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Wenesday 7th May 2008
Fitted a cam sensor bung today. And I also signed up for the Performance Ford Magazine Snetterton Track Evening, on July 24th. It'll double up as a test session for me. I'm also contemplating moving up to the Ford Saloon Car Championship in 2009, which I'd need to pass an ARDS exam to get my race license, but how hard can that be? I want to get the car out on the track, and race her properly. Just need to find a big sponsor for all the tyres, fuel and entry fees.
Tuesday 6th May 2008
The suspension was setup today and the settings are now as follows:
| Left front | Right front |
| Camber | -1°52' | -1°46' |
| Caster | 3°44 | 3°27' |
| Toe | 0°04' | 0°06' |
The settings weren't a million miles from how I'd set her up in the workshop at home. Before adjustment she had less camber and caster, and was toeing out, but at least now she should turn in equally well from either direction.
We found a problem with the rear anti roll bar though. Both ends had bent quite badly, and there were witness marks on the chassis, which shows that the ARB is catching the floor of the car when the suspension is compressed fully. I'll have to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.
Monday 5th May 2008
The Race Technology DL1 is now bolted in situ, and waiting for the wiring loom to be completed. I've fitted the second Colvern throttle position sensor to the throttle spindle. This second potentiometer is used by the Data Logger to independantly measure the throttle position.
I'm building a +12V regulator for the camera, as the 14.4V produced by the alternator needs smoothing to remove interference from the picture produced by the camera. Interference is seen as horizontal white lines on the picture, and I want to eliminate as much interference as I can.
I went to the Great Central Railway today with my 3 year old Son, to watch the first run of the rebuilt Oliver Cromwell locomotive. We took a trip to Leicester on Sir Lamiel, and arrived back at Loughborough just in time to see 70133 steam out of the sheds. I've never seen such a new looking steam locomotive before, and the restoration, which has taken 4 years to complete, is breathtaking.
Saturday 3rd May 2008
Just trying to decide where to mount the GPS antenna at the moment. It really needs to be on the roof, but I'm not about to drill a hole in the roof. I may try it on the windscreen scuttle, below the windscreen. If that doesn't give good results, I'll try a higher location.
I'm booked in at Northampton Motorsport on Tuesday to have a full chassis alignment carried out. She's feeling a bit loose at the rear, and I'm sure there's some roof for improvement, especially as everything is fully adjustable.
Sunday 27th April 2008
The new Race Technology DL1 datalogger arrived on Saturday morning. The DL1 is the successor to the DL90 which I've been running for 5 years. But the DL90 is obsolete, so it was very kind of Race Technology to allow me to trade my 90 in.
The DL1 comes in a very professional looking black case, and the contents include a power cable, a very small GPS module, the DL1 itself, a serial lead, and some mounting hardware. I also bought a throttle position sensor, which will allow the DL1 to record my throttle position. Here's the rub. The DTA E48 ECU outputs its data over the serial port, and the DL1 datalogger will read serial data from an ECU. However, DTA wont tell Race Technology what their protocol is, to allow the DL1 to interrogate and record the data from the DTA ECU. If I upgrade my ECU to the DTA S40, or even swap it for an Emerald M3D box, then the DL1 would interface to those ECU's and would record far more information. (Water temp, air temp, throttle position, revs, lambda etc) I guess this is a marketing move from DTA, to force its users to upgrade to the latest and greatest. For the time being, I'm quite happy with the DTA unit, which means I'll have to do without the extra logging facilities provided by the DL1.
Pictures from Harewood, 13th April 2008
Saturday 19th April 2008
I spent a good hour cleaning all the mud off the Fiesta, the trailer and the tow car, following Sundays trip to Harewood. The XR2 just needs a polish and she'll be ready for her next outing to Fiesta In the Park, on May 18th. My next competitive outing is the weekend after, at the MIRA test track on May 24th.
The results from Harewood are now on line at www.harewoodhill.co.uk. And pictures from the event are at www.hedward.com. I came 2nd out of a class of three, and it looks like everyone was 5s off their PB's so I dont feel so bad now.
Monday 14th April 2008
It was a very wet and soggy Harewood yesterday. It started to rain about 50 miles from Leeds as I was towing the Fiesta to the event. And after unloading the car from the trailer, I struggled for traction in the trailor park, and that was at the start of the day. During the morning it continued to rain up until about 11am, and the paddock area gradually turned in to a brown muddy soup. First and second practice runs aren't even worth talking about, as the track was waterlogged and I had no traction off the line. After lunch I heard Chris Wise had recorded a 72s run in the drying conditions, in his stunning ex-works Mk1 Escort running 9" slicks. So I set off, probably with a bit too much enthusiasm, very quickly off the line and in to the first corner. The back end just came round on me, as I span to a halt. No harm done, so I turned the car around and completed the lap. The rear tyres were cold, muddy and of course wet, which means that I should have shown a bit more caution until they'd cleaned themselves after a few more hundred metres.
For my next and final timed run, I made another great start, but was more cautious around the first corner, and then pressed on for the remainder of the hill, and recorded a 73s run, 5s off my PB from my last visit in 2004. The next task was to get the car loaded back on the trailer, and luckily the Audi had just enough grip to pull the empty trailer out of the bog, and I parked up alongside the perimeter road. After winching the Fiesta back on, and tying her down, I then had to haul the load off the grass, and with all four wheels spinning, I managed to get a front wheel on the Tarmac and the four wheel drive system hauled me off the verge on to the road. So not a bad day really, it was just a shame it was a wet event at the start. I'll be a bit more careful on the first corner in future. It was only my 3rd ever visit to the hill, so there's still some way to go to get to grips with the course, in all conditions.
Saturday 12th April 2008
The video of my fastest run from Croft is now on Youtube
I've fitted the Varley battery, and sent the incorrect battery back to Demon Tweeks. Everything is ready for Sunday at Harewood, apart from the weather. Heavy rain is forecast all day.
Thursday 10th April 2008
I'd ordered a replacement Varley Red Top 15 battery from Demon Tweeks on Monday. But they sent me a Red Top 30, which is twice the capacity of the 15, and twice the weight, so I've had to order a replacement and arrange to return the incorrect battery.
I've replaced the false headlamp on the drivers side of the car with a black disk, which means the car no longer looks like it has lost a headlamp.
I'm #150 this Sunday at Harewood, and there are now only two of us in our class, so I'll be focussing on going as quickly as I can, but at the same time, trying to stay on the track as the weather forecast is for a very wet day.
Tuesday 1st April 2008
The Zetecinside web site is 10 years old today!!! And my Fiesta XR2 reaches the tender age of 25 this year too.
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