Fastlane Driving School

A lot of what people tell me about going fast is that it doesn’t matter how many ponies are under the bonnet, it’s about the skill of the driver. Having watched that Top Gear episode where Sabine Schmitz drives a diesel transit van around the Nurburgring, I can well believe it.

Plus, my Dad seems to like driving fast, so why not combine the two, I thought. So I bought Dad a day driving Formula Fords at Waneroo Raceway for Christmas, and thought I’d treat myself as well.

The whole day was pretty slickly run – first, you get divided into groups based on height and build, so that they can put you in a car with something close to what you need. After a bit of heel-and-toe practice in the car, you get taken out in an SS Commodore for a run of the track.

The organisers had helpfully put out little signs indicating where to brake and change gear for each corner. At this stage, the only observation I could make was that the braking zones appeared to start rather close to the corners themselves…..

Anyway, after that it was back to actually drive the cars. The Formula Fords we were driving were powered by 110bhp Ford Crossflow engines – relatively common a few years ago in Clubmans, but now superceded by newer engine designs. However, given the weight of 420 kg, this is enough to propel them to 100kph in under 5 seconds. Strangely, given that I’m after a 220bhp car that weighs around 600kg (but with a higher drag) the performance in a straight line should be similar to the Birkin. They'll probably go around corners faster.....

So, first out is 10 laps behind a pace car – fairly tame, but useful for working out the racing lines and practicing the gear changes.

The next 10 laps are on your own, where you are supposed to gradually feel your way into the performance of the car. Bugger that. I prefer to rush into these things and find out where the overlap between driver confidence and ability ends, so of course I spun out on the first lap. However, it did give me a feel for what the car does when it lets go, which will prove useful later on.

After lunch, another 10 laps were spent doing timed circuits, and this is where Fastlane differentiate themselves from other trackdays I’ve been on. You get some pretty decent feedback from guys who actually race these things professionally, so they can tell you what you’re doing wrong at which points. As long as you listen, you can make some pretty serious inroads. I’d started out in the mid-60’s early on in the time sessions, but was down to 59 seconds a lap by the end.

After that, it was the serious business of the timed race. Obviously, they don’t let you rub bumpers with each other (only two overtaking zones allowed, both on long straights), so the timed sessions were used to space us out to avoid traffic. However, after some final advice, they basically let you out to go as fast as (safely) possible. Spinning out, however, meant disqualification, as the idea was to get the lowest average time over 10 laps.

And the result – need you ask? I was damn pleased to see an average time of 58.6 seconds, and a fastest lap of 57, which is only a few (but extremely hard to find) seconds off something competitive. Got a little trophy and everything. Dad’s laptimes were rapidly improving by the end, and with a few more laps would have been pretty competitive.

Overall, I reckon the Fastlane operation was the best trackday I’ve done by far. Most other times they just bolt you in and give you all sorts of dire warnings about crashing, then let you loose. Fastlane treat this as a school, so you’re there to learn and improve rather than just go as fast as possible. I actually learnt something about driving, the capabilities of the cars and my own driving style that day, which will stand me in good stead with my own car. I'd recommend them to anyone in the Perth area looking to improve their own track driving, esp with a Clubman.

Day 1 - Taking it apart and putting stuff on

OK, so the build has started - by taking things off. My six year old nephew was a little non-plussed that by mid-afternoon it still wasn't finished. He seemed to take comfort in the fact that it would have been, but I'm missing a few pieces. In order to keep the peace I think those pieces will remain missing for some months.....

So, the nose is off, as is the scuttle. Nothing tricky there. However, in order to feel like I've actually achieved something, I though taking the first steps of installing the steering rack and front wishbones would at least show some progress.

The chassis arrived with most of the steering already installed, although I will be giving everything a good torquing to later on when I get a torque wrench. So it was just a matter of removing some more stuff and bolting the one extra part in.

And it's now that I understand why these things take a year. Dad and I must have put that thing in six times, each time realising that this bit should actually go over that bit, or that to put this in, week needed to have done this and that in step 1. All I can say is thank goodness for digital cameras.

It's probably also worth describing my build sequence at this point as well. The idea is that the build will go in, say, four stages:

• Stage 1 - prebuild. Dad and I will fit everything possible to the car, making sure we have all the bits etc, but will not tighten anything to it's final levels at this stage. We'll drill the holes for the tonneau, windscreen washers and bottle, seat rails etc, fit the rollover bar, suspension etc. The idea is to get a rolling chassis. This will also give us something concrete to start planning colour schemes etc.
• Stage 2 - paint. The car will head back to Perth, get put on the paint stand, and have most of the various bits removed before painting.
• Stage 3 - rebuild. The car, once painted, will be rebuilt from the start and everything torqued up, nylocs etc replaced where required etc. After Stage 1, this should be a meccano set build.
• Stage 4 - drivetrain, wiring etc. The final bits and pieces.

