Ads 172 Track/Race car

[Brushwood69]

Cheers @Ads29 a great write up. I was concerned about the self centering and forgetting which gear I only live a few miles away from @pure-motorsport so will pop along if they have a showroom as such. I have raced with Nick at Castle Hillclimb before but going into rallying just needed the confidence in the shifter!

 

[Ads29]

Sorry mate should have added the fact that the stick self centres in neutral (well mine certainly does anyway) when looking at the stick it's not overly obvious which gear you're in but once driving it just feels right and I didn't miss a gear all day

 

[Ads29]

Few photos from another wet day at Castle Combe (03.03.17)

Possibly one of the nicest cars on the day, was a shame the weather was against is as this would have gone very well

 

[AdamCup]

How were the Gaz Gold's ? What spring rates have you got ?

 

[Ads29]

How were the Gaz Gold's ? What spring rates have you got ?

Considering the fact that I didn't get a chance to have set everything up properly they were fantastic, once I'd got the damping set for the conditions I felt I could push the car more than I ever have previously despite the rain.

As for spring rates I've gone pretty hard, 800 front and 450 rear

 

[AdamCup]

Good to hear, i'm considering Gaz Gold's along with AVO GTX.

 

[Ads29]

Good to hear, i'm considering Gaz Gold's along with AVO GTX.

I had considered AVO's along with AST's as well but I couldn't justify the cost of the AST's just yet, ended up getting a very good deal finance wise from Corby Motorsport on these Gaz Gold's so the wife gets to go away where she wants again this year

 

[Ads29]

So not much to report on the car in the last month 😧 have picked up some direzzas to try out, and heater box is now out of the car to modify so I have a demister as I'm fed up trying to clear the screen on wet days.

In other news I've received my go racing pack from the MSA and had my medical, got my ARDS test booked for next month :smile: with the view to making the last two races of the season with the tricolore guys at Thruxton and Mallory Park in September.

There's also a track day booked back at Combe just before my ARDS just to settle any last minute nerves.


Guess the hard work starts now :smile:




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[Ads29]

The mad rush is on again, only a few days to go until it's loaded back on to the trailer and there's still plenty to do.

Have fitted a basic spec heater box although haven't had the chance to modify it so it'll only blow onto the windscreen but it's better than before, also took the opportunity to fit a non ac blower motor and wire up to a switched permanent 12v on the dash.

New brakes have arrived for the front in the form of another set of brembo high carbon discs and carbone lorraine rc8 pads along with motul rbf660 fluid, should hopefully bring about a more aggressive setup.

Quick oil and filter change to be done as well, genuine filter and some of Millers 'new spec' cfs 10-50 nanodrive

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[Ads29]

Just for a change Combe was yet again wet, not quite as wet as before but certainly far from dry, as lunch came the skies cleared and we hoped for the best and stuck on some dry tyres only for it to rain as we sat in line to go back out after lunch, made it a little entertaining on direzzas in places.

I have got some photos somewhere and will upload them when I find them.

The whole reason for doing the day was to get a little practise in before my ARDS a few days later, thankfully it was dry for the ARDS day and I am now in possession of my Nat B race licence and signed up for the Tricolore Trophy with time attack and will be sporting the number 29 (which has a massive personal meaning to me)

I've also arranged for my old roll cage to be collected by safety devices on Tuesday and should have a replacement here a few days afterwards, then it's a case of tidying up a few odds and ends and we should be on the grid later this year

 

[AdamCup]

Awesome stuff. How are you getting on with the Gaz Golds ? Have you got it corner weighted and geo'd ?

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[Ads29]

The Golds seem great to be honest, very impressed so far. I'm yet to fully push them in dry conditions but in the wet there's a lot less body roll when cornering.

Haven't had them weighted\geo'd yet as i've got my name down on a group buy with @ACS_Motorsport for a roll centre correction kit, so until its all together i don't really see the point in spending monies, i'm also trying to get the money together to refurb my spare gearbox and put in a quaiffe diff and shorter 5th gear, that's far from cheap though lol (i do have permission from my financial accountant\wife to use our holiday money though )

 

[Ads29]

Gripper diff not quaiffe, it's been a long week already

 

[Ads29]

Decided to have a run out at Llandow yesterday, before the big strip down in preparation for a new cage next week.

