April 2016

18Apr

I have decided to install flappy paddles on the car. Pete Goulding is having his car tuned by **** in May, and will see if the paddle shift option is available with these OEM Life ECU's. **** at **** doesnt have any experience of the Mygale EcoBoost platform, so Pete is volunteering his car to be the test mule, and the rest of us should benefit from the experience gained by ****. To that end I've bought some paddles from a company called Ascher Racing located in Germany that specialise in race simulator hardware. Both paddles are precision manufactured from carbon fibre, and feature neodynium magnets to provide the snap action when operating the levers. The paddles were €125 for a pair, and the mounting plate was €35. They arrived on Saturday, and I'm very impressed with the build quality and the feel when operating them. Furthermore, the mounting plate is pre-drilled to attach to a Momo steering wheel, all the holes line up perfectly with the mounting boss on my wheel. I need to fit the plate between the quick release boss and the back face of the steering wheel, which I'll do in a few days time. With the paddles in place, I can start to collect the other parts for the system, including the pneumatic actuator that fits on the rear of the gearbox, the valve block, and wiring loom. The theory is that the Life ECU, once unlocked, can operate the actuator, so we just need to wire in the paddles, and the valves, do a bit of plumbing with a compressed gas bottle to provide the air for the actuator, and then disconnect the original lever and bowden cable to save a little more weight.

04Apr

I've bought a couple of rear diffusers, and a complete carbon floor, for the sum of £200, which I shall have a go at fitting on the car in the next week. I was taking notes at Croft of how Stephen Miles has attached his new floor to the Van Diemen, and I may need to buy a few lengths of threaded rod etc.

Floor and diffusers
The regs are out for Snetterton, so I'll be posting off my entry in the next few days. I'm there both days for the 1.75laps of the '100' layout.