Latest News 

12June

ABS issue cured

It just needed the faulty near side sensor replacing, but I changed both anyway as they're similar ages. The fault dissappeared from the dash as soon as I switched the ignition on, and I then cleared the fault from the ECU using the Foxwell ODBii reader for good measure.
https://youtu.be/dM819mAycj8

12June

FWEPS

DJ have said its cheaper to make a new pair of FWEPS than repair the old ones, so I've got a new pair on order. I've also bought another pair of ABS sensors and I will be be fitting them to the Transporter this weekend to cure the ABS error.

7June

Shelsley Hill record lowered

Congratulation to Will Hall on lowering the Shelsley hill record from 22.37 to 22.33 seconds on Sunday. I'm so pleased Rich Danby live streamed it too. Another record permanently immortalised on Youtube. I was tempted to go and watch but the alure of watching the Monaco F1 was too strong, and what a race that was too! https://www.youtube.com/live/puwMr1neK8c?si=5rMGMbJSPKH3xJR_&t=15882

6June

Clearing the ABS error on the van

I've bought a Foxwell scanner to allow me to clear the codes in the Transporter, and see which wheel speed sensor it thinks is faulty. I replaced both the rear abs sensors last weekend, and reading the codes it said two sensors had failed. The rear left and the front left. So I'll buy another pair of sensors for the front axle and we'll see if the fault clears permanently. The sensors are handed, so the near side sensor wont fit on the opposite offside wheel. And the same sensors fit front to rear, so I can just order another identical pair and fit them on the front axle, and that should be the end of the errors.

Here is a video of my attempt at clearing the codes using the new gadget. https://youtu.be/bfdLzZLRzE8

Its quite a weird feeling knowing that the clique are scrutinizing everything I write on my blog. It reminds me of when I had the next door neighbour who lived between us and the neighbour from hell all those years ago, when they were both stalking me. They were totally obsessed with what I was writing on the blog, and even had the police pay me a visit once. I can still see both the PC's rolling their eyes, standing outside my front door holding a print out of my latest news page. Mind you he was a total W*nker. And I wasnt even talking about him either. Imagine that, calling the Police about something someone wrote on a blog. Insane. Its all a bit sad really. #getalife

I've had the email through from MUK regarding the printing of the new passport. I had to pay a further £24 for it, which I've done, and I'm now waiting to see what arrives in the post.

I popped over to DJ Racecars at Chapel-en-le-frith on Thursday on the way home from Stockport, where I've been working for a year. I took the pair of damaged FWEPs over to ask for a quote for repair. I am told it may be cheaper to just buy a new pair, so I await a call from Del next week to decide the way forwards. The loss of grip from the front end is down to the lack of the FWEPs. After my crash at Mallory, DJ made a new SM153 for me, but I opted for vertical end plates to keep the costs down. But when I push really hard, the car just doesnt have the bite at the front like she did before, and the FWEPs do a very important job, and I cant compromise any longer. I hope to have them fitted for the trip across to Lydden in July.

3June

Yorkshire Motor Club

I was saddened to hear that the Yorkshire MC weekend sprint at Blyton wont be running this year. Due to financial concerns over the viability of the event. Thats not good. I showed my support last year by doing the two days, and its a sign of the times that events are starting to disappear.

The Foxwell odbii scanner has arrived, so I'll try it out on Friday when I'm back home.

I might go to Shelsley on Sunday to watch the fast single seaters running up the hill. Its a round of the prestigious British Hillclimb Championship, and their first visit to the newly resurfaced track.

I've got two new calibrations to try on the Mygale at the weekend. It wouldnt meet the target launchRpm at Blyton, and the Fuel Cut Severity table, and the Ignition Retard tables have been modified, to hopefully control the engine rpm so it doesnt sit 500rpm higher than the target. If its a decent weekend I'll push the car on to the driveway and make some noise. I think I said that last weekend, but the van needed upgrading.

A good friend said the other day 'you have a voice they dont control'.

Almost 30 years of blogging and still going strong.

1June

Transporter data

Using the ODBLink adaptor in the van, I can record data from the ECU on to my phone as I'm driving, and in April when I struggled back from Anglesey with the trailer, I logged 20 minutes of data including the speed, rpm and air intake temperature. I repeated the logging on Saturday when I tested the Forge FMIC and after plotting the two graphs, its apparent that the charge temperature is 30C lower on a day where the ambient temperature was 6C higher. I will repeat the test again with the trailer connected and see what the improvement looks like then. Off load the engine will run cooler, but driving it flat out (it is as aerodynamic as a house brick) I only saw a peak charge temperature of 36C compared to 66C towing.



So a 30C drop in charge temperature is around 9% increase in engine power.

