i've made them from the thick card on the back of calendars before now, worked well
just spent another 4 hours porting that head, getting sick of the sight of it now! by the time im finished i'll have about 20 hours in it, no wonder you see so few properly ported, and just how expensive they are to buy done.
I really enjoyed watching the video from the Peugeot at Lydden, it really demonstrates the difference in performance between a turbo and normally aspirated engines.
The Pug seems to need to change gear just when you'd want it to keep revving and pull past the cars in front. It looks very quick, but totally different characteristics to the N/A engines. And the grunt from your BMW and the Escort is so evident. Its a shame Lydden had so little grip, I dont think the Pug would have got past on a better surface.
Great report, fantastic close racing, and I cant wait for the next event.
I'd love to have a go in my Fiesta, but the gearbox would put me in a very unfair class
Last edited by team_zi; 29-06-2012 at 13:44.
The 306 is super charged and had 416bhp last time it was mapped,Graham had 270-280bhp and the poor lil crossflow in my Escort had 180bhp. Your engine would put you up a class or two on it's own ;-)
Power is nothing without controlOh unless you are on a long straight
you have the wrong engine so you would be bumped up the class's over that, the gearbox wouldnt have any further effect.Originally Posted by grahamb
I really enjoyed watching the video from the Peugeot at Lydden, it really demonstrates the difference in performance between a turbo and normally aspirated engines.
The Pug seems to need to change gear just when you'd want it to keep revving and pull past the cars in front. It looks very quick, but totally different characteristics to the N/A engines. And the grunt from your BMW and the Escort is so evident. Its a shame Lydden had so little grip, I dont think the Pug would have got past on a better surface.
Great report, fantastic close racing, and I cant wait for the next event.
I'd love to have a go in my Fiesta, but the gearbox would put me in a very unfair class
last time mine was on the rollers power was down to 250bhp! so i'd expect your featherweight fiesta to kick my arse.
if you like sprinting then dont go racing cos your never want to sprint again once you have raced!
Last edited by Graham; 29-06-2012 at 18:13.
Umm, hate to tell you this.......I'm entering a sprint at Goodwood circuit in august...unless I go rallycrossing that is.
enjoy, only thing i found is that after racing i really couldnt get excited about doing a sprint, especially if it was at a venue i'd raced at,
I'd only sprint at Goodwood cos I can't race there, rallycross looks more likely with the possibility of a full season next year.
i didnt fancy doing the next round at snet with rapidly growing cracks in the discs, although deep and wide enough to get your thumb nail in suprisngly they didnt go all the way through!
i opted to upgrade from the current 298mm which were origonally chosen because thats all i could get in my old 15" wheels to 323mm, TBH bigger discs add little to the braking power, because although ive gone up 25mm dia, its only giving the caliper half that in increased leverage, they should run cooler though which is a major plus point
going bigger still would of ment buying new bells as it was i put them in the lathe, faced off teh outside edge then turned them round and trued up the hub and disc mount faces to ensure everything ran true
i had to make new caliper mounts, not to hard thou the calipers and hubs both are 88mm centre to centre, so it was simply a case of marking and drilling 4 holes 88 and 29mm appart
finished artical.
new disc has a load more cooling viens, so hopefully they wont warp for a good while,
note the nice silver ARB, its a new one, after softening the springs the car seems to have better mid corner grip, but that hasnt helped turn in, so i looked at trying thicker ARB, eibach do a nice adjustable one, but thats only as part a front and rear bar kit , and supringly thin @22mm for the front, suprising because, high spec e30s come with 22mm, which is what i thought i had, only it wasnt when i measured it i found a 19mm bar on my car! in the end i bought a whiteline bar, much much cheaper and very thick at 24mm, so if it turns out to thick i'll make some sleeve to to make it adjustable, the only downside is a thicker ARB and bigger heavier discs have added yet more weight to the car
Last edited by Graham; 16-07-2012 at 17:21.
Was going to say the same GrahamThe only downside is a thicker ARB and bigger heavier discs have added yet more weight to the car
Would have thought Shocks would affect turn in and exit. and that bars and springs affect more mid corner Graham?
I tested a Whiteline 24mm ARB just last weekend in me mk1. I was impressed.
