Van Diemen – First Drive

Sebbie and Bob at Curborough

It was my youngest son’s 16th birthday today and we hired Curborough for the morning and took Jacqui’s mini for him to drive and the Van Diemen for me to drive for the first time.  Despite the weather warnings it was a bright sunny day – perfect for thrashing around Curborough  – and Jacqui, Sebastian and I had the place completely to ourselves.  What a privilege!

Van Diemen RF87

The Van Diemen was surprisingly easy to drive and I got the hang of clutchless gear changes (though not always finding the gear I intended!).  However, despite just coming back from having the electrics fixed, there seemed to be an occasional misfire and it was backfiring on the over run.  Still, this should be fairly easy to sort out.

The gearing was from Kames where it was last sprinted and I had thought would be suitable for Curborough but it was redlining in 4th before the finish line which surprised me, so I may have to look at the ratios.

Another job that I need to do is sort out the HT leads which presently are too close to the overhead exhausts. I had wrapped heat bandage around two of the pipes and put heat sleeving on the leads but there is still a lot of heat there and it’s difficult to keep the leads away from the pipes.  The more I look at the exhaust, the more I dislike it since you cannot get to two of the plugs without removing it. 

However, all in all I was pleased with the car. I fitted it for a start and all the controls were at hand and foot so I don’t need to adjust anything and the homemade seat was not at all uncomfortable, but what really impressed me was how easy it was to throw about.  Somehow I had imagined a single seater would be difficult to drive but in many respects it’s easier than the Mazda.  No body roll of course, very predictable and lots of grip. Roll on next season!

0 thoughts on “Van Diemen – First Drive

  1. Hi Bob

    Come on then, I am SURE you had a stop watch out so lets know your times

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