July 2022

NSCC Blyton sells out in 90 minutes

Following on from last years NSCC event at Blyton, where many people missed out on an entry, for one reason or another, this year the entries opened at 8am this morning, and the event was full by 9:30am. Its a round of the British, and it looks like everyone who needed to get an entry did.

NSCC Blyton September entry list

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Math channels

I needed to convert the damper travel from milimetres in to downforce in Newtons, easily, and the LifeView software has maths channels available, for that very purpose.

I know that the front wheel rate is 89N/mm, and the rear rate is 65N/mm, and we have flDamper, frDamper, rlDamper, and rrDamper all in mm's, so all we have to do is create two formula, dfFront and dfRear, as follows.


Once created, the channels will appear on the channels list, and can be added to a graph. They can of course then be combined in other formulas, and filtered if you want to smooth the data out.

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Latest heatmap

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Steering wheel replaced

I've swapped the broken steering wheel out for a brand new wheel, which is now fitted in the car. I had to scribe a circle and mark the three holes out, very carefully. Its suprising how much care you take to ensure a steering wheel is straight :D. Thank you to Andrew O'Malley for the wheel, which was originally purchased to fit on their ex-Sutton EcoBoost which is now owned by Graham Porrett. The wheel looks great with the black suede, and the dashboard fits really nice inside the top of the wheel. I just need to deepen the countersinks so the screws fit flush with the surface, and make some new labels for the rotary knobs.

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Tyrepal system

It was the first time for me to try the new Tyrepal solar colour pro tyre pressure monitor on Friday, and I was not disappointed. Fitting the batteries in the sensors, and then the matched sensors to each tyre on the trailer, could not have been easier. The display is then calibrated for the maximum tyre pressure, taking in to account the expansion of air inside the tyres as the temperature increases. The highest temperature seen was 32C across the four wheels, and the display gives an accurate pressure readout on each tyre. It makes for a far more relaxing journey. I was quite surprised the pressures rose above 70psi, as the tyre fitter said they were all Nitrogen filled, maybe they couldnt purge the air out before.

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360° video

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Driver standings

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Lydden race report, Rounds 13 and 14

With the high temperatures forecast from over a week ago, we were expecting anywhere from 21 to 30C, and unloading and setting up Friday afternoon it certainly felt like 30C. Saturday morning the temperatures started to rise, and I think we saw a peak of 27C in the afternoon. It wasnt a day for lots of horsepower and Ultrasoft tyres. There are only four corners at Lydden and two of those we only take once, but its a tough track to crack, and try as I might, I couldnt better my PB from last year.

First practice was quick, I was fastest outright with a 67.27s, which was just 0.07 off my PB set the previous year. I'd tried the new launch control parameters, with trepidation, and I neednt have worried. Holding the car on the line, watching the boost rise on the dashboard, I released the clutch when it reached 1.5Bar, and the car just shot off the line. I still lifted for the brow, just a tad, but later I just kept it planted, and subsequent launches got better and better.

On my first timed run, as I braked heavily and later than ever for Pilgrims, my weight shifted forwards in the seat, and I braced myself against the steering wheel, as you do, and click, the left hand side of the wheel went away from me. I glanced down, and saw that the Momo wheel had a crack in it, and over the next lap and a half, whilst trying to drive as quick as I could, I was looking down at the wheel deciding if it was going to be ok for the rest of the day. With a slower 68s run, I returned to the paddock, and we braced the crack with a pair of large penny washers each side, with an M6 bolt through the centre to keep the area around the crack clamped. When I bought the car, it had a pit lane speed limiter switch fitted, with a large 10mm hole drilled in the wheel by Radical. Although I'd never run with a switch fitted, the hole wasnt in the most sensible place, and after 10 years, it eventually gave up. The wheel was safe to continue with, I just made sure the seatbelts were b*stard tight for the remaining three runs, and avoided leaning on the wheel.

I then tackled the first run off run on T2, but struggled for grip. Oversteering on the exits, with some drifting and sliding, whilst maintaining full throttle was pretty exciting and a valuable learning experience. The lap was good, with another 67s time, but again, not as quick as my first practice run. I was 4th behind Terry Holmes, Steve Broughton and Matt Hillam, however I was ahead of Steve Miles in fifth. I scored 22 points.

After lunch, T3 came, and I got very wide coming out of Chessons drift, forcing me to lift to recover the car. I was rapidly running out of track, and needed to correct. I recorded a 67.50s which was quicker than T2, but I was back on the practice tyres, saving the best ones for the final run. Terry Holmes in the Lola V8 was less lucky, getting on the grass at Chessons, then having a tank slapper after narrowly missing the tyre barrier, and spinning in to the infield. So he hadnt qualified for the final run off, and scored 0pts for a DNF.

