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2011 Story so
far...
Final result
for Tin Tops 2011 - 5th in class, 15th overall.
November 12th 2011 -
Brands Hatch report
The last meeting of
the season turned out quite lively! A damp track and gloomy day
brought drama on just lap 3 of qualifying as Dominic entered Paddock
Hill Bend with the Fiesta of Jason Watkins on the left and another
car on the right, both trying to get past at the same time.
Dominic stuck to the middle line to let the others get on with it
but Jason's Fiesta spun and bounced off the front wing and wheel of
our Fiesta. Dominic took to the inside grass to avoid more
serious damage and spinning himself while Jason ended up in the
gravel.
The session was red
flagged and while we could continue with what turned out to be just
cosmetic damage, the session continued with someone dropping some
fluid at Graham Hill Bend which further knocked confidence in the
car as Dominic struggled to find a quick line through the corner due
to the rear end breaking away on the fluid. However we managed
to qualify 3rd in class.
Race 1 saw Dominic
make a good start keeping several cars behind but as they were a
mixture of different classes it was best to let them through and
concentrate on our own race. However on the second lap the
safety car dived out in front of the leaders causing an accident in
itself as several cars stood on the brakes in avoidance and giving
the drivers behind little chance to react.
There was only a gap
of a couple of laps after the safety car period before it was out
again! This time the field had spread out enough to avoid
problems but giving Dominic a chance to catch up with some in front
who were still struggling with traction.
Unfortunately with
the mix up in 'normal' grid positions there were a number of faster
cars that mingled intermittently with our class and Dominic lost out
to the Metro of Jon Wild and thus back to 4th in class as a Sierra
Cosworth with engine issues, got in the way and slowed us down
enough to let the Metro through.
Some formation
driving then saw out the rest of the race as Jon and Dominic traded
places, but sadly we lacked acceleration in places and were unable
to make the moves stick.
Race 2 was
fortunately a lot calmer! However as the points battle in most
classes was in full swing, it was clear that Jon Wild would not give
up his position in front of Dominic easily! Lap after lap we were
just millimetres from the Metro's rear and almost pushing but
Dominic could not find a way past. Result - another 4th in
class.
Despite the dented
car and average performance, we did have a nice surprise as we won
best prepared car for the meeting.
October 22nd 2011 -
Brands Hatch report
A successful event in
our opinion despite unremarkable finishing positions in both races.
Race 1 saw Dominic maintain his position ahead of rival Jon in his
Metro throughout the race, but had to work hard with a lot of
defensive driving. Although we finished 5th in class we
finally broke our lap record previously set in an XR2 with slick
tyres and LSD, in a car that now has neither! Our tweeking of
tyre pressures seem to be having a payoff at last.
Race 2 was somewhat
more varied with a fantastic start as Dominic kept the throttle
buried in the approach to the lights in our rolling start while they
were still red. While everyone else started braking as the
lights went out, Dominic shot up the outside of Paddock Hill Bend
overtaking several cars in the classes ahead! He then
maintained a good position for several laps as the faster cars were
distracted by their own battles.
Much of the rest of
the race was spend battling with a Fiat Punto, who although not in
our class, provided some entertainment. Result - 5th in class.
October 15th 2011 -
Update
We've acquired an
almost new Ford Racing Puma gearbox with only 600miles on it!
We were hoping to fit it for the last couple of races this season
but problems were encountered in removing the old box. Problem
1 was that the driveshafts refused to pop out of the box despite a
hefty bar being used. We worked around that by disconnecting
the inner CV joint. The show stopper was the gearbox to engine
bolt which rounded off. Unfortunately as the bolt is right at
the back of the engine bay it is very difficult to get any leverage
on it. So now we will have to wait until the end of the season
and remove the whole engine and gearbox together.
One good thing to
come out of this was replacing the gearbox torque link mount with a
far stiffer competition item which will reduce the movement on the
engine bay and stop the exhaust/manifold being put under stress.
