Nope, not me.....
Congrats to Paul and his co-driver Rodger for winning the '1986-2008 up to 2-litres' class at the Fabcar rally. Given that all the clubmans were in the one class, he's managed to beat a number of (on paper) more powerful vehicles, including mine! Goes to show it's more about the driver and less about the car, so I've been searching for performance driver training courses in Perth. More on that later. I'm also booking myself up for an AMR Speed Event Series round at Barbagallo, plus another Superkhana before the end of the year.
In other news, the grass stage at Fabcar is apparently not going to be included in the overall results calculations - I think the conditions were somewhat other than expected, sot the results from that stage would probably have skewed the overall results too much. The guys at AEM have made a good call to discount it, even though for those who ran it, it looked like a lot of fun ;-)
The full results are yet to be posted, and the videos are still stranded on the camera, so no additional updates yet.
The Birkin
The finished article
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Fabcar
I thought I might put up a series of posts on the Fabcar 1-Day Rally over the next few days, as there's a l0t to say. So to start with, an overall review, then I'll chuck in a few bits and pieces (hopefully with videos) on the various stages later on. I can also provide the results once they get posted on-line.
Overall the event was excellent - good stages, well organised, good volunteers etc. Getting between stages did require some long drives (top to tail, the two furthest events were 50km apart) but this is Perth - everything is far apart.
What was also really good was the variety - the recent Dutton seemed to call out every man and his dog who owned a Nissan Skyline, Mitsi Lancer Evo what-ever, or Subaru WRX. This event at least had some older (i.e. much older) muscle cars, the odd Jag, Fiats, even a nicely sorted (and well driven) Proton Satria. We had a Suzuki Swift GTi, a few MX-5's (supercharged, turbocharged and NA), an MGB, a Porsche, plus a few Commodores and Falcons to provide the V8 tyre smoke that makes it so much fun. But at least it wasn't a processing of cars that all looked the same, sounded the same and drove the same as each other.
I think that was the result of the 1-day format - older (and maybe more fragile) cars (and drivers?) felt they could participate in 1 day event without risking too much through over-stressing the car, or if something did go bang on the first run, they hadn't paid thousands in entry fees and setup. Plus reduced wear on tyres, brakes and other consumables made it a more affordable event. Apparently there was some surprise at how quickly it sold out (a week) - personally I'm not surprised at all. It seems an ideal format for those who want to have a bit of fun, but don't have their own pit crew and sponsors.
For a day with 17 stages, there were only a few hiccups - a few stages where the queues to run ended up being quite long (say, 15-20 cars), and the final stage had to be cancelled as we just ran out of time. Nothing serious, and certainly nothing to spoil the day.
Most importantly, there were no injuries or major accidents (at least that I'm aware of). We did lose one of the Birkin brethren when Blair's right-hand half-shaft snapped going down the drags - no major damage and a relatively easy fix. It just failed at a weld - can happen, I suppose. The effect was that drive was only going to one wheel, and the LSD simply let go and basically provided no torque to the one remaining shaft - which is probably a good thing otherwise it may have snapped as well, or at least seriously stressed it for a later failure.
One of the Jags also re-arranged the landscape somewhat on one of the stages at the Motorplex. What was interesting was he managed to shift a fairly chunky concrete curb some distance, and kick up a lot of dirt, yet when I spoke to him later (as he was queuing up for another stage) he said he may need a wheel alignment. That's what you get with an older, all steel car - do that in a Birkin and you'll be re-building your front end ;-)
All of the stages were on good quality road surfaces - apart from one. I (and the other Birkins) piked on this, which was held in a paddock laid with straw. Looking at the way the other cars (particularly the heavy, rear-wheel V8s) were cutting up the ground, the amount of dust and sand being thrown up, and the obviously rutted nature of the ground, we made a decision that 50mm ground clearance and open cars weren't really set up for this, and bailed out for a DNS. It looked like it would have been a lot of fun if you were in something a little higher, and little heavier, and a little better sealed (ie with windows). Quite a few entrants made it to the next round with large chunks of the local lawn embedded in various bits of the car.
The electronics all worked well - I have yet to review the PerformanceBox output, but we noted a fastest 0-100 time of 5.4 seconds, which given the two people in the car wasn't bad. I'll have to give that a go on track later with just me in it. The camera also did OK -except I think it was having problems with the white helmets in front of it, so the white balance is way off and everything looks blue. Occasionally it recovers, but most of the footage looks like it was shot underwater.
So, overall I'd say it was a damn fine event and if they run it again, I'll be there.
