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This is the 1st stage from the last rally, you can see the dampers are failing about halfway thru , intercom was playing up too which is why there is a close up of Andrews hand for a mo or 2

 

I recognise that nice yellow vrs at the finish line

Lol I didn't notice it mate, will you be up at preshore? I still have the shell sat on my trailer lol, I have borrowed a chain block so I get lift it off tho.

spent this evening finishing off the seat spacers, not as straight forward as it would seem as the seat now has to have 14 sq cm of contact per mounting point (I could be wrong on that can't remember the exact size now)

this one is ready to thread to M8 in the smaller hole, the countersunk one will take a caphead bolt to the origional welded nut on the seat mount, the holes are 20mm apart on the seat side mount so I made the holes 20 mm apart on the spacer, so I can bolt the spacer to the shell, and bolt the seat to the spacer with the bolt 1 hole forwards and still keep the seat the same distance from the pedals..

I just milled the slots in the sides errr because i can basically lol and it makes the parts easily identified if the car is ever stolen etc 

So a week to go and I can't walk due to an infection in my ankle apparently? all I know is it's bloody painfull and has kept me off work for 2 days, luckily the car is all but ready, I finished the seat risers and fitted them, it just needs tracking up and sumpguard refitting now.

I'm a little dissapointed with the seeding on this one considering the results we have had so far but it's not where you start is it.. car 45 this time out.

Hopefully the weather will clear in time as it looks like a wet week.

right I'm off back to a drug induced sleep then, these tablets are strong!!!

Where's the next rally?

http://www.oxfordmotorclub.co.uk/carfax-stage-rally/

pershore near evesham, to be fair there is a very strong entry of 80 cars and most of em are pretty quick too so I'm expecting a mid 20's finish if all goes well

No word of you coming over here for a rally yet?

Not this year, unfortunatly I really need to get the car more developed and suspension fully sorted before I spend a fortune on ferrys etc, I was hoping to do the Jersey rally this year but with the damper problems meaning we retired early from 1 event and had to miss another while they were fixed I don't have the confidence that the car will be ok.

Trouble is a single venue rally is around £220 or so for the entry + travelling and fuel /tyres where an event in ireland is more like £1000 + with nights away and ferrys etc. Mini Manx is looking a good event for the money or I may look at some of the Belgium events that invite uk crews next year

Il pm you the number of the man with the proflex suspension

Ok that is the Carfax stages done, 

What a day, torrential rain all morning from 7am, I had some wet tyres on sale or return but didn't intend using them unless absolutely necessary due to them being £100 each... Anyway no choice really due to about an inch of standing water everywhere and only half worn cut slicks :-{

started stage 1 on the new avon turbospeed tyres and what a bit of kit they were, grip everywhere except when aquaplaning, after 2 stages we were 13th overall (80 starters) then on stage 3 we had a slight off into a field and knocked a post down which belt the sumpguard and got wedged under the car costing 20 seconds at least, then on stage 4 we had a massive locking up session under braking stalling the engine and costing another 10 seconds while I got it gathered back up and started again, (really dodgy place a car went off very hard just after us, we were a bit lucky really).

went to check the times to find we were 13th overall still but 1 second off 10th overall as 3 cars were on the same second!!

after stage 5 it stopped raining and started drying out, we swapped to slicks but despite driving her as hard as I could the power guys started to gain advantage and we slowly dropped down the order to 16th by the end, still a very good result and before the event I was happy for a finish in the 20's really.

Lots of development to do now, the log files are showing inlet temps of 80c or more despite it being wet and having water spray on the ic, and better brakes as the 1155 mintex pads were fading towards the end of the dry runs...

good fun today and took the car home straight, I will upload some incar to youtube this week, a few interesting ones to watch

Great work Bringing it home. Can only imagine what the weather must have been like.

Shocked how the intake temps are high considering your running a FMIC. I know you've been thinking of other options like charge cooler. What about water injection into the pipework after the intercooler but before the MAP sensor?

How where the front dampers this time?

I don't think water injection is allowed in rallying

I'll email you the torque logs john. Not really allowed water injection technically.. It was a trying morning in torrential rain but the afternoon stages made up for it and suspension was working well

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Stage 3 here we lost around 15-20 seconds with the off which bent the guard up and bent the steel sump pan up so good job I fitted that .

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Stage 4 slight aquaplaning into a corner on 2nd lap which stalled the engine and lost a few seconds again

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Last stage here you would never believe it was the same day. Running on Dunlop x12 moulded slicks on the front and kumho c03 super soft on the rear. Interesting comparison with a really good spec Scooby towards the end of the 1st loop just shows how close the cars are really his engine management system probly cost more than my car !!

That was Shaun in the Scooby (on his 4th rally). You still finished 9 places in front of him! 

Was a bit wet!

Sorry guys there's been no updates on this..

As some of you know I was diagnosed with Hodgeskins Lymphoma around xmas time so I've been having chemo and all sorts since then and the rallying has had to take a back seat for now.

I did my last rally on november 29th at Bath and west showground, This was an event I thought would suit the car as it was was lots of short straights and tight corners but somehow couldn't get anywhere near the top 20 despite trying my hardest, then with no warning the gearbox went bang over a crest and left us with no drive 1/2 mile later so that was that, think we were 31st at the time.

It appears the gearbox has split all around the casing, we noticed a small bit of oil on the top of the casing near the mounting area earlier on and wondered if it was a hairline crack starting from the bearing area between the input and output shafts.

the car is still sat as it was after that rally as I've been ill since so haven't got the box out to investigate yet but suspect the casing was flexing and letting the teeth get out of mesh causing a total failure of 3rd gear which bits of which then got trapped between the other gears causing the casing to split all around.. 

at some point when I'm fixed I will get it out and take a look inside hopefully the lsd is ok still.

hope everything goes well for you

Wishing you all the best for the treatment, a close family member is having chemo for here as well so I feel for you.

 

At least when you feel stronger you got the car to play with / continue with.

 

Matt

All the best with your treatment. My mum had hodgkins too, so I can relate to what you're going through

All the best Jim,thought you had been a bit quiet

Very clever stuff chemo,just a pain how it's so harsh on your body whilst being treated.

All the best with your treatment, awesome build thread.

All the best Jim,thought you had been a bit quiet

Very clever stuff chemo,just a pain how it's so harsh on your body whilst being treated.

Haha yeh been a bit quiet mate, doesnt stop me scheming things up tho lol....

Thinking about turbo's and what may work with a 37mm restrictor ?? ideally I'd like to stretch the power band upwards for another 500rpm or so but I need to keep lag to a minimum as it's hard enough to drive as it is lol.

A proper straight cut gearkit will fix the box problems I think as its mainly the helical cut that's adding extra forces to the casing etc.

getting there with treatment, had 6 months of chemo every 2 weeks, now having a bigger dose of chemo before stem cell replacement all being well. It is clever stuff but it does f@@k your whole body after a while :(.

Yeah lag is Deffo noticeable on the GTB'S compared to standard frame turbos.

I'm running a 2260 now and I can notice the difference in lag from the gtb1756.

But in the higher revs it just flys through them