clubstylus

Well , the forcast for tomorrow's not great but if the showers don't come till later in the afternoon , maybe I'll get a good ' time ' at the TWMC sprint . They run their sprint at Goodwood slightly differently in that the ' time ' is over two laps of the circuit --- one from a standing start , then a flying lap . Long time since I did that but from memory my previous time over two laps was 193 sec's or so . Unless there are late entries since getting the print-out , there is just one other car in my class -- a TIGER AVON but no details of mod's , slicks etc There are 78 entries that I know of.

Stuart , my son , is coming with me & Frances Maybe she's starting to like Goodwood Matt Downes is coming too , perhaps in the Stylus It'll be quicker in the Stylus seeing as it does 105mph in 3rd , so he told me yesterday blowing away a Boxter (Sharron in the passenger seat too ----- without complaint )

Just replied to Gary Tipping on the SYLVA CHAT LIST , as he'd congratulated me on the winning time but commiserated over the damage so thought I'd give him chapter and verse on the lead up to my cock up. Didn't mention who was running the event but I'm sure someone in the TWMC will see it.

Probably means I will be unlikely to get another invitation from them ----------------- On the other hand perhaps their organisation will improve

Having tested the repairs and set-up at Abingdon , the next event is Eelmoor nr Aldershot next Sunday 5th Oct. Looks like Matt will be there too provided he can get an entry at this late stage Andy Bailey intends to support and a guy we met at Abingdon will be there to watch as he's keen to build/buy a Stylus at some point also to ' sprint ' his existing Locost beastie

This really is a very strange year what with nasty weather , my half shaft breaking at Curborough giving me no points at all , then missing 5 events I could have entered after the upright snapping at Goodwood
Obviously there is still Eelmoor to go plus Lydden which I wouldn't enter anyway this year HOWEVER ------- I've just checked out the ACSMC's results for the season so far and am surprised to see that the others in my class (E9 sports libre) haven't got as many points as me . I had 3 1st's , a second , with one 1st being my joker event (chosen by me in advance of the season ) which gave me a double points win at Goodwood = 20 points SO ----- unless someone gets two more 1st's and my Eelmoor result is 1 point , it looks like I'm leading class E9
Just one little thing might upset the result though ----- the class championship is decided on your best 8 results from all the events and I've only done 6 including the forthcoming Eelmoor

Obviously everyone else has had a crap year too because nobody's done 8 events according to the latest result report ---------------- I wonder if they'll change the rules to suit the situation

Disaster today I'm sad to say . Managed to hit a small tree head on which hasn't done much to improve the body work as all the rodends snapped on the drivers side suspension allowing the wheel to exit through the top of the wing . More info later when I've stripped it down to expose the full damage SSC not operating now causes me a big problem -- the f/glass is so damaged that I don't think I'll be able to build up a repair that'll look the same shape as the left side

I could really do with that spare Stylus body I located for Anton

OUCH! Hope you’re alright? If your going to make a habit of crashing - god forbid it might we worth adding a layer of Diolen to your body work - I've seen it used on canoes and even when badly smashed it springs back to its basic shape making repairs a lot easier.

Matt

Damn Rob, thats bad news

So it won't polish out then? Maybe interesting to go flip front now then.

Ouch !

Bikenuts wrote:OUCH! Hope you’re alright? If your going to make a habit of crashing - god forbid it might we worth adding a layer of Diolen to your body work - I've seen it used on canoes and even when badly smashed it springs back to its basic shape making repairs a lot easier.

Matt

I don't know anything about that stuff , never heard of it , what is it and where can it be got , how much etc This is the worst damage I've ever had since competing the car over 8 years plus I know Eelmoor very well so was really shocked at my inability to avoid it. It rained heavily all day , easing off later on after my 2nd run mess up . On the 1st run , there was water running across the track in many places plus pine needles all over the crossover under the trees so was struggling just to keep it approximately straight let alone be quick and that run was 68 sec's as was most other cars in my class give or take a second. I was holding the golf brolly over me right up to the green light almost before throwing it to Stuart , Wipers were on , inside the screen was misted over . I had a towell in the car trying to keep that clear while waiting in line and a big tissue jammed down the side of the seat to keep wiping my glasses --- which was getting as wet as my backside I'm sure you can get the picture
I am surprised the event didn't get cancelled while we were unloading the car to be honest Then we waited almost 1 & 1/2 hours for the next run because another very experienced guy on this track went off at the hairpin in a 944 turbo , hitting trees/large and they cut the roof off to get him out. Police cars arrived eventually with an ambulance following and after a very long time took him off to hospital We have heard that he is ok but has been kept in for observation etc so hope he'll be alright. He is our FDMC magazine editor.
Having seen this all going on , I said to everybody with me ---- '' I'm just going to get the car around the track , I'm not bothered with trying to set a great time '' ---------------------- however once I took off on my next run I felt grip after my initial caution so instinctively pushed hard up to red light in 3rd , a little touch of the brakes in the usual spot , changed back into 2nd with foot still on brake & throttle , grabbed 1st , turned in with no throttle which normally serves me well --------------- nothing and no time or distance to change to the left to go straight on to miss the corner totally & avoid the tree --------------- bang & bounced back off it . Put it in reverse to get it out from under the branches --- no chance , marshals by then were by the side of me and signalling -- CUT engine . There was no standing water at that turn in point that I could see so I was gobsmacked , at least I'd have expected oversteer or a total spin or some way of avoiding the tree as it was a good 30 feet off the track It just went straight forwards as though I'd not moved the wheel
Anyway , the marshals and paramedics/doctor did a very thorough job , not letting me out of the car for about 15 minutes . Was I ok , could I see his fingers moving and how many , could I move my arms , legs , feet then asked me to move each of them one at a time etc etc . Once I was out of the car the doc' questioned me all over again --- very diciplined bunch and good on em BUT my only answer to was I ok was ------------- '' no , I'm bloody pissed off and cross with myself ''
I'll put some horrible photos on here later when I'm in the mood to look at it again