May seem a little slower (there are two Birkins in Perth that were delivered a few weeks prior to mine that are almost finished....) but time ins't the important thing here. I say that now, of couse.....

Anyway, the steering rack eventually went in, although it's not a terribly good fit, and I'm assuming that the aluminium blocks holding the rack will crush in around it to hold it secure.

The upper and lower wishbones were also a simple plug and play operation, albeit with a few exertions to get the ends into the brackets. It's a tight fit in there ;-) I'm just waiting on the front sway bar and shocks / springs to arrive before these are fitted, along with the uprights. Then I can put the wheels on a see what they look like.....but now, looking at my hectic social calendar, plus time commitments from my MBA, it will be a few weeks before I get back to the build.

However, there's still the engine to talk about, plus a few car related events to occur between now and then, so my faithful 150 readers, stay tuned ;-)

It's here, it's here!!!

Yup, finally picked it up. Well, most of it. A box or two was missed in the shipment from Melbourne (understandable - they were broken into again.....), so there're a few more exciting bits of car still to arrive. However, enough arrived to make it look like something's happening!

Went around to Franks to pick it all up, and found it was all nicely boxed up and ready to go. All I had to do was put all the loose bits (like brake disks, exhaust headers, metal thingamies that will go somewhere I'm sure, etc) in the back of the 4x4 and we were good to go.

I must admit I'd never towed anything this large before, so was a little hesitant. Got slightly spooked driving along hearing an odd rumbling noise, then noticed that the trailer was running over the catseyes. Everyone was giving me a respectable margin on the road ;-)

However, once on the freeways and highways, all was fine, and I eventually got used to the width of the wheels. Getting it to my parents place was another matter - Dad's advice was to "keep your speed up and you'll be fine". My parents driveway is 2km long, gravel, and goes through two steep valleys. People in rear wheel drive cars need to be rescued. And here I am in a heavy 4x4 towing a large trailer. Luckily all went well - dusty, but well.

So now it's in the shed, having gotten the thing off the trailer and onto the stand. Only one slight off note - when the packing guys put the frame over the chassis, they must have run the frame down the side of the car, as there's a decent sized scratch and slight crease in the passsenger side. Shouldn't be a problem though, as I'm planning on painting the sides, and the crease should be easy to remove.

Tools and such

One of the things to consider when building a clubman is the tools you will require. One of the main attractions to me of the Birkin was that it didn't strictly require any fabrication to finish it, keeping the number and complexity of tools down. The basic idea is that you should be able to finish the job using the tools common to everyday use - screwdrivers, rubber mallet, socket set etc.

The build manuals that come with the Birkin have, at the start of each section, a listing of the components and tools required to complete each one. That's fine, but being the sort of person I am, I preferred to know what tools I'd need up front, so I pulled all of this information out into a spreadsheet, sorted it, removed all the duplicates, and came up with a list of stuff. Basically, you need the following:

• metric socket set
• allen keys
• drill bits (for drilling metal, but really only soft aluminium), and of course a drill
• rivet gun (for the press-studs on for the tonneau and roof)
• torque wrench (ranging from 5 - 150Nm)
• screwdrivers
• silicone, grease, locktite, masking tape, drop sheets, pencil.....

So nothing there that looks too atypical, apart form the torque wrenches and I'm going to borrow those off Frank anyway. There are, however, a few tools to make life easier that've been made up. These aren't strictly necessary, however they can make life simpler.

So it's back to The Hanger to find out what we have and what we're missing. I may buy some things like the spanners and sockets, screwdrivers etc just because I need them anyway. I have, for example, a new bed that needs a screwdriver or two to put together.

To Max Power or to Not Max Power....

A little wrinkle has appeared around the engine package - I was aiming at the 220bhp, as there seemed only a minor difference in price. However, where Raceline mention the GBP120 for the pocketed pistons, what stupid me didn't understand was that to pocket said pistons, you must first strip the engine down. And whilst you're there you may as well strengthen some other internals, "key the crank" (what-ever that means ;-), port and polish the head, and so on.

So the extra 10bhp ends up costing another $2000 - law of diminishing returns kicks in. I prefer to think of it in terms of $ per bhp over the entire engine, which means an increase of a mere $6.35 per bhp. Surely that's a bargain!

I guess at the end of the day it all comes down to power to wallet weight ratio. I mean, you can go the whole hog and go for a 250bhp 2.0L engine for around $20K, or go 2.3L and get 300bhp for I don't know what price.

So Frank and I have tossed it backwards and forwards. And what was the decision?

Are you kidding. Max Power...... 220bhp it is. Should knock that ever important 0.1 seconds off the 0-100kph time....

I have an engine!!!

