12 November 2010
30 October 2010
Elise Trophy 2010 - end of season stocktake
So, the end of the 2010 season didn't go so well. After missing 2 race weekends due to the engine oil leak, and being constantly frustrated by lacking power to the fast section of the grid, Stu decided to get the engine rebuilt in time for the last race he was registered for - Silverstone National.
In addition to the rebuild, slightly fruitier cams and a better exhaust manifold were fitted to try and up the grunt. Along with an Emerald ECU, we were hoping for above-the-limit figures that could be tuned down to be exactly legal. Didn't exactly go to plan as apparently it only really made an extra 5bhp.
Qualy wasn't too bad as it was cold and wet but the engine still felt pretty piss-poor. Made things interesting though, several incidents to enjoy! Couple of pics from other sessions give you an idea:
I decided that 12th on a grid nearly 30 was frankly amazing after I went and watched race 1, Stu was literally getting butt-fucked on the straights. He'd make up anywhere between 3 and 10 car lengths on the brakes and through the corners, but even with a run on people out of the exit he'd get left behind. It looked ridiculous.
A new alternator had also been fitted after the rebuild, which failed during the first race so I set about swapping it for another new one and rewiring the diode. It was tight getting to the grid as I had to re-tap the thread in the block for the bracket as well. Thankfully it didn't fall off, but he still went backwards during race 2.
It also made it down to TDi a week later - who dyno'd the car at the start of the year for series regs - so we could compare figures. Despite a proper ECU, rebuild, Piper cams and pullies, proven exhaust manifold and a 4mm larger throttle since the start of the year, about 24bhp and 20lb.ft had disappeared (if memory serves).
Still, at least we know roughly where the problem is, and hopefully a cam timing tweak will sort things out. The rest of the car is great thankfully so with any luck it will be mainly small jobs over winter. Then with the missing horses back in the stable it should be consistent top 10s next year, potentially a podium in the mix somewhere. Fingers crossed for better luck in 2011.
As you can see, I have linked the photos in this post from www.snappyracers.com - because they are great, and what I take with my phone is shite!
In addition to the rebuild, slightly fruitier cams and a better exhaust manifold were fitted to try and up the grunt. Along with an Emerald ECU, we were hoping for above-the-limit figures that could be tuned down to be exactly legal. Didn't exactly go to plan as apparently it only really made an extra 5bhp.
Qualy wasn't too bad as it was cold and wet but the engine still felt pretty piss-poor. Made things interesting though, several incidents to enjoy! Couple of pics from other sessions give you an idea:
I decided that 12th on a grid nearly 30 was frankly amazing after I went and watched race 1, Stu was literally getting butt-fucked on the straights. He'd make up anywhere between 3 and 10 car lengths on the brakes and through the corners, but even with a run on people out of the exit he'd get left behind. It looked ridiculous.
A new alternator had also been fitted after the rebuild, which failed during the first race so I set about swapping it for another new one and rewiring the diode. It was tight getting to the grid as I had to re-tap the thread in the block for the bracket as well. Thankfully it didn't fall off, but he still went backwards during race 2.
It also made it down to TDi a week later - who dyno'd the car at the start of the year for series regs - so we could compare figures. Despite a proper ECU, rebuild, Piper cams and pullies, proven exhaust manifold and a 4mm larger throttle since the start of the year, about 24bhp and 20lb.ft had disappeared (if memory serves).
Still, at least we know roughly where the problem is, and hopefully a cam timing tweak will sort things out. The rest of the car is great thankfully so with any luck it will be mainly small jobs over winter. Then with the missing horses back in the stable it should be consistent top 10s next year, potentially a podium in the mix somewhere. Fingers crossed for better luck in 2011.
As you can see, I have linked the photos in this post from www.snappyracers.com - because they are great, and what I take with my phone is shite!
