanted to see with only 8 weeks before shipping, but we were pleased that it happened now and not on the trip.  So we immediately started with repairs, and finally, with some modifications, got the 29 on the road again.

 

 

The Cullinan Diamond mine is where the largest rough gem-quality diamond was found, at 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g) and is named The Cullinan diamond. The largest polished gem from the stone is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at 530.2 carats (106.0 g) was the largest polished diamond in the world until the 1985 discovery of the Golden Jubilee Diamond 545.67 carats (109.13 g), also from the Premier Mine. Cullinan I is now mounted in the head of the Scepter with the Cross. The second largest gem from the Cullinan stone, Cullinan II or the Lesser Star of Africa, at 317.4 carats (63.5 g), is the fourth largest polished diamond in the world and Both gems are in the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.