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Introduction
Seventies sport
Spare parts
Back to basics
Breaking the mould
Other vehicles
The Lola T142 single-seater racing car has been languishing in a garage for over 20 years and the Salvage Squad's task is to get the car back on the track. They have just one month if it is to be ready for the Prescott Hill Climb, one of the country's top motor sport events.
The Lola was built in 1969 for the Formula 5000 racing series. This was a new type of motor racing which combined Formula One chassis technology with road car engines, allowing private individuals to compete at the top level of motor sport. Formula 5000 was a very fast and exciting sport. During the 1970s it was as popular as Formula One. The car the Squad are working on beat Formula One cars to win the 1969 Grand Prix at Jarama in Spain.
As the Squad soon find out, racing cars require a high level of technical expertise and the car has to be completely rebuilt before it can return to the track. They buy new wheels from the Lola Company and, with the help of an expert mechanic, rebuild the engine and chassis.
The real problem, though, is with the car's suspension uprights – brackets that support the wheel, suspension and steering mechanism, and one of the most important parts of the car.
The suspension uprights are made from magnesium, used because it is light and strong. However, the Squad discover that the original uprights have corroded and are no longer safe, so they must be replaced. Unfortunately, as the car was built 30 years ago there are no spare uprights to buy off the shelf.
The only way to make the new suspension uprights is to have them cast at a specialist foundry. So the Squad's Claire Barratt visits a magnesium foundry in Kent to help with the casting process.
The original wooden patterns for the suspension uprights are discovered in a storeroom at the foundry. These were made by a skilled pattern-maker in 1969 from the original Lola technical drawings.
The wooden patterns contain a cavity, which has been moulded into the exact shape of the suspension upright. First the pattern is packed with moulding sand, which takes the shape of the upright. The sand contains a chemical, which makes it set solid after about 20 minutes. The wooden patterns are then removed, leaving a replica in sand, which contains a cavity the same shape as the upright – this is called the mould. The mould also contains 'runners' which channel the molten metal to different parts of the casting.
Moulds are usually constructed in two halves that are joined together once the pattern has been removed from them.
Magnesium alloy ingots are then heated to 700°C in an iron hopper, placed above a gas furnace. When the magnesium has melted, the iron hopper is lifted to the mould using an overhead gantry. The molten magnesium is then poured in a continuous flow through special gates into the mould. If there is any interruption in the pour, the casting will not be sound.
The metal is left to cool and the sand is then broken from the metal casting with a hammer. The excess metal is then trimmed of with a bandsaw and what is left is a rough casting. This is then treated in a dip tank to create a corrosion-resistant coating. Finally, Claire takes the casting to a workshop where it is machined to exactly the right dimensions to fit on to the car.
Gipsy Moth
Thames sailing barge
Racing car
Stolly
Fire engine
Steamboat
Gyroplane
Bristol car
Tank
Steamroller
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