Have been there a few times now and had so far escaped there without damaging tyres too much, well that was until yesterday anyway. Think it's time for some new front tyres now lol

On to this evening and the strip down has begun, seats and cage are out, cage should hopefully be collected on Tuesday and new one returned a few days later

Certainly looks bare now its all out, but should have the chance to tidy up more of the wiring and make a start on painting the inside


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[AdamCup]

That's a lot of wear on the inside compared to the outside. How much camber do you think you're running ?
Or is that from spinning up the inside wheel coming out of corners ?

 

[Ads29]

I think it's a bit of both to be honest, I was suffering with massive wheel spin at times, I'd guess I'm running somewhere around 2.5-3 degrees of camber but still haven't had it set properly so can't say for sure, it's all in the pipeline but as I'm still in the process of upgrading parts I've been lazy and not bothered too get everything set up, completely my own fault lol

 

[Ads29]

Well it's been a month since I dropped the car off along with the new spec safety devices cage, progress has been a little slow but the work is being fitted in around all their other work (mainly mx5 turbo/supercharger conversions).

In good news though my roll centre kit has arrived, well been collected to be precise. Fantastic quality and top service from @ACS_Motorsport, very highly recommended, and has a group buy for these on here too. Looking forward to getting these fitted and seeing the difference on track.

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[20vKarlos]

Awesome stuff, when do you plan on getting the car back?

 

[Ads29]

Awesome stuff, when do you plan on getting the car back?

Thanks mate

Hopefully a couple of weeks at most now, I still plan on making the last 2 race meetings of the tricolore trophy in September, but we'll see, there's still a few odds and ends to do before being ready for competition

 

[Alex__]

Good thread!

How did you find the R1Rs in the wet? Thinking of getting a set for wet track use

 

[Ads29]

Good thread!

How did you find the R1Rs in the wet? Thinking of getting a set for wet track use

Thanks mate

Love the R1r's, for me they're a fantastic wet tyre, from full on standing water right the way to a dry track. I personally now only use them until standing water has cleared and then switch back to semi slicks but they are more than capable of holding their own in dry conditions too


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[Ads29]

Little road trip today to pick up an old friend, nice to have it back at last. Few quick photos for now until I've cleaned all the grinding dust up. Only downside is I now have plenty of wiring to re route.

I may yet see the grid this year, fingers crossed


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[@Josh]

You best hurry up!!

 

[Ads29]

You best hurry up!!

I'm trying doesn't help that the daily just soaked up well over a grand on Mot

 

[@Josh]

I'm trying :wink: doesn't help that the daily just soaked up well over a grand on Mot 😧

Sell it and use the race car......? It must be the only option

 

[Ads29]

Sell it and use the race car......? It must be the only option

I'm selling the Mrs car, does that count lol

 

[ACS_Motorsport]

Well it's been a month since I dropped the car off along with the new spec safety devices cage, progress has been a little slow but the work is being fitted in around all their other work (mainly mx5 turbo/supercharger conversions).

In good news though my roll centre kit has arrived, well been collected to be precise. Fantastic quality and top service from @ACS_Motorsport, very highly recommended, and has a group buy for these on here too. Looking forward to getting these fitted and seeing the difference on track.
View attachment 193859

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Very delayed haha! Missed lots of notifications on here so catching up! My pleasure mate!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ads29]

Very delayed haha! Missed lots of notifications on here so catching up! My pleasure mate!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hopefully they'll be on in the next week or so, work has been crazy recently so not much time to do anything

 

[Ads29]

Been stupidly busy with work lately so not much has happened with the car, and with needing a break from the fun that is wiring we decided it was time to make a start with the graphics in preparation for making the grid, also keeps our sponsor happy and hopefully gets their name out a bit more

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[Ads29]

Massively overdue update time (can't believe it's been 9 months) part 1 Aug 2017 - March 2018

Picking up from last August we had quite a lot going on at work, leaving us massively shorthanded, meaning that for 4 months the car barely got touched the little time I did have was spent on redesigning the interior wiring loom in order to marry up the required safety items with the original loom and also make a start on the long term goal of removing the entire original wiring

We started off with a new fire extinguisher and electric battery isolater, I've never been a fan of manual pull cables and the idea of push button switches seems better to me so in came an armtech isolater and electric lifeline extinguisher system

These were initially mounted onto a spare passenger seat subframe but ended up mounting directly to the car, every bit of weight saved helps right?