31May

Transporter upgraded

I replaced the front mounted intercooler on the Transporter with a Forge intercooler on Saturday (FMINTVWT5). With the bumper removed its quite straight forward, the fiddliest part it getting the MAF out to allow the pair of oem hoses to be removed. They welded themselves to the MAF, even with the jubilee clips removed, they wouldnt budge. The silicon hoses are easy enough to replace, but the intercooler retains the design of the oem couplings, and they have to be oriented correctly to slide in to the intercooler, and thats not east to do. I overcame quite a few challenges, and eventually it was all put back together late on Saturday afternoon, and she started first turn of the key. The boost pressure still maintains a healthy 20psi on the test drive, but the charge temperatures looked lower, given it was such a hot day, and I'm expecting a better trip the next time I'm towing the Woodford trailer.

A five minute video showing how it went : Video here

Before

After

On Friday afternoon I replaced the pair of rear ABS sensors, to try and cure an ABS / Tyre Pressure error thats now firmly stuck on the dashboard. Despite changing them both, the error persists, so I'll clear the errors when the gadget I bought arrives. I have tried the usual Carista and ODBEleven apps using the phone and an approved BT ODB2 dongle, but they want expensive subscriptions taking out before allowing ABS errors to be cleared. They dont even report any errors in the first place, before asking for the subscription, so I had zero confidence in either app, and instead I bought a dedicated VAG scanner (Foxwell NT530+ Full Systems Scan Tool) which says it does everything.

I watched the St Gueno hillclimb for most of the weekend, Simon Bainbridge took FTD both days, and there was some great coverage from the French youtube team. The top French teams absolutely fly up the hill, in their Norma's and it looks a great event to get involved in.

I didnt bother with entering the Pembrey event, and Ethan took three run off wins and then retired with a poorly engine on Sunday. There were only six cars running on the final run off, after Cathy had a crash on Saturday in the Lotusbits F4 car, plus a few others broke down and retired. Only 6 drivers and the car in sixth place finished almost a minute slower than the winner. At what point do people get concerned with the low numbers? Or do people not care? Where did all the quick single seater drivers go? The clique dont appear worried, and certainly no one from the inner circle is making any noise about the rapid decline. The problem is that costs are escalating, and people are feeling the pinch. Can it survive though?

20May

Blyton data

I'm going through the data at the moment from the weekend, the only issue I'd spotted so far was the rapid dip in oil pressure which I cured by adding another litre of oil Sunday morning. Everything else appears to be OK. I'm toying with going to Pembrey next weekend, based on the performance at Blyton, I think I could bag some valuable points. I'll decide in the next couple of days.

19May

Blyton video

With all the dust settled on a great weekend, I took the van and trailer back yesterday, and the ABS error simply wont go away on the van. The lights come on the split second I let the clutch out with the trailer attached, very odd. It must be a sensor issue, so I've bought a pair of speed sensors and I'll change the pair on the rear axle first and see if that cures the problem.

Cruise control still works, it just keeps complaining about ABS and tyre pressures so it must be a sensor.

I've checked the data from the weekend, and after I poured another litre of engine oil in to the dry sump on Sunday morning, I didnt see any oil pressure issues on Sunday at all. I thought I'd cured the issue when I added a litre at Anglesey, but it now looks ok, and I'll keep an eye on it for sure.

Here's my first video for a while. The Plex SDM-330 display works fantastically well on the steering wheel. If you look at the display you can see a bar graph on the left, which shows brake pressure, so I can keep an eye on my trail braking. The bar graph on the right is the throttle pedal position. There are yellow lights that blink to show that traction control is actively reducing torque. And blue shift lights (when I'm in fifth gear) because she changes gear automatically for me up to 5th and then I get to pull 6th if I feel like it. If you see bright red shift lights, thats the overlap where I'm braking and my foot hasnt quite released the throttle pedal quickly enough. It happens a few times but to be honest it's such a brief overlap it isn't a concern.


The receipt came through from MUK for the passport renewal that I had to pay for at Blyton. It can take up to 30 days according to the email.

18May

Blyton results

I was fourth again in the 2nd run off, and placed 3rd overall, so I won a trophy which I collected at the awards on Sunday afternoon. Ethan showed the way again with a 54.41s run, which is amazing. The kid's got talent.

I had a good day aside from the confrontation in the morning, where I was accused of suing everyone for my crash at Mallory Park. It was witnessed, a group of marshals stood nearby, I remained calm and tried to put my point across, but that was a waste of time. He accused me of harming sprinting, by having cones eliminated from circuits. He said he needed the cones to see where the corners were. I tried to explain that cones cannot be placed on a track unless they are shown on the MUK approved track permit, but they wouldnt listen. I think there has been too much gossiping on whatsapp groups, and no one has asked me what the actual reason for the crash was, or the outcome.


The matter is dealt with as far as I am concerned.

#racewithrespect

Anyway it was a good trip home, and a good weekends driving from my perspective. The Gemini AI launch worked quite well, but the ECU wont hold the launchRPM, it sits 500rpm higher than the target, so that will need sorting before the next event. Traction worked well though, better than before so thats good. I managed to beat Miles and Loudon on both runoffs, which is where I needed to be. No issues with the car, just get in and drive which is the perfect place to be.

