The blog has been quiet for almost 2 years but not because of a lack of activity. More because of too much activity!
2017 season never happened unfortunately but there was a very good reason for this. I spent the whole year busily building a much improved car!
As is often the case with these things, an escalation of improvements occurred during the rebuild and I found the mantra, "Might as well do it now, while everything is apart" got frequent use culminating in an entirely renewed chassis and running gear with many improvements and every nut, bolt, bush and bearing being refreshed along the way.
The months following the catastrophic failure at Thruxton were spent researching and listing, researching some more and ultimately ordering a carefully considered component specification for the new engine.
Quotations were gathered for engine building, but after picking my jaw off the floor a couple of times I decided to get my head down and engage my engineering skills, many of which had last been employed way back in the 90's.
A specialist firm was chosen for all the machining work and balancing of the bottom end. The rest I would handle in my workshop.
The spare block was collected from Mark Fish and stripped
Between running my other business and waiting for components to arrive, not to mention one or two hiccups along the way, (like a bent crankshaft from the destroyed engine that I was hoping to re-use!) progress was fairly slow for the first half of 2017.
As the car was stripped much of the engine and chassis was also sent away for blasting and powder coating. I was loath to put anything dirty or rusty back on the car after making this much effort.
Steering rack bushes had seen better days.
This is the rebuild in pictures
The car has been treated to all new AST suspension, new poly bushes, new brakes, electric power steering and of course a new high compression race engine built for decent power but more importantly, durability.
Tuning and teething
After my resident tuner came to help me with the first start which went well once we located a disconnected earth. The car was taken down to Rainham for running in and tuning at Track n Road.
After several hours the car had a basic map done but we hit trouble when the power runs began. Clutch slip and an oil leak pointed towards a leaking main seal behind the flywheel. So it was off to Mark Fish for the gearbox to be removed and seal to be replaced. Fortunately the company who balnced and assembled the bottom end took responsibility for this and picked up the bill. Unfortunately we also discovered the clutch had failed so a new 4 puck Helix was duly ordered.
A week later back on the dyno the car behaved and made a fairly respectable 212bhp and with our first race approaching I was happy that all seemed well.
Silverstone Race 1
Having missed the season opener at Snetterton we were keen not to miss Silverstone, but having never raced there both Ryan and I needed some practice. Fortunately we still had some credit with Silverstone from an aborted corporate trackday 2 years previously with Portal Motorsport that Silverstone kindly honoured. So we booked ourselves on to the test day on the Friday before our race on Sunday 6th May.
It was great to get back out in the car after over a year and initial impressions were good. The suspension set up was going to need work and the car was spluttering a bit low down which was odd.
A few tweaks and the handling was improving but the running was getting worse and we were unable to run without a stutter unless the tank was almost full. This didn't bode well for a 40 minute race.
We were in good company on Friday, with several Clios testing with us.
Saturday we spent enjoying spectating some racing, interspersed with ponderings on the fueling problem and by Sunday morning we had decided we needed to investigate before qualifying.
Starting at the back we first removed the fuel pump from in the tank. And our problem was immediately apparent. Some old foil baffles that we had filled the tank with some years ago were disintegrating and blocking the pump.
Not ideal to find these at the bottom of your tank
A quick clean out as best we could and we went in to qualifying hopeful that our problems were solved.
In quali the car ran nicely for the first 4 laps and I was starting to build up speed until it all of a sudden misfired. As it was on the last bend I was able to peel straight into the pits. The misfire wasn't like the fuel surge and my first thought was coil pack.
With cars flying past and the clock ticking I jumped out and changed the coil pack while Ryan my race partner jumped in to do his stint.
Ryan managed 2 laps before the misfire returned and by then quali had finished.
So we qualified a dissapointing 32nd out of 45 when we knew the times we were doing on Friday should have had us up around 19th or so.
Back in the garage more head scratching ensued.
