clubstylus

The forecast for BRANDS area on Sunday is no rain but cloudy with a 30% chance of thunder storm late afternoon
Sadly , neither the space frame Escort nor the MG 6R4 are entered at Brands on Sunday . It's the 6R4 that I need to take points from seeing as he's in the ACSMC Speed championship S.Libre class so looks like I'll be chasing my own arse on Sunday His '' joker '' event (double points for a win) is Eelmoor on the 10th Oct , which will probably be wet I've gone off trees so wont be entering but could meet up with him at Debden

Hi Rob,
the other interesting bit of Brands is Surtees to Mclaren. It would be interesting to hear what kev says but I have always turned in to Surtees from the right edge of the track 'latish' so as try and get a late apex and take as straight a line to Mclaren. This alows you to accelerate towards Mclaren. I break in a straight line as I go past the 'early' apex on the rhs at Mclaren, still going in a straight line I get to about 2/3rds across the track towards the lhs of track and then turn in for Clark Curve.

Hope this makes some sense?

mike

Thanks Mike , I'll need to get the circuit map out to understand because the names mean nothing to me yet --- also it's only the INDY 1.1 mile circuit it's run over . 1.75 laps I believe
I'll have a careful look tomorrow and draw myself a diagram marking your prefered line

I've had a look at it Mike and totally see your thinking , in fact instinctively I would probably have entered Surtees exactly as you describe but your advice at Mclaren is less instinctive so will aim to do the same Many thanks

It's Monday morning and time to reflect on yesterday at Brands for the very first time ----------- h'mmm To be absolutely frank it was not my best ever performance which is to put it mildly . Practice wasn't until 10-20am which was 2.5 laps of the Indy circuit --- immediately followed by two timed runs of 1.5 laps . All sprint runs had to be clear of the circuit by 12-55am
My practice was ok but slow for me at 99sec's for the first 1.5 laps of the 2.5 laps practice but it served the purpose of showing me you can't relax around here --- unlike Goodwood which is mighty damn quick but does give time to think while rocketing around the 2.4 mile circuit
OK . so I'd seen the circuit and was now intending to get serious --- h'mmm First timed run , I shot off the line quite well but you had to stay within the white line before Paddock so tight early entry was the only choice ---------------- phew Dropping
down into Paddock in 4th with fettled throttle then accellerating into

the dip and up the hill is a bloody leap of faith , dropped into 3rd
under braking for Druids , turned in with too much speed and plenty


of understeer as a result which put me into the gravel
So after much clearing out of gravel from everywhere it could possibly get , I got inline for my very last chance to get some points . I wanted it to be a respectable run but needed to concentrate more to stay on the tarmac. I shot off ok and had a good run up to the Bridge , braking earlier than before , getting though Druids safely. The rest of the circuit and pit straight went well but after my next pass of Druids I was meant to come off along the Cooper straight/timing beam -------------- at this stage , concentrating on getting a better run , I totally forgot how many laps I'd done and promptly did another complete lap
Appologies to the Clerk resulted in me being given a time which was a relief , because I honestly thought I'd be disqualified for it
My time was 97.2 sec's which was pretty dismal and probably off the pace by 8 sec's
My opposition wasn't there which means I'll get maximum points but the 1st in class award is a little embarrassing ------------- BUT very useful all the same(the points I mean)
David and Chris Hussey in their Striker albeit not in my class were on the pace at 89 and 88 sec's , so that's the benchmark . They have a beautifully prepaired car on ACB10's running a 1600 Corsa 200bhp approx , the car weighing in at 538kgs so Chris was telling me .
Debden next , so I'll find out what 6 years absence does to my times there

H'mmm , just like I forgot to finish at the right place OK , so I managed to drop from 5th to 2nd , instead of 4th entering Paddock ----------- ----she didn't lock up though cos my boot was well in

I don't know how many times I'd need to lap Brands to be '' flat '' in 4th exiting Paddock , that's where my time is wasted I think

Marshalling at N Weald yesterday showed me that an ARB I sold for a Phoenix had been incorrectly fitted . Firstly it had come loose and lost parts(not yesterday)also the poly clamps had been fitted using the bottom bracket upside down . This meant that one half of the poly clamp was not supported correctly. Yesterday's comment from the driver was that he'd disconnected it due to the ARB levers hitting the chassis I assumed people would measure their own car to assertain how long to have the link rods ie. cut a little from each end to shorten the throw

The only point that was my fault as opposed to poor fitting , was the fact that the ARB tended to slide either left or right under hard driving , within the poly clamps. If there were only one chassis type with all being identical then a 'stop' could be welded onto the bar itself , inside each poly clamp position. BUT ----------------- SYLVA chassis are not exactly the same although they appear so at first glance. With this in mind I simply use 'hose' split down the side to fit over the ARB between the lever and poly clamp ----- fixed using two strong cable ties . This stops major movement without wear to any part , as would be the case with using alloy etc.

