November 2020
30Nov
Engine cover complete
Stripes are now on both sides of the engine cover. I now need to project the diagonal lines on to the side pods to maintain a consistent 45 degree angle.
Having sat and watched the terifying crash that Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean had at Bahrain at the weekend, it 100% vindicates the decision to introduce the Halo, and proves just how strong the modern cars are. It was a one in a million accident, but Grosjean had a miraculous escape. Had he been knocked unconcious, extracting him from the burning reckage would not have been easy. The steering wheel and seat belts would need to be removed first, and that simply wouldnt have been possible with the inferno that engulfed the car. I'm driving an 8 year old Formula Ford, that has undergone FIA impact tests, but it doesnt have a Halo. Having seen how succesfully it protected Grosjean, a Halo car would 100% be my next choice.
25Nov
Stripes
I've added stripes to the near side engine cover, using the widths I calculated from the photograph. I've found a font that matches the ADVAN typeface, so I'll get some logos ordered. I think I might replace ADVAN with ECOBOOST
24Nov
Wrapping the engine cover
Nothing like as easy as I'd hoped, but the hardest piece to wrap was always going to be the tail end of the engine cover. I used the knifeless tape to give a good straight edge on both sides, and its a real godsend. I was worried it would live a jagged edge but it looks clean and sharp and I'll use some more on the stripes I'm now adding. Here's a timelapse of me fitting the vinyl, which was over an hour, but the end result is very good.The next task is to add the stripes, four in total, which have varying widths. I've taken the photo of the Advan car, and measured the % of the overall width, of the black and red stripes, and in Excel I can enter the overall width of the four stripes, and it produces the individual widths that I need to cut the red vinyl and the width of the gaps I need to use, to give me an accurate replica of the original Yokohama Advan colour scheme.
21Nov
25 Years for McRae
Colin won the WRC 25 years ago. This footage has just been published, of Colin and a lot of other cars and drivers from the WRC around Gt Britain. Brings a lot of memories flooding back. Was it really 25 years ago we were sat in the forests, waiting for the stages to start, to cheer Colin and Derek on?21Nov
Rear wing is refitted
I refitted the rear wing to the support brackets on the gearbox, and replaced all the mild steel fasteners used on the wing, with flanged head stainless ones, and I've also replaced the steel locknuts with aluminium ones. Once that was done, I removed the zetecinside and area6 stickers from the engine cover, and cleaned it using meths, to get it ready for the red vinyl I'm about to add.I also reconneted the Lithium battery and switched the ECU on for 30 mins. This is vitally important to maintain the onboard battery charge within the ECU. If the battery goes flat, the ECU loses its config. Which isnt as bad as it used to be before the ECU was unlocked. I can at least reload the config now if it does lose it. But its still a good practice to keep it charged with these monthly boosts.
18Nov
Finished the rear wing
There is just the main element to wrap on the rear, so having removed the yellow vinyl from the end plates, and wrapped the wing using three sections of vinyl, its now ready to be reassembled over the weekend.
17Nov
Finished the front wing
The front wing is now wrapped and reassembled. I have started on the rear wing, and will post more progress pictures this week.
13Nov
Wrapped the fweps
Both the FWEPs are wrapped, now I can do the front wing elements, and then the wing itself. The Oracal 970 vinyl has something called air draining technology, which basically means you cant get any air bubbles under the surface, which makes it so much easier to apply that standard vinyl. Its very forgiving.
12Nov
Wrap started
I've wrapped the first front wing end plate, and removed the old vinyl from the second one ready for the same treatment. This is a render of how they look. Only the outside will be wrapped.
8Nov
Wrap
The Oracal 970 wrap is ordered, in Cardinal Red, so I can start on the transformation of the car for 2021. The first task will be to tackle the front and rear wings, and I'm hoping to have them both wrapped before the end of the week.Speaking of 2021 I've stepped down from producing the British Sprint Championship scoring spreadsheet and the live timing, and the wiggly lines graphs, the reason being that due to other commitments I simply wont have time to dedicate to the task next year. I'm now back on the exercise bike, to get fit for 2021, this time starting two months earlier than this year. I've maintained my weight around 86Kg, and I want to drop down to 80 which is going to take some sacrifices over Christmas. The aim is to be as competitive as I can be for the Great Western Sprint in March next year.
4Nov
Graph time
Three graphs, showing a comparison between different venues and the changes to launch base rpm, reluctance rings, and my launch technique, which I've been working on since September. The 16 tooth reluctance rings have produced a significant increase to the quality of the data. I've also been tuning the logging configuration of the ECU, so the channels and logging frequencies provide higher quality data, which allows for more stringent analysis of the cars performance. From the third event this year, Blyton, I was starting to see around -1.4G longitudinal acceleration on initial clutch release, and with the raised rpm's during launch at Combe, the car definitely accelerated more rapidly. More tweaks can be made to further tune the setup, and I'll making further adjustments in 2021 to see if the 64ft times can be reduced.Click the each graph to open in a new window for easy zooming-in.
3Nov
