Right then Birkett weekend! So the days leading upto the Birkett were filled with getting the car ready which involved getting a new rad made, repairing the wrap in a few places and adding some stickers. This was done and I set off to Milton Keynes on the Wednesday night.
Now since the trackday at Oulton where I suddenly felt like the car was down on power I had been concerned but everything checked out okay we did compression check, checked the fuelling, fuel pressure, injectors, dyno and everything came back okay but it still didn’t feel right. So when I took the engine out to swap the clutch I put one of my other engines in just to try it for the weekend and see if it fixed the problem (Trying to see if the issue is with the car or with the engine) So I put the other one in and was booked in at Bruntingthorpe on Thursday just to check the fuelling was safe for the weekend between the different engines. Thankfully it was very close and safe so that was good but the oil pressure seemed a bit on the low side. Wasn’t too low but was lower than the other and it didn’t want to risk it going bang! So me and Apex Lee hatched a plan and both shot down to Essex Thursday night to collect the other engine and the engine crane and then instead of testing in the morning on the Friday we would swap them over.
Friday morning and out the engine came we managed to get the whole thing out and gearbox off in 45 minutes which is a new record for us! The plan was to rush the swap and get out for the afternoon testing but then the heavens opened and we decided against testing. So we had a bit of a break went for some food with
@Tony Hunter and had a good catch up and then had a gentle afternoon of putting the car back together. Once that was done it was time to clean the car, get the stickers on and get the car scruitineered. The car flew through and we were all set for racing the following day!
Here we go again!
Stickers
Scrutineering
Racing kit!
Tucked up for the night
Myself and
@LeeP86 went off for food with the team we were racing with and tried to get an early night!
Race day came and it was a nice bright morning. We gave the car a quick once over and then it was time to go out for the 20 min practice session (In the Birkett the qualifying position is determined by previous lap times so we were 12th on the grid out of 70) I thought the track would be drier than it was but it was quite wet and I was on the dunlops so it made for an interesting session the main aim was 3 laps as without that you can’t race. This was done and then pushed on a bit and the car felt okay
Back in and it was time to line the cars up in race order and give the car a quick once over, Breather hose needed some fettling and a quick tweak here and there and all good!
My first stint came around and you have to sit in the car ready to go incase the car before you has an issue so sat there for 30 minutes wasn’t what i’d planned but went quite quickly
First lap of my stint and the car kept throwing itself out of 4th gear, it kept doing it again and again and wasn’t good. So I ended up resorting to driving one handed most of the time and holding it in gear which was a bit sketchy to say the least round some of the quick corners on fairly cold tyres. Unfortunately after about 12 minutes of my stint there was a safety car for a huge shunt between a Radical and a BMW I really hope the driver of the radical is okay the last I heard he is in a critical condition in Hospital! So I followed the the pack around until the end of my stint and then into the pits.
With the car back it was time to work out what was wrong and causing the car to jump out of gear. Our first thoughts were the engine mounts namely the bottom gearbox mount and the dogbone mount. We rocked the engine with the car in gear and could see abit too much movement, I had a spare of both mounts but it seemed to be the polybush doggone mount so I swapped this for a standard one.
2nd stint and it was quite a bit later in the day the pace seemed very strong with the whole grid and the track seemed to have more grip, it was a great stint and the car was going really well the gear issue was sorted (Dogbone mount) and just generally had lots of fun. Caught upto a Boxster S race car that was very defensive but it was quite good fun. The thing with the Birkett is you have some car doing lap times in half the time some other are doing and normally when racing you don’t have such a spread of performance but it was good fun you just really have to be alert otherwise danger is only just around the corner. My stint was 30 mins long and then it was over the car had performed very well and delivered a lap time much quicker than I had expected so I was happy with that especially without any clear laps. We stayed to support the team until the end and it was a great feeling to be part of a team regardless of finishing position.
So the car is in one piece and pretty much ready to go again next weekend at Snetterton I’ve ordered an Evol Engineering doggone mount to see how that goes with the gear shifting. I think the car needs the geo doing again and maybe fit the new bonnet if I get time but other than those small bits I’m happy and bring on next weekend!
I’ve got to say a massive thank you to
@LeeP86 for everything he has done and his motivation for swapping the engines without his help the car wouldn’t have made any races this year so thanks buddy! Also huge thanks to
@Tony Hunter for getting his hands dirty and helping out get the engine in and also lots of other help over the weekend with Stickers, molesting me etc
I will get more photo’s up as I get them and also will put the videos up once they are done!
Thanks also to everyone who came to watch and give support Lee, Tony, Neil, Mark, Natalie, Sean and Sophie it was great to have you all there and catch up along with everyone else who we saw over the weekend was lots of fun!