And as for the weight, it serves a purpose. I would not change back to the thinner ARB. And almost every circuit car has too long front springs. Shorter = lighter. I halfed the lenght of mine when I went for stiffer ones with the new ARB. Still too long at 150mm
yes and no, its not as black and white as one does one thing and and another does another, shocks are there to control the speed the suspension moves at, mid corner and exit is more about ultimate grip, turn in much more about how the car transfers weight. on a slick shod race car actual suspension movement is very little so you have to make huge shock adjustments to have any real effect, ive tried numerous geometry, shock settings and spring rates, but never really done much with the front arb so i'd be daft not to explore that avenue
lol! been there before, buying shorter springs of the same rate just to save weight, not sure how cost effective it is thou!
and yes with the weight, if it makes the car faster then its the right move, the only downside is im not really going to be at the right circuit to judge the change, because i dont race much at snett and have never raced on the layout im on this weekend
Brake upgrade looks very neat, and definately a good move regardless of a little extra weight
Sierra cosworth turbo race car
QMN saloon car championship
RETRO Motorsport
Changing my front brake set up has made the biggest improvement on my car this year,luckily it also saved weight on my car....Are you going to be there this weekend DW?
Any of you lot tried alli wheel nuts yet? The price on them has gone down quite a bit so tempted but suspicious
EDIT:
I could start by shortening of the hugely too long studs though
Last edited by Roadsport; 16-07-2012 at 17:29.
in the uk your not allowed to use anything other than steel wheel nuts
Oh. Well no need to ponder that then. I still can though.
well i just changed the prop coupling, to do so centre prop mount needs dropped, that has steel spacers to space it away from the body, after all this weight gaining couldnt put the steel ones back so knocked up alloy replacementssaved all of about 18 grams in weight lol!
Well hey everything counts!
Is the beemer close to minimum weight?
thats the spirit, every little helps, your'll be shaving your legs next and driving without socks on under your shoesafter all this weight gaining couldnt put the steel ones back so knocked up alloy replacements
like the brake upgrade, i'm supprised the anti roll bars aren't bigger still for racing use though to be fair
its not dead till it's buried!
T.I.T engineering. "Feel the power!"
race cars generally have very little suspension movement and stiff springs so roll bars are not that stiff by comparison, more used to fine tune,i'm supprised the anti roll bars aren't bigger still for racing use though to be fair
road cars need comparatively stiff roll bars to control body roll, if car manufactures used stiff springs the ride quality would be unacceptable
already do my head and my................your'll be shaving your legs next
nothing like it, im about 130kgs over it!, i could probably save 50kg with a careful build of a new car, going to split rims would save a bit. theres at least 15kg to come off me just need to cut down on the
The cars are weighted with the driver?
yes, two reasons, its not an advantage/handicap to very light/heavy drivers,
second reason is weighing cars with drivers is far faster, parc ferme is usually crowded and the scruits have to get all the car over the weigh bridge before the end of the next race which could leave them as little is 10 mins to weight anything upto 40 cars
Last edited by Graham; 16-07-2012 at 21:11.
Is this a racing rule or C&U? I'd better bin these titanium ones then!
Its mentioned in the rule book from the MSA, illegal for any UK MSA sanctioned event.
Road use or track days etc, not a problem.
ok snett,
300 circuit something i've never driven before, on new brakes i gave it an easy couple of laps, even so the infield is so stop start the pads event off, so after a couple slower laps to let the brakes cool off i wound things up a bit up a bit, suspension wise if i pushed hard into the hair pin it would understeer but otherwise felt very good very neutral, so whilst i cant say for sure it looks like the thicker arb was a good move. the same couldnt be said for the brakes! i had massive and i mean massive brake judder. one difficulty with the circuit layout is that its so long and the infield section relatively slow you dont get many laps. i'd qualified 3rd in class, a mere 0.25 sec behind lee mcnairs' honda, class leader gavin was typically a couple of seconds faster, i out of 24 was actually 11th overall in a mixed tintop/qmn grid, something i was ok with, the infield noticably suiting smaller lighter cars better.
back in the paddock i spanner checked the front end, checked the fuel level and found i had an almost full tank, thats 12 gallons! fuel useage seems to of been very erratic, we now think the tube at the bottom of sight glass is blocked and it takes an age to show any change in fuel level, the fuel load will also help explain how come i weighed in at 1026kgs, i know the arb and discs are heavier, but no way has the car gained 12kgs from them.
