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BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Hope Friday goes well for you guys, bargain trackday had
Ahh - was it you you Mike bought the ticket off? If so, thanks for that! - cannot wait now
BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Hey guys, those door cards look spot, nice neat job done there, hope you've got everything for Friday
It'll be good to see some pics of the day
Cheers Matt, I will take the camera with us and we still have the mount attached to the cage so will try and get some onboard footage too.
Havent looked at the weather yet and porbably wont do until Thursday as its so mixed at the moment. To be honest i used to pray for decent weather but have learnt that wet days can also offer lots of fun still. Sun/dry would still be preffered though.
I can grab some photos for you (I am pretty rubbish with a camera though) I spoke with circuit days and they are full Was hoping to get on track but will still pop along as I said to Mike the other week!
(I am pretty rubbish with a camera though) I spoke with circuit days and they are full Was hoping to get on track but will still pop along as I said to Mike the other week!Fair one I bet it'll be a laugh in the wet, I went round silverstone in the wet on my bike and my arse went 50p/5p when the rear wheel decided to spin up on the exit of Luffield..... not nice at all lol
BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Nice one James! Didn't realise you were popping along
I can grab some photos for you
Will do mate^ Make sure you bring your helmet
Didn't realise you were there too!Yes Mike mentioned it on FB so thought it would be good to come across and say hi!Nice one James! Didn't realise you were popping along
BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Pre Oulton Park prep
Over the last 2 days I have sorted out a few little things before our track day at Oulton Park tomorrow.
Our PAS was weeping from the low pressure return line to the header tank. It was a small leak that produced a drop o fluid now and again but it has been bugging me since the engine went back in. Turned out to be a very small tear to the rubbber pipe right next to the PAS pump. I removed the bumper and drained the fluid so i could inspect it better:
Luckly there is enough slack in the pipe to afford us to cut an inch off it and refasten it to the pump. Hopefully that has fixed it.
Our oil cooler had a very very minor leak. Think i have only ever seen it produce one mark on the drive so i just tightened the offending union by 1/4 turn to see if that improves it. Fingers crossed.
Today I visited BTM Performance so Fred could corner weigh the car. Previously Mike and I had just levelled the car (side to side) by eye and it turned out the weighting wasnt that far out. I think the front was about 25 kgs out and the rear was 12kg out. Fred tweaked the coilovers so its now pretty much spot on. We decided to set it up for a driver and passenger combo as the car never really goes out on track without someone in the passenger seat. Again, good service by Fred and also interesting to see how adjusting each corner can affect the weight on each/different wheels.
With half a tank of fuel the car weighs in at...
....Which isnt too bad. I actually had 3 litres of oil in the boot so i will ammend the figure to 975kgs
I then went to Jefferries Tyres in Bromsgrove to have the tracking aligned. It was quite a bit out after we removed the lower ball joints when removing/fitting the engine. I had it set to 10 minutes toe out on either side. Before the Clio was allowed on the Hunter maching I had to wait for another track car to be finished. Bit tasty:
Naturally, I got speaking to the owner. It's mainly used for hillclimbs and the odd trackday. Apparently, he recently annoyed some Ariel Atom's at Mallory Park by over taking them Funnily enough it had been corner weighted yesterday - 475kgs!! The red-top Vauxhall lump has been built by the team who prep the Cheverolet BTCC cars? I imagine the power/weight figure is pretty impressive.
I then just had time to give the car a quick clean and load it up with tools/spares for tommorow. Lets hope the weather isnt too bad....
Im really looking forward to tomorrow now. Full write up coming soon....
Over the last 2 days I have sorted out a few little things before our track day at Oulton Park tomorrow.
Our PAS was weeping from the low pressure return line to the header tank. It was a small leak that produced a drop o fluid now and again but it has been bugging me since the engine went back in. Turned out to be a very small tear to the rubbber pipe right next to the PAS pump. I removed the bumper and drained the fluid so i could inspect it better:
Luckly there is enough slack in the pipe to afford us to cut an inch off it and refasten it to the pump. Hopefully that has fixed it.
Our oil cooler had a very very minor leak. Think i have only ever seen it produce one mark on the drive so i just tightened the offending union by 1/4 turn to see if that improves it. Fingers crossed.
Today I visited BTM Performance so Fred could corner weigh the car. Previously Mike and I had just levelled the car (side to side) by eye and it turned out the weighting wasnt that far out. I think the front was about 25 kgs out and the rear was 12kg out. Fred tweaked the coilovers so its now pretty much spot on. We decided to set it up for a driver and passenger combo as the car never really goes out on track without someone in the passenger seat. Again, good service by Fred and also interesting to see how adjusting each corner can affect the weight on each/different wheels.
With half a tank of fuel the car weighs in at...