September 11th 2011 -
Lydden Hill review
Qualifying was the
first ever wet session at this circuit with the weather staying cool
and showery. Dominic managed a respectable 4th in class and
over a second faster than the nearest rival of Jon Wild.
Race 1 and the track
had dried out and with a full grid of Tin Tops on this tight and
short circuit, things stayed busy with Dominic enjoying leading a
close battle with Jon's Metro and Dave Charlton's Beetle.
Unfortunately we lost out to Jon in a iffy yellow flag situation and
had to settle for 4th in class.
Race 2 was somewhat
similar with the same battle group but in a different order as Jon
kept his lead from the start and Dominic trying to fend of the
Beetle but again lost out as Dave slid past. Dominic stayed
glued to the rear of the Beetle for the rest of the race but saw an
opportunity and dived past, as the lapping cars came past to mix up
the action.
September 4th 2011 -
Update
The Donington Park
round has been cancelled due to council red tape. We have
however put our entry fee money to good use and found a gearbox with
more suitable ratios for racing. Hopefully we may have this
fitted for the last round at Brands Hatch.
August 28th 2011 -
Update
Exhaust has been
fixed back in position again as it still keeps drooping at the bend
before the backbox and coming free of some of the hangers.
Unfortunately this is the compromise made with an aftermarket
exhaust in sections and clamps and also mostly because we used a
compound to stop corrosion in anticipation of having to take tings
apart for engine work in the future.
We have also removed
the radiator fan for further weight saving following our test at
Brands with it unplugged and no adverse temperature problems except
for after the race in the paddock when the temp needle almost
reached the red section.
August 20th 2011 -
Brands Hatch Report
Our first ever time
on this GP circuit started off as a somewhat nervous affair after a
trip through the gravel trap at the very difficult Surtees corner.
However things
improved in the races with a 3rd in class position in race 1 and an
enjoyable battle with a Fiat where Dominic just took the place on
the last lap on the drag to the chequered flag. Race 2 was a
better result with a 2nd in class and another good battle with the
Peugeot 205 of Rob Sadler who was passed after he suffered from a
misfire.
July 23rd 2011 -
Snetterton Report
With worries over the
wonky rear wheel, a dashboard full of warning lights thanks to our
wiring work in progress, and the exhaust being pulled apart due to
the car being too low to go happily on the trailer; it was going to
be a stressful day!
Unsurprisingly things
got worse when in the qualifying session it was immediately obvious
there was something rubbing badly. Dominic did the minimum 3
laps slowly and retired to investigate.
Both front tyre had a
groove the depth of the tread where the car was too low and had
sliced against the inner bodywork. However this was unlikely
to be the cause of so much noise, but as a precaution we raised the
front coilover settings by 3 turns.
The nearside rear hub
bearing was quickly identified as being very knackered. As it
was perfect in the last race, it can only be another knock on effect
of the Brands accident. Unfortunately we have no spares for
this and so we elected to race 'carefully' with the problem and hope
that the hub held together.
Race 1 was a nervous
affair with nursing a potentially dangerous issue on the new
Snetterton 200 circuit. However as the bearing noise remained
constant and with no sign of bad handling, Dominic pressed on and
began to catch some cars from his 36th position on the grid.
We finished 21st so not all bad!
Race 2 was quicker
still, but only driving at 9/10ths Dominic still managed to race
closely with Jon Wild and another pair of Fiats. Only after locking
up at the new Murrays corner did we loose position and finished the
race 3rd in class.
July 22nd 2011 -
Panic
We've left it a bit
late but needed the tyre removed from the mashed up wheel from the
Brands accident removed and installed on a good rim. That was
easy enough but the mobile tyre engineer we used pointed out that
the off side rear wheel has visibly too much toe in. We've
already been worrying about this and a second opinion of this was
not what we wanted!
So we've broken out
the string and measuring tape again to find the centre line of the
car and then measure the toe settings on the rear wheels.
Although to the eye there is a big difference we measured it at
about 6mm.
