Well got there at last, Lydden 10th April.

Had a hectic few weeks trying to get the car ready for our first event after doing some testing on the kart track at Lydd and deciding it needing more -ve camber on the front and also the poor old pinto was breathing a bit heavy and dumping far too much oil. No probs I thought, new rings and a freshen up of the top end.

Off with the head, sump , big ends and pistons, inspected and measured up, ordered the bits. Stripped the head thinking a quick lap of the valves, no such luck !! Two inlet guides so badly worn that the valves had modified there seats. Many phone calls later I decided its not going to happen in time so plan B, use a head I'd been given thats nicely ported and polished but only std valves. Off to the machine shop to have 1.25mm skimmed off and a few days later its all back together with the piper 320 cam off the other head. Spent my day off putting it all back together and at 1630 its time to hit the button. Fires and runs first go but whats that horrendous noise ? Soon worked out its the extra lift on the cam causing the valve springs to go coil bound "oh s____ ". Off with the head and back to the machine shop to get the spring seats machined, "end of next week OK " the guy says. I managed to persuade him to start early on Monday and got it back lunchtime fitted it in the afternoon started it at 1730 but still had a Knocking from the sump ! Dropped the sump to find that one of the big ends was rubbing on a weld where I had put an additional baffle to help with the surge / breathing. Spent Tuesday welding some rear facing struts to beef up the rollbar and sorting out a few minor bits to comply with the regs.

Saturday we get to Lydden and its overcast but dry, down to scrutineering and failed on no head restraint, back to the pits and some webbing straps off the A bar, cable ties rag and gaffer tape and I've got got a pukka head restraint.
By this time its 8.30, time for drivers briefing, no time to walk the course and to top the lot the rains set in for the day !
Out for practice which is two and three quarter laps, first lap took it easy as the understeer is severe, second lap went a bit quicker and approacing the bend at the bottom of the hill I locked the fronts and it seemed to accelerate, changed down to lose some speed and thats when it all went wrong and changed ends. Luckily it stayed on the tarmac and was soon recovered. Back to the pits and adjusted the tyre pressures and backed of all the shocks. First timed run it felt a lot better but I took it very cautiously and that was reflected in the time. Second timed run felt much better as the track had almost dried in some places but there was still water laying in other parts, all was well untill the red flags came out as a guy had buried his Fury in the tyre wall so I was back down to the start for a resart. Back on the line and the drizzle has started again, this time I finished without incident but the grip left a lot to be desired. All in all a good day out, well worth the stress of the past few weeks but spoilt by the weather.

Sounds like you were pretty busy, but also sounds like you had a good time. :D

Now for 20 questions.

How did the times compare class wise?
What tyres and sizes did you go for in the end?
Did you soften the rear springs?
Plenty of cars a Loton use 1 Aero screen only to get around windscreen reg?
What class are you running in?

Cheers

Andrew

Andrew

My time was not particularly good I got sixth out of eight in class C8 which is roadgoing sports saloon, kit and replica cars. My time was 106.6 and the best in class was 96.71, other cars included a caterham cosworth, lotus elise and exige and a GT40.

Regarding the screen the regs clearly state that you must run a sreen and no aero screens allowed but I would imagine that it depends on the scrutineers picking up on it or other competitors complaining.

The tyres I used were 205/60 yoki 509's at the back and some chavvy pert worn 185/60 P6000 on the front. My intention was, and still is to get some decent 205's on the front but to do that I've got to get some bigger front mudgaurds which I'm hoping to get at Stoneleigh next week. The tyres most people were running are Brigestone Potenza which have a traction rating of AA, I'm not sure if they're available in 13" so I'll be looking at whats available with treadwear 180 - 200, Traction AA and Temp A. I would have liked to have this sorted by now but my priority was to get the engine running before sorting tyres.

Springs I've increased the rear to 150 or 170's as I'm going round corners this year, and 300's on the front. There is a run what you brung at North Weald in a few weeks so it'll be interesting to see if the spring rates have had much effect on its straight line performance.

Regards

Mike