Nice and neat job done there with the wrapping Duncan :thumb:
Never thought of jubilee clips, I used CV gator clips to fix mine.
RaceDynamix STi - Time Attack 2009
-
ginger ninja
- Posts: 409
- Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:31 pm
- Location: Norwich
- Contact:
Geometry set up done thanks to Jon (Micared) at GW in Ipswich. (and some other bits)
Managed to get some good settings for camber with around 2.5-3 degrees of negative camber on the front and a reasonable amount on the rear too
Main bit is that all wheels now point in the same direction - they were way out :lol:
Gearbox oil and diff oil changed too along with fixing a split coolant hose that caused a bit of an issue.
All finished and ready on the main list :thumb: there are still a few things that will be done for round 1 and will be fettling with the map to give it the best chance but happy that I have a week to go to let things settle down to see any show stopping issues.
and relax 8)
Managed to get some good settings for camber with around 2.5-3 degrees of negative camber on the front and a reasonable amount on the rear too
Main bit is that all wheels now point in the same direction - they were way out :lol:
Gearbox oil and diff oil changed too along with fixing a split coolant hose that caused a bit of an issue.
All finished and ready on the main list :thumb: there are still a few things that will be done for round 1 and will be fettling with the map to give it the best chance but happy that I have a week to go to let things settle down to see any show stopping issues.
and relax 8)
-
ScoobieWRX
- Posts: 2136
- Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:42 am
- Location: Northants
- Contact:
Fingers crossed for you Duncan and for the weather.
My prediction is blazing hot sunshine, a sticky track and no mechanical gremlins. I have spoken........ :thumb:
My prediction is blazing hot sunshine, a sticky track and no mechanical gremlins. I have spoken........
:thumb:Buggers cancelled my op just a couple of days before it was due. Inconsiderate barstewards!! 
Waiting now for another execution date!!:headhack:
Waiting now for another execution date!!:headhack:
... 1 week to go
Having spent most of the previous weekend under the car, I was relieved to have finished the need to do list on the friday so could look at some tidying up work and double checking of the work done to make sure there would be no show stoppers on the day. This, i felt, would be time well spent as the events come thick and fast to start with.
The week started with a great offer of a Jeep Cheroke tow vehicle from one of my sponsors CJS Norwich. This was an absolute god send and meant that towing up to Oulton Park was going to happen and I could push harder on the day for a result along with taking the family and all the spares I could need with me. There was even room for the odd luxury with my a proper beans to cup coffee machine making its way into the truck so that caffeine fixes could be had at any time !! LOL
... 2 days to go:
Toyo 888's arrived in time from Toyo and a quick trip to Ely Tyre Services to fit them to the rims and chat to the guys about what I was going to do with them. I was surprised and delighted that they had heard of Time Attack and they quickly got the job done so that I could come back and watch whilst Matt Neame of 2 clear buckets put yet another coat of wax on the car and wheels. He said it would make me faster LOL. The car looked gorgeous when finished and with 2 sets of absolutely glistening Hyper Zero Wheels, i felt proud to see what the vision and discussions with Paul of Zen Performance at the end of last season had materialised into on my drive.
Lower, Wider, Faster were the key words of that discussion on the Sofa in Wellingborough and now that the check list of 'need to do' things had all been done for this round (further developments are following soon) I was excited about the prospects of doing well. The car was certainly lower than last year, definitely wider and I know from the testing at Snetterton that it is faster too (along with me).
... 1 day to go:
Nerves didnt have time to hit as I spent the day running around collecting the trailer and loading the truck and trailer and we headed off for our good friends Nigel & Lou Pinder to spend the night before at their house (more local than ours) and go for a curry. A great meal and a good relaxing evening and it was early to bed for the 5am rise and trip to the circuit for signing on, and leisurely run up to the warm up. Last year's accident at Oulton was definitely in my mind and the mixed weather forecast looked all too familiar.
... the day itself
The trip to the track was simple and the Jeep performed its duties superbly with plenty of grunt to cope with the hills - they have hills around there
- and yet return 29pmg towing the trailer !
