February 2025

28Feb

Front wing drop plates replaced

The pair of shorter (and cheaper to manufacture) front wing drop plates have arrived, so I quickly set about fitting them. These are 40mm shorter, which will move the front wing rearwards 40mm and reduce the downforce a small amount due to the change in leverage. They dont have the seven wing flap adjuster holes in them any more, since the shorter upper elements no longer reach or attach to them. Everything fits nicely together, and I'll get the wing back on the car for some more static load/deflection tests. As I am still waiting for the seat to come back from Triple M, I cant drive the car yet, and with the first event some 7 weeks away I've still time to get everything ready. I sold the Simpson Hybrid FHR/HANS this week which has raised some money towards the cost of purchasing the new dash.

I'm currently helping rewire a Radical race car, which came with a DTA S100 ECU, and loom. The loom was from a car with a Zetec engine, and the Radical has a Busa 1300 Gen2 engine, so its simply a case of changing the connections, and making some new sections to join back to the ECU. The BUSA engine has COP's so I've made a loom to allow all four COPs to be fired individually. This weekends task is conencting the hall effect (3 wire) cam sensor to the ECU, so it can fire the COPs and the Injectors. So far the ecu is connected up to the Throttle Position Sensor, Coil on Plugs (COPs), Injectors, water temperature sensor, and the crank sensor. We've powered up the ECU and performed the COP test, and everything looks good so far.

I've also been doing some aero work for the current BSC Champion; Chris Jones was looking to improve the cooling for the Force TA, so we scanned in the side pods using an iPhone, and I have modelled the contours in to Fusion, and created a bespoke louvre panel, which Chris has printed and attached to the car. It looks pretty good, the fit is great, considering how rough the scan was from the iPhone. I'm sure it will make a big difference, and Chris will continue to run rings round all the other competitors in this years championship. (There are only 12 drivers registered presently! and thats with two new drivers entered).


The shorter drop plate vs the longer one.


The shorter drop plates fitted to the wing assembly.


The iPhone scan of the Force TA side pod, imported in to Fusion. As you can see, the quality isnt that great, the surface is very rough. I used the form editor in Fusion to build a smooth surface over the side pod. It took many, many hours of modelling, but the end result should work, as long as it doesnt affect the laminar flow too much.


19Feb

Steering wheel and HANS

I've been trying to buy an OMP 27/C steering wheel, several companies claim to have them in stock, but when I ordered they came back with 'Long delays' and then 'No longer manufactured'. So I've gone for a Sparco F-10A from Demon Tweeks, which is a D shaped wheel (and is legal for Motorsport use) and I'm looking at changing from the Dash4Pro to a Plex SDM-330, which I'm hoping will fit on the wheel. I've modelled the wheel and dash in Fusion and a quick render shows it will look like this. Dave Gemzoe of Gemzoe Motorsport is going to supply the dash, which is on back order, and Dave will provide tech support if I have any issues with the CAN programming

I've just replaced the Hybrid Simpson FHR with a more common HANS FHR, at 30° and medium, which was supplied by Nicky Grist Motorsport. It fits me well, and the helmet already has HANS posts fitted, which the clips on the HANS FHR fit perfectly. The Simpson hybrid is far more comfortable to wear, but in the crash at Mallory was seen to rotate on my shoulders and although I suffered no neck strain, it didnt really look like it did what it was meant to do, so I'm going to sell it.

18Feb

Sustainable fuels

Exciting news from Sunoco, they are working on a range of Sustainable fuels for 2026, and they will include more oxygen than the current blends, which will mean even more power for the EcoBoost from next year. Read about it in their latest Crude News :D

10Feb

Beccy lives

The XR2 is now road legal and track ready. And owner Simon Smail took it to Knockhill on Saturday for its first drive in ten years! Would you believe it's 10 years since I sold her? She looks and sounds brilliant. Running a 1600 EcoBoost with 240bhp (1bar) she easily spins the wheels in fifth gear on the greasy circuit, but Simon said he used 50 litres of fuel with no issues all day.