Re: James/BigAsh 182 Race Car by TDF... It doesn't get much better than this! *Pic He
Anglesey Update (I really shouldn’t of smashed that mirror at Bruntingthorpe )
On Thursday night I went down to TDF to collect the car in preparation for the Anglesey on the Sunday. I had a list of a few jobs that I wanted to get done ready for the day.
These included: Trying out the Sabelt cup racer seat for fit in the car and me, getting the road/wet tyres fitted to the freshly painted TD 1.2’s, setting up the video and data logger system, have a look round the car to get an understanding for what I need to check for, fit replacement mirror for the one I smashed, Sort through all of my tools to compile a selection of the ones needed for the Clio and I also had to implement a few security measures for the trailer.
We started off with fitting the road wheels so that we could move the car around without getting crap all over the track tyres. This is where we hit the first obstacle of the weekend. We had checked that the Alcon’s fitted with TD 1.2’s but I didn’t realise they were a 37 offset and the set I have are 45 so they were catching on the inside of the spokes by fractions of a mm but still never the less they couldn’t be used like this so I quickly rang around to try and find some spacers, luckily Demon Tweeks came to the rescue and managed to get us them on Saturday delivery. The only reason they were desperately needed was that we may of needed the road tyres on the Sunday either because of the weather or the fact we only had worn 888’s with us that may not of been upto the job.
Once this was sorted we managed to get the wheels on so I went out in the car to put a few road miles on it and get some more time in the car. When coming to a halt with the clutch down and the rev’s falling the engine kept dying which was worrying and meant either starting on the battery on bump starting if the car was still rolling. Later on in the day I spoke to Matt and we couldn’t understand what would of caused the sudden idle speed but Matt told me how to adjust this which I went to adjust. The car wouldn’t start and wouldn’t even attempt to start, After another call to Matt he thought it was just the battery that had drained due to the number of restarts it had and to get a multimeter to clarify this and if it was low then give it a long charge. I then had to find somewhere in Ilkley that sold a multimeter late on a Saturday which proved difficult but in the end managed to get one.
Luckily this worked perfectly and with a full charge it worked perfectly although this was late on Saturday so we had to load the car onto the trailer without sorting the idle issue which was a bit of a worry but hopefully would be okay.
Sunday came and I was awoken to the alarm going off at 3.45 We had a really good drive over to Anglesey and made decent time until we got pulled over by a policeman who was set on trying to arrest me for towing a trailer that I wasn’t entitled to but after a chat and me explaining all the weights and what also seemed like the law to him then it was all fine and I was let on my way (It is all legal). We then arrived at Anglesey to be greeted by a beautiful, clear skied day with zero wind which is always a treat at Anglesey. This along with the fact that only about 16 cars were in attendance meant that it was set to be a great day. We unloaded the car and proceeded to give the car a run around the paddock to try and sort out the idle issue. I then pulled back in to be greeted by a very cross/ rude gent who proceeded to bol**k me for running the engine at 9am. He stated in the booking forms that engines must not be started before 10am (It didn’t) but anyway I apologised and stated I didn’t realise. He still kept on at me telling me I was stupid, ignorant and didn’t listen to anyone, all of this in an increasingly raised voice but I just stayed calm and apologised yet again which made him even more angry and practically bellowing. I think he was making more noise than the car was but I opted not to tell him this
So while we had to wait yet again to sort the idle issue then we carried on with swapping over to the 888’s and we decided to leave the spacers in to see how this affected the setup. Once briefing was over we went outside and started to adjust the idle. With my severe lack of mechanical skill I made it much worse to the point where the car wouldn’t even run and was spluttering and back firing. Luckily after yet another call to Matt (Sorry) I realised I had been turning the adjuster too much and would of totally skipped over the sweet spot. I then tried adjusting it back but with all of the engine starts the battery’s voltage was starting to drop again so I had to take the car out and do a bit of left foot braking and keep the rev’s on at all times just to try and get some charge back into the battery. Finally after about an hour I got it running perfectly and all was well.
I went out to get some heat into the tyres and also to get a good feel for the circuit as it was a few years since I had driven there but I was getting lots of understeer so kept coming back in to drop the tyre pressures. After this had stabilised it was feeling a lot better but in the high load and high-speed corners the car was making some weird noises. Luckily after a few laps I realised it must of been the spacers catching on the arches and sure enough it was so we whipped them off.