Overall the event was excellent - good stages, well organised, good volunteers etc. Getting between stages did require some long drives (top to tail, the two furthest events were 50km apart) but this is Perth - everything is far apart.
What was also really good was the variety - the recent Dutton seemed to call out every man and his dog who owned a Nissan Skyline, Mitsi Lancer Evo what-ever, or Subaru WRX. This event at least had some older (i.e. much older) muscle cars, the odd Jag, Fiats, even a nicely sorted (and well driven) Proton Satria. We had a Suzuki Swift GTi, a few MX-5's (supercharged, turbocharged and NA), an MGB, a Porsche, plus a few Commodores and Falcons to provide the V8 tyre smoke that makes it so much fun. But at least it wasn't a processing of cars that all looked the same, sounded the same and drove the same as each other.
I think that was the result of the 1-day format - older (and maybe more fragile) cars (and drivers?) felt they could participate in 1 day event without risking too much through over-stressing the car, or if something did go bang on the first run, they hadn't paid thousands in entry fees and setup. Plus reduced wear on tyres, brakes and other consumables made it a more affordable event. Apparently there was some surprise at how quickly it sold out (a week) - personally I'm not surprised at all. It seems an ideal format for those who want to have a bit of fun, but don't have their own pit crew and sponsors.
For a day with 17 stages, there were only a few hiccups - a few stages where the queues to run ended up being quite long (say, 15-20 cars), and the final stage had to be cancelled as we just ran out of time. Nothing serious, and certainly nothing to spoil the day.
Most importantly, there were no injuries or major accidents (at least that I'm aware of). We did lose one of the Birkin brethren when Blair's right-hand half-shaft snapped going down the drags - no major damage and a relatively easy fix. It just failed at a weld - can happen, I suppose. The effect was that drive was only going to one wheel, and the LSD simply let go and basically provided no torque to the one remaining shaft - which is probably a good thing otherwise it may have snapped as well, or at least seriously stressed it for a later failure.
One of the Jags also re-arranged the landscape somewhat on one of the stages at the Motorplex. What was interesting was he managed to shift a fairly chunky concrete curb some distance, and kick up a lot of dirt, yet when I spoke to him later (as he was queuing up for another stage) he said he may need a wheel alignment. That's what you get with an older, all steel car - do that in a Birkin and you'll be re-building your front end ;-)
All of the stages were on good quality road surfaces - apart from one. I (and the other Birkins) piked on this, which was held in a paddock laid with straw. Looking at the way the other cars (particularly the heavy, rear-wheel V8s) were cutting up the ground, the amount of dust and sand being thrown up, and the obviously rutted nature of the ground, we made a decision that 50mm ground clearance and open cars weren't really set up for this, and bailed out for a DNS. It looked like it would have been a lot of fun if you were in something a little higher, and little heavier, and a little better sealed (ie with windows). Quite a few entrants made it to the next round with large chunks of the local lawn embedded in various bits of the car.
The electronics all worked well - I have yet to review the PerformanceBox output, but we noted a fastest 0-100 time of 5.4 seconds, which given the two people in the car wasn't bad. I'll have to give that a go on track later with just me in it. The camera also did OK -except I think it was having problems with the white helmets in front of it, so the white balance is way off and everything looks blue. Occasionally it recovers, but most of the footage looks like it was shot underwater.
So, overall I'd say it was a damn fine event and if they run it again, I'll be there.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
What a Difference a Day Makes
The car has come back from RaceTorque after it's tune-up, this time not just looking at the fuelling but also at the cam timing. And boy, what a difference.
The original run had 139rwp and 191Nm - with the changes, it's now 160rwhp and 219Nm, and increase of 15% across both figures. What's more interesting is that the average power is now higher than the maximum power from the previous runs.
To get this, the tuner made some fairly significant changes, retarding the exhaust by 4 degrees, and advancing the inlet by 6 degrees. This is where the fly-cut pistons came in - they gave confidence that the valves would clear, even with this fairly significant move. The tuner stopped increasing the offset only because we were now risking having the inlet and outlet valves touch.
It's also cured the stalling at part-throttle, smoothed out the power delivery and stopped all the popping and crackling on overrun. All that was missing was the pine-scented little tree hanging from the rear vision mirror.
Sets me up nicely for this weekend anyway - but it's one less excuse if I get pummeled by everyone else ;-)
The original run had 139rwp and 191Nm - with the changes, it's now 160rwhp and 219Nm, and increase of 15% across both figures. What's more interesting is that the average power is now higher than the maximum power from the previous runs.
