Tatty Old Bodged Racecar (2015-10-15) - Season End - 7th :(

[Altrezia]

Just finished a couple of quick jobs on the car. I re-fitted the now serviced fire extinguisher, fixed the indicators and adjusted my harnesses (I had too much excess harness on my lap!). I also gave the car a post-trackday once over and it seems OK - it's got a small oil leak, but I knew about that beforehand.

Also, there was a great photographer at the trackday and he took some nice shots of the car on track.


A few pics from the 'tog (SportStock - http://sportstock.photoshelter.com/gall ... bBEAUqM1bQ)








A few pics of today's messing around:

[magpie]

well done mate

[Altrezia]

Today I replaced the knackered 'cups' that sit behind the front hub/bearing assembly, as they were rotten and rubbing on the bearing causing a nasty noise.

I sent my injectors to InjectorTune for a clean last week, and today re-fitted them to the car. Top work, and a marked improvement according to their paperwork.

A few pics:

[rix313]

Gonna be like new soon mate

[G-Bear]

Good work... Its doing all the small things that please me the most..

[Altrezia]

4 weeks until the racing starts, and we've now been told what mandatory stickers we have to fit. I don't have them yet, but I do know what space is mine.

With that in mind, I've thrown some vinyl at the car. I made a total hash of sticking it on, but it'll do for now! - it looks OK from a few steps away ;)

Still need to fit the offical stickers when they arrive (may not even be until the race meeting) as well as my race numbers.

[rix313]

where is the first race mate?

[Altrezia]

Donington on April 26/7 iirc

[Altrezia]

The mandatory stickers arrived, so I put them on. I also tidied up the interior a bit more, and gave the car a final checkover. I think we're ready for the first round.

If I had more money, I'd replace the suspension, fit rear discs, and buy a new set of tyres for the first race, but as it stands I am now skint, and it'll have to do as-is.

A few pics:

[bumpygt]

Nice mini in the garage

[Altrezia]

Thanks. It's waiting for a turbo to be bolted on!

[rix313]

Take it you don't have to run giant white number boards on the door then that's good, wish I didn't have to. We have to have one on the bonnet too for some bizzare reason.

[Altrezia]

I prefer them actually. I don't like blocking the windows. I need to see out of those..

[Altrezia]

Took the car to Donington Park yesterday for a trackday.

Overall it performed pretty well - it's obviously not a front runner, but it didn't feel hard to drive, didn't throw up any nasty handling surprises and the more time I spend in the car the more confidence I build.

The main issue is that every time I park it after being out on track it leaves a 4" oil puddle under the bell housing.. not sure if I'll make the race this weekend now as I think that means crank case oil seal, and I don't have the talent to sort that myself!

The drive home from Donington was fun, too, with torrential rain..

Here's a few pics:
















And a couple of videos:

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

[RobWill116]

Saw this at Donington yesterday! I was in a blue 318ti compact with a couple of mates. Are the guys with the 205gti your mates? Nasty shunt that had, quite a bit of front end damage.

Lucky the weather stayed dry all day, first time on track so could've interesting otherwise!

[Altrezia]

Yeah, the 205 is my friend Tom's. He wasn't driving it - he'd persuaded a mate to take it out.. doh!
It was a MI16 on throttle bodies and a loads of special tweaks.. expensive mistake.

Those compacts look like fun.

[RobWill116]

Ouch! Bet he was well and truly gutted.

Yeah was pretty fun, just needs a bit more power. Had a few issues with the rev limiter kicking in at 5500rpm too

[Altrezia]

30 entrants for our series this weekend.

Qualifying: 18th with a 1:29.8, The lap was 2 seconds faster than the one I did on Wednesday on a trackday.

Race 1: Dry and sunny. Over-drove the car (worked it too hard, broke to late, etc) and finished 17th.

Race 2: Wet and greasy. Kept it on the black stuff, lots of fun slides and overtakes, finished 12th.


Full weekend report here:
http://www.alexballracing.co.uk/post/84 ... te-i-had-a

[Altrezia]

Race 1:
[youtube][/youtube]

Race 2:
[youtube][/youtube]

[jimbom30cab]

brilliant thread mate and much respect for doing this

I wish I could it !!

Keep the updates coming, proper old skool budget motorsport at its best

[rix313]

Gave it some beans for your first race weekend mate well done! Looking forward to it being my turn haha.

[Altrezia]

I spent the day today checking the car over, trying to find the source of a knock that you can hear in the videos as I go down craner curves and doing a couple of other small jobs.

The knock was very similar to a noise I had at Abingdon, which turned out to be the prop-shaft guibo (rubber doughnut) and replacing it solved it completely. I was hoping not to have to replace it again (as they are £100+vat from BMW) but this time it seems fine and crack free.