A temporary
realignment was suggested and we've installed a couple of 1.5mm
washers on between the hub and the hub spacers which was just enough
to reduce the toe in to something easier on the eye. Hopefully
there wont be any nasty handling issues now.
July 17th 2011 - Door
cards installed
The door cards have
been finished off and despite a lot of time taken to cut them to the
right size and shape they've turned out quite well. As the
doors are a mirror image of each other, it was just a case of
getting one card done and then using that as a template for the
other door. Also we've shaped the ABS plastic with the hot air
gun to bend around the original interior door handle to reduce sharp
edges and help hold the handle mechanism in place.
July 10th 2011 -
Replaced windscreen
We've gone the DIY
route with the screen to save money and as we may have to do this
every few seasons its a good skill to learn.
The proper bonded
screen cutting tool is required along with the correct bonding glue
but these are fairly cheap and the job is quick. We removed a
good condition screen from a car in the local breakers yard in 10
mins (only after breaking another screen on the first attempt which
was heated..) for £20 which is a huge saving over a brand new
screen. It also came with the added benefit of a pre-installed rear
view mirror!
Fitting is a bit
longer and its important to trim down the old bonding agent off both
the donor screen and car and follow the steps required for the
primers carefully.
July 3rd 2011 -
Nearly Ready!
We've taken the
opportunity while we wait for the next round at Snetterton, to
tinker with the car and so have lightened it somewhat further by
taking out a load of surplus wiring out of the loom, theres still
plenty more to go though!
Also we've fitted the
bonnet pins recycled from the old XR2 and decided to remove the
electric boot popper.
We are going to
replace the door cards with plastic sheet both as a weight saving
exercise and to keep it tidy now that the drivers door has a handle
for the window and the zetec s door card does not allow fort that.
The excess metal work has been removed from the doors now.
More importantly we
need to replace the windscreen which has a couple of large cracks in
it. We will be looking for a used windscreen in the breakers
yards soon and will be fitting it ourselves once the fitting tools
arrive that we ordered.
June 19th 2011 -
Update
Fiesta is back with
us and looking much better thanks to
Chappell Coachworks
who have replaced the door and grafted in a new rear quarter section
plus a lick of paint.
We are now in the
process of putting back the bits we took off for the work such as
the windows as well as transferring the door locks across from the
old bashed door. A nice bonus to this work is that the
replacement used door came with a manual window winder, so we can
ditch the electrics in the doors altogether saving quite a bit of
weight!
The passenger door
window is now bolted up in the closed position enabling us to remove
the regulator mechanism and we will be cutting excess metalwork from
the doors and replacing the original Ford doorcards with some ABS
plastic sheeting which will be much lighter.
We've also lost the
plastic sill covers as they weigh quite a bit and have no practical
purpose. As the replacement rear quarter came with no mounting
holes for the bodykit, some of the work was already done for us! but
its only a matter of several screws to replace the kit should it be
needed in future.
Also in progress is
the lightening of the wiring loom, we've started with the easy bit
from the rear lights and worked forward as far as the fusebox now.
The loom from the tailgate is a different matter as we would like to
retain the electric boot release to give another exit from inside
the car, but there is a conflict with scruitneering issues where we
have already been told to install bonnet pins and we think tailgate
pins may become required too. Something else to think about!
June 5th 2011 -
Update
The Fiesta is still
at the bodyshop undergoing surgery hopefully we will be ready in
time for the Snetterton round! When the car is back with us we
still need to fit some bonnet pins as the scruitineers were not all
that happy about the standard bonnet catch on a racecar that is no
longer on the road.
May 5th 2011 -
Update
New poly bushes
finally arrived so they have now been fitted which was a far easier
job than removing the old ones which had to be burned and cut out.
Rear beam is now bolted back in place and original hubs reattached
as they were is far better condition than the donor axle items.
Next job is to get the car over to the bodyshop for its new door and
rear quarter and a lick of paint.
Not sure if we'll
make it the the Mallory Park round due to logistical and cost
reasons at the moment.
