GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Thanks for all your comments

Little pic to show one reason why running on Wellers is not always a good idea

Just get a sledge hammer out to Gavin

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

After a busy Saturday, DVY was ready to go hillclimbing

As it was a practice day, there were only 80 cars running and Dave and I arrived early on Sunday to walk the hill - although Dave had seen me there quite a few times, there are some bits of the track you can't spectate on so we took our time and I tried to remember where people normally go off

We had been promised 5 runs but as it was a nice sunny day with no delays we ended up with 6

I'd spent a few hours on Saturday fiddling with starters yet again, but DVY still didn't want to start so we resorted to pushing and after a few runs I parked her near the top of the paddock so I could bump start without any assistance

1st Run and there was not much grip as it was very cold, but a time of 64.82s was a good start and the 2nd Run I improved to 62.63s but was having trouble keeping the rear end under control, even having a twitch through the 4th gear kink up Cedar Straight which is always taken flat out

3rd Run was better again with 61.90s and 2.39s off the line, still not that close to my PB in Fly of 60.31s but given the amount of sideways moments it was pretty good. 4th Run after lunch and a few friends had turned up to watch so I did a bit more drifting to get 62.26s

5th Run trying to keep DVY as tidy as possible saw my best run of the day with 61.66s and the 6th Run was 61.71s

Steve Bailey in his Mk1 was there as usual and he was 0.5s off his PB as well, so I'm hoping with a few more suspension tweaks DVY will be quicker than Fly - Fly is not forgotten but needs a few months of welding before she'll be out again so I'll start the season in DVY

As for Dave in his 1.6 Colt, he couldn't stop smiling he was having so much fun - when we'd walked the hill I said about 75s would be a good time, and his first run was 75.28s followed by 72.57s, 72.70s and 72.11s nice and consistent, getting to the point where he wanted more power and less body roll to go any faster

But some late braking on the 5th run gave a time of 71.32s and the 6th run was 71.49s, a very creditable performance for his first Hillclimb, in fact his first event apart from club autotests

My next event should be in May back at Loton although there are a couple of Sprints at MIRA as well that I might look at. Hopefully by then I will have sorted out a reliable starter set up - tonight I took the gearbox out and the ring gear is badly worn so that will be replaced, then I can just fit the bellhousing and check the starter mesh before modifying the bellhousing to mount the starter in the correct place

[BluPrinT]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Now I feel REALLY old

carrie

Sorry!

Sounds like you're having fun anyway!!

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Thankyou Gav from the fan club (John, sara, wayne, Pete, Mac, me, guy & Daz!!) for the 4th run - good to see you took me seriously when I said I wouldn't video it unless we had some major drift

one day i'll get good at it

carrie

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

A few weeks ago I decided to enter a Sprint at MIRA on Sat 8th May, so I thought it was about time I put DVY back together

A new ring gear had been fitted by a local engineering shop and I'd also bought some recon clutch plates from WWRS having discovered mine were almost down to the rivets - the recon ones don't line up as perfectly as mine, but I was assured that this isn't a problem so I put them on with the flywheel

With just the b/h fitted to the engine I fitted the starter to check the mesh and marked where it needed to go before modifying the bellhousing to suit, ending up making one mounting hole oval c/w an oval bolt to keep it in the right place (I tried filling the hole with chemical metal and drilling one next to it but when I tried to tap a new thread it all fell out )

So the other Sunday I refitted everything and started her up - she turned over ok but a bit slower than I was hoping, but no strange meshing noises so I was hopeful. Then I pushed the clutch down and changed to first with a crunch and found the wheels were turning merrily whatever I did with the pedal or cable (lucky DVY was still on axle stands)

While she was running I thought I'd have a play with the carbs to see if I could get them sounding smoother and managed to stall the engine. This time she span over very fast and started straight away but with the clutch problem there was nothing to do except take the gearbox out again