To get this, the tuner made some fairly significant changes, retarding the exhaust by 4 degrees, and advancing the inlet by 6 degrees. This is where the fly-cut pistons came in - they gave confidence that the valves would clear, even with this fairly significant move. The tuner stopped increasing the offset only because we were now risking having the inlet and outlet valves touch.
It's also cured the stalling at part-throttle, smoothed out the power delivery and stopped all the popping and crackling on overrun. All that was missing was the pine-scented little tree hanging from the rear vision mirror.
Sets me up nicely for this weekend anyway - but it's one less excuse if I get pummeled by everyone else ;-)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Getting ready for Fabcar
Now it's time to get ready for the Fabcar 1-Day Challenge. Actually there's not a lot to do, as most of the stuff that gets scrutineered on the superkhana day is the same for the 1 day event. The major difference is the requirement for fire extinguishers.
The requirement is for 1 x 2kg, or 2x1kg, as long as one is accessible to the driver. The trick with clubmans is finding a suitable location, and a suitable extinguisher that fits. Unfortunately, Australia has been inundated with squat, fat things instead of the previous long, thin versions that fit so nicely under the drivers or passengers legs.
So I now have two extinguishers fitted - one sits between the driver and passenger seats bolted to the rear bulkhead with a reinforcing bracket, and the other is in the boot boot bolted to the roll-bar anchorage. Neither should move in the event of a 25-G impact, which is apparently the standard.
Also, this week the car is going back to the dyno for a retune. The car is idling OK, but it hates part throttle (keeps want to stall, missing etc), makes a hell of a lot of noise on over-run, and doesn't like 3000rpm, so I think a quick retune is in order before the event. Not that part throttle or 3000rpm is likely to occur much in the event, but it would be good to know that it's all running as it should.
Also - it will make taking off at lights less conspicuous. I was sitting next to a police car the other day, which is common for me given I live next to police HQ in Perth. My car gets attention, but if you have to rev the hell out of it to stop it stalling, it gets more attention. So I'd rather it was tuned to be a little more tractable at part throttle ;-) He's also going to play with the cam timings this time around, which might also help.
I'll post the results as they come in - again, also hoping for something a little better that 108rwhp. Frank had his checked out, and it came back significantly better than this, so I need to have a lot more if I'm ever going to think of keeping up.
Actually, that's a point. Frank had his out the other day for a quick shakedown run - he had no oil pressure, was keeping the revs really low - and still he pulled comfortably away. And he wasn't even trying.
Hmmmmm.....time for an upgrade, perhaps? No, no, mustn't think that way. Especially now the Aussie dollar has achieved parity with the Mexican peso.
The requirement is for 1 x 2kg, or 2x1kg, as long as one is accessible to the driver. The trick with clubmans is finding a suitable location, and a suitable extinguisher that fits. Unfortunately, Australia has been inundated with squat, fat things instead of the previous long, thin versions that fit so nicely under the drivers or passengers legs.
So I now have two extinguishers fitted - one sits between the driver and passenger seats bolted to the rear bulkhead with a reinforcing bracket, and the other is in the boot boot bolted to the roll-bar anchorage. Neither should move in the event of a 25-G impact, which is apparently the standard.
Also, this week the car is going back to the dyno for a retune. The car is idling OK, but it hates part throttle (keeps want to stall, missing etc), makes a hell of a lot of noise on over-run, and doesn't like 3000rpm, so I think a quick retune is in order before the event. Not that part throttle or 3000rpm is likely to occur much in the event, but it would be good to know that it's all running as it should.
Also - it will make taking off at lights less conspicuous. I was sitting next to a police car the other day, which is common for me given I live next to police HQ in Perth. My car gets attention, but if you have to rev the hell out of it to stop it stalling, it gets more attention. So I'd rather it was tuned to be a little more tractable at part throttle ;-) He's also going to play with the cam timings this time around, which might also help.
I'll post the results as they come in - again, also hoping for something a little better that 108rwhp. Frank had his checked out, and it came back significantly better than this, so I need to have a lot more if I'm ever going to think of keeping up.
Actually, that's a point. Frank had his out the other day for a quick shakedown run - he had no oil pressure, was keeping the revs really low - and still he pulled comfortably away. And he wasn't even trying.
Hmmmmm.....time for an upgrade, perhaps? No, no, mustn't think that way. Especially now the Aussie dollar has achieved parity with the Mexican peso.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Results
The results are up from the Superkhana - I came 26th out of 44. Mind you, looking at my times, if I had just taken it easier, I would have ended up top 10 (coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't.....).
Oh, and I won the dubious 'spin of the day' which I think was a bit much given:
Oh, and I won the dubious 'spin of the day' which I think was a bit much given:
- the RX-7 that also went up a bank, but one with a proper curb on it that threw the car into a nice spin - he recovered it well and finished with a grin on his face....
