Long-suffering readers will remember that I raced as #41 in the 750MC Locost Championship in 2009. Interestingly the chap I bought the Gemini chassis from, Dave Beddows, built and maintained another Locost that used to compete as #41. Well, there's now a third connection to Locost #41 and things are starting to get a bit spooky. I'd better rewind a little...
For some time I've been watching 3.54:1 ratio English differentials on eBay. The going rate for these has been somewhere between £160 and £190. With a new crown wheel and pinion only costing £250, I'd pretty much resigned myself to buying new. However, this weekend there were four potentially suitable diff's on the world's favourite auction site - very unusual - there's only usually one or two available at any one time. Basic microeconomics tells us that when supply goes up, price (ceteris paribus) goes down. I decided to watch the auctions closely.
The first one to end wasn't anywhere near home but the seller was offering postage at £15. I won the auction for less than £113; tidy! I paid via Paypal and received the usual e-mail confirming the transaction and also giving some more detail about the seller, including their name: Keith Malpus. "That's familiar" I thought.
I had a feeling that there is a Keith Malpus racing in Locosts. Sure enough, there is - and guess what his race number is... I e-mailed the seller to ask if it was the same person. Of course it was. How's that for a happy coincidence? The upshot is that I'm collecting the item from Donington on the weekend, saving myself the £15 postage. So, it's clear to me that the car needs to compete as #41 - its karma. The only problem is that someone already uses that number in the RGB Championship and has done for many years. Fingers crossed he'll have a great second-half of the season so he can 'upgrade' to a nice low number for next year. Go Neil! :)
TC
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