UKDRN

Anything Nostalgia Related.

Moderators: timetravel, ukdrn

 #30154  by MikeH
 
Hi All, There does seem to be some confusion over the Blue Star mock-up. Here're the replies I got from Kevin Wheatcroft some days back, before I had Barry's contact details. Donington think they own the "car". I asked for records but Kevin said there is nothing to show. Anyway here's Kevin's replies cut & pasted:

"Further to your email of 27 June addressed to Garry Rankin at the Donington GP Collection. As a child I recall going to get the mock-up you are referring to from a premises in London. I seem to think there was a chassis frame and engine earmarked for the project. We were contacted out of the blue and asked if we wanted to buy the mock-up, it then sat on the bridge ever since. It is something I would consider selling if someone is interested.
Good to hear from you to be able to put a bit more of the story together."

and the second mail I sent asking for records of the purchase received this;

"Hi Mike
Unfortunately this was my only recollection and in all honesty it could have come from Luton where it was picked up from, it was many many years ago and I could have thought Luton was London as a child! "

When I saw it was for sale/auction, I thought Beaulieu would be a good resting place, along with the other LSR exhibits they have. I hope to speak with Barry in the very near future, maybe Barry will give his thoughts on this, I'm sure they would like it on loan and it would also help Barry as it's quite large. Alternatively, the Brooklands museum has LSR stuff, but very early, that might be an option. The mock-up is a fibre glass shell in reality; there are no internal parts I can recall but it is a long time ago now. Bye for now.
 #30394  by ukdrn
 
It's gone a bit quiet here, some more of Brian's pictures
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 #30413  by MikeH
 
Hi All, A few more notes to go with Brian's pictures of BB 2. Image no. 24 is a general view of the turbo pump and back end of the motor, some parts of the rear suspension can be seen. A little tip, if you can load the pictures into a proprietry program and lighten them a few shades, you can see far more detail although it's a little bleached. You can see the inboard part of the rear rockers, but the rubber springs are not visible too much. The flexible brake line can be seen running onto the l'hand rocker; a rigid line was used to run across the main area of the rockers as can be seen on the r'hand side, drivers right hand that is. The large-ish flexible tube, just right of centre, is the main HTP feed to the motor from the turbo pump. The chassis member running transversally was the torque reaction support for the turbo pump, as well as supporting the panel for the pressurisation components. Image no. 25 gives a view of the main support for the fin, also the mounting for the' chute strop which fitted around the spacer between the two main chassis plates. The 'chute itself was housed in a tube that was mounted just under the fin mounting plate. You can pick out the inboard end of the rockers again and the turbo pump in the centre of the chassis. The other parts in front of the fin mount, I'm sure by now, you will recognise. Image no. 25 doesn't need any explanation, I think it's quite evident what it shows. If I was doing this nowdays, the rocker would be more aerodynamic as manufacturing methods have changed over the years; to have done that 30 years ago would have cost a lot, same goes for the round tube members as well all probably in carbon fibre; another little detail would be to shroud the suspension pick up points to make them more slippery. I played a lot with the position of the rocker pivot; it was a play off of how much of the pivot was in "the breeze" compared to the motion ratio of the rocker itself. Had I placed the pivot completely inside it would have reduce the movement at the inboard end too much, or if I kept the same ratio the rear track would have been much narrower. Engineering is all about trying to achieve the best compromise to do the job, nothing exists that's perfect in engineering terms, not even in F1. Again image no. 27 is slightly different view of no. 25. That's all for now and I look forwards to the next batch of pic's, thanks Jon.
 #30420  by muddytalker
 
A shot of the car on display on the Santa Pod stand at the Bingley Hall Custom Car Show in Birmingham.
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 #30588  by Old Boy Racer
 
Took a trip to the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised at the scale of their LSR exhibit. Apart from the 3 most famous MG streamliners (EX135, EX179 and EX181) displayed on a section of banking, they also have EX255, the Paul Gentilozi Jaguar XJF Bonneville car, JCBDieselmax, Charles Burnett steam car and the 1,000hp Sunbeam (on loan from the NMM). This might be another possible location for the Blue Star mock up as might the Coventry Museum where both Thrust cars and the pit trailer are displayed. Just a thought since I undertstand that Beaulieu are always a bit pushed for space with a range of special exhibits. I'd always thought that with so many significant record breakers in the UK (cars and bikes), it would be nice to see them all together in one place with a related display of quarter milers - a UK version of the Peterson if you like. No chance of that happening of course but if you are heading to Bonneville within the next year or so, they have just such a museum being built at Wendover.
Cheers
Robin
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 #30910  by BB the BB
 
Sorry for long delay since my first post. To be honest, I have had a bit of problem getting my head round the whole subject. Anyway, just thought I would do a quick post to let you know what has happened about Blue Star. I left a couple of messages for Kevin Wheatcroft who finally got back to me last week. It appears that they are altering Starkey's Bridge and therefore the mock-up needed a new home. What Kevin hadn't realised was my connection with it and also that it wasn't owned by Donington it was given to them on permanent loan to avoid the bailiffs (more on that subject at a later date). He was incredibly understanding and confirmed that he had entered it in Bonham's auction at the Goodwood Revival this coming weekend 14/16 September. When he found out that they didn't own it he offered to withdraw the item but, as he had decided that the proceeds would go to charity, I was quite happy for the auction to go ahead. If you want to have a look

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20145/lot/78/

I gave Kevin a brief synopsis in order that he could pass it on to Bonham's.
"Blue Star project amalgamated with Barry Bowles' Blonde Bombshell in 1977. David Gossling contacted Barry Bowles after his initial success with Britain's first rocket-powered car. The two worked on a new design using thrust (as opposed to wheel driven) from the Blue Steel missile. Unfortunately, David was killed in a road accident and Barry was left with the task of continuing the project. Following spectacular crash at Pendine Sands, the Blonde Bombshell project ran into financial difficulties leaving nowhere for the original Blue Star to live. The late Tom Wheatcroft kindly offered to look after it and, as most people know, it has sat on Starkey's Bridge for most of its life. Now, unfortunately, it is once again going to be homeless and hopefully will finish up with a new owner. Barry would like to thank the Wheatcroft organisation for their good offices over the years."
So, hopefully, it will go to a good home. If one of you would like it, and can arrange for its transport, I would be more than happy to give it to you. The problem is, living in Spain, it would be a bit difficult for me to take possession of it again.

Can I say that I am really touched by the messages that have been posted and I will get round to contacting those of you who have asked me. It is also good to know that you, Brian T and Syd, are still around. I have not yet spoken to Mike Huggins but hope to remedy this in the next couple of weeks. Lastly, I am amazed at the number of photographs that Brian Sparrow has got. For those of you who don't know, Brian was around when the concept was first aired.

Thanks again for your interest and support.

Barry
 #30911  by crazyhorses
 
Good to hear from you Barry. Let me know if you are near a golf course in Spain and I'll come and buy you a Cuba Libre. And make sure that we have an e-mail address so we can put you on the old boys invite list.
 #31042  by ukdrn
 
Okay guys I'm sorry for the delay in posting again in this thread but the current drag racing season eats up all my time.
Well here's the last of Brian's pictures, Brian I'll be in touch soon for another visit and to return you album.
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 #31060  by Old Boy Racer
 
Fantastic pics. Been hoping to see stuff like that for years. btw - not sure who bought it but Bonhams website lists Blue Star mock up as sold for only £250. Wish I hadn't been away on hols, I'd have had it for that price. Not sure Snr Mgt would have been too pleased though :-? Yes dear, of course I'll put it somewhere out of sight.

Robin
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