Just goes to show that even a full description via email or phone doesn't always register

Just had to cancel my entry at DEBDEN for tomorrow . Greased the prop ' plus my usual checks around the suspension etc , washed and leathered , loaded all the gear into the L Cruiser so started it to load onto the trailer ------------- didn't start straight off then started but charge light stayed full on . Worse still the engine tapped like hell and I'm not convinced it's hydraulic tappet noise . There was no hint of it at Brands so I'm baffled at the moment.
It cost too much to risk running it tomorrow , so it looks like an engine inspection. A job for the winter when I'm in the right frame of mind which isn't today
That's 10 potential points lost so probably can't stay in front for Champ' class win now lost the entry fee too

thats a shame Rob, i hope you get it sorted.

Hope its not serious Rob - I've split & sold most of my silver top now, but I'm just about to scrap the block - is it worth me keeping the crank for you just in case? (Can't see why a crank would make a tapping noise tho!).

stylussprinter wrote:Just had to cancel my entry at DEBDEN for tomorrow . Greased the prop ' plus my usual checks around the suspension etc , washed and leathered , loaded all the gear into the L Cruiser so started it to load onto the trailer ------------- didn't start straight off then started but charge light stayed full on . Worse still the engine tapped like hell and I'm not convinced it's hydraulic tappet noise . There was no hint of it at Brands so I'm baffled at the moment.
It cost too much to risk running it tomorrow , so it looks like an engine inspection. A job for the winter when I'm in the right frame of mind which isn't today
That's 10 potential points lost so probably can't stay in front for Champ' class win now lost the entry fee too

Thanks for the offer Alex but I'm convinced the sound is a top end noise . I'll take the cam cover off today to see whether it's cam related and also remove the cam belt covers just in case , by some rediculous quirk , a stone may have got behind there and jumped the belt a notch
I have no intention of removing the head today but that will be the next step ----- tappet buckets etc , plus I'll then be able to see if any valves have touched the pistons . If I find nothing then out will come the pistons and rods for small ends checking
Wouldn't it be nice to have a hydraulic ramp for sump and rods/pistons removal Engine out is a pain in the arse just to have a look at things , having to disconnect everything , although it does have some advantages ----- we'll see

i have a little gadget that allows you to put compressed air into the cylinder and another gadget that allows you to remove valve springs without removing head - maybe worth doing if a spring has snapped.
can't understand why charge light was on - sure its not just an alternator problem?

Regarding the charge light , it was the charge light cable shreaded where it joins the crush fit clamp and was occasionally touching the Alternator. Sorted now and cable tied to the oil filter base to keep the weight off the wire. Glad you mentioned the possibility of the valve spring snapping ----- I hadn't thought of that There's no sign of a stone within the cam belt covers and the belt shows no torn edges where it may have jumped a cog and it still nice and tight. Don't want to remove the cams yet as that will mean timing them again. I've got the dial guage etc but doubt I'll get it as accurate as Dunnell did when built Your tool for removing springs sounds intriging

I used to remove the springs on my old essex V6 by using a cheaper method than compressed air. I fed a load of rope into the bore through the plug hole then turned the engine slowly by hand till it locked up therefore pushing the soft rope up against the valves, keeping them closed, then I had a homemade tool to compress the springs to get the collets off. I ended up using this method loads of times due to a couple of bad batches of stem seals and it did no damage at all. Obviously the Essex isn't an overhead cam so much easier to do than the zetec.

I phoned Paul Dunnell this morning and he's fairly sure the valves have contacted the pistons when I dropped from 5th into 2nd by mistake entering Paddock bend at Brands . He reckons that would account for the loud tappety noise due to the hydraulic tappets having a bigger gap after the valves bent If that turns out to be correct then I am really lucky not to have done further damage because I did one more lap after that mistake . Equally a spring could have snapped

I spent most of the day disconnecting everything ready to get the engine out tomorrow --- just starter , engine mounts and throttle cable to do then hopefully into the L Cruiser and off to Dunnells on Wednesday . We'll see