i wouldnt worry about the clutch too much, they can take a long while to bed in fully, if it wasnt slipping before it had oil dumped all over it it should be fine
i wouldnt worry about the clutch too much, they can take a long while to bed in fully, if it wasnt slipping before it had oil dumped all over it it should be fine
TBH It didn't feel right from the start,I couldn't get a new plate for the cover until after Silverstone (on back order)so I've ended up buying a complete new clutch,at least I've got some spares now. It's the tyres I'm really pissed off about they were new and should of been better
I managed to race in the DMN at Lydden yesterday and actually finished qualifying and both races
In qualifying I elected to go out on slicks and although it was slippery managed to qualify 4th in class,10th overall and was the 1st rwd with the Brents pug 205s and a nova(.013sec) in front and Russell Turners big power arched mk1 behind.
Race one:it's starting to brighten up a bit so I decide to stay on slicks and alter the pressures to try and get more heat into them,I do this and it starts to rain again Gerald Gale (parked next to me)rushes about changing his tyres and I start to think I'd made the wrong choice but didn't really have time to change tyres (Gerald had borrowed my nut gun) so I got in the car went to fire it up but it wouldn't start as the battery was flateverybody had gone to line up on the dummy grid so my 12 year old daughter had to push the car to bump start it I took my place on the grid (alongside Gemma morris) and had to keep the engine running while everyone else lined up behind Graham in his BMW 635csi who was acting as pace car.
We complete a very slow (almost) lap behind Graham and then we're off and I get baulked by Gemma and Paul Goddard but manage to stay infront of the rest at the 1st corner, by the devils elbow I'm on the back of Paul who inturn is on the back of the Nova which is understeering wildly up the hill I manage to get alongside Paul who is trying a pass on the Nova we go into the hairpin three abreast with the nova actually physically (you should see Paul's door)pushing Paul across the track into me I decide to back off with only milimetres to spare until I'm off the track on the grass and probably the barriers,paul gets infront and I spend nearly a lap behind the Nova until he leaves an escort sized gap into the Devils elbow and I'm past we then spend a lap or two with him trying to get inside on the corners with me in turn making sure there a wasn't enough room for him to do the same to me as he did to Paul I then start to pull away in chase of Paul but the car started to misfire a little and he was too far ahead so it finished with Paul 3rd in class behind the Brents and me 4th in class and 10th overall, I'd finished where I started dispite getting past the nova but had had a great 1st race in 10 years. I got back to the paddock switched the fan on and the car died!! the battery was totally dead (explained the misfire) I run an alternator so was scratching my head a little as both wires were still connected I fiddle about and find that one of the terinals is broken inside the insulation so borrowed a battery charger off of Gerald,extension lead off of the team next to me and charged the battery whilst I put a new terminal on the alternator lead,(burning my hand in the process) I flick the ignition on to check the connections and nothing happened the battery was still dead,did a quick check and the charger's not working so I ended up fixing that too After all that it was time to drink the very welcome cuppa that my daughter had bought.
Race 2: Before I went to line up I made sure that there's somebody there to push start the car if needed but when I flicked the ignition switch and pushed the starter button the engine spins over and fires up.
we do another slow almost lap behind the pace car, make our way down the hill to the start line, the lights go green and we're off,this time I made absolutely sure that I wasn't baulked and actually made up a couple of places so was 8th overall by the time we came out of the 1st corner! The race continued with me catching and passing Paul goddard for 3rd in class only to make a mistake on the next corner so he got it back and started to pull away paul passes a blue mini, I look in my mirrors and Russell Turners catching up as we go into the Elbow I get inside the mini as we get to the hairpin and I go infront and accelerate down the hill expecting Russell to be right behind me but he was still behind the mini as I went into paddock, I decide that as the track was now nearly dry it's about time I started to really push and set about catching up with Paul and just as I started to apply some pressure he went off at the Elbow,clouting the tyre wall hard. I carry on but the back end is starting to get loose ( I didn't change the tyre pressures back form earlier)and I get caught by the escorts of Andy and Alex so I wave Andy through and he's followed by Alex,I tried to keep up but my car's just not letting me get the power down and I eventually spun and stalled the engine under braking into chessons and got passed by Russell turner, the blue mini and the novaI eventually got it restarted and gave chase to Eric False in his fiesta catching and passing him into the hairpin finishing 7th in class and 11th overall.
Well done Nick, very good driving and decent results in very tricky conditions.
Lets hope its dryer next time out and the escorts can give the pugs a run for their money
Sierra cosworth turbo race car
QMN saloon car championship
RETRO Motorsport
Well done Nick. I was behind you when you spun at Chessons. It was quite interesting, I was not sure where you were going the end up.
I'm waiting on getting the pictures of your spin from another snapper... They're on his memory card!