Unloaded and set about preparing the car for the warm up, signing on (LOL) and chatting about the plans for the day.
A good short briefing this time and we were ready to start the car and head out onto the track. Nige was going to sit with me for the warm up session to help settle my nerves. It did in a way but he could tell my head wasnt right as my lines in the first session were quite frankly embarassing and I was not right. The car performed great though on wastegate duty apart from a huge misfire that was solved as soon as I got back to the pits with the help of Pat. The Solaris ecu's immense datalogging abilities providing the exact millisecond when this happened and we were able to identify the issue and sort it there and then with Pat on the phone. Simply download the rolling log file when I come into the pits and thousands of data points are there able to be analysed and improved upon in time for the next session.
Then, just before practice the heavens opened. De Ja Vu and my already messed up head with going haywire. I did not want a repeat of last year's daftness so optimistic, well definite that the weather would improve, I was going to go out and do one lap in the wet and come back in. No prizes for practice times and it would not be of any use to the dry track experience later.
Tom Ferrier was helping me get my head together during the lead up to going out and he definitely helped (as he did all day) with words of encouragement as well as wisdom. I think everyone around me could sense my mood and most gave me a wide berth so that I could do what I needed to do to feel
The track was patchy - some parts were very grippy even in the wet but others most definitely weren't. I guess the Deisel guzzling Trucks on the track did not help and unfortunately it bit a few competitors and the session was stopped. Thank god
The time for qualifying to happen took ages to come around, luckily the gang from Zen arrived so that was a great distraction and great to see as the experience of Paul in the pits is a nerve settler for sure. The car was looking superb and even though not 100% finished it would still be very very quick on track.
The rain clouds had gone and it was turning out to be a fantastic day.
Qualifying was going to be the first session run at full boost. Time to extract every bhp out of the Lateral MD321V and find the confidence to drive the track as hard as I needed to....
The pre practice checks were done by the gang, more fuel added and away I went with the instructions that Paul had given me. We had a plan and it was time to apply it.
It seemed to go well, I was gaining in confidence and speed but I guess others were on the same journey. Into the pits for a check up after a very sideways moment, I think it must have been on the oil that Neil Wrenn was chucking onto track as it was unexpected and nearly took me into the gravel at Druids. I told Paul that i must have a puncture as it felt very weird.. Paul assured me all was well and instructed me to head out again and get another hot lap in. This was the time to make it count as there were points on offer for qualifying position.
back into the pits and Steve Darley (I think) informed me that I was 4th - superb !
Mark from Lateral Performance was as excited as I was, as was Julian, Nige and all of Team Zen. Rachel and Annabelle headed back from viewing and they were ecstatic too.
The car felt great with the first full session on full boost, the braking was immense from the KSports and Performance Friction Pads, the handling sublime and far greater than I could use at that stage. It was confidence inspiring - just what I needed. A few checks on the car, download the data logs, check the oil, water and all was good. Nothing to do for the final except change tyres and put a splash of fuel in. I knew I could go lots faster. As Tom said to me - "time to be brave".
In car footage from Qualifying: http://vimeo.com/4337076
The final and I lined up behind Shane. We chatted and he explained to me what his intentions were so that we could work with each other to make sure we had space on track to make our times count. This was great and shows the comradery of the competitors and the TA spirit. Time to go and when the safety car pulled in Shane had dropped back from the car in front so as to give himself space to make his first lap count. I did the same and on fresh rubber for the final tried to warm them up on the first full hot lap ready for a banzai number 2 lap. This didnt quite work to plan and I came to the pits for a chat with Paul and he sent me back out with a plan, one fast then one balls out lap after he made an adjustment. The first part worked and into the last flying lap of the final - about a minute to go and I was on it, faster than I had been, deeper into braking, quicker onto the power, harder through the chicane and flat out for the tree before druids and I catch the silver civic on a cool down lap overtaking two other cars on a cool down lap ... grrrrrrrrrr. I had to come right out of the power through the apex of druids and this cost me right down the straight to lodge, around there to a proper brave line this time and nailed it to the finish. It was a fast one - must have been my quickest - it had to be.
