Track car project - including diary of a track n00b
- Thread starter Vix
- Start date
Most rounds are relatively local which is one of the things that appealed, the series is being run by the guys at Fensport who are only down Cambridge way.
Event Calendar:
16th March - Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
4th May - Barkston Heath, Lincolnshire
14th June - Teesside Aerodrome, Middlesbrough
17th August - Woodbridge, Suffolk
25th October - Teesside Aerodrome, Middlesbrough (Sprinting in the dark which should be fun!!)
I've got some track/racing experience. Done loads of quite competitive karting with the Motor club here at work plus a couple of sprints a few years ago on the test track. Vix has next to no experience at all so she'll be on a steep learning curve. We'd like to get a track day in so she can learn as much as possible whilst I'm in the passenger seat to give her some pointers but I don't think we'll have time before the first round so we'll probably so something like that in between the first and second rounds.
Event Calendar:
16th March - Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
4th May - Barkston Heath, Lincolnshire
14th June - Teesside Aerodrome, Middlesbrough
17th August - Woodbridge, Suffolk
25th October - Teesside Aerodrome, Middlesbrough (Sprinting in the dark which should be fun!!)
I've got some track/racing experience. Done loads of quite competitive karting with the Motor club here at work plus a couple of sprints a few years ago on the test track. Vix has next to no experience at all so she'll be on a steep learning curve. We'd like to get a track day in so she can learn as much as possible whilst I'm in the passenger seat to give her some pointers but I don't think we'll have time before the first round so we'll probably so something like that in between the first and second rounds.
Spectators are more than welcome. There's a £7 entry fee, £5 of which goes to the drivers prize fund so there's plenty of incentive for me to encourage people to come along
Thats cool but if you or Vix win then you need to buy us a drink
Soldato
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Attaching them - self-tappers???
Soldato
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Vix that car needs some T-Cut loving! Poor thing has gone pink instead of bright red!
InvG
InvG
He might be having a new paint job anyway, depending on how much time we have.
They do tend to go pink, and the original red one we had was much pinker.
The cleaning and polishing and paintwork will be the very last job, but hopefully he should look a bit nicer by the end of it
Soldato
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Good good.
I had a Renault 5 of a similar pink. After some T-Cut and a few layers of wax and polishes it was very nice and red.
Finishing the running gear certainly is the more important thing to do though.
InvG
I had a Renault 5 of a similar pink. After some T-Cut and a few layers of wax and polishes it was very nice and red.
Finishing the running gear certainly is the more important thing to do though.
InvG
They're usually just screwed into plastic clips which are clipped into holes in the bodywork. I'm guessing you don't have the holes/clips due to either replacement sills or an early car which didn't have the skirts originally?
The 10 digit numbers are full Toyota part numbers if you want to order the bits and do it properly. Alternatively Self tappers or Lopez's suggestion should be fine.
Soldato
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Hi mate,
Cheers for that!!! Will give you a shout on MSN if I get stuck if that's ok?
Mine goes in a fortnight tomorrow for her arches to be welded in - bit tht bullet and bought them off ebay. Then there's only the brakes oh and spraying the bits of the car that aren't already done and she'll be back on the road and hopefully back to the ring
Cheers for that!!! Will give you a shout on MSN if I get stuck if that's ok?
Mine goes in a fortnight tomorrow for her arches to be welded in - bit tht bullet and bought them off ebay. Then there's only the brakes oh and spraying the bits of the car that aren't already done and she'll be back on the road and hopefully back to the ring
9th Feb 08
Wow, we have had a productive day. Phil has devised a schedule so we know what we should be doing each weekend. Today was exhausts. We have to remove 4 exhausts, one from each car, and fit three, one to each working car. This palaver is because Phil wants his Mongoose which was on Mister Two (the breaker) on his car. I’m a bit fed up with my rattly Janspeed as it’s rather loud, so I’m having the one off the red one, which looks like a custom job. Humphrey is having the Janspeed as it’s a good racing car noisy exhaust. He currently has a standard one. His new exhaust will be fitted when we do the gearbox change…
Earlier in the week, Phil removed the Mongoose from Mister Two, so today he set about removing the custom one and once this was off I polished the tailpipes with Autosol, whilst he fitted the Mongoose to his car. Just as I was Autosol-ing the mongoose, the bodywork guy called to say that Humphrey was ready, yay!
We zoomed down to the bodyshop in Sakura and admired his handywork. It had taken him longer than expected and cost Phil about £262. However we now had a car that would pass the re test. We booked Humphrey in for a retest and had an hour to kill. We had noticed that one of Humphrey’s indicator bulbs had blown and upon investigating discovered that the indicator/ sidelight assembly was sat in a pile of rust and not much else! Phil made a little bodge, in case the indicators were tested again. We weren’t sure what a re test would cover and didn’t want a failure on something as small as a blown bulb, and we especially didn’t want the MOT guy to see that nice pile of rust!!!