race one, i got a decent start and got myself ahead of lees honda only to be stunned as to how much deeper and later he was on the brakes into the first hairpin, dunno why though looking back i had no confidence in mine so it was obvious! unfortunately for lee, no sooner was he passed me than he suffered engine failure, now knowing i didnt really have much to race for and worried about the brake judder i kept circulating at a reasonable pace, tony paxman in his warrier engined, 2.3 sequential boxed mk2 out braked me into the esses and pulled a slight gap, i staying fairly close behind , with just a couple of laps to go i could see tonys tyres going off, mine we fine so i upped the pace a bit, and with one lap to go got a good drive onto the straight and got alongside him into the esses where he passed me earlier, this time it was me that was later on the brakes and i took the place back. a shed load of retirements helped me elevate my finishing position to 6th overall, best lap was substancially better though now a 2.16.2 which was over 1.5 secs faster. the brake judder had improved but was still there, with andy pipes and dave whites help we improvised some extra cooling ducting using some induction hose nicked off the van, not that it was much help in race two.
race two, well decent start again, only for the throttles to jam open on the first lap, i made a couple of corners either standing on the brakes or the engine on the limiter @8300, killed the motor and pulled on the grass, only to find i'd driven into a swamp, and was now a passenger with the car spinning and heading for the tyre wall, the steering having no effect! it stopped when it hit the tyres! my first dnf since the diff broke last year, luckily all it had done is ripped a corner off the bumper so after the race, i manually pulled the throttles shut and drive slowly back to the pits on a fast idle, the cure was easy a new inner cable as the old one had frayed, and with a few few strips of alloy we bolted the corner back on the bumper ready for sundays race.
sunday, i had entered a 30 min + 1 lap endurance race with compulsory pit stop, this was worrying me, the car isnt intended to do such long races and on a hot day i was worried about sky high oil temps, not to mention the brakes, a major plus point brake wise was that its on the 200 circuit without the stop start twisty infield section, with a longish practise session i decide to do a couple of laps then practise a pit stop do a few more laps and stop again and so on, the brake judder was coming back, although noticeably less after a stop, during one stop i adjusted the brake bias so the rears did more which helped a bit, then i finally worked out what was going on, i simply needed to brake much later much harder! i wasnt fully utilising the increased stopping power, i was on the brake too long and generating too much heat, i gave the brakes an easy lap or two, and did one final lap braking much later, not only did it make the corners ok the grid sheets showed it was my fastest lap[ by a mile!
worried about oil temps i removed the temp brake ducting and used it to duct air to the oil filter instead, even so i didnt think the motor would survive on such a hot day, ok no infield now but that meat more time flat out on straights.
what i havnt said so far is the race was a handycap race, intended for small lower powered cars, so although i was 3rd on the grid and tonys mk2 2nd with a blooming quick clio cup clio on pole, tony and i had really long pit stops, for either of us to of won the race we would of had to found 3 or more seconds a lap over our practise times, which was never going to happen but trying to win the race would be fun. straight away off the start, myself the clio and the mk2 squablled for each corner, the clio being a demon under braking and through the slow stuff whilst i could brease past it on the straights as could the mk2, so for a couple of laps i traded place with the clio several times a lap, once we were shown the pit open sign, i decide to pit on the next lap, the three of us squabbling were simply slowing things down, unfortunately the mk2 decided to pit on the same lap as me, now i'd already worked out what gear and revs to be in so i didnt exceed the pit lap sped limit, it seemed that mk2 just choose to go slow! and as they were in the next garage to me i just had to follow slowly and make a difficult manoeuvre to make my stop.
i got away from my stop quicker than the mk2 but had no idea where i was in the race, i passed kenny colemans sierra cosworth which i think was for position but i didnt know if that was the case, the race became one of temp management, i kept having to back off to keep the water temp and oil pressures sensable, the race was actually red flagged a couple of mins early after the quick clio rolled, as it happened i finished 5th, having run as high as second, 3rd or 4th may of been on the cards, my pit stop was misstimed so i stopped longer than i needed to, the race being shortened effectivly added time to my stop as the length of the stops was to suit full race distance, so yes maybe i could of got 3rd or 4th ( though backing offto contorl temps wouldnt of helped) but no higher the handy cap being too favourable to the slower cars, none the less i enjoyed it, its kinda strange racing but not having a clue where you are in the race.
oh nearly forgot i picked up this
the trophy not the lad (my son) with it! i won my class
would i do another endurance race? yes
do i need an oil cooler and brake ducting? yes yes!
amazingly thats my season nearly over! next outing is brands gp in september, just as well though my flint stone tyres are all but worn out now.
