April 2014

30Apr

After some searching, and searching, I've located a set of 200/58/15 Dunlop slicks, which will be fitted on to the split rims. Be interesting to find how different the handling is, compared to the Khumo treaded slicks. The Dunlops are not new, they're from a race meeting last weekend, and are off the front of a Radical race car.

26Apr

Collected the OZ wheels yesterday from Alford. Took exactly 90 minutes from Leicester. Loving the A46 since its been dualled. The wheels were made in 1990, and are totally unmarked. Jamie at www.maverickwheels.co.uk is a nice bloke to deal with, with a great collection of wheels in his shop.
Oz rims

23Apr

I've found a set of OZ Vega split rims, which I'm going to get for the Fiesta. These are 7x15" and weigh slightly more than the Superleggera's that are on the car at the moment, but should look more 'period' for a car of the 80's to sit on.

I'll keep the current wheels, and get another set of tyres for the splits.
OZ Vega rims OZ Vega rims
On Sunday I rewired the dual channel gear position sensor, to add a waterproof connector to the cable loom, for channel 2. Channel 1 was already on a connector, which feeds the gear position display inside the cockpit. Channel 2 is used to tell the ECU that a gear change is taking place. As the gearlever is pulled back to change up a gear, the voltage from the sensor changes and the ana3 connection on the ECU is used to detect that. I'll recalibrate the ECU for flatshifts ready for the next outing at Lydden in May. I had tried to get this working previously, but it never really worked as well as I'd hoped, so I switched the feature off. I'll probably also flash the firmware in the ECU as there are a few versions released since I last updated it.

Finally, I get a mention in this months Retro Cars magazine, in their article for the Apex Festival in May. It was a great show last year, and I'm really looking forward to taking part again this year.

Retro Cars May 2014 page 20 Retro Cars May 2014 page 21

1Apr

Last year I specified that the rooms in the new house have a cat5e socket installed, next to the TV aerial points, with each socket connecting up to a bunch of cables sat in the loft. Last week I bought a patch panel from Amazon, and a punch tool, and on Saturday I carefully connected all the cables to the panel, using the T568B wiring scheme. And since the Virgin Superhub sits in the lounge, I fed a connection from that, in to the cat5e socket, which then feeds a hub in the loft. In the loft the Netgear NAS is now connected to the switch, so in any room I can connect a laptop or a smart TV, and connect to the Superhub or NAS at 1Gbps. A bit geeky, but its more secure than wifi, and a lot faster too.

I now have the HD-CCTV system connected up, which is also accessible over the internet. The newest HD cameras give incredible detail, compared to the system I was using before. With HD you can easily recognise faces and read number plates from up to 20 metres away.

I was planning on entering the Croft sprint on the Easter monday, but I've decided not to bother this year. I'll save the money for the engine rebuild. I was also going to enter the MAC MIRA sprint in May (26th), but it looks like it clashes with some family stuff. So my next competitive event is most likely going to be the Epynt hillclimb on June 14/15th. Not a round of the championship, but its such a great venue, and well worth the trip. I will of course be driving at the Apex Festival at Lydden Hill, May 10th. The last festival in 2013 was such a great event, it is also too good to miss.