clubstylus

i will be at wiscombe park as again my friend is running there too. hope to see you. hopfully you will be the same day as him this time and i wont have to chose who to watch.

Craig, we will be both days.

Rob, I thought you time was quicker. I will now jump around with joy

Hi. A link to the 5th gear video at Gurston. We are in it, but youv got to be alert to see it. They where practicing all through the lunch break, & the car didnt have a means of starting on its own!
http://fwd.channel5.com/fifth-gear/vide ... -hillclimb

We are at Wiscombe on Saturday & Sunday 21st & 22nd. I enjoyed this event last year. I think its great for spectators as they can get right next to the track & actually see inside the cars.
We have about 5 Westfields in our class.

I have fitted my Carlos Fandando wheels. Got some MX5 wheel arches, but only screwed on at the moment. I will try & do a drive around the roads this week to scrub the tyres a bit & check the geometry. It may have an effect on the steering due to the 0 offset.

I have also got a quaife LSD, but may not have time to fit it. But the Wiscombe course with 2 tight hairpins & the start really needs it.

Thanks for posting pic. Shame it wasnt in flight, so to speak. You can tell its me in the car & not Liz, cuz Im almost looking over the screen!!

Wiscombe Report.

A mixed weekend. Saturday was good. We both beat our previous bests, Liz was knocking seconds off her time like anything. However the Westfields (mostly high specs & driven well by experienced drivers) where about 7% faster than me. Also a lot of standard road going cars where setting very good times.

So Sunday I thought I best make for for it. My 1st practice run was almost on a par with my Saturdays best time. The circuit was slippy after rain in the night. So I should have realised that restraint did equal faster times. Liz carried on her improving times & was looking forward to the afternoon timed runs.

I was out 1st & determined to make an improvement. However after making a good start I failed to get round the 1st bend (20' from the start) tidally, and hit the bank. This threw me back across the track & off the other side. In doing so both the top suspension arms are bent (1 broken in half), the top ball joint ripped out, radiator ripped off & damage to the front body (not to serious).

Liz was not happy as she could not get a timed run & we both lost out on some points.

On arriving home I noticed the back suspension had suffered to a lesser degree & 1 of the trailing arms is now slightly bent.


I am unsure if we can repair the suspension in time for Pembrey it 2 weekends.

sorry to here the news kev, what a nightmare.
can the body be mended without too much work? hope it all can be sorted soon

I have stripped the car ready for the rebuild.
The front suspention rockers are being "repaired" for now, but I will get some made up.
The fiberglass has split underneath from the grill apature , so not to bad to repair. The ball jonts, roller bearing & rear trailing arms are in the post.
So a fighting chance it will be ready. I will also be working this weekend & working away for a few days in the week.

I still have the LSD to instal, and noticed at Wiscombe the car didnt pull until the engine reached 4,000 rpm, then it flew. I will try & look at the mapping.

Kev , I forgot to say that when you adjust the panhard using only the tube itself to turn shorter or longer ---- use a spanner in each hand to lock the halfnuts against each other with plenty of force (sorry there's no flat spot on the tube to put a spanner). Also you'll need spacers or half inch washers to clamp the rose joints tight so the ball is the pivot

Sorry to state the obvious but I've seen more than one car with it's ARB rose joints not fitted this way

Good luck with the repairs being in time for your next event -- I sense some night hours in the shed coming on

Well back on track.

Been busy at work & home. But we have both entered the Brands Hatch event this saturday (10th Sept).
The car is good & I have driven around the block as a kind of test.

For my birthday (a majorish one) Liz gave me a Data Logger. I have fitted it & want to add sensors etc, but at the moment its just GPS.

Dont know who we are up against yet.

Well , I know Jeff Wiltshire will be there plus the Hussey's in the class below you . I'm off for a family do otherwise I'd come along to support . Good luck with your new data logger , I'm sure it will be useful . Jeff's data logger/video showed a map of his course at Odiham on Saturday which he put to good use . Never considered buying one , probably cos I couldn't wire it up anyway , plus the grand to pay for it of course . He'll be able to play back his video loads before next year's Odiham sprint

Had a great day at Brands, - well a great half day.
Due to the cost of the circuit we only had it until 11.30! However that was still enough for a 2.5 practice lap & 2 timed runs of 1.5 laps each.

I had never driven the circuit (Indy) in a car before, but had done a couple of bike track days. What a difference it is.

My Practice run. I made a reasonable start but then discovered how blind Paddock Hill Bend was (its not half as bad on a bike being so much higher). I thought I would be able to take the bend flat out from the standing start, but no such luck. And as I veered across the track heading into the dip, I thought I was going across into the gravel. Well I managed to stay on track & slid around Druids & in fact slid around every bend I came across. The engine didn't pull very well & wasn't to clean on the noise test.
Anyway with still a lap to go I was flagged in, which came as a relief.

Liz then whent straight out. Came in complaining of sliding everywhere, but beat my by half a second!! This made her very happy as this is the 1st time she has been quicker than me. Strange thing is everyone knew about it - the marshals, competitors & spectators, Im not sure how the news got around. But everyone knew I was the guy beaten by his wife.

My 1st timed run was a vast improvement. At least the car was handling better. The engine was rough & didnt improve all day. Liz also improved by a fair margin. 2nd timed run & I had another significant reduction in my time as the car was now starting to remember what it was supposed to do.

The official times have not been posted yet but I think my best was 101second.
Jef Wiltshire in the same class managed 94 (I think), with a few faster Westfields as well.

Unfortunately the data logger did not work so I have no feed back. And I didnt have time to look at the engine fault, as the Stylus wheels hardly stopped for a driver change let alone adjustments. But it is the 1st time this year we have been on a circuit & it was great fun. As our years competition comes to an end I may well try & get a track day in before the years out.

Sorry I didn't come and support , we were away on a family jolly I bet Liz will be reminding you of that very important half second now and then Was it damp at all or was it sliding about due to the set up Sounds as though you had too much rake or too higher tyre pressures if it was a dry day
What datalogger is it Kev '
Paddock is a frustrating bend isn't it ---- it really looks as though it could be taken in 4th fairly rapidly as you approach the turning in point but once you're in it that dip and gravel looks to be coming up very quickly I was flat in 5th then dropped to 4th before turning in ---------------------- what a surprise I got trying to stay on the tarmac
The entry fee is crippling though and such a rush getting through the runs only having half a day , with the paddock being so far away

Hi Rob.
The data logger is a DL1 - so quite a good unit. I think Iv got it working now, just needed to push the button really hard.

I can only assume that the tyres where quite greasy some how. They are new & only been used at Wiscombe this year (which as you know we didnt complete the day). The pressures where 17 all round before hand. I dont think the issue was with the track, as everyone else had good times from the start.

Everyone kept the cars in the pits & didnt take them back to the paddock. As we where double driving we hardly had time to switch the engine off anyway.

Anyway Liz loved being on the track & prefers it to the narrow hill climbs. I think this is my cue to bigger plans for next year

Unfortionatly we forgot the camera, so no pics.