Blogs

Well after a lot of hammering and drilling the rear bushes surrendered and left the diff carrier housing, and have left space for some powerflex bushes to be fitted. Before this gets onto the car though I am going to either powder coat it, or spray it, powder coating would be more durable, but the one diff bush thats left in would have to be removed, if I spray it then this bush can remain in place.

I am torn at present as to which colour, as I have some 'Treehouse Racing' front bushes and these are in a lime green colour, but the standard colours under a car are black (satin) so should I go green or black.

Well it was confirmed today that the european race at Zandvoort has been cancelled, the team that runs the BMWrdc did try for another weekend, but this has not come through, maybe next year we will race abroad.

I brought a second hand rear diff carrier about 2 weeks ago with the aim of removing the bushes, and putting in some powerflex bushes so I reduce the movement in the rear of the drive train, the first job though was to remove the 10 year old bushes, this is not a simple task, as BMW employ a special tool to do this (but at about £300), I thought it was a little too much money. So the old fashioned method of removing the rubber from the bush in a sufficient quantity to allow a hack saw blade in there, so that the outer metal of the bush can be cut through, and weaken the bush's hold on the diff carrier.

The first one got a little more mangled than the second one, but I think thats normal, as the second one is always simpler, I have another two to do before I can attempt to paint the carrier (lime green is my current thought on the colour), but items outside of my control stopped me removing the final two bushes. (it started to rain, and my battery died in the drill.

first bush: removed from carriersecond bush: still in carrier

Just another two to go, then I can paint it, I brought a spare one, so I do not need to have my car raised for the time it takes to replace the bushes in the rear diff carrier, and I am also going to change the rear track control arm bushes, but for this one I think I will purchase a special tool.

Yesterday I went and picked up a second hand diff carrier, so I can change the bushes whilst its off the car to some that are more suited to racing, I think I will get it powder coated also before I put on the new bushes, this will give it a clean look underneath.

Afters last seasons racing I need to get the weight of the car down by about 100kg's to be on the minimum weight (being on the minimum weight helps with my power to weight ratio, which should entail me being quicker). My wheels that I ran last season weighed 9kg each, these new wheels have a weight of 6.8kg each, so I get a saving of 8.8kg by using these new wheels. I got them matt black so the look of the car is unchanged, these weights are without tyres mounted on the rims.

Other ideas to shed the weight is to lighten the front and rear bumper carriers (although don't know by how much that will lighten the car by), there is still some metal that can be removed from the bonnet and boot (but I think this is minimal), so the next weighty area that I can think of is the windows, swapping them for perspex, I have been told could free up about 10kg, but they are expensive, so before I splash out on the windows a little more research is needed to quantify what the weight saving will be.

We got news about 1 week ago that the trip to Zandvoort is not happening, as another race championship has got our spot, but there is rumors that Zolder is a possibiblty, and if so we will be there the same weekend as the Porsche Club race championship, and Britcar.

Nothing much happening recently as its cold outside, but the car got its xmas present today of a new clutch, just need to fit it now.

Currently these dates are provisional and could change.

LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION: CLUB MOTORSPORT ENTERS THE LIVE TV ERA

A new concept in televised motorsport action is to be pioneered in Britain next season, with viewers across Europe set to enjoy a five-hour feast of national race action live from Mallory Park.

The Mallory meeting - a pilot event for a planned quartet of live-TV meetings in 2010, ahead of a full season of such meetings the following year - will feature a 16-race programme of 10-minute races for saloons, sports cars and single-seaters with the emphasis squarely on entertainment.

"The aim is to provide the most exciting spectacle that British club racing can offer," says event director Magnus Laird, "and to bring back some of the appeal which has been eroded in recent years for spectators, competitors and sponsors alike.

"The combination of full grids, short races and live television, combined with slick organisation and presentation, should prove a winning formula."

Behind the cameras at the Sunday 16 May event will be the technicians of HayFisher, the country's leading motorsport TV production company. The action will be beamed via HayFisher's unique wireless camera system and a satellite uplink truck from rural Leicestershire to the Paris HQ of Motors TV, from where it will be broadcast to homes Europe-wide.

Eight championships are scheduled to appear and take part in double-header races at Mallory, including Kent-engined Formula Fords, Caterham Graduates, 2CVs, the Kumho BMW Championship, BARC Dunlop Motorsport News Saloons, BARC Intermarque League, Sports 2000 and the BARC Tin Tops Championship.

Organisers are pegging entry fees for competitors at £300 per car, to include a 10-minute qualifying session and two 10-minute races, with test sessions available at Mallory on the Saturday at just £30 for 25 minutes of track time. All competitors will receive a free DVD of the Motors TV programme and free in-paddock catering is planned.

The Mallory live TV raceday is being designed to appeal not only to armchair viewers and competitors but also to circuit-goers. Paddock entertainment will include between-race autotests against the clock, which all the race winners will be invited to contest, and there will be professional commentary and a 40-metre TV screen broadcasting the action.

Quoted from racecar.com

Thruxton was a single day of racing with the qualifying in the morning after the 'Church break' and then the two races in the afternoon, with the last race being at 17:45, so this one would be interesting as the light could be fading. The next interesting factor was the weather, as it was forecast to be raining at the end of qualifying, and during the first race.

First thing in the morning Sean and myself walked the circuit, this was more to get an idea of where we would be going, and as we had time, it was a nice 45 minute walk.

The circuit was looking to be very fast with one small slow part the chicane, so out we went at 11:00 to qualify on the currently dry track, I got a couple of good laps in and was surprised when I got the times, I had actually qualified second out of the class 'D' cars. At the end of the session it had started to rain, and was getting slippy.

The first race was not until 14:30 and during this time (between qualifying and the first race) it was raining constantly, so as it looked I was going out for my first wet race. Accordingly I pumped up the tyre pressure so I could get the heat in them quicker, this worked well and I had a very close race with John Brabin and we traded placed a few times over the duration of the race, the only issue was when he attempted to pass me at the chicane he touched my rear wheel on the passenger side (this put me sideways across the track) lucky for me the car was still moving forward and I was able to save the slide, and continue with the race, about a couple of laps later (I had re-taken the second place) he did it again, but the other side, so I was sliding again. Again I saved the slide, and proceeded to chase him down and looked to overtake him again, although the race finished one lap later and I think I could of passed him if only I had one more lap.

The second race was at 17:45 and although the rain had stoped, the track was very greasy and slippy, on the first lap one of the other competitors, Ralph spun in-front of me, and was on the grass, so I was taking it easier as my car was moving about a lot more than in the first race (I had forgotten to lower the tyre pressure back down) so the ones in front of me started to pull away, but I was not confident in the conditions that we had, and I did not feel like breaking the car on the last outing. As the race finished I was in forth position, as Ralph had recovered and passed me a couple of laps earlier.

Overall I have finished the first season of my racing in forth position out of the 7 people that were out racing in class 'D' although for most races there was only 4 or 5 of us on the track.

The whole year has been an immense challenge, and very enjoyable. I am hoping to continue improving the car over the winter months by changing the rubber bushes to either poly bushes or solid bushes, and I will be looking at working with a couple of other companies that will be able to assist me in either supplying parts, services or knowledge to enable my car to be competitive next year.