Everything in bits again and I found the nose of the starter had sheared off (must have been too close mesh) but no much wrong with the clutch although the release arm and b/h were worn, so I welded some 3mm plate to the release arm to take up the slack in the b/h and also some where the release bearing sits to make that further forwards, removed one new clutch plate and refitted my best old one and stuck everything back together again, this time with a different starter having drilled out the mounting hole to 1/2" giving another 1-2mm of clearance

Fingers crossed this time, she turned over like mad and the clutch was working as intended, I checked the starter and no sign of stress

Saturday night I went for a "gentle" drive and everything was working perfectly, even the carbs sound better now then Monday I had checked the camber and castor again, found the camber was only 1.5 deg so added a bit more

I've also bought some more Avon slicks as last years are practically worn out and this time I've gone for 8.2/20-13 instead of last years 7.0/21-13 so hopefully more grip and even more acceleration but I'll save them until the Loton weekend

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

good luck

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Thanks

I arrived at MIRA nice and early but everyone had to wait outside for an extra 30mins until the track was clear and this meant that it was chaos in the paddock

After a convoy run we were all lined up for scrutineering and by the time I got through I had to go straight out for 1st practice, not really having a chance to get Dvy nice and warm, so had a sensible cruise round learning the track in a time of 65.53 seconds, easily slowest in class

2nd practice, everything warmed up properly this time, got off the line ok (no tyre warming at MIRA), but out of the first long left hander I could tell the back end still had no grip, so eased off a fraction for the next left hander, through the speed trap on the next straight at 94mph, then there was a long right with some cones to stop you cutting it, an open square left made out of cones and a final long left hander to finish, this time with I got 57.66s

There were 3 other cars in my class, a 205 who I hadn't seen before who was going quite slowly, Peter in his CRX who'd got 56.89s in 1st practice, and Dean Maddock in his Mk2 Escort RS2000 who has entered the championship this year and already scored quite a few points in the Classic Ford class - his best practice was 58.61 with 96 through the speed trap

During lunch I wondered whether my rear grip problems were due to the rear slicks being completely worn out - the rubber was now level with the wear marks, so I swapped them front to back, deciding if that didn't work I'd do the last run on the wets

1st Timed Run - really booted it off the line to try and get some heat into the tyres, a lot more stable round the first left hander so I kept it flat through the next to the speed trap, 100 this time, and kept pushing round to the finish in 55.59s - Peter was getting slower with 59.34s but Dean improved to 58.16s still at 96

2nd Timed Run - left the tyres as they were, went sensibly off the line (about 0.1 quicker) kept her pretty much flat out to the speed trap (105 this time ), locked the front a little under braking so just flung her into the right, very nearly collecting a cone on the inside as I was well sideways by now, but she came back nicely for the final 2 corners and I crossed the finish in 54.84s - Peter did 61.53, the 205 59.62 and Dean 57.78, so I got the class win, but still felt I would have been quicker if I had more grip at the back

Next weekend I'm out at Loton, so I'll take my new slicks, hopefully fitted to some 8" rims by then (they look a bit tight on 7's and everyone using Avon's recommend a rim at least as wide as the tyres, so I found some 8x13 Allycats on eBay which I'll collect this week) and I'll take some soft rally slicks and the other springs so I can change everything if needed

[exboyracer]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

good stuff gavin and its shows thinking about things and the set up is as important as being able to lobb the car in and sort it out afterwards, well done on the win

[PaulAlex]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Congratulations Gavin

[Hoogi]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

What a great read.........many thanks and well done.

[Jamie CRX]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Car looked good at Loton, apparently... Too quick for a pensioner in a Honda though

[Pushrod King]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Car looked good at Loton, apparently... Too quick for a pensioner in a Honda though

Hi Jamie,how's fatherhood? (sorry to hi jack)

[Jamie CRX]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Hi Jamie,how's fatherhood? (sorry to hi jack)

Hey Nick, it's all good thanks. So good, I'm doing it all again in September

Won't be doing much in DMN this year now, sticking to hillclimbs for the old man's series and whatever I can fit in timewise.

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

well done Gavin