14 October 2010
29 September 2010
Trophy Daily Driver
I've got Stu's Elise to pootle about in this week, give the engine a run in before it goes on the dyno for mapping. I'm sick of my Mazda as a daily but this is just ridiculous!
26 September 2010
Curborough Sprint Circuit
I went along to Curborough with my mate Jason on Thursday, so thought I'd stick up a couple of photos he got, and a couple of in-cars hastily shot at the end of the day
16 September 2010
Flocking Hell.... it's not a sticker!
Unbelievably, I've managed to do something to the Mazda that involved a load of effort and some money - no, not top up the oil, but sort myself out with a flocked dash.
Apart from making the steering wheel look very old and tatty, it now makes the inside of the car much tidier, and of course it's just like sitting in a WRC car with less switches (this is a huge lie).
Seriously though, it really is as good at helping you see in the sun as you'd expect it to be, given it's used in so many cars competing in WRC, BTCC, GT and all the rest. Mainly, it's better than cheap, shiny 1989 plastic!
Apart from making the steering wheel look very old and tatty, it now makes the inside of the car much tidier, and of course it's just like sitting in a WRC car with less switches (this is a huge lie).
Seriously though, it really is as good at helping you see in the sun as you'd expect it to be, given it's used in so many cars competing in WRC, BTCC, GT and all the rest. Mainly, it's better than cheap, shiny 1989 plastic!
1 August 2010
30 July 2010
Elise Trophy 2010 - part 2
So, this is waaaay late, but worth sticking up a short note anyway. About 6 weeks ago was the Classic Team Lotus Festival at Snetterton circuit. There's pictures of all the stupendously fantastic F1 cars all over the net, but I was there because one of the features of the weekend was the Lotus Cup Europe and Elise Trophy races.
Stu's car had some new graphics on it so it stood out a bit more than it used to - just another dark car in the pack - and now it's one of the most recognisable. For the next round it'll have the roof on as well, so will be yet more awesome!
Anyway, damp quali meant the playing field was levelled out a bit (worth pointing out here that it slashed down. Alot. Ridiculous monsoon weather, Horrible weekend!). Stu got P9 out of 45-odd cars, storming effort! Race 1 didn't go so great, traffic and a couple of racecraft lessons meant a 14th place finish. Race 2 on the other hand was pretty good! It started with a reverse Top 10 grid, so good old 56 was in P2. After a sweet launch and leading into the first corner braking zone, he was done for the lead with some twinning round turn 1. After that, a solid drive and a few fights ensued, and despite getting runs on several occasions, 3 guys extra power meant they could walk past. In P5, having a fight with one or two other guys was prematurely ended by a red flag, so 5th it was. Fantastic result!
Stu's car had some new graphics on it so it stood out a bit more than it used to - just another dark car in the pack - and now it's one of the most recognisable. For the next round it'll have the roof on as well, so will be yet more awesome!
Anyway, damp quali meant the playing field was levelled out a bit (worth pointing out here that it slashed down. Alot. Ridiculous monsoon weather, Horrible weekend!). Stu got P9 out of 45-odd cars, storming effort! Race 1 didn't go so great, traffic and a couple of racecraft lessons meant a 14th place finish. Race 2 on the other hand was pretty good! It started with a reverse Top 10 grid, so good old 56 was in P2. After a sweet launch and leading into the first corner braking zone, he was done for the lead with some twinning round turn 1. After that, a solid drive and a few fights ensued, and despite getting runs on several occasions, 3 guys extra power meant they could walk past. In P5, having a fight with one or two other guys was prematurely ended by a red flag, so 5th it was. Fantastic result!
5 July 2010
Hunting Speed
Sometime this year the car might get to Germany, instead of just have another sticker put on it.
25 June 2010
13 June 2010
25 May 2010
Hairdressing progress
After what turned into a monumental clusterfuck with the suspension on the MX5 (finishing up right when my uni course ended, stressed isn't the word) I figured I should write up some interesting details about various things. Having thrown away the idea of a new suspension setup after an 11 month wait, some HSD monotubes went on, to start with not quite set right!