Last edited by Graham; 29-07-2012 at 22:22.
Congrats on the class win!
I'm quite surprised you havent had an oil cooler earlier.
I know weve gone trought this before but throw that oil tank to the boot for better cooling and better weight distibution and turn in. It may well aid the coolant temps too to get the 100 degree hot spot out of the bay.
most races i do are 15min max, with a very occasional 20 min, so with an n/a engine i've never run an oil cooler or had oil temp issues.
30min races is a totally different ball game from a temp perspective, what im inclined to do is install a laminar cooler, which will warm cold oil as well as cooling hot oil.
the oil tanks in the front for a couple of reasons, its easy, light, and cheaper way of installing it, plus it will get some cooling, i might relocate it to the rear, although just the thought of the cost of the extra aeroquip alone is scary!
But you'd not need no more hose ends just hose. Not that thats cheap as chips either. I'd say the oil is cooler in the boot Graham. Provided it is scavenged back to the tank trough oil cooler. Cant argue about the weight factor on the hoses part though. Other than its low and at the right place.
BUT if one could reach deeper in ones pocket and invest in Aeroquip alli hose ends yoy could counter the added hose weight. And if one would go ridiculous you cold ude the nylon braided teflon hose as a oil lines and further save weight. Not cheap though
Do you know much about the m44 motor mate? cheers
Graham Good evening! why do not you use a radical loose with a groove around the circumference. The Russian championship ring is a common method. To build the necessary two sets of conventional bearings in the motor but contains only those that groove. The motor revs to 9000, the resource is sufficient
nothing wrong with the ends, i might even just put them back.
nought wrong with the oil pump either!
so i'l get it a new set of mains and put it back together and see what the gauge then says, but what ever its says i will know the engines actually ok
long time no updates, mainly because i basically havnt done anything other than put my back out!
the next meeting on the calendar was brands grand prix, due to my back pre event prep was literally just a case of blowing the tyre up, charging the transponder and level checking.
luckily it was dry with a grid of 43 cars practise was certainly busy, fortunately i remembered the circuit well, the car felt good, only a return of the brake judder and the front tending to wash out on the tighter corners put a damper on things , i backed off for a bit, then eased the pace up again, but with the gp circuit being long you dont get many laps and the session was soon over, when qualifying times came around i was pleasantly surprised to find i was 10th overall, even more suprising when i hadn't felt i had even pushed on my last and fastest lap, in terms of lap times i had done a 46.01, last year with the car basically the same other than the front arb and brakes and literally the same tyres my best was a 47.03. i was actually 3rd in class, behind the ever quick pug of gavin and bmw mini of lee allen, lee is very handy and had a definite advantage of the fact he had done several other races the day before, in a nutshell, i was as high up the grid as i could of realistically hoped for and ahead of a lot of cars that are normally faster than me.
the only change i made prior to the first race was to find a tyre with more rubber on it to go on the n/s/f.
race one, i was on the outside of the grid so when the lights went out and things got crowded in the middle out the track i squeezed myself further out and took an outside line round paddock and down to druids, to my suprise to see nicks escort steaming up the inside ( i usually get the inside at druids and he goes round the outside) however the track was very crowded so my outside line worked well and i had enough of a turn of speed out of druids to gat a tight inside line at graham hill, a couple of laps on things had spread out a little except i had jordan batts in his ex supra cup seat leon on my tail, he had the edge on the tighter bits i had an edge under braking, starting to feel confident in my new brake set up i was braking much later and harder but for shorter time so the judder never re-occured, mid race my rear tyres simply ran out of grip, going round druids was more like drifting than racing and through was was dingle dell i was rather weak, but better speed elsewhere and careful track positioning and working lapped back markers right kept young Jordan behind me for numerous great laps, so in the end i finished 9th, and the lap time had stumbled to 44.3 which was great, despite no rear end grip teh one half decent tyre on the n/s/f had stopped the front washing out.