Well done on the resuls and the write up
very nice car in the flesh
two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Well,I've just loaded the car onto the trailer ready for my first meeting of the season,(BARC Intermarques at Brands hatch) which is tommorrow.I haven't really touched the car since I last raced it in November but have got a new wheel and tyre combo which hopefully will give more traction than the old uns.
I'll let you all know how I get on
Best of luck mate, hope it all goes well.
done
Good luck Nick
Sierra cosworth turbo race car
QMN saloon car championship
RETRO Motorsport
Good luck Nick ,i look forward to hearing how you get on
best of luck Nick...
let us know how you get on
Have to say Nic drove superbly well todayCar was really flying with the new wheels and rubber.showed a lot of more modern and powerful cars up.also looks awesome with the subtle modsWell done Nic
tommy 2000
Well done Nick.. see you soon.
And Tom, why wasnt you with your Dad today
tommy 2000
Thanks for your comments
Well what a day! Here's a brief run down,I'll try and do a full report shortly.
Note: Classes D and E ran with the cannons tin tops series.
Qualified: 3rd overall of 26 cars with a time of 56.516 seconds.
Race one: finished 1st in the intermarques and 6th overall after a slightly hesitant start left me in 8th place after the 1st lap,also had the dreaded misfire which plagued me last year for the last 3 laps.Had the 3rd fastest lap with a 57.022
Race two:finished 1st in the intermarques and 7th overall still not fixed the misfire! Had the 2nd fastest lap of the race with a 56.586 (fastest was 55.885) but stayed in the 57s for most of the race.
Incidentally the best mini of class E had a time of 59.055 and the best class c car had a time of:56.866
As Tom said I now have new wheels and tyres: 8 x13 rear and 7x13 front with 8.2-20-13 and 7.0-20-13 rubber which has absolutely transformed the feel and handling of the car! I've just got to sort out this bloody misfire/dying after 10laps or so.
Some photos:http://www.snappyracers.com/album/Brands150309/
Well done Nick great results and some good pics too
well done nick
having had similar missfire problems to yourself a few years ago which appeared to be as much tim erelated as anything i suspect your missfire might be a fuel pump which is sucking in air
well done Nick, sounds like you did well..
Thanks G,that's something I hadn't thought of! I'm now wondering about pin holes in the outlet inside the tank So far it's had a new red top pump,filter king,coil and wiring with no change,the only thing that we have found is that the fuel inlets (banjos) on the carbs are restrictive as they're only 4mm internal diameter and the one other thought is that the pump's not mounted upright,(its on the boot floor)
Any more ideas welcome
Well done nick. Im gonna have to raise my game a bit
Well done Nick good result & the car looks the nuts on the new rims,hope you find the misfire.
i doubt thats your problem, i had 485bhp using a red top pump mounted horizonally on the boot floorthe pump's not mounted upright,(its on the boot floor)
Try fitting a swirl pot. You may be suffering fuel surge in the later stages of a race as the fuel moves to one side of the tank on corners and consequently sucks some air which won't show up until 100-200 yards further along the track as the air bubble will need to travel along the fuel lines to the carbs. When the air bubble reaches the carbs the float levels drop quickly causing the misfire but as soon as the fuel reaches the carbs the float level rises again and the misfire clears again giving the impression that the misfire is caused by something else such as low battery or ignition problem
Is the tank foam filled
Sierra cosworth turbo race car
QMN saloon car championship
RETRO Motorsport
Yep it's foam filled so shouldn't allow surge (should it).
IMHO foam filled tanks are a waste of time, i found i still needed to fit a swirl pot even with a foam filled tank
The foam in a "foam filled" tank is there for safety in the event of accident, it's suppossed to help prevent explosion should the tank become crushed or punctured and not there to stop fuel surge
Looks like that's the plan then Just got to find one now.
Just looked at the long range forecast for next week-end and guess what they give for sunday.............................................................WINTRY SHOWERS!!!!! Deja vu?
Last edited by Pushrod King; 19-03-2009 at 20:13.
Is this what I need?
How do they work? Can I get my fabricator to make one?
no reason you cant make one i have in the past
you will also need a second fuel pump,
the very bottom pipe feeds your main fuel pump the one thats feeds your carbs
the pipe above would be the return from your engine bay if you have one,
the next pipe up is the feed from the tank via your new additional fuel pump,
finally the top pipe is a return to your tank
if your main tank doesnt have a return like most, use the breather as a return and drill and tap the filler cap to take a breather pipe
effectively what you now have is a small fuel tank to feed the engine topped up via the extra pump, most contain a litre or do of fuel which is enough to see you through the longest periods of fuel surge your ever encounter
Last edited by Graham; 19-03-2009 at 20:30.
Those new mods have transformed the can Nick. That was about the best I've seen you drive if I may be so bold... Good work chap.
You should get some of those photos. They're really good. He must be a professional.
Ahem.
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