With the event overrunning, by 4:30pm the fourth timed runs were cancelled, however, the BSC drivers were given a final run off run, like the good old days, so we quickly fitted the better rears on the car, I dialled in a tad more traction control to help with the drifting, and I maintained 100% full throttle off the line for my best launch all day. Sadly I could feel the TC kicking in around Pilgrims and Chessons drift, and by that point I realised I'd gone too agressive with the setting, and pressed on. I recorded a 67.29s run, so had the TC not been causing the car to lose 10mph on the straights, that might have be been a run fast enough to break the class record (67.09s set in 2019). But I was fourth, which netted me another 22 points. Matt Hillam smashed the 2.0 record with a brilliant 65.25s run, followed by Steve Broughton in the same car, then Steve Miles with a 66s. SBD had been running a new TC system based on PID, but Steve told me they'd removed it off the car during the day since it wasnt working. I think we all struggled with traction, especially in the high heat. Fresh tyres for the run off were the order of the day.

I am still leading the championship by 9 points. Terry Holmes is still 3rd, but as he missed a run off, he has dropped further back.

Thankyou to Chris Brown from ATW Motorsport for being on the spanners all day. Great to have some help.

Launch needs some more tuning, but there was no other work to do on the car aside from swap tyres and try to keep it cool. The GDI cooling fan didnt fall off, and kept the pump temperatures under control. The uprated lower front suspension brackets worked perfectly, so I no need to worry about them failing anymore. Aside from the steering wheel giving up, it was a faultless day, and one I learnt a lot from, and as they say, if you're not winning you're learning. I will reprogram the TC Adder switch so I cant get the value that I ended up with again, as it was overly aggressive and didnt help at all. Thats one lesson learnt.

Despite the air temperatures on the day being as high as the previous year, my air charge temperatures were 5C lower, due to a change that I made to the way the air flows through the side pods. I read an article from Ross Brawn about the side pod design on one of the current F1 cars, which got me thinking. I'm glad I read it now. I'd also fitted titanium skids to the side skirts which also worked really well in preventing the nylon skirts from wearing away. I didnt run the new deeper end plates, maybe I should have, but I didnt fancy trying them with the pressure from the heat and the big entry list on Saturday. I will however try them at Kirkistown, where shall we say, we have an easier circuit, more suited to the EcoBoost, to try some different parts out on.

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Offside brackets

I started on replacing the front lower offside suspension brackets last night, and discovered that the 1305-31 NAS bolt that secures the forward rod end, was bent! I did have an issue last year where I was distracted when winching the car on to the trailer, and the nearside front wheel caught the tyre rack leg, which I didnt spot in time. That appears to have bent the bolt, but not to worry, because the replacement brackets are thicker, I'd already sourced some longer ones (1305-32), so the issue will be cured when I swap the bracket and bolt over. That must have affected the handling, not least because the bolt could rotate inside the bracket so the geometry would have been changing as I braked and steered. Not ideal.

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Fractory Brackets

The uprated front suspension brackets arrived today, and I'm really impressed again with the quality. I didnt go for an anodised finish, as they're not on display, hidden deep down inside the chassis at the front of the car; plus that would have increased the cost and the time frame to have them manufactured. I have so far fitted them on the near side, which was around 2 hours work. There literally is no room to work, the pedals, the chassis, the suspension arms, the bodywork, everything is in the way and prevents access to the socket head bolts etc.

The lower front bracket I removed was cracked, as I thought. Again, a hairline crack from one of the pair of mounting holes. The lower front brackets I've designed are reversible, so they have four holes in them. But as the base is thicker, and there is additional material to strengthen them, I've just used fresh 12.9 grade M8 socket screws, with schnorr safety washers to prevent them from coming loose, and I do not expect to have to replace them again.

Thankyou again to Fractory for the rapid turnaround.

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Two weeks to go

Finally, its the first of July, and the next round is just two weeks away. It is a shame I had to drop out from the NSCC Curborough rounds last weekend, especially since they were using the long course and the figure of 8 circuits, both rounds won easily by Stuart Bickley. Having said that, they had a noise complaint on Saturday, from a nearby resident who drove to the circuit to make their complaint known. Noise is a growing issue, certainly with people living near circuits, and complaints do need to be taken seriously. One competitor was asked to 'Go home', but the situation was difused by the excellent Motorsport UK officials, who took repeated noise tests and found no one had gone over the limit set for the circuit. Apparently the owners of Curborough are looking to ban launch control and anti-lag, and are going to install drive-by microphones to monitor levels on the circuit. Lets hope it doesnt come to that.

I've replaced the tyre pressure monitor on the trailer with a Tyrepal system, which arrived this morning. I'm impressed with the build quality and I'll get it all hooked up for the trip down to Lydden Hill.

I'm just waiting on the Fractory front suspension brackets to arrive so they can be fitted before Lydden. Delivery is expected 11th July which gives me sufficient time to get them all installed. While I'm waiting I'm designing a new component for the fuel system, which is now away being machined, more of which will be revealed during the coming weeks.