24 hour lemond Scirocco

Tis better to burn out than fade away! And thats an impressive through and through hole in the block!
 
Although we didn't go out in a flameout, at the 76 Province 7 hr. my 72 Cortina's 2.0 litre Pinto engine exploded after about 4 hrs. I parked it at the inside of the carousel turn, in amongst the tall grass, and went back to the pits. My co-driver, who was very enthusiastic, decided he would go out to the car and bring it back. Somehow, he got it started and sure enough, manged to drive it back. There was oil everywhere in the engine bay and a large hole in the block.

I was amazed that he got it started. We had no spare engine. The next year this same Cortina broke the transmission with only 30 minutes to go. Such is enduro racing.

Robert Barg
 
Westwood "Province" 7 Hr. Enduro

Ah yes, I keep forgetting. You youngsters would not remember the annual 7 Hr. "Province" enduro held at Westwood, usually in October. The "Province" newspaper used to sponsor this race. Not sure what years this enduro started or ended, but it was an annual event held at Westwood, I believe long before the Portland 8 hr. started.

I also ran this event in 74, co-driving my friend's Honda Civic. With a half hr. to go he managed to roll the Civic off the top of the Carousel turn. No sooner had he crawled out, the Honda was hit by an errant Alfa that managed to do the same thing.

Robert Barg
 
For more information on the Westwood Enduro look for a copy of the book "The Chequered Past" by David Anderson Charters.

For a time it was part of the Molyslip endurance series in Canada. But that's about all the info contained on page 225 of the book review. Rest of info is on page 226 not included.. dang it.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qM...X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA225,M1

Being a boyhood fan of his, I must point out the Olivier Gendebien was the first of the great Euro drivers to visit Westwood while on vacation after the Sebring race. Offered a ride in Dr. Claire Wilson's Lotus 17 to break in the new 1,500cc engine, Gendebien set new ultimate lap records while keeping the RPM's in a safe range :) This car was (may stll be) owned by Robin Marshall of B.C.

INTERESTING THREAD discussing Westwood and Maryhill:
With the last entry being about the Westwood commemorative race in July of 2009.

http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php?threadid=25648

P.S.
This post have nothing to do with exploding VW engines but those are great pictures.
 
In addition to the Province 7 hours at Westwood we also had the Province 10 hours in 1970. This was the longest enduro I had run/finished up until last year when we ran 10 hrs and 20 min of the Cascade 12 hour with my sons.

For you history buffs try this link http://mogbc.com/gb4.html
 
I wish I was one of those youngsters RB, but not quite. I do recall an enduro of some sort at Westwood around the time I started racing in the mid 70's, but never saw or participated in one. There is so much history surrounding Westwood that should be more readily available to all of us, but it is difficult to find.
You did have quite the struggle at the 12 hour Kevin, what was the issue, brakes?
 
Wes
Approx 2 hours into the event we broke the left front hub. We had a spare and were back racing. At the 10 hour and 20 min mark we broke the right front hub but our spare was broken...go figure.
 
I had the pleasure of pitting for a couple of Bremerton racer's at the '7 Hours of Westwood'; the first time for Doug Moe when he was running his Genie and the second time for Andy Barcheck when he was racing his 240 Z. A great experience, I don't think there was a level spot at Westwood other than the top of Deer's Leap. Rain water running through the pits might be better than puddles but you had to make sure any thing that could roll was blocked. Andy figured the front brakes would go half way but about 3 hours in in came the car with a pad backing welded to the piston. Fortunately someone had parked their 240 in the pits; I'm sure we returned the caliper after the race.

Rabbit Man,
How are your tail light lens? My MGB ventilated the block (both sides) and the pan on the front straight at PIR a few years ago and the flame rapped up the back of the car and melded both tail light lens. The memories racing gives us are great.
 
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