Frank has sourced a Duratec 2.0L for me - someone has kindly written off their new Ford Focus on the east coast after a mere 7000km! His or her loss is my gain, as it's a really low mileage for a donor car, and as a second hand engine it's a far better price than new.

So now the car has the bit that makes it go forward, which is a good thing. All the bits and pieces are coming together nicely now.

Frank also mentioned that the chassis et al is on the truck tonight, and will begin it's 4000km journey from Melbourne to Perth, no doubt aided by large quantities of amphetamines for the driver (of the truck, that is).

Once when I was driving back from Adelaide (a mere 3000km) I met a truck driver about 1500km from Melbourne. When I found out where he was going, I asked him how long it would take him to get there. He'd driven for about 8 hours already, reckoned he wouldn't be sleeping until he finished the trip in about 20 hours. Madness.

Anyhow, a few large bills are on their way over the next few weeks, but at least I'll have some large lumps of metal to show for it ;-)

More Gearbox and Diff news

More news on the gearbox - Frank has kindly offered his gearbox, as he'll get himself another one more suited to his needs.

So, this means that the gearbox with the following ratios is now available:

2.39/1.69/1.210/1.00/0.870

It's a semi-helical Quaife gearbox built by SP Components, so damn strong, and also will lose less power through the drive-train. Should be good for 250bhp at 7500rpm.

So what does this do to the car's speed etc? It means that 1st gear is really, really tall. At 7500 rpm (well past the max torque), the following speeds are indicated:
Gear / Speed / Change revs (to next gear)
1st / 80kph!!!
2nd / 113kph / 5000 rpm
3rd / 160kph / 5000 rpm
4th / 192kph / 6000 rpm
5th / 220kph / 6500 rpm

Obviously I won't be changing down from 7500rpm too often, but when I do it will drop me back into the torque curve nicely. More likely I'll be coming down earlier, as the torque curve tends to flatten out at higer revs, which in turn will drop me lower down the rev range and again into the start of the torque curve. All up, should be an exciting drive (on paper, anyway....).

The higher gearing on the box will also compensate somewhat for the lower gearing on the LSD (4.4). Otherwise the car gets dull. But with a 3.9, the car will try and do 90kph in first, which is just silly ;-) As it is in theory I won't have to leave 1st gear in most city driving.....

So, thanks Frank, and now I think most major decisions (engine, chassis, gearbox and diff) have been made for the drivetrain. I guess things like the clutch will also have an impact, but the one in the package should cope for now.

Just have to wait until the damn truck arrives.....

Gearboxes and Diff Ratios

I was planning on using Frank's gearbox from his current Birkin, as he was replacing it with a dog-box, however best laid plans and all.....Frank bought himself a dedicated race-car, so the his Birkin will keep the nice Quaife semi-helical, meaning I now have some decisions to make regarding gearboxes.

The main concern with gearboxes are the various ratios. These, coupled with the diff, have an immediate impact upon:

1. Acceleration - how fast the thing gets off the line in various gears
2. Speed in gear - at what speed do you need to change up a gear
3. Top speed - at what point does the scenery blur stabilise?
4. Driveability - how hard do you have to thrash it at the lights to stop stalling?

For example, if you have a nice low ratio like Franks for first gear (2.39) and a low diff ratio (3.9), then you'll get to a ridiculous 80kph in first (on 15 inch rims). Which is great for tearing off the line and getting good 0-100kph figures. However, you'll also note that at idle (let's say 1000 revs), the car will attempt to do nearly 15kph. Now, when you're trying to pull off at the lights, this means you have to give it a bit of stick to stop it from stalling, which means you tend to squeal the tyres every time.

At the moment, the suggestion is to go for a Subaru 4.4 diff with a decoupling LSD (decouples on lift-off, reducing oversteer) and a rebuilt Sierra gearbox from a 6 cylinder. According to this setup, I should be able to get the following at 6500rpm

• 1st 48
• 2nd 89
• 3rd 128
• 4th 160
• 5th 195

While the top speed doens't look massive, clubmans tend to hit an aerodynamic wall at anything above this anyway.

The other thing to consider is - where does a shift leave you? So, let's say I'm doing 48kph in first at 6500rpm, and I shift to second. 48kph in second is about 3500 rpm, which is just before the torque kicks in at around 3750rpm on the sort of engine I'm looking at. So not 100% ideal, but not too bad. But as you go up the gears, it drops you into higher and higher rpm - so the shift from 4th to 5th at 160 kph puts you at nearly 5000 rpm.

Anyway, there are a few options, such as a copy of Franks gearbox, or a 3.9 diff ratio, but it's all a bit of fun to try and model what the car will be like using various numbers.

In other news - the chassis is now in Melbourne, and will be shipped this week to arrive early next week, so it's a little later than Christmas but oh well.

For those with any sort of interest, the following website was used for the speed calculations:

http://www.kabamus.com/garage/gears.html