prior to race two i swapped more tyres, but to be honest the only decent tyre was already on the n/s/f, i dont remember too much of the second race a similar start to the previous, meant i more or less held my position, although the next couple of laps some very quick cars which had started behind me passed, i had a good dice for a bit with ray barrows 5.7 litre camaro, i was more agile through the twisties but in the end him having more than double the power of my 4 pot saw him past, as per race one mid distance my rear tyres cried enough and i this time into westfield young jordan got a good run on me and fairly but forcefully pushed his way past into dingle dell (or whatever its called now) i keep him in my sights but wasnt prepared to risk an off trying to retake a pointless position, in any case i had a renault megane lurking behind, woody is always quick he drives the wheels of that car so i was pleased to have enough speed to keep him at bay, in the end i finished up 11th overal
championship wise im second in class with only a mathamatical chance of winning, that would need gavin to dnf both the next races and me to win with reasonable class numbers, so with that in mind, the fact the championship has only one meeting in november left and that my tyres are only fit for scrap i'll probably end my season now with everything still working and starting working on next years spec.
considering ive been using really old tyres, the engines overdue a rebuild im really happy with the way things have gone, the bigger brakes are an improvement, as is the revised front spring rates and thicker roll bar, if i can build on this for 2013 its going to be a hell of a season
Last edited by Graham; 19-09-2012 at 00:47.
Good results Graham, glad the set up changes have worked for you. Should go really well on new tyres if you can get them on for the start of next year..
Sierra cosworth turbo race car
QMN saloon car championship
RETRO Motorsport
Well done Graham ,when i was sat watching race 1 i could see you and Jordan having a good battle
ok my seasons deffo over now, i've pulled the motor out
pics looking down the side of the engine are me eyeing it up with a view to getting a better exhaust manifold in there, im probably going to straighten the engine up a bit, not only wil that give me more room for the exhaust, but the dry sump should work better as its supposed to be fitted to a single seater with a more upright engine
some interesting wear patterns on the bores, although thats only just polishing there isnt actually any wear as such
the ultra short skirt pistons slap around all over the place when the engines cold, no wear on them though piston to bore clearance is still 3.5 thou
bearings were all ok except no3 big end, it looks like im wise not to do the last race, its been run low on oil a couple of times this year so im not suprised and i did end up doing a practise earlier this year with oil surge when the oil tank got down to a couple of litres so im not suprised
fortunatly the cranks still on size so just wants a polish, mind you its hard as nails being nitrided en40
i bought another block, hoping it would make a better basis for a rebuild that teh current one, the current one has been heavily skimmed and i want to get some longer rods made so it made sense to have them made to suit a full height block, the block which is aledgidly ex dtm is on its last oversize but has had a lot of work done to it looked a really good deal until i got it home and discovered a crack through no2 main bearing housing
more expense required! both clutch plates are cracking up, mind you they are about 5 years old!
Last edited by Graham; 18-10-2012 at 00:13.
Its a good thing that crank and pistons are ok. How much longer rods can you get a way with? Never seen piston slap so clearly demonstrated.Those pistons are very cool looking though. Hopefully its more stabile when in propper temperature.
Last edited by Roadsport; 18-10-2012 at 05:48.
"Failure is always an option." - Adam Savage
in the current skimmed block i could only use rods 2mm longer, with a fresh block 4mm is possible, if you haddnt guessed those pistons are supposed to be used with longer rods. 149mm long in fact, mine are only 144 long, though you have to take into account my crank has a 91mm stroke not an 87 as intended.
i think if a good block doesnt turn up soon i ill just hone the current one re ring and go with 2mm longer rods, otherwise its all getting very expensive as i will end up buy a block rods and pistons, you can still buy new blocks but 2k plus tax is a bit steep.
i warmed the piston crowns with a blow lamp for 20-30 seconds and the grew by 3-4 thou, you only ever heard it slap if you started from stone cold and drove straight away
Last edited by Graham; 18-10-2012 at 09:31.
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