The only thing that looked out of sorts was a lose bolt on the bracket that holds the prop shaft centre bearing in place, which was loose. The thread wouldn’t allow me to tighten it, so I re-tapped and replaced the bolt.

I also noticed that my exhaust was sitting very close to the rear subframe and could well have been hitting on that, so I lowered it slightly.

The next job was to cut a bit of the bonnet away after Charlie Brisker, a competitor, advised it might save an argument with a scrutineer when they test my safety pulls. Easy enough - cut, sand-back the sharp edge, and paint with red Hammerite. Not pretty, but it’ll do. I also greased up the lines a bit, and they seem much better. I’ll give them another check a few days before we set off for Rockingham to make sure they still move smoothly.

At Donington I was more focused on just getting round the track than being anywhere close to minimum weight, and I think I was about 50kg over. This time I hope to get a little closer.

The car with half a tank of fuel, the passenger seat, and me with my gear on was 1130kg. The minimum weight is 1125kg, so I plan to remove the passenger seat, add some ballast, and remove some fuel. Solid ballast should prove less of a handling handicap than a sloshing fuel load.

I removed the passenger seat, and set about finding something to use as Ballast instead of the ”afull fuel tank method”a which I employed previously. The easiest solution looks to be a ”aVibration Damper”a from an E30 Cabriolet - essentially it’s just a big 22kg lump of iron, with 4 holes to allow it to be mounted. Perfect! I’ll find one and mount it in the passenger foot-well with the correct bolts as mandated by the regulations. (I left the seat rails in place as they are nice and heavy, and low down so won’t do any harm).

I also gave it a clean and a bolt-check so there are fewer jobs to do before the next round at the end of May.

[_Jay_]

Loving this thread. Its come a long way from the start and look forward to seeing how it goes forward from here as well. Always wanted an E30 track car of my own, but not got the cash flow for one at the moment Out of curiosity, how much do you reckon you have put in to this at the moment?

[Altrezia]

I can tell you almost to the penny, since I keep a record of everything. ;)

I had planned to spend £3k on the car, £1k on service/upgrades and £2-3k on race entry fees and tyres.

I've spent £6k on the car so far, and have done no upgrades yet. I've only entered 2 rounds so far, as I've run out of cash in the pot for it at the moment.

Doesn't sound too bad, but the car is much tattier in real life than it looks in the photos - the dents are mega, and there are lots of them.

Not worth it - but I'm too far in to find a better car now.

[rix313]

What happened with the oil leak mate?

[Altrezia]

Sorted it on the Saturday before Donington - was the crank case oil seal on the gearbox end.

[_Jay_]

Interesting to see the figures there. Still something I want to do in the future, but thinking maybe to start on a smaller scale so just for general track use, and then to get it more ready for actual races when can justify the extra cash for the cost of them.

And im sure it is worth it, just for the thrill of racing it around the track. Def look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[rix313]

It's a good way to start Jay but just be careful not to end up with a 'track day special'. Have a scan through the regs and make sure when you're starting your track car you don't go fitting bits that aren't allowed for the end goal championship otherwise you'll have to go backwards to be eligible

[_Jay_]

Yeah thats a very good point. Its def something I want to get in to. Also want an E30 again, so good way to tie both things together. Just need to get moved in to the new house, and then can start hunting for the right base car. Will keep an eye on this thread and yours as well Rix313! Also any questions or problems I run in to, you mind if I pick your brains?

[Altrezia]

It's what the forum is for matey =)

[Altrezia]

I had the car weighed at X-Sport, a local race prep garage. The car is 1031kgs with a 1/4 tank of fuel, no driver and no ballast. I need it to be 1125kgs at the end of the race with me in the car. With me at a rough 70kg kitted, I still need to find 24kg.

The easiest way is to add ballast, and that's exactly what I've done. I've added 23kg of lead, in the form of an E30 Cabriolet Vibration Damper. It's mounted, as per the regs, in the passenger area with some hardware from my friend Phil - a top job too - bespoke 80mm washers for the top, and 40mm ones for the bottom. I need to get some slightly shorter bolts, but the current ones will do for now.

I will make up the rest of the weight using fuel, hopefully not going under weight at the end of the race! Eventually I will fit a swirl pot in the boot and that'll also take up some of the weight.

Only a few days now until Rockingham!

[Altrezia]

My race report is here:

http://www.alexballracing.co.uk/post/86 ... ip-held-at

All my race videos from this weekend:

(VERY!) Wet qualifying for TTRS:

Qualifying for PBMW:

PBMW Race 1:

PBMW Race 2:

[Altrezia]

A few photos from Rockingham:

[rix313]

Great pics man that first one is cool

[_Jay_]

Looks good man, going to have a look at the videos when home from work as well. Liking the look of the white convertible in one of the pictures as well, didnt think they would allow that in a proper series? Thats got me thinking now lol.