September 2003

Saturday 13^th September 2003
Here are the Pro pictures from Loton on August 31st. Its amazing to see how much body roll there is on some of the shots! To make an image the backdrop in Windows, simply right click on the picture and choose 'set as background'

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Thursday 11^th September 2003

I made the front cover of Retro Cars. The magazine hits the shelves today (Only £3.50). No pictures of the engine bay which is a shame. If you've bought the mag, and want to see what all the fuss is about, welcome to the site, have a good look round, and make sure you book mark us (CTRL-D) for future return visits.

CCC also hits the shelves this weekend. It's the last ever edition, so make sure you snap up your copy as it has a clinic feature on the Fiesta inside.

Loton

Here are a sequence of pictures taken by Steve Kipping, at Loton Park in August. Thanks Steve. Visit his website for details of his 205 GTI sprint/hillclimb car

Sunday 7^th September 2003
I paid John Beardmore a visit yesterday, to see how his race car is coming on. John has been building from scratch a space framed race car, using his expertise and knowledge gained from building/modifying other cars over the years. To be honest, I wouldn't know where to begin in undertaking such a project, but such is John's extensive skills base that no task seems too difficult. You really have to see the car in it's present state to be able to appreciate the amount of work thats gone in to it so far. To the untrained eye, it'd just be a mass of roll cage tubing, but anyone with an ounce of engineering experience would see all the different aspects that John has had to conquer. And using kit car uprights, all the suspension is fully adjustable, giving John an almost infinite range of adjustment of every aspect, there's some very clever tricks used in the design of the suspension alone.

The fuel and brake lines are now installed on the car, as is the huge wiring loom which John's also scratch built to IP67 standard. Even the bodywork panels are specially manufactured from Carbon Fibre, so they don't weigh anything. Good job though, as the engine, a 2.0 Fiat Twin Cam with a Delta Integrale 16V head, is pretty heavy, similar to the weight of my 2.0 Zetec, so John is being very careful when considering weight distribution etc. The engine has to be installed through the roof (theres a removable section of roll cage to allow it to be squeezed through) as it is installed quite far back in the car, sitting alongside John's legs, and the chassis is constructed to envelope the engine, giving it tremendous rigidity. Even the installation of the engine isn't straight forwards, as the engine has to be hung from a special rig, to allow it to be swung in to position while suspended from the roof of the garage. And I stuggle with an engine crane and blocks of wood, I knew there'd be an easier way.

I really enjoyed my 3 hours in the garage, chatting with John. It's not often you meet people who are able to put their point across as well as him. He's looking to get a job in the race car industry, and if you ever need to see a more 3 Dimensional CV, then John's project is it.

John's car is also featured on his extensive web site, www.beardmorebros.co.uk, including more pictures, a diary, and links to sites of interest that John has gathered together over the past four years. The car is to be campainged at hill climbs and sprints next year, in Sports Libre (same class as me so I've really got to pull out all the stops next year) and also in Tarmac Rallying, which is another of John's passions. As it has two seats, and is registered for road use, its going to be one very very quick motor. Certainly one to watch out for next year. I'll be keeping an eye on my rear view mirror for sure Grin

Thursday 4^st September 2003
I could be sitting here, typing up a tribute to one of the drivers at Bruntingthorpe today. Sunny with his Zetec Turbo powered Fiesta, had an extremely lucky escape today. Having managed one pass of 172MPH top speed, he then had another go, and managed 178MPH. Still not happy, determined to break the 180MPH barrier, Sunny had one more go. I'd just asked the other FiestaTurbo.com members to get away from the side of the track, because if anything went wrong, at that speed, we were going to suffer many casualties. And then Sunny appeared on the brow of the hill, clearly travelling faster than the previous two runs, the air ripping as the car was pushing its way well past the 180 MPH barrier, when suddenly Sunny lifted off, just as he got to the first timing beam, and then bang, the engine let go. Plumes of white smoke hid the car from our view, something serious had gone wrong with the Fiesta, Sunny was clearly struggling to slow it down, the car seemed to be filling with smoke, and somehow he managed to stop it at the end of the runway. Then, with clouds of white smoke still billowing from the exhaust, he drove off at speed, and it became obvious why. The car was on fire, red and orange flames licking from underneath the engine bay, all along the underside of the car. Sunny was trying to get the car closer to safety, where there would be fire extinguishers, and other people who could help put out the fire. He disappeared from our sight, behind some vehicles in the distance, and all we could see was smoke rising in to the air, it was obvious the car was on fire. Some of the other Fiesta drivers set off with extinguishers in their cars, and as they arrived a fire engine from the main building also arrived on the scene, and quickly extinguished the flames.