- the Ford that slalomed its way around the circuit, dropped a wheel into a ditch and ripped a tyre from the rim - again he was back on track the next round.....
I think I won because they got a photo of it, which they've kindly published online. See, I'm famous. Now whenever someone Googles my name, its going to be in relation to falling off the track with a photo to boot.
So anyway, a lot of positives came out of that, and I really enjoyed it.
Monday, October 20, 2008
First time trial
This Sunday, I took the Birkin out for its first set of timed runs. The day is run by AEM - the same people who are putting on the one-day rally in two weeks time, and the venue is one of the locations. So it was a good opportunity to punt it into a few corners to see what happens.
Anyway, four laps.....
First lap -well, less said about this one, the better. Started off, then put it into second for no apparent reason. Then came around a right hander, tried to sweep into the following left hander, hit brakes and accelerator at the same time, and parked it up a bank. What made it worse was that I almost beached myself -took some wheelspinning to get off and back onto the track. No damage to the car at all, which was good. I was only doing around 10kph as I went up the grassy knoll.
Second lap was better, although I must admit I was slightly gun-shy. Left it in first most of the way round, which worked a lot better. Coming into the final, sharp right hander though, I discovered it doesn't like braking and turning at the same time - basically understeered in a straight line, and clipped a bollard. Again, no damage.
Third and fourth laps were, well, dull in comparison, yet obviously much quicker when you don't park it half-way through the lap.
Anyway, the results should come out soon. I think if I hadn't parked it on the first lap, I would have done OK. I deliberately didn't look at my times during the day - I decided to focus on the driving, not on the times. When you're trying to shave whole seconds off, what's the point of keeping track that closely?
So, a few things to look at. The understeering is still annoying, but I have a lot of suspension work to smooth that out. I can also focus on the driver - as long as I do most things in straight lines at the moment, its fine. But I have two weeks before the next event - probably won't improve too much between now and then.
But gee it was a hell of a lot of fun...... ;-)
Anyway, four laps.....
First lap -well, less said about this one, the better. Started off, then put it into second for no apparent reason. Then came around a right hander, tried to sweep into the following left hander, hit brakes and accelerator at the same time, and parked it up a bank. What made it worse was that I almost beached myself -took some wheelspinning to get off and back onto the track. No damage to the car at all, which was good. I was only doing around 10kph as I went up the grassy knoll.
Second lap was better, although I must admit I was slightly gun-shy. Left it in first most of the way round, which worked a lot better. Coming into the final, sharp right hander though, I discovered it doesn't like braking and turning at the same time - basically understeered in a straight line, and clipped a bollard. Again, no damage.
Third and fourth laps were, well, dull in comparison, yet obviously much quicker when you don't park it half-way through the lap.
Anyway, the results should come out soon. I think if I hadn't parked it on the first lap, I would have done OK. I deliberately didn't look at my times during the day - I decided to focus on the driving, not on the times. When you're trying to shave whole seconds off, what's the point of keeping track that closely?
So, a few things to look at. The understeering is still annoying, but I have a lot of suspension work to smooth that out. I can also focus on the driver - as long as I do most things in straight lines at the moment, its fine. But I have two weeks before the next event - probably won't improve too much between now and then.
But gee it was a hell of a lot of fun...... ;-)
Friday, October 17, 2008
She ain't heavy.....
Weighed the car today - came in at 568kg with 30ltr of fuel in the tank. So really not a lot at all.
Weight distribution was, strangely enough, almost perfect. As expected, the left front tyre was a little light on - it was locking up under heavy breaking, so I've turned the right rear shock to put more weight on the wheel - that should help. Probably only a matter of a few kilos to shift to make a difference.
I'll redo the corner weights with my Dad in the car, although I think we'll balance each other out quite nicely.
I've also bought my helmet - it's a Sparco Formula helmet, with Hans harness fittings in place, so when I decide to get teh Hans device it will clip right in. It's a nice, light helmet, but pretty huge. I guess it's not about the looks, though.
Weight distribution was, strangely enough, almost perfect. As expected, the left front tyre was a little light on - it was locking up under heavy breaking, so I've turned the right rear shock to put more weight on the wheel - that should help. Probably only a matter of a few kilos to shift to make a difference.
I'll redo the corner weights with my Dad in the car, although I think we'll balance each other out quite nicely.
I've also bought my helmet - it's a Sparco Formula helmet, with Hans harness fittings in place, so when I decide to get teh Hans device it will clip right in. It's a nice, light helmet, but pretty huge. I guess it's not about the looks, though.
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