....Which isnt too bad. I actually had 3 litres of oil in the boot so i will ammend the figure to 975kgs
I then went to Jefferries Tyres in Bromsgrove to have the tracking aligned. It was quite a bit out after we removed the lower ball joints when removing/fitting the engine. I had it set to 10 minutes toe out on either side. Before the Clio was allowed on the Hunter maching I had to wait for another track car to be finished. Bit tasty:
Naturally, I got speaking to the owner. It's mainly used for hillclimbs and the odd trackday. Apparently, he recently annoyed some Ariel Atom's at Mallory Park by over taking them
Funnily enough it had been corner weighted yesterday - 475kgs!! The red-top Vauxhall lump has been built by the team who prep the Cheverolet BTCC cars? I imagine the power/weight figure is pretty impressive. I then just had time to give the car a quick clean and load it up with tools/spares for tommorow. Lets hope the weather isnt too bad....
Im really looking forward to tomorrow now. Full write up coming soon....
182cup & 172 racecar
Have a nice day.
As I was up there mon-tues, I really cannot come up again, too much to do.
As I was up there mon-tues, I really cannot come up again, too much to do.
sbridgey
ClioSport Club Member
disco 4, 182, Meglio
would love to have a proper drive in this, i bet it handles quite well now
It certainly does handle well, it also pulls quite well. It is a really good car.
BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Oulton Park Track day - 9th November
After 12 months of no track action Mike and I attended Oulton Park on an Open Pit day held by Circuit Days
Upon our arrival the paddock looked rather busy but sometimes trailers and support cars exaggerate the number of attendees/cars out on track. The briefing room also looked full and as it turned out the track at times did feel over crowded. The weather forecast was a dry morning with showers following in the afternoon and Mike and I had pre-booked a garage to share with sbridgey so we could work on the car (if needed).
James (BIGASH) turned up during the briefing and stayed all day, helping out with tyre pressures on both cars and enjoying passenger rides in Stephen's car. I did offer him a ride out in our car but unfortunatley there were some physical limitations between our deeply bucketed Cobra seats and James No chance he was getting in them!
After the initial sighting laps we quickly went out on track. I must admit i didnt really enjoy the first two sessions. The track was really busy and i felt pretty rusty behind the wheel. Its amazing how alien it can feel after only 12 months away from it. During one of these session we were out with Stephen and I can only describe the conditions as an accident waiting to happen. A few too many cars but also the quality of some of the driving was particularly bad. It all came to a head when an escort (rally rep) span if front of me entering druids. It became apparent that the driver was deliberalty provoking slides at most corners and after another near miss Mike and I (and Stephen) decided enough was a enough and headed back to the pits. Hardly the best start to the day.....
On top of this the car has developed a whine from the gearbox. To be honest we had heard this before the track day but it was quite faint during normal road driving. However, on track the noise was much louder. It actually sounds good (in a straight cut 'box kind of way) but as its a standard unit it obviously means something is wrong. I dont pretend to know too much about gearboxes but i think it must be a diff bearing as its seems to be worse during cornering (where wheel speeds are different). You can hear it on the video. Depsite the sound it kept going for the rest of the day without worsening.
Before lunch Mike and I both had some really good sessions. The track was much less cluttered and we managed to string a few good laps together - we were now much happier The car pulled really well and handled nicely. The entire lap could be taken in 3rd and 4th gears and even pulled pretty well up the hill after Foulstons chicane despite being in 3rd and slightly under 5k rpm.
Just before lunch break the girls arrived and they grabbed a couple of passenger rides. I only managed to bag one onboard video and unfortunatley it was the one when i took my wife out in the passenger seat She hasn't been out on track for 4 years so you will have to excuse the laughter and general chat coming from the left hand seat:
I think in total we each got about 5-6 sessions in the car and both really enjoyed it. It was nice just to get back out on track and despite the poor start to the day it did improve. We tried improving our speeds through some of the corners and ended up taking druids in 4th instead of 3rd; that seems to work quite well. We still have a lot to improve on though! Even rain during the later part of the day didnt ruin it but instead offered us another chance to practice circuit driving in slippery conditions.
Where do we go from here?
The plan is to risk the gearbox and get another day in before the end of the year. Then we have no choice but to whip the engine back out and get the gearbox rebuilt. Its a bit of a shame but in reality I think we can now remove the engine on a Saturday morning, drop it off to Agency Transmissions for them to rebuild and us to put it back in the following weekend. A job for winter! The only other thing i could think of is a knackered n/s driveshaft. Could the bearings on this (where it goes in to the 'box) produce this whine?
Although the car handled well i think there is still room for a little improvement. At the front we are only running standard camber so we want to increase this. In order to acheive this we need to buy some spacers, as our tyres are very close to the strut spring platform. Adding extra negative camber without these would cause the tyre to foul.
I also thought the car felt "safe" during cornering and could potentially do with a little more adjustability. I think we will try setting the rear ARB to the stiffer setting next time as see how we get on.
Overall, pretty pleased and thanks again to James for coming along on the day!
Nick and Mike
After 12 months of no track action Mike and I attended Oulton Park on an Open Pit day held by Circuit Days
Upon our arrival the paddock looked rather busy but sometimes trailers and support cars exaggerate the number of attendees/cars out on track. The briefing room also looked full and as it turned out the track at times did feel over crowded. The weather forecast was a dry morning with showers following in the afternoon and Mike and I had pre-booked a garage to share with sbridgey so we could work on the car (if needed).
