Steve was it a 'hot' car in it's day?

Sounds cool Steve !!

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james80 wrote:Was that the end of your rallying Ferg or do you still do some?

We did it for 3 years and then the money to compete just went to totally daft and we stopped
I'll do it again in the morning if I had lots of funds. Great great fun

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ahhh...so many passions and hobbies, so little $

vikingdrvr wrote:ahhh...so many passions and hobbies, so little $

And that my friend is the sad fact

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james80 wrote:Steve was it a 'hot' car in it's day?

In a way.
The body was BMC designed to replace the Morris Minor, but that plan was shelved (thankfully).
Instead it was used for a small fairly upmarket saloon with wood and leather, etc. The Wolseley version had 60bhp but the Riley had twin SU carbs and a rev counter and produced a massive 68! Available to special order was an 85 bhp version of the Riley with a lower final drive to feel like a close ratio box and with 1" larger wheels. It was quite nippy and there was a racing series(!!!!!)
I think it accelerated to 60 in under 12 seconds. Cor!
Father had the special. He kept it for twelve years and flogged it to a neighbour for his wife to use with fewer than 30K miles on the clock. Mother was a DEMON in it.......

85!!! I don't think my first three cylinder, 1000cc Suzuki Swift had 85HP!

It really is amazing how performance and economy have moved on. My first new car was a mightily powerful Alfa Romeo 1950 cc which produced 130 bhp and 27 mpg on a good day. Everyday hatchbacks have more power than that, and produce in the 40s or 50s per gallon!

Agreed Ferg rallying is both great and expensive but such a great sport and I love that it's not just outright speed but how much work you need to do to get it right, car prep, pacenoting and all the other thing to keep a car going for two or three days of racing on gravel.

Fascinating read Steve, sounded like that Riley was some car. Have this picture in my head of your Mother on twon wheels flying around corners lol

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That's it exactly James, it's the whole experience. We used only rally on tarmac here though, they just closed the roads for the day

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I had a 60bhp 1275cc engine in it for the first few rallies but then spent about two grand on a 105bhp 1400cc engine. We went from being 27th to about 3rd instantly !!

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A bored- out A series?

bspj wrote:A bored- out A series?

Yes indeed
Serious rocket ship !!
Car only weighed 700 kg

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MiniMpi wrote:Fascinating read Steve, sounded like that Riley was some car. Have this picture in my head of your Mother on twon wheels flying around corners lol

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And passing offensive (often obscene) remarks and gestures to other, hapless motorists who unintentionally made her cross. The kids from school loved being driven by her for the entertainment value. She used words their FATHERS were coy about using.........