ANTON ------------------- have you used that body yet and do you still intend using it

Obviously I wont be going to Snetterton

Ah Matt Downes has beaten me to it --- photos above , thanks Matt
I had many offers of help regarding the repair from Andy Silman (made the biller uprights which appear to be intact but he's offered to check it out when I take it off to give him) , Andy Bailey plus help contacting the Darion man , Tim Duffy who has SSC's moulds but is notoriously difficult to contact plus the moulds aren't his Maurice May , a VERY experienced sprinter and rally driver offered to contact him on my behalf if a complete body is what's needed(lots of cash has gone his way in the past so he'll probably listen more to Maurice). I'm hoping to only cut a part front body to mould in --- if I can find one or a broken body with only rear damage

stylussprinter wrote:

Bikenuts wrote:OUCH! Hope you’re alright? If your going to make a habit of crashing - god forbid it might we worth adding a layer of Diolen to your body work - I've seen it used on canoes and even when badly smashed it springs back to its basic shape making repairs a lot easier.

Matt

I don't know anything about that stuff , never heard of it , what is it and where can it be got , how much etc

Diolen is a polyester yarn, it's most comonly used in tyres and seatbelts but is also available in cloth form like woven roving glassfiber it costs a little more than glassfiber but a lot less than carbon/kevlar. You can just laminate a layer onto the back of existing body work - it dosen't need to be done in the mould. I THINK that the resin melts the Diolen a little so it retaines a shape even if the resin is shaterd to bits certainlt thats how it seams to work - I saw a canoe that had its nose? prow? bow? completly smashed - to the extent you could almost screw it up but it still came back to shape.

That sounds amazing Since feeling pretty depressed about it all this morning I've had a contact to help me out with a partial front right body so now I'm no longer panicking ; just a matter of being in the mood to strip it all out to see what I've really got to do. At the moment it looks like RACK , RODENDS , RADIATOR , WIRE GRILL , AIR TUBE/FILTER , STEERING ARM (on upright) , ALLOY WHEEL GUARD , ' A ' FRAME , WISHBONE (maybe ) plus stretched busted wiring of course and a headlight alloy frame to mould into the wing --- keeps it very rigid even if no headlights get put in .

That's what I could see this morning with it still on the trailer in my garden Once it's all stripped off I may find that the chassis or pick up points are bent etc Simply can't tell till it's in the shed and up in the air for me to check properly with straight edge and torch
A few of my pic's

Found a place that can supply Diolen - and most other materials

http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/s ... fe03bcc63e

Looks like the uprights survived this time.

Did you do something like this?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ym06U1Ux3U&NR=1

Or was it more spectacular?

Werner Van Loock wrote:Looks like the uprights survived this time.

Did you do something like this?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ym06U1Ux3U&NR=1

Or was it more spectacular?

Well last time it was the upright snapping that caused the crunch , this time I'm not certain just what happened because as I said in the report , there was no standing water and nothing happened to change direction on turn in which felt like aquaplaning but couldn't have been. Looking at it at home I can see the 3/8 ths STEERING RACK rodend is snapped in front of the tightening nut . This would certainly give me that effect if it actually failed but why would it Hitting and driving over a cone on that side doing 70mph at Abingdon ' may ' have weakened it Really don't know

Of course , if it was not that , then it would obviously snap on impact once the wheel hit the tree stump itself (3/8 ths is very small/just strong enough to steer). I have to say I would have expected some sort of last seconds struggle with the wheel to avoid the straight line direction it took but there was none of that , it had made up it's mind where it was going and me as a passenger --------------------------------------- last ditch answer = driver error

Regarding whether it was spectacular or not you'll have to ask Matt and Stuart They said it hit the tree then bounced off I'd braked from flat in 3rd , dropped to 2nd , braked and dropped into 1st to turn in , lifting off at the same time ---- BANG My 1st gear is 2.04 so reaches 58mph at 7300 so I guess impact was 40 to 50 mph
The other guy who came off before me , in the 944 turbo , got two vertebra displaced and was taken to Frimley hospital intensive care . He's still there and will be for a few days I believe but we've been told he will be ok. The tree he hit was very wide at the base so did a lot of damage ----- it really was a pretty horrible wet day

Ouch.
Sorry to see the car in that state Rob. Though of course the most important thing is that you are ok.
Hope it's not too much hassle to get it back to its former glory.

DH2