April 24th 2011 -
Update
Ream beam was bent in
the impact so have picked up a replacement unit and prepared that
for use with the car. Removed the bent beam and salvaged the
hubs to transfer to the donor axle. We've also taken the
opportunity to upgrade the rear bushes to polyurethane which should
tighten up the handling further.
We've also made a
start on further lightening with some more material removed from the
rear bumper and some unnecessary wire removed from the loom.
April 10th 2011 -
Brands Hatch report
Not good!
Qualifying was a bit of a mess due to a lot of oil being left on the
track, this did not inspire much confidence in the handling and
therefore we couldn't improve on times.
Race one was somewhat
embarrassing as we failed to add enough fuel to last to the end of
the race -stupid mistake!
Race 2 was a start
from the very back of the grid, however by the second corner Dominic
had gained 2 places, and a few laps later another 2 cars were
passed. Dominic then enjoyed a long battle with a Peugeot 205 before
passing on the penultimate lap. However the success quickly
disappeared when the Peugeot made a last ditch attempt to pass on
the last lap at Clearways. This forced Dominic to go wide to avoid
contact which took him onto the marbles at the edge of the track, a
spin started and from out of nowhere it seemed Dominic was hit in
the side by a Mazda MX5.
Dominic managed to
climb out the the passenger side of the car is the drivers side is
too damaged, and seems ok at the moment other than a very sore
shoulder. The car is not too pretty either!
April 9th 2011 -
update
Toe settings have
finally been set properly after much aggro with a seized track rod
end. We've gone for about 0.5deg toe out for the moment.
Also in preparing the car for the meeting tomorrow we have taken a
bit more weight out of the dashboard.
April 2nd 2011 -
suspension upgrades 3
After some research
we tried to measure and adjust the toe settings using the old
fashioned string, tape and calculator method. This mostly did
not work due to string moving in the wind! Also in Ford's
wisdom, they did not put any flat section on the track rod so it is
difficult to adjust. Therefore we have elected to get someone
in with better equipment!
March 26th 2011 -
suspension upgrades
2
Fitted other side
lower arm, and adjusted camber using a digital level for an easy way
to measure. we've managed to get about 3degrees of negative
camber. However the front wheels are now visibly toeing out
massively, they will need adjusting back in so we have about a
quarter of a degree toe out.
February 20th 2011 -
suspension upgrades
Fitted one side of
the lower arms. As the rearmost nut on the existing arm is an
unusual size we had to buy an 18mm spanner as well as slightly bend
the subframe lip to get a decent grip on the nut. There is
just not enough room for a socket and as the original nut is fairly
corroded we could not risk damaging it. The front bolt has
already been recently undone when the strut brace was fitted, and
the balljoint pinch bolt is easy enough. The new arm fitted in
place with some persuasion and the camber adjustment set roughly at
the maximum setting. Alignment will still need to be done
later on. A point to note is that negative camber is achieved
by extending the track length of the lower arm which pushes the
whole hub assembly outwards and possibly stresses the CV joints -
will have to watch that one.
February 5th 2011 -
suspension upgrades
We've started work on
the suspension upgrades by fitting some new shorter and different
rate springs. The car is now a bit lower still which means
some extra complications with brake lines. We've also got the
new lower arms to fit and then we'll need to consider some testing
to make sure it all works.
January 26th 2011 -
Award!
We've won an award.
Our car has been awarded the BARC Best Prepared Tin Top car for
2010. Another nice trophy to add to our small collection.
Now we have some pressure to keep the car polished for this year
too.
January 15th 2011 -
Update
A provisional
calendar is shown opposite for the Tin Tops meetings in 2011.
Really looking forward to Brands Hatch GP but already annoyed as we
hoped to attend all rounds this year but the second round will not
happen for us as Dominic is away doing the charity
Scumrun.
We've now got some
adjustable lower arms being made for us to allow much greater
negative camber at the front to help neutralise the understeer.
We will be ordering some new springs shortly too.
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