Into the pits and Steve Darley held up 3 fingers ! - fantastic and I punched the air with delight, even though the lap had been compromised it had been enough to get my first ever podium. Steve asked whether I had seen the pit board he had been holding out showing that I was 5th at that time and basically saying get a wiggle on - unfortunately I had just been focusing on picking the right braking point for that final banzai lap so had forgotten to look. Thanks for trying to help Steven - I will remember next time LOL.
Out of the car and immediately on the phone to Rachel to ask whether she liked champagne - I was going to celebrate this one. My target pre event was top 5 and I had done it.
Looking at the sector times afterwards showed where I was quick and where I wasnt, understandably my slow sector was the final corner of the lap where I had the accident last year. i was getting the confidence but a few more laps would have been great.
Everyone was so happy around me and lots of other drivers came up to the pit garage to say well done, even Steve Linton that I had pipped to the 3rd place spot - I have a feeling it will be a close battle all year with him.
Party time !
http://vimeo.com/4335571
To everyone else that was competing and writing their own stories, it was great to see you all. Getting there through all of our work, sweat, tears and money was a huge achievement.
So many thank yous, so little space...
Mark at Lateral Performance. So much help over the last few months on getting the performance and the reliability in order. That MD321V turbo is mentally ballistic - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT ! but when's that 600bhp bolt on turbo ready
?
Pat & Charlie - Solaris ECU - What a piece of kit that is. SUPERB! The improvements to the driving characteristics of the car are huge, it is so much easier and smoother to drive on the limit now and the ALS adds a bit of sparkle to the final cool down lap to celebrate.
Paul and Team Zen from Zen Performance - as usual the calming influence of infinite set up knowledge is so easy to work with. The extra time gained through making the car handle predictably and smoothly pays dividends in inspiring confidence to put the boundaries. I can't wait to see the improvements on the other tracks too.
Julian at CJS - your help and loan of the tow truck made the weekend possible.
Nige/Lou - for trillions of photos, videos, help setting up, getting there, entertaining, feeding, distracting me, entertaining me and generally being a great mate.
Daren at ABW - for making the prettiest car on the grid. Wide is the way forward
Gary at Keith Michaels - for sorting out insurance for me at the last minute.
Matt at 2ClearBuckets - it was the wax that did it I am sure !!
Alyn at ASP - I will just say thanks for everything, hopefully you can make it up to Scotland for round 2.
GW Autoserve Ipswich - thanks for sorting the tyres / geometry out for me last week. It really helps when all the wheels point in the direction that you want them to.
and most importantly to Rachel and Annabelle for losing me to the car for a few weeks and putting up with my general grumpiness over the past week. It is great to have highs and lows - it makes you feel alive.
I would also like to say thank you for all the words of encouragement and support from friends and aquaintances whether actual or cyber. They mean a lot to me.
and now, time to prepare for Round 2 - Knockhill 17th May
Having spent most of the previous weekend under the car, I was relieved to have finished the need to do list on the friday so could look at some tidying up work and double checking of the work done to make sure there would be no show stoppers on the day. This, i felt, would be time well spent as the events come thick and fast to start with.
The week started with a great offer of a Jeep Cheroke tow vehicle from one of my sponsors CJS Norwich. This was an absolute god send and meant that towing up to Oulton Park was going to happen and I could push harder on the day for a result along with taking the family and all the spares I could need with me. There was even room for the odd luxury with my a proper beans to cup coffee machine making its way into the truck so that caffeine fixes could be had at any time !! LOL
... 2 days to go:
Toyo 888's arrived in time from Toyo and a quick trip to Ely Tyre Services to fit them to the rims and chat to the guys about what I was going to do with them. I was surprised and delighted that they had heard of Time Attack and they quickly got the job done so that I could come back and watch whilst Matt Neame of 2 clear buckets put yet another coat of wax on the car and wheels. He said it would make me faster LOL. The car looked gorgeous when finished and with 2 sets of absolutely glistening Hyper Zero Wheels, i felt proud to see what the vision and discussions with Paul of Zen Performance at the end of last season had materialised into on my drive.
