February 2022
28Feb
Stand with Ukraine
In light of the current situation in Ukraine, I have withdrawn my entry from Cadwell Sprint in March, and I am waiting for my entry fee to be returned. I have donated to the British Red Cross Ukraine appeal, and I will contribute further once the entry fee is returned. Clubs are not always quick at returning money. BARC Midlands have said that I wont get the money back until after the event. So I have told them that that is not acceptable, and I want the money returned now. This has prompted them to ask for my bank details, and they have said they will try to return the money sooner. Thats not very satisfactory. Last week the entries for Anglesey and Blyton also opened, and I entered to assure a place. At the moment, Anglesey will be the first round of the British Sprint, and one that I really wanted to do. But again, as the situation in Europe changes, I may decide to withdraw from that event too.
27Feb
Rear wing fitted and load tested
I've collected the rear wing brackets from Altiss Engineering. Nigel has made a cross brace for it which effectively spreads the load between both plates, and increases the rigidity. I've fitted it back on the bearing cover, and torqued everything up. I've so far managed to load the brackets up with 150kg of static load, and there is no flex that I can see. I will increase the load again and check for distortion. So far everything looks good.
24Feb
CNC machined rockers
My lightweight CNC machined rear rockers have arrived, and they're absolutely spot on. I've fitted one pair so far, I'll fit the others tomorrow. I designed them in Fusion 360 and I'm really impressed with how they've turned out. CNC machined from 6mm 6082 blanks, they save quite a bit of weight over the originals.
22Feb
Engine runs
I've finished refitting the side skirts, and sealing the floor where the diffuser joins the chassis underneath the floor, so the next step was to start the engine. A quick prime of the oil pressure, and a flick of the ignition switch, and the engine started first time, not even a puff of smoke out of the exhaust, despite having not run for four months. She ticked over for a good 5 minutes and I then turned the engine off to check for leaks. Clean as a whistle.
20Feb
Cadwell and Snetterton cancelled
What a confusing day! The entries for BARC Midlands Cadwell opened at 12 noon, and 4 hours later I found out via the British Sprint Website that it had been cancelled. Refunds are available, no matter, the timing of the message on the website was very poor, and should have been sent out to all drivers in advance. I spotted on February 2nd that BARC only had an Interclub Permit for the event, and the BSC normally requires a National Permit, since all drivers are required to have RS National licenses. Alarm bells ringing, I was assured that the Interclub Permit was sufficient. I've been told now that that is not the case, and BARC Midlands were unable to run an RS National Permit. Presumably they were caught out by "D 4.1.6. Events of Interclub or higher Permit grade may not be authorised when a club has not organised an event of the same grade and type within the preceding two years, unless upgraded in accordance with the specific regulations"
The Snetterton round in the summer, has also been cancelled, again, for the same reason.
I did get an entry. I have paid. I will be there, however, others dont share the same view and are planning on withdrawing. I have been assured that it is a HSA and a Sprint Leaders round.
We are now down to just 15 events, which is 30 rounds, with the best 18 scores to count. Thats four days at Anglesey, four at Blyton, two at Pembrey, two at Kirkistown, one at Lydden and one at Knockhill, and one at Castle Combe.
Whats worrying is that there only appears to be three clubs in England capable of running a National Permit level event. Longton, Borough 19 and Bristol Motor Club. So if we want to go to Curborough, Aintree, Snetterton
16Feb
Brakes bled
My daughter helped bleed the rear brakes last night. She's just 14, but was able to press the pedal hard enough to generate 50bar of pressure in the front with 40bar in the rear calipers, which just goes to show how easy these cars must have been to drive when they were raced by teenagers. There were no leaks, the pedal feels firm, so the car is now ready to be driven. I've booked in on a test session organised by Triple M motorsport, at Blyton, on the 11th of March. This will allow me to put some mileage on the gearbox, and make sure everything is working properly. We're hoping to get some drone footage from the day too, so hopefully it'll be a decent sunny day.BARC Midlands have said that the entries for Cadwell open on the 20th of March, so Sunday could be a real scramble for places. And Longton say that entries for Anglesey and Blyton open on Friday. Its going to be an expensive few days.
14Feb
Carbon
I've stuck a piece of 1mm carbon fibre plate in to the space at the rear of the diffuser, below where the gearbox crash box used to sit. And I've worked out a technique that lets me cut carbon cloth without it fraying. So the end product is quite pleasing. I've used three strips of carbon cloth, to secure the plate.
10Feb
Cadwell sprint
Is it going to happen? BARC still hasnt opened entries for the Cadwell event in March and there's just 43 days left to go. Leaving it a bit late? Having said that, Longton hasn't opened entries for Anglesey either, and they usually open at the start of February.My Motorsport UK race license arrived on Wednesday, which means I can now test at the bigger circuits should I wish to do so.
9Feb
Full oil pressure achieved
I've refitted and reconnected the Powerlight PS20 battery, and I then turned the engine over to get full oil pressure. The charge in the lithium battery is most impressive. I've not charged it since it came off the car in October, and it easily span the engine over without requiring the booster battery to be fitted. I've now plugged the battery in to the trickle charger, to keep it maintained. I've fitted the final diffuser brace, this time it's an aluminium bracket that I've had to refresh, since I found it was broken when I took the diffuser off.The entries for the April Bognor Regis sprint at Goodwood opened at the weekend, but it turns out they jumped the gun. An administrative error meant it was opened too early, yet there is so much demand that it was rapidly filling up just after a few days. We'll have to keep a watch on the March Cadwell Park entry, as I'm sure that'll also fill up very quickly.
8Feb
Floor supports
I've made fresh wire ropes to support the diffuser floor. If there's one thing I've learnt from fitting a diffuser, its that you must attach it in as many places as possible in order to capitalise on the downforce being generated. For the ropes, I use bicycle gear / brake inner cables, and electrical crimp terminals to attach the ends to the floor/chassis. By crimping the cable inside the terminal, bending the cable back 180 degrees, and then heatshrinking the cable against the terminal, that ensures that the cable isnt going to slide out of the terminal. I've been using this technique for several years and I've not had a single failure so far.
7Feb
Vortex generators
The VG's arrived from 3DPeople on Saturday. They only weigh 18g each, and I'll be attaching them to the car over the next few weeks. A spot of Sikaflex will hold them on, or double sided tape. I'm going to fit them to the floor adjacent to the side pods. The idea is that they generate a vortex along the edges of the floor, which should help seal the floor. I may also fit them to vertical surfaces, to help delay flow separation and aerodynamic stalling, which in turn should reduce drag. They werent cheap to manufacture, as I only wanted 5 off of each design. If I do get some more made, and I have had interest from another sprinter already, then I would get a larger batch made to reduce the costs.
The diffuser is now reattached, and fixed in place, and I can refit the battery and the supports to finish it off. Just waiting on the rear wing brackets to be returned and I can say the car is finished and ready for testing.
4Feb
50 days
Just 50 days to go. Plenty of time to get the final few jobs sorted.3Feb
Brake line repair
I've replaced the flexible brake line that ran across the underside of the gearbox to the offside rear brake caliper. When I was refitting the diffuser I discovered that the hose had been crushed between the diffuser and the underside of the bell housing, presumably when the car bottomed out. So I've made a fresh line, longer, which allows the pipe to run underneath the gearbox, rather than the bellhousing, which will prevent it from getting crushed again. Now I can refit the diffuser again, and seal all the gaps underneath to make it air tight.