Next on the list was a new control panel to house the switch gear and a fee other bits, so taking some inspiration from other threads on here I came up with this, currently has both the electrical cut off and extinguisher along with epas controller, rain/fog light and heater switches

There's also a new fuse box from car builder solutions, at the moment it only runs a couple of aux systems until I get the time to transfer more across from the original one and a hard wired race transponder from mylaps (new version of the old red amb ones)


Few in progress shots

With everything fitted, and the original rear part of the wiring loom thinned out and 're routed' along the centre tunnel to incorporate with all the new bits the interior currently looks like so

It's hard to describe just how many hours ended up going into something that seems so simple to achieve, there are bits I'd like to have done differently but it all works so for now it's staying as is

In January myself and my ever forgiving wife took our annual pilgramige to the Autosport show, spent far too much as we always do and came home with a new 4.5x3m gazebo, and ordered a new seat with Motordrive Seats, to say they look after their customers is an understatement, despite the vast numbers of people at the show nothing was too much trouble and to have a seat tailored to my body frame is incredible, had to wait 8 weeks for the seat but hopefully people agree it looks stunning (and has some personal touches)

The above work took us up to the middle of March, and with already having had to re arrange the first track day of the year from the beginning of March to mid April time was clearly passing quicker than intended, a hastily arranged visit to @Mash. (Select Motorsport) in order for some geo work and corner weighting so off we went, arriving covered in mud, gotta love country lanes when it's wet

Turns out our old bean tin weighs in at 975kg currently, not too bad considering she's all metal and glass still, one bad point though was in true frenchness the starter motor finally packed up that day, meaning a bump start to load back up on the trailer, and subsequently changing it whilst still loaded once home, not the easiest of jobs to say the least as cheekily captured by my wife (my love of food doesn't help with jobs like this mind ??)

Part 2 to come shortly

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[Ads29]

Update part 2 March 2018 - April 2018

With the starter changed all was good, with the car tucked up ready for April's trackday, and with the imminent arrival of our other winter purchase due we decided to scrap the old trailer ready to bring home the new one, only to then receive an email to say that due to the snow in Feb and March our trailer had been delayed ?? and wouldn't be ready until the beginning of May, due mass panic and many phone calls to hire a trailer, luckily finding one 20 mile away that was available.

So Friday 13th April arrives and our first trackday in 10 months was finally upon us, and as I go to load the car up all of a sudden I lose reverse gear?!?!, anyway we're loaded so it'll be ok I tell myself, off we go to castle combe, jump back in to unload after asking for a hand to get the car off the trailer, only to find that we have reverse again!! it's bloody French after all, a damp start so we leave the wets on whilst doing a few initail laps to make sure everything's working correctly

First run out and all seemed good so start to pick up a but of pace, come off camp corner, over start/finish line, go for 5th, what 5th, where's 5th gone??, try again and still nothing, can't even find the gate for 5th so straight back in jack up the car and spend 20 minutes having to set up the pms gear lever again ?? go back out with all 5 forward gears, all good for 10 laps before a noise starts to appear, back in again and there's gear oil all over the bottom of the box ?? turns out I hadn't nipped the drain plug up properly when changing the drive shafts (forgot about that, they were done way back in Sept last year along with the ACS roll centre kit)

Topped the box back up and took a slow run around the paddock, all good again thank God, did I mention it was Friday 13th?!

Spent the rest of the day getting used to some new 2nd hand Yokohama A048 tyres, which seem to suit my driving style better than the Dunlops we used previously

Along with the roll centre kit the car felt completely different and consistent 1.22/1.23 lap times seemed to back this up. Packed up at the end of what was all in all a good day, feeling ready for our debut race day which was looming

All that was left was to fit a new 6 point harness, an oil catch tank, cage padding and a general tidy up ready for race day, managed to get the catch tank tucked up in the corner of the engine bay

Also decided that the pro race 1.2's needed sprucing up (another winter purchase I'd forgotten about) so they went off for a refurb and some fresh rubber, from this

To this

Bringing us up to the end of April, and a week to go until our first race weekend, nerves had well and truly kicked in now.

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[Ads29]

Castle Combe race meeting with Track Attack/Tricolore Trophy

Early May bank holiday weekend, finally our new trailer was ready, with a day to spare. Off I went to collect first thing Saturday morning, really impressed with the quality and ease of towing, I can highly recommend Brian James for their transporters ?