Lower, Wider, Faster were the key words of that discussion on the Sofa in Wellingborough and now that the check list of 'need to do' things had all been done for this round (further developments are following soon) I was excited about the prospects of doing well. The car was certainly lower than last year, definitely wider and I know from the testing at Snetterton that it is faster too (along with me).
... 1 day to go:
Nerves didnt have time to hit as I spent the day running around collecting the trailer and loading the truck and trailer and we headed off for our good friends Nigel & Lou Pinder to spend the night before at their house (more local than ours) and go for a curry. A great meal and a good relaxing evening and it was early to bed for the 5am rise and trip to the circuit for signing on, and leisurely run up to the warm up. Last year's accident at Oulton was definitely in my mind and the mixed weather forecast looked all too familiar.
... the day itself
The trip to the track was simple and the Jeep performed its duties superbly with plenty of grunt to cope with the hills - they have hills around there
- and yet return 29pmg towing the trailer !Unloaded and set about preparing the car for the warm up, signing on (LOL) and chatting about the plans for the day.
A good short briefing this time and we were ready to start the car and head out onto the track. Nige was going to sit with me for the warm up session to help settle my nerves. It did in a way but he could tell my head wasnt right as my lines in the first session were quite frankly embarassing and I was not right. The car performed great though on wastegate duty apart from a huge misfire that was solved as soon as I got back to the pits with the help of Pat. The Solaris ecu's immense datalogging abilities providing the exact millisecond when this happened and we were able to identify the issue and sort it there and then with Pat on the phone. Simply download the rolling log file when I come into the pits and thousands of data points are there able to be analysed and improved upon in time for the next session.
Then, just before practice the heavens opened. De Ja Vu and my already messed up head with going haywire. I did not want a repeat of last year's daftness so optimistic, well definite that the weather would improve, I was going to go out and do one lap in the wet and come back in. No prizes for practice times and it would not be of any use to the dry track experience later.
Tom Ferrier was helping me get my head together during the lead up to going out and he definitely helped (as he did all day) with words of encouragement as well as wisdom. I think everyone around me could sense my mood and most gave me a wide berth so that I could do what I needed to do to feel
The track was patchy - some parts were very grippy even in the wet but others most definitely weren't. I guess the Deisel guzzling Trucks on the track did not help and unfortunately it bit a few competitors and the session was stopped. Thank god
The time for qualifying to happen took ages to come around, luckily the gang from Zen arrived so that was a great distraction and great to see as the experience of Paul in the pits is a nerve settler for sure. The car was looking superb and even though not 100% finished it would still be very very quick on track.
The rain clouds had gone and it was turning out to be a fantastic day.
Qualifying was going to be the first session run at full boost. Time to extract every bhp out of the Lateral MD321V and find the confidence to drive the track as hard as I needed to....
The pre practice checks were done by the gang, more fuel added and away I went with the instructions that Paul had given me. We had a plan and it was time to apply it.
It seemed to go well, I was gaining in confidence and speed but I guess others were on the same journey. Into the pits for a check up after a very sideways moment, I think it must have been on the oil that Neil Wrenn was chucking onto track as it was unexpected and nearly took me into the gravel at Druids. I told Paul that i must have a puncture as it felt very weird.. Paul assured me all was well and instructed me to head out again and get another hot lap in. This was the time to make it count as there were points on offer for qualifying position.
back into the pits and Steve Darley (I think) informed me that I was 4th - superb !
Mark from Lateral Performance was as excited as I was, as was Julian, Nige and all of Team Zen. Rachel and Annabelle headed back from viewing and they were ecstatic too.
The car felt great with the first full session on full boost, the braking was immense from the KSports and Performance Friction Pads, the handling sublime and far greater than I could use at that stage. It was confidence inspiring - just what I needed. A few checks on the car, download the data logs, check the oil, water and all was good. Nothing to do for the final except change tyres and put a splash of fuel in. I knew I could go lots faster. As Tom said to me - "time to be brave".