We decided to clean the original pump and put that back in the tank, checked the inline fuel filter and have another look at the coil pack.
After the tank was done, (with a few more baffles and crap removed) I went about checking the connection on the coil pack. That was when I got a huge shock from it which defintely didn't seem right.
With other friends and racers gathered round someone more experienced than me noticed that the car seemed to drop onto 3 cylinders on idle sporadically. We swapped back to the other coil but it continued to do it. Then, just to be sure he went and got his own spare coilpack. Bingo! it worked thank god.
So we made it to the race and the only unknown was whether we would still be plagued by fuel surge before the end.
Ryan started and in 5 laps was up to 26th. As the pit window opened we brought him in for me to do my stint to the end of the race. Driver change was not the quickest as we hadn't had time to practice with all the other dramas going on and then to make matters worse the car wouldn't restart.
After a push start I got going again but we had dropped back down to 36th and were a lap down.
But despite that, the car was running great. I proceeded to reel in plenty of places and ended up battling with the same 2 or 3 cars until the end of the race. (Only later did I discover that they were a lap ahead!) But we finished in 24th and the fuel surge only started to show itself on the last 2 laps. The suspension needed much more tuning as I was being mugged at the corners by slower cars and then just cruising past them on the straights!
Plenty to do before Oulton on the 2nd June!
A constant battle in the bends to fend off other cars.
But we finished! And Ryan got his all important final signature.
Improvements
Following on from Silverstone I was determined to eradicate the fueling gremlins. A new tank was ordered along with foam baffles and a new swirl pot assembly.
Once done it was back to the dyno.
What should have been an hour or so of tweaking turned into a complete remap. (and a very late night!)
It turns out that the fueling issue had been strangling the engine from the start and the new assembly had transformed the engine along with gaining another 8 bhp.
Oulton Park Race 2
Ryan decided to quit while he was ahead and bowed out of the next race, so a call for drivers available for a paid drive in the car resulted in one of the most accomplished drivers in the Tin Tops series signing up to join me in Cheshire.
Paul Mensley comes from a long line of racing stock with his father being a former stock car world champion and his brother also a regular front runner in another Clio.
Again, not having raced at Oulton before meant a test day was booked for the Friday and a promise of Paul joining me to help set the car up and give some much needed feedback on how it drove.
Many comments regarding colour coded bins ensued at Oulton!
Having only ever driven at Oulton on one track day 2 years ago I was expecting a steep learning curve ahead of me. But fortunately Paul had won at Oulton on several occasions. He was keen to get a race in as he is still building his Bathurst Cosworth 500 so hadn't raced this season yet and his brother is a front-runner in our series also in a Clio. (albeit 100kg lighter than mine!)
So we had Friday to start dialling the suspension in as well as learn the track.
Thankfully the car ran faultlessly and the sun shone all day so we were able to concentrate on the job in hand.
Paul's first impression of the car's setup was along the lines of, "It's like driving a f****ing blancmange!" So we set about stiffening up the dampers and also making some adjustments to the camber and setting tyre pressures more accurately.
It was a pretty full on day so I had little chance to take any photos unfortunately.
As other racers arrived throughout the day the usual camaraderie and banter ensued, culminating in about 10 of us going out for dinner that night and eventually crashing at the hotel at about 12.30. Not ideal the night before a race although I heard a few kept going until 1.30!
The morning of race day I opened the curtains to a very wet Oulton. Not what I wanted as I have had very little running in the wet and my last wet race at Cadwell ended in tears.
Still we managed to get to the track in time for signing on and scrutineering fueled by an all you can eat breakfast at the hotel.
Quali was at 9.50 and although the rain had eased off and several quali sessions had already taken place, the track was still very damp. So I took the car out and eased it around for a few laps slowly building speed and confidence until the rain began to fall again.
After a lockup coming down towards Hizzy's and having to run down the escape road I took the car in for Paul to work his magic.