Loaded the car up and we were all set for Castle Combe, although local we went the day before and camped overnight in order to give plenty of time to set up and not have to rush around Monday morning

This went straight out of the window, and all hell broke loose after asking one of the experienced drivers to have a look over the car, cue a drive back home to pick up some bits I had disregarded as needing, by Sunday night a state of calm had descended and all was good.

Scrutineering had been my biggest worry, I know the car inside out having built it virtually by myself (bar roll cages) but having it inspected by somebody else had me on edge, thankfully it flew through straight through and thanks to the scrutineers running late we were rushing around to get out for qualifying. At this point all that's in my head is get 3 laps in, need 3 laps to set a time, and then start to push on for a decent time, onto the 4th lap and on fastest part of the circuit coming up Avon Rise and into Quarry and as I hit the brakes the car snaps left, managed to hold on and get out of quarry but the steering wheel is all over the place, 90° out of line once I straighten up, and that was the end of qualifying, come back in to find the o/s/f wishbone had come loose (with camber adjustable bushes) and put the wheel at completely the wrong angle ?? timings come through and we're P26 (of 36) with a 1:27.702. Well off our expected pace but qualified if nothing else.

With no way of adjusting the tracking properly everything ended being done by eye, so that we could at least take to the grid for race 1, the lights come on, go off and our first race is underway. 3 laps in and we're under the safety car, by the time it goes in there's 4 laps left, having made up a couple of places early on I decide to go for another overtake, get it horribly wrong and take a trip over the grass. Ending up 25th, in some ways disappointed yet in others I'm on top of the world, I've finished my first race in one piece, but with fastest lap down in the 1:28's it was clear that there was much room for improvement

Race 2 was the last race of the day and with cooler temps the car felt much better, P25 off the grid became P18 by the flag, times were quicker, in the 25's, still slower than I'd have liked but better than race 1.

All in all I couldn't have been much happier with our first race meeting, as I said there's plenty of room to improve, in both me and the car but we're there, we're competing and that has been my aim from the beginning ??

Selection of photos from the day below

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[Ads29]

Silverstone weekend 28/29th July

Where do I start with this one? I've never set foot around Silverstone so I was both excited and a little nervous for this one. With the ever changing weather forecast getting progressively worse as the days ticked round it became obvious that we'd be getting wet

So we arrive Saturday afternoon to a sunny but windy circuit, managed to get signed on and scrutineered to save a bit of time for the Sunday, tucked the car and trailer up and headed off to the luxury of a hotel as I had the wife with me.

We woke up Sunday to a wet start, and that only got wetter and windier as the morning continued, headed out for qualifying with the usual plan of get 3 laps in, find a little bit of space (not easy with a big grid) and then start to push on a bit, the circuit was absolutely soaking with very little grip but I have always enjoyed the wet so wasn't too worried at this point.

So I get going, try to find what little grip there was, picking up a bit of time lap on lap for 5 laps and then on the 6th 'disaster' strikes, the back end washes out under braking for the entry to Becketts, cue a trip across the grass, make contact with the wall and finish up in the gravel trap. Qualifying over just as I was starting to get into a rhythm, had to be dragged out and came back to the paddock on the back of a lorry.

To add I suit to injury I just happened to drop right in front of the cameras too, so there's no hiding lol.

Can be seen here at 22 seconds in

Back into the paddock and with 4 hours until race 1 we were confident of at least getting back out. A couple of hammers quickly made work of the cosmetic damage to the crash bar, allowing the panels to go back on curtosey of a lot of cable ties and gaffer tape.

Qualifying results come around and we're 19th of 38, mixed emotions as I did feel there was more time to be had, but considering what had happened I couldn't be too disappointed overall.

With our focus being on getting the bodywork back together we hadn't noticed the ABS light on until a few minutes before having to leave for the 1st race, so I decide to take the risk to go out and see how things go.

Line up on the grid and got the worst possible start, dropped quite a few places but eventually found some grip and away we went, car felt good for a couple of laps until the back washed out again, this time coming onto the start finish straight, the next lap the car just didn't feel right, brakes were all over the place so I decided to retire the car, and bring it home.

Not the best weekend all in all but a good learning curve, and plenty of experience gained.

The car is now in a local body shop having the front end damage straightened out (possibly damaged the chassis legs) and the ABS light is on as the rear sensor wiring is damaged, whether this was during the off in qualifying or before/after I'm not sure but it's time to remove the ABS system entirely.


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[massiveCoRbyn]

Certainly sounds like a dramatic start to your racing career! Good you're taking it all in your stride though.