James (BIGASH) turned up during the briefing and stayed all day, helping out with tyre pressures on both cars and enjoying passenger rides in Stephen's car. I did offer him a ride out in our car but unfortunatley there were some physical limitations between our deeply bucketed Cobra seats and James
No chance he was getting in them!After the initial sighting laps we quickly went out on track. I must admit i didnt really enjoy the first two sessions. The track was really busy and i felt pretty rusty behind the wheel. Its amazing how alien it can feel after only 12 months away from it. During one of these session we were out with Stephen and I can only describe the conditions as an accident waiting to happen. A few too many cars but also the quality of some of the driving was particularly bad. It all came to a head when an escort (rally rep) span if front of me entering druids. It became apparent that the driver was deliberalty provoking slides at most corners and after another near miss Mike and I (and Stephen) decided enough was a enough and headed back to the pits. Hardly the best start to the day.....
On top of this the car has developed a whine from the gearbox. To be honest we had heard this before the track day but it was quite faint during normal road driving. However, on track the noise was much louder. It actually sounds good (in a straight cut 'box kind of way) but as its a standard unit it obviously means something is wrong. I dont pretend to know too much about gearboxes but i think it must be a diff bearing as its seems to be worse during cornering (where wheel speeds are different). You can hear it on the video. Depsite the sound it kept going for the rest of the day without worsening.
Before lunch Mike and I both had some really good sessions. The track was much less cluttered and we managed to string a few good laps together - we were now much happier
The car pulled really well and handled nicely. The entire lap could be taken in 3rd and 4th gears and even pulled pretty well up the hill after Foulstons chicane despite being in 3rd and slightly under 5k rpm.Just before lunch break the girls arrived and they grabbed a couple of passenger rides. I only managed to bag one onboard video and unfortunatley it was the one when i took my wife out in the passenger seat
She hasn't been out on track for 4 years so you will have to excuse the laughter and general chat coming from the left hand seat:I think in total we each got about 5-6 sessions in the car and both really enjoyed it. It was nice just to get back out on track and despite the poor start to the day it did improve. We tried improving our speeds through some of the corners and ended up taking druids in 4th instead of 3rd; that seems to work quite well. We still have a lot to improve on though! Even rain during the later part of the day didnt ruin it but instead offered us another chance to practice circuit driving in slippery conditions.
Where do we go from here?
The plan is to risk the gearbox and get another day in before the end of the year. Then we have no choice but to whip the engine back out and get the gearbox rebuilt. Its a bit of a shame but in reality I think we can now remove the engine on a Saturday morning, drop it off to Agency Transmissions for them to rebuild and us to put it back in the following weekend. A job for winter! The only other thing i could think of is a knackered n/s driveshaft. Could the bearings on this (where it goes in to the 'box) produce this whine?
Although the car handled well i think there is still room for a little improvement. At the front we are only running standard camber so we want to increase this. In order to acheive this we need to buy some spacers, as our tyres are very close to the strut spring platform. Adding extra negative camber without these would cause the tyre to foul.
I also thought the car felt "safe" during cornering and could potentially do with a little more adjustability. I think we will try setting the rear ARB to the stiffer setting next time as see how we get on.
Overall, pretty pleased and thanks again to James for coming along on the day!
Nick and Mike
Last edited by a moderator:
182cup & 172 racecar
Good going, bet it seemed strange driving it again, would so liked to have come along.
BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Cheers Tony. Sure did feel strange at first! Didn't expect you to trek up there for a 3rd time in a week
will try and get a day in before the end of the year, possibly at Donnington.Great write up and video too Thanks for having me yesterday and was great to see the car going round, Thanks for offering to take me out but me and those seats were never going to happen lol!
I didn't realise you were running stock Camber, increasing it will help but it certainly looked to be going well on track!
Thanks for having me yesterday and was great to see the car going round, Thanks for offering to take me out but me and those seats were never going to happen lol! I didn't realise you were running stock Camber, increasing it will help but it certainly looked to be going well on track!
sbridgey
ClioSport Club Member
disco 4, 182, Meglio
Who's Stephen, Lol?
I think you meant Simon. Don't worry I am not offended, this time.
Was really good to see your car in action and try and keep up with it, its a quick car, more camber would be make a big difference I think.
The engine feels superb I think mike was in 3rd through brittens chicane and the car pulled so well out of it and up the hill, I was very impressed with it.
I think you meant Simon. Don't worry I am not offended, this time
.Was really good to see your car in action and try and keep up with it, its a quick car, more camber would be make a big difference I think.
The engine feels superb I think mike was in 3rd through brittens chicane and the car pulled so well out of it and up the hill, I was very impressed with it.
RB 182
BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Who's Stephen, Lol?
I think you meant Simon. Don't worry I am not offended, this time
Lol. Sorry Simon, moment of madness. Good to meet you too and your car also goes very well. Will let you know when we book our next day.
Just looked at the pics from Bedford at the weekend and found I hadn't looked at the pics I took at Oulton, they didn't come out well apart from this one sorry