2 corners in to his outlap he locked up and ended in the gravel bringing out the safety car! This was not in the plan.
However the nice marshalls pulled him out and let him get on his way again as there was no damage to the car. But he only had time for one lap and now in pretty treacherous conditions he still managed pull us up another 8 places!
So we qualified right in the middle of the pack in 18th out of a grid of 31.
During our checks over the car afterwards we discovered that the front brake caliper bolts had all come loose and the bottom one on both sides had fallen out completely! Everything was loose and this explained the locking up issues. I can only imagine that I had never fully tightened them during assembly because I have never had this happen before.
The pads fell out looking like this!
Clearly the brakes had been overheating and the piston dust seals had been fried to a crisp too.
Luckily I had a part used set of DS1.11 pads on board so we banged them in, fitted some new bolts (with threadlock!) and a quick spin around the padock proved that all was well again.
So at 3pm I lined up on the grid on a thankfully dry track!
Sadly the GoPro stopped working at the last second so all I have is footage from the VBox which is not the best resolution but better than nothing. Personally I didn't have much of a race as the safety car took up a good proportion of my stint. But I had a good start making up 8 places on the first lap and leaving Paul to do the rest.
As at Silverstone this was a great result as far as I was concerned. First bit of silverware for me which I will take any way I can!
And a weekend of learning a lot more about the car and a plan for some improvements before Brands Hatch mid July.
New Ultraleggeras ordered (as the start of the diet). New brake seal kit and new DS1.11 pads ordered. And a conversation with AST saw the front coilovers going down to them for stiffer springs and re-valving / shimming. Oh, and 2 new sets of AO50s also.
Better order a trophy cabinet!
More improvements
Following Oulton plans were made and things were ordered. One interesting experiment which some of you may have seen on FB was the weighing of all my wheels with the tyres removed.
When I bought the car 4 or so years ago it came with 2 sets of Speedline Corse wheels. These look great but I always knew they were heavy. they are a wheel designed for rallying after all. Since then I've accumulated a few other wheels with the purchase of a couple of other race cars and I've tried to keep a decent selection to use as spares.
After ordering the ultraleggeras I was keen to know exactly how much weight I was saving and the result was quite impressive.
As you can see that's a saving of over 4kg per corner which is a lot in terms of unsprung weight.
In addition I also weighed my ProRace 2.1s (newly powder coated to match the Ultraleggeras)
Still a good saving. And while I was at it I also weighed a phase 1 O.Z. alloy (7.61kg) and also a different Speedline Corse which had come with the car supposedly Magnesium alloy but seemingly not quite at 7.25kg. Still a lot lighter than the standard Speedlines, so my wet tyres will be going on them which have been powder coated in a surprise colour!
While AST had my front coilovers to install new 130N springs and re-valve them accordingly they gave them a bit of a service and returned them very quickly. This now of course meant I needed to have the car corner weighted again, so that went back on the list.
Then the brakes got stripped after the loose bolt incident at Oulton. There must have been some serious heat going through them to end up looking like this!
so the brakes were cleaned and repainted and another new set of seals inserted. They were only done in November and the car has done 2 test days and 2 races but I'm sure if they had stayed together this wouldn't have heppened. They went back together with threadlock and cap head bolts.
Soon after this, the car was back together and arrangements were being made for yet another guest driver.
130N springs replacing the 100N that they came with.
Brakes back together with new DS1.11 pads
...and a funky, colour coordinated colour for the wets!
Ready for Brands
More fettling
Dan Turner of Advanced Motorsport Engineering (AME) was to partner me at Brands for my 3rd race of the season. As he is a mapper and has a dyno I took the car to Silverstone where his workshops are for a bit more dyno work and corner weighting.
More POWER!
The engine has been getting stronger and stronger each run it has. After a bit of map adjustment Dan had the engine to 220bhp at the hubs and was suitably impressed with my engine building skills. All that remained was for him to drive the car which we duly arranged for the Wednesday before our race on a trackday at Brands Hatch.
