[AdamR]

Your best off building a safe & reliable engine

I would go with this too. Make the thing reliable and get loads of track time!

 

[Willem]

100% agree on reliability first!!! Especially when it's driven at 100% most of the time! Poor old engine....

Luckily there's not much that can go wrong on the mk1 engine, all the aspirational parts on my "shopping list" should improve reliability, of the components anyway, maybe not the engine as a whole. Messing with the Megasquirt is the biggest area of uncertainty and source of unreliability for me, but it's also the only way to unleash the true potential of the engine. Done properly there should be no adverse affect on reliability.....

.....that said, I still managed to kill mine through being a crap amateur mechanic! At least that's all i can put it down to! Once i have swapped the engine and have it running again then i will investigate why the last rebuild only lasted 300 miles... I've had all sorts of suggestions as to a cause... most likely is simply oil starvation which is 100% my own fault, but possibly the crankshaft is FUBAR, or at least scored causing unwanted friction.

As for driver skill i'm no pro, that's for sure, but after reviewing a lot of timing sheets and race results for similar cars on tracks where i've set representative lap times, i am happy with how i'm driving, albeit a little inconsistent at times, I'm within a second in similar conditions and on a good lap. Only more and more track time will fix that. Lap times are all very subjective of course, dependant on weather conditions etc... even two bright/dry days can produce completely different lap times...

The reason for looking for more power is simply that I find i'm limited by the car on occasion, I just want a little more power on the straits and out of slow corners, this is abundantly apparent in this video where i barely have any grunt coming out the second right hander in 2nd gear:

I ended up changing down to first for my second timed run and that got me an extra half a second getting up that hill! That still doesn't take away from the fact i could do with a little bit more power!!

 

[AdamR]

Get rid of your windscreen! Haha.

 

[welshy1]

Liking the build and will catch up with you at pembrey will be having a look at the coolant re route kit on yours as i may go that way with the exocet over the winter as thats is going turbod.

 

[Willem]

updates for the last month:

Slick tyres! made a hell of a difference on the sprints and hillclimbs

List 1A tyres - for racing as it's in the regs! (went for Toyo T1Rs)

Full Safety Devices Roll cage is in! just have some padding to stick on. My welding was amazing!!

New centre console with space for my Galaxy Tab - to be used as a data logger/lap timer/MSDroid (once i install the Megasquirt, its waiting on the bench)

Fire extinguisher installed no probs - lets hope i never need it!!

Brake ducts done, crude but effective use of B&Q ventilation ducting, cable ties and Duck tape!

Doors have been made even lighter!!! -> generous application of the angle grinder.

Will upload some piccies of the finished car later! still need to reinstall the seat after welding in the roll cage last weekend.

Havent touched the engine except for re-aligning the air intake to take a direct ram feed from the sidelight, need to fix up something more aesthetically pleasing, its another Duck tape special!! THat said, once the ITBs go on I need a cold air feed on the otherside anyway, so its only temporary!

W.

 

[Binney]

It sounds like you've been quite busy, I look forward to seeing the photos, especially the cage.

How are you getting on with the BC coil overs these days?

 

[Willem]

Veeeery busy!

Pics imminent as soon as my Google Docs comes back go life!

Weekend achievements:
Roll cage padding fitted, looks real good!
Read bumper chopped, less of a sail now!
Galaxy tab added to centre console as planned.
New rubber fitted to some 2nd hand TWS wheels I got gifted (thanks Steve B!)

All ready to go racing on Saturday and Sunday at Pembrey now!!!!

Very excited. Go Pro vids to follow at some point too!

 

[ThunderFox]

Post some pics up

 

[Willem]

PHOTOS!!!!

 

[Jacksheps]

Photo*
Any more for any more?

 

[Willem]

Yes yes, patience my dears! Google Drive is giving me jip!

 

[robd]

lol

Car's looking like a proper little track weapon mate, can't wait to see what you think of it with ITB's!

I got to meet Moro from Latvia on Wednesday night, his ITB'd 5 was looking good and sounded lovely, made me miss mine a bit!

 

[Willem]

ITBs still a little way off, i've just not had the balls to get started, I might have a play with the MSPnP soon, but I'm nervous to touch the car with a couple of events left this season.

Anyway, a bit of a catch up pictures wise:

BC Racing coilovers, very happy with these! Adjustability is great, not experimented much yet, but there is a definite noticeable difference within only a couple of clicks on the damping.

I also had a little mess with the OEM anti roll bar, drilling my own adjustable setting. Trying everything to tighten up the front on the car!

and now...

the moment you have all been waiting for...

the new roll cage and interior!!!!

TA DA!!

Also chopped a small amount out of the bumper.

And to finish a view of the very scruffy front end!!

 

[Jacksheps]

LOVE that cage....but not going to love the price tag am I :/ ??

 

[Willem]

Yes, the cage is worth more than the car!! altogether about £1200 i think! and that doesn't include the padding which was another £120... I bought the back first and used that half the season in sprints and hillclimbs. Then I bought and installed the front cage and door bars over July ready for the races last weekend.

Its bloody heavy though, i think at least 60-80kg! So all that weight saving around the rest of the car has been negated by the weight of that cage!!

More power is definitely necessary now! I'm just trying to figure out how to go about the ITB upgrade.... every time i think about it my head starts to hurt, i dont just want to drop it off at a garage though, i'd really like to do everything bar the rolling road runs myself... my latest head scratcher is the throttle position sensor as the mazda has 4 wires and the ITBs only three...

Anyway, thats a problem for the winter!!!!

Here's some pics from the weekend:

Lined up for Qually on Sunday Morning

The competition lined up for race 1 on Sunday:

Race 1 on Saturday first corner chaos!! (i'm behind the black BMW, just in front of the green 106)

and some nice action shots from race 2 on Sunday:

Overtaking a 318i

Chasing an Elise

Entering the corner just before passing the Elise who decided to do some lawn mowing!

 

[Willem]

YOUTUBE VIDEO TIME!!!!

If anyone can advise on how i can embed these i will edit this post, but you'll have to clock on the links for now as i've failed in all my attempts!

Pembrey Race 1 start and first few laps (pretty boring, but it is my first race ever!!)

Pembrey Race 3 half way through to finish, this is a good vid, plenty of action!

I'll post up race 2 at some point, I managed to capture the whole race there and it's taking a while to process and upload...

 

[tropical]

Fuck me, I thought you were going to rear end that Peugeot!

 

[ThunderFox]

That's some scary driving!

 

[Willem]

I know, it's amazing we didn't all come together at the end of race 3! Couple of big oversteer moments, got another good one being uploaded right now, nearly take out one of the Type-Rs trying to get past!

The racing is awesome though, I was so pumped after each race, especially the last one, back out in October, I can't wait!!! Might do a race or two with the Max5 boys too if I'm allowed!

 

[Willem]

Here's the vid for race 2, first race on Sunday. The track is slightly damp so overtaking was slightly tricky, as can be seen at 12:30!!!!! I got mugged (caught sleeping) at the start, which put me on the back foot, getting the start right from the back is tricky as the light goes out just as the front cars approach the start line and there's a lot of creeping!