In car footage from Qualifying: http://vimeo.com/4337076
The final and I lined up behind Shane. We chatted and he explained to me what his intentions were so that we could work with each other to make sure we had space on track to make our times count. This was great and shows the comradery of the competitors and the TA spirit. Time to go and when the safety car pulled in Shane had dropped back from the car in front so as to give himself space to make his first lap count. I did the same and on fresh rubber for the final tried to warm them up on the first full hot lap ready for a banzai number 2 lap. This didnt quite work to plan and I came to the pits for a chat with Paul and he sent me back out with a plan, one fast then one balls out lap after he made an adjustment. The first part worked and into the last flying lap of the final - about a minute to go and I was on it, faster than I had been, deeper into braking, quicker onto the power, harder through the chicane and flat out for the tree before druids and I catch the silver civic on a cool down lap overtaking two other cars on a cool down lap ... grrrrrrrrrr. I had to come right out of the power through the apex of druids and this cost me right down the straight to lodge, around there to a proper brave line this time and nailed it to the finish. It was a fast one - must have been my quickest - it had to be.
Into the pits and Steve Darley held up 3 fingers ! - fantastic and I punched the air with delight, even though the lap had been compromised it had been enough to get my first ever podium. Steve asked whether I had seen the pit board he had been holding out showing that I was 5th at that time and basically saying get a wiggle on - unfortunately I had just been focusing on picking the right braking point for that final banzai lap so had forgotten to look. Thanks for trying to help Steven - I will remember next time LOL.
Out of the car and immediately on the phone to Rachel to ask whether she liked champagne - I was going to celebrate this one. My target pre event was top 5 and I had done it.
Looking at the sector times afterwards showed where I was quick and where I wasnt, understandably my slow sector was the final corner of the lap where I had the accident last year. i was getting the confidence but a few more laps would have been great.
Everyone was so happy around me and lots of other drivers came up to the pit garage to say well done, even Steve Linton that I had pipped to the 3rd place spot - I have a feeling it will be a close battle all year with him.
Party time !
http://vimeo.com/4335571
To everyone else that was competing and writing their own stories, it was great to see you all. Getting there through all of our work, sweat, tears and money was a huge achievement.
So many thank yous, so little space...
Mark at Lateral Performance. So much help over the last few months on getting the performance and the reliability in order. That MD321V turbo is mentally ballistic - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT ! but when's that 600bhp bolt on turbo ready
?Pat & Charlie - Solaris ECU - What a piece of kit that is. SUPERB! The improvements to the driving characteristics of the car are huge, it is so much easier and smoother to drive on the limit now and the ALS adds a bit of sparkle to the final cool down lap to celebrate.
Paul and Team Zen from Zen Performance - as usual the calming influence of infinite set up knowledge is so easy to work with. The extra time gained through making the car handle predictably and smoothly pays dividends in inspiring confidence to put the boundaries. I can't wait to see the improvements on the other tracks too.
Julian at CJS - your help and loan of the tow truck made the weekend possible.
Nige/Lou - for trillions of photos, videos, help setting up, getting there, entertaining, feeding, distracting me, entertaining me and generally being a great mate.
Daren at ABW - for making the prettiest car on the grid. Wide is the way forward
Gary at Keith Michaels - for sorting out insurance for me at the last minute.
Matt at 2ClearBuckets - it was the wax that did it I am sure !!
Alyn at ASP - I will just say thanks for everything, hopefully you can make it up to Scotland for round 2.
GW Autoserve Ipswich - thanks for sorting the tyres / geometry out for me last week. It really helps when all the wheels point in the direction that you want them to.
and most importantly to Rachel and Annabelle for losing me to the car for a few weeks and putting up with my general grumpiness over the past week. It is great to have highs and lows - it makes you feel alive.
I would also like to say thank you for all the words of encouragement and support from friends and aquaintances whether actual or cyber. They mean a lot to me.
and now, time to prepare for Round 2 - Knockhill 17th May
-
Mr Fletcher
- Posts: 2649
- Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:34 pm
- Location: wherever i'm needed
- Contact:
superb write up coupled with a great result :thumb:
cheers
jason
cheers
jason
[SIGPIC] [/SIGPIC]
http://www.cuttersmachinerysales.co.uk
http://www.cuttersmachinerysales.co.uk