Brands Hatch Race 3
Wednesday was to be the first time Dan had driven the car although he is an accomplished racer it was going to be interesting to get yet another point of view on the car's driving characteristics.
And I'm glad to say he loved it! The comments were that it was the nicest, most well balanced car he had ever driven around Brands. Whether he was just being flattering I don't know, but I do know that the car certainly did feel the best it has ever felt around Brands and by far the most stable since the rebuild.
With new wheels and tyres as well the car now feels noticeably more lively.
Sadly, despite Dan's best efforts at tweaking the map we couldn't stop the pops and bangs from tripping their noise meter. So by lunch time we were sent home.
It didn't matter though, we had both settled into the car and were feeling ready for the race.
So Sunday was an early start and by 8am I was all set up in the paddock and ready for scrutineering.
Once signed on and scrutineered without incident we went in to Qualifying at midday feeling hopeful.
I went out first and quickly put us on provisional pole which then slipped to 5th after some of the quicker cars got up to speed. And then I had the first "Doh" moment of the day as the car began to run out of fuel! We had completely forgotten to top it up before going out.
Thankfully some kind gents in one of the pit garages who had just finished their qualifying session gave us 5ltrs to get Dan out and try and set a decent time.
Which he duly did, sticking us in 3rd with a 55.1s.
Sadly at the end of the session we were demoted back to 5th as he had exceeded track limits during that lap so it was disallowed. No matter, in a grid of 33 cars I was well happy with 5th!
As the track temperature went over 40 degrees tyre pressures were going to be critical but having monitored them carefully on Wednesday on an albeit cooler day, we had a fair idea of where they needed to be. Left hand front was set at 17psi! But we knew it would get up to temp and pressure in no time in the heat.
Also during the qualifying we were experiencing increasing amounts of vibration through the compression at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend which we attributed to the drive shaft hitting the diff. It's something I've experienced before and the solution is simple. Undo all the engine mounts, get a large breaker bar and lever the engine over and tighten everything up. Job done and it cured it for the race.
But also while checking over the car my 14 year old daughter spotted fuel dripping under the car from the spare wheel well. Popping off the swirl pot cover revealed a mess of melted paint and fuel from a leaking union on the filter. Some PTFE and a load of wasted fuel later and all was good. Thank god for young eyes!
At race time it was decided that I would start and this would be my first rolling start. But we had decided that all we needed was the class win which we were fairly confident of as long as we finished. So it was to be a cautious start with no heroics and being on the inside of the track I was fairly safe from being punted in to the gravel on the first corner.
The race went well...
And this picture tells it all..
3rd overall and 1st in class (by 2 clear laps!)
And as the winner was BTCC driver Mike Bushell I'm even tempted to disregard 1st place and call it a 2nd!
In any event, this was my first podium and we were rather pleased.
A few things to do before my next race at Donington in September. The car will not start when it's hot. the battery just doesn't have enough juice, so I'm going to relocate it from the back of the car to just in front of the gear lever if I can, shortening the cable considerably and also lowering it in the car which is no bad thing. If that doesn't work then it's going to need a bigger battery.
I also need to look again at my brake combination. The DS1.11 are very agressive and the discs are looking very sorry for themselves. I may just skim them and resign myself to doing this regularly; either that or accept that the discs will be as much a sacrificial part as the pads are.
Also, pedal was getting soft towards the end so may look at a different fluid too.
Gearbox is also deteriorating with syncro in 4th showing signs of ware and the oil leak from the drive shaft and also the selector getting progressively worse. I was hoping it would last until the end of the season but I'm going to think about doing it now, which will also mean a diff rebuild.
other than that it's just small non essential things on the list which I will do as and when. For the moment I shall just be basking in the glory and telling anyone who will listen about my weekend!