Here's what the bodywork guy did, not that it's particularly descriptive!
Anyway, he literally just had a look at the work done to pass the re test, so it was all panic for nothing. We now have a MOT’d Humphrey!!! I drove him back from the test centre too, so at least I can say I have driven him now!
As it was such a nice afternoon, I decided to attack him with soap and water whilst Phil removed the Janspeed and fitted the custom exhaust to Sakura. I got thoroughly soaked as I tried to power wash him with the hosepipe, and then rather frustrated as I realised how dirty he actually was. I swear I have never seen a car so dirty! There were cobwebs in the headlights!
It took a lot of elbow grease but he now looks passable.
We have a Porter Cable polishing machine thingy which we will use to try and improve the paintwork a bit, as it’s horrendous but I thought I’d have a go with the T Cut to see what a difference I would make. You can certainly see a difference now but it took a heck of a lot of polishing and my arms ache!
Well that’s it for this weekend as it’s Phil’s birthday celebration at his mums tomorrow. We both feel a real sense of achievement at the moment though and are currently on schedule!
Wow, we have had a productive day. Phil has devised a schedule so we know what we should be doing each weekend. Today was exhausts. We have to remove 4 exhausts, one from each car, and fit three, one to each working car. This palaver is because Phil wants his Mongoose which was on Mister Two (the breaker) on his car. I’m a bit fed up with my rattly Janspeed as it’s rather loud, so I’m having the one off the red one, which looks like a custom job. Humphrey is having the Janspeed as it’s a good racing car noisy exhaust. He currently has a standard one. His new exhaust will be fitted when we do the gearbox change…
Earlier in the week, Phil removed the Mongoose from Mister Two, so today he set about removing the custom one and once this was off I polished the tailpipes with Autosol, whilst he fitted the Mongoose to his car. Just as I was Autosol-ing the mongoose, the bodywork guy called to say that Humphrey was ready, yay!
We zoomed down to the bodyshop in Sakura and admired his handywork. It had taken him longer than expected and cost Phil about £262. However we now had a car that would pass the re test. We booked Humphrey in for a retest and had an hour to kill. We had noticed that one of Humphrey’s indicator bulbs had blown and upon investigating discovered that the indicator/ sidelight assembly was sat in a pile of rust and not much else! Phil made a little bodge, in case the indicators were tested again. We weren’t sure what a re test would cover and didn’t want a failure on something as small as a blown bulb, and we especially didn’t want the MOT guy to see that nice pile of rust!!!
Here's what the bodywork guy did, not that it's particularly descriptive!
Anyway, he literally just had a look at the work done to pass the re test, so it was all panic for nothing. We now have a MOT’d Humphrey!!! I drove him back from the test centre too, so at least I can say I have driven him now!
As it was such a nice afternoon, I decided to attack him with soap and water whilst Phil removed the Janspeed and fitted the custom exhaust to Sakura. I got thoroughly soaked as I tried to power wash him with the hosepipe, and then rather frustrated as I realised how dirty he actually was. I swear I have never seen a car so dirty! There were cobwebs in the headlights!
It took a lot of elbow grease but he now looks passable.
We have a Porter Cable polishing machine thingy which we will use to try and improve the paintwork a bit, as it’s horrendous but I thought I’d have a go with the T Cut to see what a difference I would make. You can certainly see a difference now but it took a heck of a lot of polishing and my arms ache!
Well that’s it for this weekend as it’s Phil’s birthday celebration at his mums tomorrow. We both feel a real sense of achievement at the moment though and are currently on schedule!
12th Feb
Just over a month to go. Although I’m confident we’ll get the work done on the car, I’m getting a little nervous about the track.
Just found this video of a Noble doing the same track:
http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip447
There are trees to hit!! However there is lots of track to sail about on too, although it looks in terrible condition!
After the first Sprint, I’m going on a novice trackday at Snetterton, so hopefully will be a bit more confident by the second one.
Or I might just be a natural
Just over a month to go. Although I’m confident we’ll get the work done on the car, I’m getting a little nervous about the track.
Just found this video of a Noble doing the same track:
http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip447
There are trees to hit!! However there is lots of track to sail about on too, although it looks in terrible condition!
After the first Sprint, I’m going on a novice trackday at Snetterton, so hopefully will be a bit more confident by the second one.
Or I might just be a natural
Soldato
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- Bristol
To be honest, on the first go, just drive it, no need to keep the power on, better to learn the track and how the car performs on the track than say hello to a tree, even if it means you go slowly and take ages to get round.
InvG
I was really tempted to do one of those, plenty of track time for the money and not too far to get a Taxi home when I park my car on its roof at the bomb hole
Lol!!! There's one in March
To be honest, on the first go, just drive it, no need to keep the power on, better to learn the track and how the car performs on the track than say hello to a tree, even if it means you go slowly and take ages to get round.
InvG
Good advice, thanks
I'm sure I'll be fine once I'm in the car and on the track.