Track Day - This week??????????

General Meets + Track Day Reports
41

What a day.
I was expecting it to be rainy, yet it was very warm and sunny.
I arrived at the same time with Sean and we quickly got pits for Rob and George that were coming later.
Nice to meet Rob and see Sean again.
It was a pity to see both the orange beast (WHAT A COLOUR!!!) and Sean’s awesome machine, break down.
All I can say boys, is that my ghay grey S2 Elise, run faultlessly the whole day plus did 600 extra miles in the weekend.
Being a true friend I am willing to swap my car with either of yours so that you see the light as well


On a more serious note, I followed Sean for a bit (until his Yokos got some heat) and I was amazed by the speed of gear change!!!
As for the orange beast, words dont do it justice.
Even with half a spliter sucrificed at the squirrel’s head, it is the most amazing Elise variant I have ever seen

George did not get that much time on the track, but I still believe he enjoyed his first drive of a car that is basically hand made by himself

As for the track, it was my 1st time at Donny and I was on the std bicycle tyres and new suspension set-up.
I did enjoy the track, as it is very challenging plus once you get to know it you can go sideways everywhere
I did stuff (sideways) that had Marshalls black flag me in Brands and gave me a bollocking in Bedford, yet nothing happened at Donny.
Well done to the Donny boys

Hope to see you soon Rob and Sean, and I am looking forward to meeting more Exiges.com guys

Nikos

42

Cheers Nikos

43

…I think she was envisaging chaved up hot hatches driven by rowdy louts

That would be Sean then?

44

…lost all forward drive!

45

I’ve not taken the rubber boot off…

Well that answers one question, it’ll be the rear springs you change then. whilst you’re fixing it.

46

Quite how the squirrel failed to see you we will never know

Extreme daylight version of rabbit in headlights!

47

Is this a known weakness of the Honda conversion, i.e. drive shaft angle quite acute that can overheat the joint and lead to failure?

Does it therefore help to get the engine as low as possible? Anybody know whose is lowest?

Ian

48

Quite how the squirrel failed to see you we will never know

Neither do I, but his best mate is next for the treatment

[image]http://www.mattfacer.com/b3ta/squirrel_image.gif[/image]

50

Does it therefore help to get the engine as low as possible? Anybody know whose is lowest?

Ian

All the conversions set the engine as low as possible - wishbones permitting

51

Neither do I, but his best mate is next for the treatment

[image]> http://www.mattfacer.com/b3ta/squirrel_image.gif> [/image]

The thing that Pesky doesn�t tell you, is that this is the poor squirrel which he mercilessly mowed down, poor dear…

[image]http://campbellbaker.homeip.net/stuff/Photos/gransqu.jpg[/image]

David

52

A fellow o.a.p as well, shame on you Rob

53

I should have popped in but fell asleep in front of the BTCC on the telly.

Sounds like I missed a good day. Bad luck Pesky.

54

Yeah was great to meet everyone yesterday.

The main reason for me wanting to run yesterday was the Brunters bash two weeks ago didn’t really allow me to hammer the car hard for a prolonged period as it was a one lap at a time thing.

So when I signed on I paid a bit extra and did two of the sessions, so I was in the intermediate and advanced group, so was on track for 40 minutes of each hour.

The main thing I was looking to prove was the paddle shift and I am now 110% pleased wwith it, it is awesome and it worked perfectly all day!!!

The car ran well as a whole to be honest right up to lunch.

My gearbox breathed about an 1/8 of a litre of oil, so nothing new there, simply emptied the catch tank at lunch. A future mod will see the catch tank drain back to the gearbox.

The first couple of double sessions I had the speedlines on and after the second we noticed the outer CV on the passenger side was puffed up and some of the grease had come out. We swapped to an old set of 48’s I had on some standard rims and that cured that problem. So I guess I either need to cool the hubs some how or stick with the standard wheels.

