Mods 7

14/05/07 Keevil - another great day out with Motorsport events. A wet track to start with, but completely dry by lunchtime. Once again, I benefited from having Dave Cooper in the passenger seat for a couple of afternoon sessions. This was my third visit to Keevil, but Dave immediately showed me a much better line past the pits entrance and into the following right hander. During my last two sessions on track, I tried to push even harder and for the first time I was catching and passing more cars than were catching me. Very satisfying! I'm not claiming to have turned into Michael Schumacher overnight, but I'm definitely getting quicker. 16/05/07 I managed to pop into the DVLA local office today. They apologised, took all the details again and promised that I'd have the V5C within two weeks. As before, I was out in less than ten minutes. I think the key is to go there mid-morning, mid-week and mid-month. 26/05/07 The new V5C arrived this morning, with the correct engine number and capacity now listed. 27/05/07 Work has started on the new driver's seat. Made from 3mm aluminium, it's a couple of inches narrower than the old one and much deeper. Instead of the neoprene rubber pads I'd considered, I'm going to get two new cushions made for it, to give a bit more comfort. 29/05/07 Another V5C for the Firefox arrived in the post this morning! 09/06/07 A bit more work done on the new seat. This one is made from two channel sections (supplied by Resurgem), joined at the bottom rear with two hinges, then riveted together at the sides. 05/07/07 The new seat is now finished and bolted in. Dawn at Avon Upholstery Supplies has made me a couple of new cushions to fit the new seat and I also ordered an extra piece of 2" deep firm foam to act as a "bolster cushion". When other people have driven the car, they haven't been able to see the rev counter as it's been obscured by the top rim of the steering wheel. With the extra piece of foam under the new seat cushion, this should lift them up to the same height as me. I also fitted some new front brake pads a couple of weeks ago. With the 1.8 engine's extra power and the huge grip from the slicks, the brakes are getting some hard use now. I was still using the cheapo pads from the local motor factor, so I thought I'd better get something more appropriate. After speaking to other members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club, I ordered some Mintex 1144 pads from Merlin Motorsport. They arrived the next day and after fitting them, I've managed to do about 100 gentle miles to bed them in a bit before the car is next used in anger. June was a quiet month for the car, but I've got a couple of events booked for July. First up is a MSE Academy Day at Hullavington on the 20th. 20/07/07 The day my amazing luck with the weather finally ran out. Here's a copy of the report I wrote for the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club's Backfire magazine: Motorsport Events Academy Day.  Hullavington Airfield, 20/07/07 Having done several very enjoyable airfield track days with ME, I was keen to improve my driving further. Last winter, I upgraded the engine in my Onyx Firefox kit car from a Rover 1.4 K-series to a 1.8 with VVC, giving a 40% power hike. I've also obtained a spare set of wheels, fitted with Michelin slick tyres. After these mods, I'm not yet driving the car to its full potential, so I'll grab any opportunity to go faster. I've read several positive comments about the academy days on various user groups on the internet, so as soon as this event was announced, I rang and booked my place.  As the date drew nearer, I kept an eye on the BBC's 5-day weather forecast. It was awful, but I thought that it couldn't possibly rain hard all day long. Even if it did, I've been incredible lucky with the weather since building my car, so I was probably overdue for a soaking and I was looking forward to getting some wet-track experience anyway. The night before the event, I loaded up the van with the usual tools, fluids and spare parts. I even remembered to include the spare wheel for the trailer (I'd left it at home on my last track day), but my slicks stayed in the garage! Sure enough, the next morning was very wet. I left the house at 8.00 in the pouring rain, which continued all the way to the venue and got even heavier while I was unloading the car from the trailer. As I was wearing my (supposedly) waterproof jacket, over-trousers and gauntlets, I wasn't too concerned about the weather and rather optimistically thought that the rain would stop sooner or later. After signing on, I got a cup of coffee from the burger van and waited for the start. By 09.15, there were about 25 other cars in attendance, including a rather nice Ferrari, a couple of Porches, a Lotus Exige and Elise, a Honda S2000 and various hot hatches and saloons. At 09.30, we all huddled in the signing-on tent for the drivers' briefing. ME boss Ed Moore explained that four areas around the airfield would be laid out with various hazards and courses to hone the following skills: Seat positioning and steering control Braking/accelerating/car balance Understeer/oversteer Awareness Emergency avoidance and braking Track day driving etiquette There would also be a timed driving challenge and a short written test. The results from these will determine the "Driver of the Day" award. To finish, after marking out a complete new circuit, there would be a track driving session. After our instructors were introduced, we were divided into four groups, each named after a Formula 1 team. I was in Team Red Bull, along with all the other kit/component cars - 3 Caterhams, a Westfield, a Locost and a Fisher Fury. My team's first obstacle course was a row of cones in a straight line, quite close together at first, then gradually getting further apart. We