This was awful as there was a problem with something at the back, somewhere. So after suffering for a few weeks, they went back and some Gaz Gold Pros (like what them race cars use) went on. Problem solved, car now handles and rides nicely. Once they're set right all should be dandy - stiffness needs to go up a tad and heights are not set dead even yet.
Done a few other little things; ali tow eyes save a bit of weight and aren't rusty, new brake pads and fluid and a bit of servicing. Slowly getting ready in the hope of a Ring trip some time this year. Need new CWP first though, few chunks out of these ones.
This was awful as there was a problem with something at the back, somewhere. So after suffering for a few weeks, they went back and some Gaz Gold Pros (like what them race cars use) went on. Problem solved, car now handles and rides nicely. Once they're set right all should be dandy - stiffness needs to go up a tad and heights are not set dead even yet.
Done a few other little things; ali tow eyes save a bit of weight and aren't rusty, new brake pads and fluid and a bit of servicing. Slowly getting ready in the hope of a Ring trip some time this year. Need new CWP first though, few chunks out of these ones.
22 April 2010
JDM Allstars - Manchester - Rd1 2010 - Brap
Waking up at 05:30 is never easy, but it IS made a hell of a lot easier when you realise you're going to watch some awesome cars do some awesome skids! .jpg)
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The final results were:
1st - John Calvert - White R33
2nd - Mark Luney - Blue Toyota Supra
3rd - Dan Chapman - Blue Nissan PS13
4th - Luke Fink - Red Nissan PS13
It was good to see Luke Fink over here all the way from Australia. Due to the flight issues this week, he had to finish his journey (from Spain) in a hire car! Mad respect for this dude. It's a shame that in the end he lost his forced induction and was essentially running naturally aspirated for the last few rounds.
I had an awesome day, and had a lot of fun shooting this event. Even with a few technical issues I'm still over the moon with some of my images.
I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed shooting them!
Take it easy,
-Ash
Because the goddamn FD blew it's chocolate engine up, we had to hire a car (Dedication right?). We thought we had hired a 107, but got given a brand new polo. Awesome. This 3 cylinder monster was how an engine should be built, and by that, I mean that it had pistons and had not exploded.
I forgot to take a picture of the actual car, because I'm an idiot. But this clever Photoshop gives you an idea of what it looked like.
As you can see, the car itself is quite attractive, and would almost certainly look pretty goddamn nice slammed on some OZ futuras or similar. Another bonus of this car was the glove box, you can see here how you can fit in a camera, a fairly big lens, a satnav AND 2 apple turnovers. Proper spot on.
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The weather on the way down was weird, evaporating water from the fields made the motorways look extremely foggy. Either that, or we passed by silent hill without realising.
We arrived in Manchester at about 8am and had a wander about the pits. Dragon's 2010 car wasn't yet ready so Brad was running last year's car (which is also his road car now I believe). It had received some damage in the previous day, and the rest of the day was run without an exhaust. Hardcore.
Matt's LS1 RX7 looked mean as hell and I approved of his reliability enhancing engine swap.
Luney's new supra looked pretty hot and was the old demo car for some mad tyte JDM company or something like that.
Anyway that's enough words for now, just look at the pictures and that:
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The final results were:
1st - John Calvert - White R33
2nd - Mark Luney - Blue Toyota Supra
3rd - Dan Chapman - Blue Nissan PS13
4th - Luke Fink - Red Nissan PS13
It was good to see Luke Fink over here all the way from Australia. Due to the flight issues this week, he had to finish his journey (from Spain) in a hire car! Mad respect for this dude. It's a shame that in the end he lost his forced induction and was essentially running naturally aspirated for the last few rounds.
I had an awesome day, and had a lot of fun shooting this event. Even with a few technical issues I'm still over the moon with some of my images.
I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed shooting them!
Take it easy,
-Ash
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