I also have the elise parts engine side engine mount and the rubber bush is too soft. There is an increased amount of engine shunt with the paddle shift as you are chnging gear with your foot flat on the throttle, no clutch and it does it really really fast, so I am going to have something made up in nylon or something, to hold the engine a bit more firmly.

Then the first session after lunch the clutch exploded. lol. We new this was a weak link (i run the not so uprated AP item) and I fully intended to change it this week anyway. The flat, paddle shift obviously puts extra strain on the clutch, and it gave up the ghost. I don’t want to spend loads on a twin plate jobbie with my new engine being so close, so I may give the Montego turbo option a try that was mentioned by Pegbox in another post, and I will change the plate after every day or something (I can have the engine out and back, in about three hours).

The very next session after my clutch went, Peskys shaft broke. After grasping your shaft and giving it a wiggle mate. lol. I think the shaft has broke off right at the tripoid joint. As Rob said, we didn’t take the boot off, but that is what it felt like to me.

Good luck with your car George, they are an uphill battle matey, but you will get there, I’m sure.

Nik, was great to see you, and you looked like you were going well all day.

David, was great to see you again and say Hi to your mom.

Chris H, was great to meet you and thanks for the pictures!!!

Next Outing, Oulton Park test day on Friday!!!

Sean…

55

I think the shaft has broke off right at the tripoid joint. As Rob said, we didn’t take the boot off, but that is what it felt like to me.

Just had another wiggle on me shaft Yep, there’s no tripoid on the end

56

Like everybody else said, it was a very nice sunny day in Dunny yesterday.
First time I�ve seen Rob�s car (live) and I have to say that the car looks stunning! I already knew who had the worse paint job ever (yeap, that�s me ) and now I know who has the best!

I was very lucky to have such a nice company like Rob, Sean, Nick and my friend Stelios. I am also grateful to John (Plans M/S), who helped me a lot with his advices, indicating solutions for a few problems I had with the engine and throttle cable. Very nice to meet you John.

Good thing is that I finally managed to drive my car for the first time since I�ve started building it.
Stelios helped me with the brakes (bleeding) which felt awful. Although I thought I�ve done a good job with that easy-bleeder thing, there was a lot of air trapped in the system. When we finished, the brake pedal felt so good like nothing else I�ve driven before.

I�ve also fixed a small problem regarding the throttle cable and changed the spark plugs. Put some fuel in and did a check of everything I could. The engine was running nicely and there was no visible leak from the fuel, engine and gearbox oil. I was a happy man! Then I was ready to enter the track!

In the first small straight after the pits, the car felt a bit loose, probably due to the pure geo that I did the previous day, or due to the tyres, but I didn�t care about this. The first problem came when I tried to brake for the first corner… The car started vibrating quite a lot. The source of this vibration was the front right caliper-disc. So I stayed right on the track and kept low speed in order to reach the pits. Then took out the caliper and the disc, checked the suspension. I found nothing wrong, except a slight installation error in one of the shims I use for the front calipers. Put everything back on the car and when I was ready to re-enter the track, discovered that there was an oil leak front the inner driveshaft seal… I didn�t want to risk my gearbox, so the day was over.

Another unexpected problem was that the knob for the re-bound adjustment of the rear right Ohlins was dead! The good thing is that I know why (yes, I�ve done it again! )

I know that I might sound very strange, but I enjoyed the day ! Now I have to find a way to drive the car on the road (legally) or book another track day, so I can check it again. I just wish there was a bit of tarmac road somewhere close so I could test it anytime I want.

George

57

Good luck with your car George, they are an uphill battle matey, but you will get there, I’m sure.

Thanks Sean.

58

Pesky, Lotusnick and sean,

If you send me a private message with your email address then i will send you the high res versions (2.8mb each)

Chris

59

Thanks Chris, you’re a star

60

Pesky, Lotusnick and sean,

If you send me a private message with your email address then i will send you the high res versions (2.8mb each)

Chris

PM sent

Thanks a lot mate
Nikos