had to weave in and out of the cones, turn round at the end of them and come back through the in the opposite direction. Only one car at a time was allowed on the course, so there was no chance of any collisions, but if we hit any cones, we had to stop and put them back in place. The instructor explained that the object of this exercise was to keep the car as balanced as possible, by being smooth with the steering and keeping close to the cones. I used second gear for this challenge, at just above idle speed for the first few cones, gradually increasing down the line to about three-quarters throttle. We each had about 6 runs on this course. Whilst waiting for my turns, I put my umbrella up to keep as much rain as possible off me and the inside of the car. The rest of the team were doing the same, except for the chap in the Fury, who hadn't bought a brolly. I gradually increased in speed and confidence over the 6 runs and managed to only clip one cone, on my second run. Despite the awful conditions, there was a surprising amount of grip. My road/wet track tyres are newish Yokohama A539s and they seemed to be doing a good job of clearing the surface water. After we'd all finished our runs, we all drove to the next course area - Emergency avoidance and braking. This was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of a start line between two cones and a braking point about 100 yards down the runway, again marked by two cones and a "BRAKE" board. The object of this area was simple - accelerate as hard as possible from the start line, slam the brakes on at the board and see what happens. My first couple of attempts were a bit timid and the car pulled up sharply with no drama. Trying to accelerate harder from the start line resulted in a lot of wheel spin and not a lot of extra speed. All the other cars were also stopping with no fuss, so the start line was moved back, to give more room to build up speed. By starting in second gear, then short-shifting into third, I found more traction and managed to get up to a decent speed for the last few runs. By slamming the brakes on slightly after the board, I finally got the car to lock the front wheels. After some advice from the instructor, I then practised releasing the brakes after the wheels locked and immediately reapplying them (the instructor called this technique cadence braking) to stop in as short a distance as possible. I was just getting the hang of this when it was time to move onto the next layout. The rain was still pouring down and some water was beginning to get past the flap over the front zip of my jacket. Not good. The second part of this area consisted of another start gate, then a distant "BRAKE" board immediately followed by a right-hand bend marked out with cones. The challenge was to practice cadence braking in a corner - to regain control of the cars braking and steering and to come to a complete stop within the cones. Once again I was a bit tame to start with and the car pulled up without any fuss. The other cars were also coping well, so the start line was moved back. I got good grip and speed on my third run, resulting in locked front wheels. I didn't come off the brakes quickly enough and understeered into the cones, which meant I had to clamber out of the car to replace them. My last three or four runs were much better. As soon as I felt the front wheels locking and sliding, I came off the brakes slightly and then reapplied them. Doing this two or three times in quick succession bought the car to a surprisingly rapid (if a little jerky) halt, well within the coned area. Time to move on now to the next challenge. It's still raining and I'm steadily getting wetter - the tops of my shoulders and thighs are distinctly soggy. Car control is the object of the next exercise.  We all assembled in a line on the perimeter road, facing the start of the main runway. A curved line of cones marked the outside of a left-handed corner leading onto the runway. We had to accelerate hard from the start line, turn in at the cones and see what happens. We then had the full width and a good length of the runway to sort it out. Due to a large amount of standing water on the inside of the curve, cutting the corner wasn't an option. After each run, we all had to wait a safe distance down the runway until everyone had finished. As usual, I started off a bit timidly and the car cornered without any fuss at all. When all the cars had had their turn, we drove in convoy to the other side of the perimeter road and turned round to face the start of the runway again. From this direction, another curved line of cones marked a right-handed bend leading onto the runway. I was determined to be a bit braver this time, but got masses of wheel spin away from the line. It also seemed a shorter distance from the start line from this direction, so I arrived at the corner even slower than my first attempt from the other side! We all had about seven or eight attempts from each direction, but I just couldn't get enough entry speed to make my car get badly out of shape. The most common result was a bit of understeer, causing the car to run slightly wide. By pressing or releasing the throttle, I found I could make the car run even wider or tighten its line, so I amused myself doing this for several runs. By now, I was soaked to the skin. The crash helmet was keeping my head dry and my lower legs and feet were protected by the scuttle and dashboard, but everywhere else was wringing wet. Even my motorcycle gauntlets were saturated, so I stuffed them behind the passenger seat and didn't bother with them again. It was now lunchtime, so the instructors sent us all back to the pits area. I got another coffee and ate my sandwiches in my van with the engine running and the heater on full blast, in an attempt to dry out a bit. In the