A few laps later I was getting a yo-yo feeling through the steering wheel and also quite a bit of instability. With the driveshaft issue we had at Donington I thought I had best check that it wasn’t the same issue. We got the car jacked up and there was some serious amounts of play in the wheel. I thought it was the day over after only a few laps but then I checked the hub nut and it was totally loose so with this tightened it was all sorted and finally thought we had cleared all the obstacles and could enjoy the day. I must say I was told by Matt to check for the hub torques and I had totally forgotten so that was my own fault
We then managed to do an out lap and then started to push a bit, on the first quick lap as I turned into rocket the steering suddenly went rock hard I slowed off but then suddenly the rear end shot round so I planted it again to straighten it back up. I thought I must of lifted off too quickly so went round the next corner a bit slower but it suddenly tried to switch ends again which is when I realised it must have been chucking PAS fluid over the rear tyres. We got into the paddock and opened the bonnet to be greeted by a monumentally plastered in PAS fluid engine. Everything was covered, at first it wasn’t too obvious where it was coming from and we were hoping that it was just a pipe but when I took the bumper off then we could see it was the pump itself and upon checking the tank it was totally drained of fluid. That was it game over which after such a busy few days getting the car ready, such an early start to get to circuit and the cost of it all was incredibly disappointing. Very kindly Jonny @ Bookatrack offered to give me some credit towards another day so that was a bit of consolation.
We then had to get packed up and head back home. We went over to the trailer to get it hitched onto the car to then realise that we had not only one but two flat tyres. We tried to blow them up which worked for one of them but the other was just gushing air out of the surrounding area of the valve. This wasn’t going to be the end of the world as I made sure to buy a trailer with a spare wheel/tyre. I went to go and fit the wheel and then we realised that it had the wrong sized tyre on. It wasn’t massively different and as long as we drove slowly it should have been fine. Then upon trying the wheel the bolt spacing was totally different and the wheel wouldn’t fit. I went back over to the BAT truck and they suggested that we switched over the tyre from the spare wheel and put it onto the wheel that did fit. They went ahead and did this but then they noticed that one of the wheels was tubeless and one had a tube. They didn’t have any valve stems with them and by this point it was 3.35pm so it was looking like we were going to be sleeping in the circuit car park for the night. I then thought that the only place open on a Sunday would be Kwik fit so we quickly located the nearest which was in Bangor but they shut at 4 so by now I only had just over 20 minutes to get there! I drove like mad and managed to get there bang on 4 which was a huge relief. Then disaster struck once again. I had left my wallet with my friend at circuit and had no means of paying for either the valves or fuel for my car (the journey to Bangor had used the last of it) I tried to call him but he had left his phone in my car. This day was just getting worse and worse! I owe a massive thank you to the manager at Kwik fit who gave me the valves free of charge as I think he could tell how stressed I was! After leaving I realised that along with Dom’s phone was also his wallet which was a relief but he had no cash! Arghhh! I didn’t know his PIN either but after a quick call to his other half I managed to get his PIN and fill up with fuel to get me back to circuit. Upon arriving we managed to get the tyres all sorted and finally get on our way back home.
I really do owe a massive thank you to Bookatrack who spent ages trying to get me sorted, Matt who got so many phone calls on a Sunday and also for offering to get a massive trailer and come and rescue me, the car and trailer, Dom who had helped me out all weekend and I was hoping to thank him by time in the car and Kwik-fit who without the manager I would probably still be at Anglesey. I also am really sorry for Colin (Shiftspark) who came all the way over to see us running the car to not even get to see it run and for him to have a wasted drive over although it was good to have a catch up!
Matt said I could drop the car off on Monday morning and they would get all of the horrible PAS fluid off from the engine bay and then get the problem fixed. Matt then realised that this was probably the cause of the Idle issue because on it’s way out then the pump might have been taking more load from the engine. I dropped it off on my way to Brands Hatch were I was going to watch the Burpspeed boys run their car for the day. Luckily I didn’t pass my bad luck onto them and I had a really great day which picked back up my spirits and got me all excited again about the car so thank you Tony and Jay! It was also great to meet a few members from here and have a good long chat about the cars!
Sorry for the stupidly long post but just thought I share my unfortunate luck and show that unfortunately not everything goes as well as planned. Anyway I will take the rough with the smooth and learn from it and hopefully next time out all will go to plan! The moral of the story is don’t break any mirrors as it does seem that they do give you bad luck! Well here’s to the next 6 years and 11 months then
Thanks
James
First time for me taking the bumper off
Trying to organise my tools and work out what was required for the Clio
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