 

[Ads29]

Certainly sounds like a dramatic start to your racing career! Good you're taking it all in your stride though.

It's certainly been eventful this far, I was gutted as the car was feeling good, but I think I pushed a little too hard too soon (rookie mistake) and it bit back still it'll soon be repaired and we'll be straight back out again

 

[Russ Rallye]

Ah didn’t realise you were on here mate, seen the car come back on the truck after quali. It was a horrible weekend but glad it’s all fixable. Abs would be coming off if it was mine.
Russ

 

[Ads29]

Ah didn’t realise you were on here mate, seen the car come back on the truck after quali. It was a horrible weekend but glad it’s all fixable. Abs would be coming off if it was mine.
Russ

Yeah I'm on here Russ, I had planned to have a wander around and say hello to a few people but things didn't quite go to plan in the end.

ABS is definitely coming out, it was on the list of things to be done over the winter but that's being brought forward now.

Fingers crossed the body shop don't take too long and we'll be back out before the end of the year.

 

[Ads29]

The good, not so good and finally better update

Following on from my last post we picked the car back up from the body shop with the front back in its correct orientation and looking much better, even without the new panels and lights?

However upon closer inspection (when about to jack up) there was a noticeable dent in the o/s sill, no idea how long it'd been there or what caused it but there it was, took a closer look and right in the middle was a patch of soft/rusting metal ?? cue some messages to Matt @ Select Motorsport and a few days later the car was loaded up for the trip to Reading. Turned out to be a fair bit of rust in the o/s sill, very little of which was visible until some deeper poking and prodding had been done, so this had to be taken care of along with some planned welding/tidying up to the areas around the cage mounts and front jacking points.

Selection of photos below from the updates sent by Matt, can't emphasise just how pleased I am with his work, and can't recommend him highly enough either.

Due to pick the car back up on Saturday and then make a start on the brakes, currently waiting on a HEL brake line kit to go with a tilton bias valve, and a set of refurbed calipers to go on too.

Fingers crossed we can start testing in a few weeks, and get the car how we want it for 2019


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[Ads29]

Winters up's, downs and inbetweens part 1. (Nov/Dec 18)

Time flies when you're having fun doesn't it ??, so where's 7 months gone then?. I'll try to summarise below

After all the previous bodywork issues we finally had the car back out for an early Nov trackday back at our local Castle Combe circuut, purely to see how the car would run and where to focus on next. The morning ran well and the car felt great, that was until we stopped for lunch. After lunch there was some clear hesitation from the engine which developed into a real misfire with a rattle from around cylinders 2/3. Cue the car being loaded back up and a trip home contemplating whether we'd ever have any luck at all.

With the car home it was decided to pull the front end apart, remove the engine and box and go from there. The plan had been to strip, inspect and rebuild the engine and have the gearbox refurbed along with a shorter 5th gear ready for 2019, however we found a 'cheap' freshly rebuilt engine, well cheaper than rebuilding ours even with a trek to Manchester and back in the van, this allowed us to spend some more on the gearbox, so with some careful spending meant we'd also have a LSD fitted, a quick call and a gripper had been ordered.

It seemed silly not to upgrade a few more items whilst everything was apart so new engine mounts and a lightened flywheel where hastily ordered, along with a full service, cambelt, dephaser and clutch ready for the re assembly.

Part 2 (and probably 3) to come shortly

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[Ads29]

Winters up's, downs and inbetweens part 2. (Jan-Mar 19)

With the engine bay virtually empty it seemed the perfect time to get on with removing the ABS system, and replace with fully braided lines from Pro Line Motorsport, a Tilton internal bias valve and a set of refurbed calipers curtosey of Bigg Red.

Engine and box went back in in Early Feb with the extras previously mentioned, also took the opportunity to replace the injectors, leads and coil pack as there was still a slight misfire on start up of the new engine.

In my haste to fit the front end back on in managed to break 3 of the bolts that hold the bonnet onto its hinges, which was all the opportunity required for a fibreglass replacement ? (well that was my excuse to the wife anyway)

Cue early March and trip to Llandow for a afternoons shakedown and then onto Castle Combe for a proper run on a track day, finally some clean trouble free running to re learn the car with no ABS and start to get an idea of the difference of a gripper in the box.

Some unofficial timing pointed toward 1:21/22's but knowing there was plenty more to come the important bit was purely getting some time back in the seat after all our trials and tribulations

Part 3 to come later this evening

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