rear view mirror, I noticed that the Firefox's sidelights were on, which was odd as I was sure I didn't switch the lights on all morning. I got out to have a look and the side light switch was still in the off position. Turning the switch on and off a few times made them go off. Five minutes later they came back on, so I fiddled about again until they went off. After they came on for a third time, I realised the switch must have water in it, so I taped a small plastic bag over the end of the column switches and then removed the side light fuse. While I was doing this, the driver of the Fury came over to say that he and the drivers of the Westfield and Locost were leaving. Like me, they were all drenched, but they faced a very uncomfortable journey home - they weren't local and didn't have a dry tow vehicle to sit in or even a change of clothing. I decided to stay until the end. I wasn't cold, I couldn't get any wetter and I was enjoying the courses, so I might as well carry on. After the lunch hour was over, we were asked to attend another briefing in the tent. Ed explained that due to the amount of standing water on parts of the airfield, it would not be safe to run a final track session as usual. Also, the written test had been cancelled, so the Driver of the Day award would be decided solely from result of the timed driver challenge. Instead of the track session, after we had all completed our remaining course (we had done three out of the four areas), we would all go in one group back to the car control course area for another crack at that. Team Red Bull had the timed driving challenge left to do, so the remaining four of us (the three Caterhams and me) lined up at the start area. This looked like being fun. From a standing start, we had to negotiate a second-gear slalom, then brake hard to come to a complete stop in a marked "garage". Out of the garage, then a 90 degree left hander, up into third then a 180 degree right-hander. Back down into second for 90 degree left, briefly into third before another 180 degree right then accelerate towards a "roundabout". We had to drive completely around this (360 degrees) then a short third-gear straight with a right-left kink, before coming to a final halt at another garage. We would all get one sighting run then four timed runs. Jumping the start, hitting any of the course marker cones, not coming to a complete halt in the garages or overshooting the garages would each result in a five-second penalty. Natasha (Ed's wife) was timing us and would tell us if each run was quicker or slower than the previous one, but no actual times would be given until the end of the day. I took it easy on the sighting lap, just to get a feel for the flow of the course. After doing the other test areas, I knew that my car turned and braked very well in these wet conditions (yes, it was still raining) but wheel spin would be a problem. Sure enough, my first timed run was marred by a lack of traction, especially when pulling away from the first garage and then on the exit of the second 90 degree left. I also got a big tail slide when turning into the first 180 degree corner. I corrected the slide easily enough, which was pleasing, but obviously lost more time there. On the second run, I concentrated on getting more grip, keeping tight lines and looking ahead to the next bend. This was much better and Natasha told me it was four seconds quicker than the first run. The third run was my best. I drove the car like a diesel-engined lorry - starting off in second gear and short-shifting into third to minimise wheel spin. This helped a lot, but judging from the smell, my clutch wasn't too impressed. Keeping the lines tight and braking as late as possible into the garages knocked another second and a half off my time. Unfortunately, I messed up my final run - It was going well until I overshot the roundabout entrance, causing me to run wide. After we'd all done our four timed runs, we drove back to the car control area, where all the other remaining cars were lining up. A few more cars were now missing - they'd left early after hearing reports of delays on the M5 North and M4 East due to flooding. The first couple of runs in each direction were still quite uneventful. The tarmac at Hullavington is incredibly grippy, especially when compared to the usual worn-smooth, oil-soaked public roads. I began to hang back a bit from the official start lines, to give me a few more yards to gather speed. Again, controllable understeer was the usual outcome, so I began weaving about a bit during and after cornering. I nearly lost the back end once in one direction, but just managed to gather it all up. Another run was a bit hairy as I drifted wide into standing water, causing the car to aquaplane, but I managed to keep it on the tarmac somehow. As long as I point the front wheels in the right direction and keep my foot on the gas, the car seems to sort itself out. When I started using the car on track last year, I panicked and lifted off the throttle whenever the car started sliding, usually resulting in the car spinning spectacularly, so at least I've got out of that bad habit. At 4pm, the marshals signalled the end of the event and that we should go back to the pits (the instructors and marshals deserve special praise for standing out in the rain all day). All the drivers then gathered together again for Ed to announce the winner of Driver of the Day, reading out the best five times in reverse order. I thought I would ask Natasha afterwards for my times, to see how they compared. Imagine my surprise when I heard Ed say "and in first place, Dave Bence". I was genuinely shocked by this - my third timed run was quicker than anyone else by more than a second! Ed presented me with a gift voucher for a free ME airfield track day, worth between £99 and £119. It's valid for a full twelve months, but I'll definitely be using it later this year, probably at Keevil in October or November. This award really was the icing on the cake. I'd thoroughly enjoyed the day, despite the rain. In fact, I think I learned more than I would have on a dry circuit. The Academy Day really lets you throw the car around in a very safe environment - there are no tyre walls, crash barriers or other cars on track to collide with. Slipping, sliding and spinning is not only tolerated, it's actively encouraged. Great fun and highly recommended! Apart from the minor glitch with the side light, my car didn't miss a beat all day and I was very pleased with its performance. It has good grip when braking and cornering, but I do lose time when accelerating in wet conditions because of wheel spin. I've now got a couple of upgrades in mind - next winter I intend to fit a gearbox with a limited slip differential, which should improve traction. Most importantly though, I must get some decent waterproof clothing! 25/07/07 After my soggy day at Hullavington, I decided it was time for a few upgrades. First was a trip to Marcruss Waterproofs for some new wet-weather clothing. Next, a drive to Guildford bagged me this pile of goodies: PG1 gearbox, gear linkages, flywheel, clutch and lower stabiliser bracket from a Rover 200 BRM. MGF driveshafts and engine/gearbox mountings, plus two and a half litres of MTF 94 gearbox oil. All this set me back £250.00. It's not a five-minute job to change from my current gearbox type (a Rover R65U) to the PG1, so this will be next Winter's main project. The B6BST is quite a rare 'box. It has a close-ratio gear set, a 3.938:1 final drive and a Torsen diff. As there's no pinion shaft, you can see right through the Torsen diff. This diff is the main reason for the gearbox upgrade as it should improve traction from a standing start and when exiting slow corners. Changing to a PG1 type gearbox will bring other benefits too: It's a stronger gearbox, designed for Rover's larger engines. The clutch is a larger diameter, which should withstand more abuse. It uses a more powerful starter motor and a larger diameter flywheel, which should give easier starting. The gear ratios are better for track use - a taller first gear, a shorter fifth gear and smaller gaps between ratios. I've posted a ratio comparison from GearCalc here. 28/07/07 That's more like it! A glorious warm, dry and sunny day at Colerne airfield with Motorsports Events. As I'll be needing some favours from Rod over the Winter, I paid for him to be an additional driver for the day. Rod hasn't driven the car since the 1.8 engine conversion and he's never experienced slick tyres before. We each did one session on the Yokohamas to start with and Rod was very impressed with the new engine. Like me, he particularly praised the very wide power band, especially the extra low-down grunt compared to the old 1.4 lump. We then fitted the slicks and Rod immediately noticed the change in the car - not just the massive increase in grip, but also the heavier steering and harder ride. By the end of the day we were both going pretty quickly and I had a very enjoyable dice with a Marcos TSO in my last session. By driving very hard and using every inch of the track, I slowly pulled away from him, which was rather satisfying. Between us, Rod and I did 180 miles on track and as usual the car didn't miss a beat all day. I'm still not convinced the brake balance is ideal - I locked the back wheels a couple of times approaching the hairpin, so I'm going to fit an adjustable bias valve in the rear brake line. Richard Grove has done this to his car and David at Onyx also recommends it, so that's another job for the winter. 18/08/07 Oh dear, back down to earth with a bump. Another rainy day, this time at Castle Combe circuit for the BPMC test day. After my prize-winning exploits at Hullavington, I thought I was a wet-weather expert. Wrong! Unlike Hullavington airfield, which offered massive grip in the wet, the track here felt like an ice rink. Exiting the pits onto the circuit for the first session, I was getting wheelspin in third gear at only half throttle. Despite taking things very easily, I span three times in the morning - twice on the exit of Quarry (I was VERY cautious on  the entry) which was harmless enough, then once on the turn-in to Camp, which saw me heading sideways onto the infield. Luckily the tyres didn't dig in and I skated over the wet grass, covering me and the car in the green stuff. After that, I softened the suspension, put some more air in the tyres and used different lines around the circuit, avoiding the worn-smooth racing lines. I managed to go all afternoon without any further incidents, but at times it felt like I was going ridiculously slow. On this test day, only six cars are allowed on track at once and quite a few people went home at lunchtime as the rain didn't look like it was going to stop (it didn't), so I hardly saw another car for the afternoon sessions. Despite the weather, I kept going to the red flag at the end of the day - my new waterproofs were keeping me dry and it's all good experience I suppose! 08/09/07 Chepstow Autosolo 30/09/07 Pembrey Circuit That's nearly it for this year. I had hoped to do a couple more airfield days, but instead I had an extra holiday in October. I've now used up all my holiday entitlement for this calendar year and there aren't any weekend track days locally, so that's my lot. The only outing left for the car this year is to the Exeter Show on either the 17th or 18th of November, depending on the weather. I'll be taking it down there on the trailer, as the road tax has now run out and I've declared SORN. The weekend after that, the trailer will be going into storage and then I'll get cracking on the gearbox upgrade.