I feel really sorry for Sunny. So close to the 180 barrier, and yet, he was so willing to risk everything to reach his goal. Now, I'm all for speed, and enjoying ourselves on tracks, but it is really apparent that safety needs to be taken far more seriously. Attempting those kinds of speeds in a Fiesta, means surpassing many of the design criteria for the shell, an accident at 140+MPH is going to be catastrophic. What we need to do is learn from this, and take some action before somebody gets killed. Flameproof overalls do look out of place away from the race track, but I'd rather walk away from a car fire unburnt, than get trapped in the car and die flamegrilled. I don't think that magazines should encourage top speed runs. Not without insisting that participants wear full flameproof overalls, crash helmets, gloves etc. Basically, all the gear you'd have to wear if you were competing in an organised speed event. Sunny was lucky to get out relatively unscathed. It could have been a lot lot worse.

Right, rant over. I managed to beat my standing quarter times. I recorded a 14.72s run, with a terminal speed of 95MPH. I tried the launch control, which kind of worked. I recorded a slower time, as there was too much wheel spin. The rev limit is set to 5000RPM which it too high, and the ECU regulates the ignition timing to reduce power, but it was too high a rev limit. I'll drop it to 3000RPM and try again.

CCC Magazine is no more. Apparently the October magazine has gone to the printers, so it will still hit the shelves, but it will be the last ever issue. That's really sad. The magazine has been around since the 1960's and it was still the pinnacle of car magazines as far as I was concerned. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the October issue has gone to the printers, as my Fiesta was supposed to be in featured in it.

Monday 1^st September 2003
A brilliant day yesterday. My last event this year, and the 2nd visit to Loton Park hillclimb nr Shrewsbury, I was looking forward to improving on my previous best of 68.25s, and we had a very pleasant surprise at signing on, to be given a beautiful trophy for coming 1st in class on my previous visit in May. The next surprise was to see the Fiesta on the front cover of the programme. What an honour!

I'd not touched the Fiesta since the previous weekend, and on my 1st practice run the front wheels were changing direction as I accelerated and liffed off, so I aborted at Triangle, and removed the front wheels, and yet again, the bolts that fasten the tie bars to the TCA's had worked loose. Now, theres no way I hadn't tightened them enough. I've replaced the bolts with 12.9 grade socket head screws, and I'd Loctited the nuts on. However, it looks like the steel that the Fiesta Centre Tie Bars are made from is too soft for the application, and the metal squashes when the bolts are tightened. I've cleared some space in the scrap metal bin at home for the tie bars. They're definitely going to be scrapped.

So I re-tightened the tie bars on both sides of the car, and on my 2nd practice run I made a very fast 68.4s run, only ¼ of a second slower than my PB. It was only my fourth ever lap of the hill, and I knew I was lifting way too early for Fallow. Its a really difficult corner to get right. You come up the hill at around 60mph, then theres a blind brow, and you know the corner turns left after the brow. I was lifting before the crest, when you should keep your foot flat until you've come over it, and when you can see the left hander you're then supposed to lift, dab the brakes, and turn in (there's plenty of run off area). A bit more practice methinks. I gave the spectators a scare at Triangle, as I braked a bit late, and turned right, and the car went straight on. A friend said he could hear gasps from the crowd as it looked like I wasn't going to get round. However, as soon as I'd removed enough speed, the car turned in beautifully, and I was straight back on the power.

After lunch on my 1st timed run I improved some more, by recording a 67.72s run. I'd kept my foot down a bit more up the hill towards Fallow, yet I'd still lifted far too early for the brow. At least I was learning more and more of the layout of the track as each lap went by.

On my final timed run of the day, and of the season, I really concentrated, and pushed harder round most of the track. My split time round triangle exactly matched my previous lap, of 26.29s which was spooky, and I my heart was in my mouth as I went from 3rd to 4th up the hill, not lifting for fallow, and just dabbing the brakes and throwing the car in to the corner. As I crossed the line, the run felt very good and I was hoping that I'd made an improvement, finish the season on a high. I collected the timing slip from the hut at the top of the hill, and when I realised I'd knocked another 1.3 seconds off my previous quickest run I was ecstatic, setting a respectable 66.44s run. What an excellent end to the day, and to the season. With some tweaks to the brakes, engine and suspension for next season, I should easily find another 5 seconds at Loton as well as most of the other circuits I've been to this year. Thats the intention anyway.

I've sewn up the Midland Speed Championship Sport Libre class this year, ending with almost a maximum score which is brilliant news. I'm expecting tougher competition next year, as John Beardmore should be out in his space framed Morris Minor race car, and there may be a few others who after seeing my successes in Sports Libre, mingling with the exotica parked at the top of the ranks of the championships, will hopefully come and have a go. If you've transplanted an engine in to your car, come and register with the championship and participate. Its great fun!

Next outing is Thursday at Bruntingthorpe. Fast Ford magazine are running a series of performance tests, and I'm determined to improve my 0-60 and ¼mile times. I'm sure I can improve on 6.5s and 15.05. Sub 14 for the ¼ for sure.

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