I ran the new serrated gurneys on the front wing and that enabled me to lower the wing flap by one slot. Remembering to trail brake also helped maintain the front end grip when turning in to slow speed corners.

17May

Blyton Outer

Going ok so far. Added another litre of oil to the dry sump after another pressure dip yesterday. Launch control is getting better, with a 2.2, and more room for improvement.

I was 4th in the first run off netting 22 points. I appear to be getting my mojo back. Finally.

16May

Blyton Eastern

It went OK today, I got to within 0.8s of my PB, and scored a 5th and a 6th place in both run offs.

The car went well, the launch control needed a few tweaks during the day, and this evening I've ran the data from the fastest launch (2.2s 64ft) and Gemini has made some adjustments to the speed gradients so I will be trying these out tomorrow. If the weather allows. The forecast isnt great. The traction control worked well, and worked even better when I reset the tyre circumferences for the front and rear tyres to match the Pirellis. If it is wet tomorrow then I will at least get to try some more of the settings out.

#racewithrespect

Anyway, the sharp eyed scrutineer yesterday spotted that my Passport had expired in March, which took me by surprise. Not a problem though, I was allowed to compete and today we filled in the application for a new passport, and I handed my £80.00 over, so there should be a new passport in the post in the next couple of months. Yes they do expire, and they only have a 10 year life!

12May

Gemini AI

I've been working with Gemini AI again, to try to optimise the traction and launch control settings for the car. And its been a very interesting exercise. I spent a good 20 minutes writing down what I wanted Gem to do, and exported data from LifeVIEW which gave a typical launch, from the most recent round at Anglesey, as well as a complete run around the circuit in the dry warm weather. I then had to define what all the column headings in the pair of CSV files were for, with a description of how they were used to determine wheelspin etc. I also had to include in the instructions additional information on how the launch and traction control systems were enabled, and disabled, how the switches on the steering wheel allowed the driver to adjust, and some targets, such as reducing the 64 foot time, and making the car safer to drive on the limit.

When you then upload all the information in to the Gem, it sets to work analysing the information you provide, and does spend a fair bit of time generating Python Pandas to generate graphs, and try to understand what it is working with.

I have ended up with a far smoother looking traction control table, with a detailed explanation of what the changes mean, and a set of revised Yaw breakpoints, again it went to great lengths to explain the purpose of the changes and the benefits. The launch control setup was similarly dismantled, and reassembled, with some very interesting suggestions. The speed at which the launch control transitioned to traction control, at which point the aggressive ignition cut came in to remove the wheel spin, was also diagnosed as the major factor for the car suddenly losing acceleration during the launch, and Gem made even more suggestions on what to change. Maintaining a set amount of wheel spin which diminishes towards the launch control cut off point is how it is now setup.


It is so comprehensive. And convincing. Anyway, I've now changed both my launch and traction control settings, which I will be testing at Blyton this weekend. I challenged it to get the 64ft times under 2.0s, and it reckons I can get them down to 1.8s with some tuning. I like its optimism.

The trouble with setting these up in the first place is there is no one to ask, as people never share this information. And you end up building a bunch of settings, which, you live with, and never really get the opportunity to tune. With Gem I can upload the data after each run, and it will offer further suggestions on how to improve things. Which I'll be happy to do at Blyton.

And Gem of course works with driver coaching too. Give it a download of the data from a run, and it works out where you are coasting etc, and it recommends changes to driving style, even changing things like the brake bias! The more information you can give it, the better. I can log channels at 1000Hz on the Life ECU, but the 4MB of memory would soon run out. So I just log a few channels at that frequency, the ones it really needs, and the rest are logged much more slowly to prevent the data log from overwriting itself. All in all, the more data you can provide, the more accurate the information it returns.

11May

Blyton prep #3

I cleaned the fresh Pirellis at the weekend, after removing them from the car. She's sat on a pair of roller skates so I can move the car around inside the garage, and to prevent the tyres on the car developing flat spots.


I also quickly designed and 3D printed some serrated (shark tooth) gurneys for the front wing, which can be fitted to the upper elements using double sided tape. Serrated gurneys still provide lift, but without the same amount of turbulence as a conventional straight edged gurney. Printing them took around an hour.



I've adjusted the front dampers to compensate for the fact that they have been serviced, and are therefore working better than before. I've a series of adjustments to make at Blyton to try and iron out the mid-high speed understeer, which has only started since I put the serviced dampers back on.

Longton has confirmed that I can use the same #21 vinyl that I ran at Anglesey, and hopefully the final instructions are out today to confirm that. The paddock layout should be interesting, seeing as Blyton has lost a large chunk of space to the new garage complex. I think this is the first Nat A event held at the venue this year, and usually the Nat A cars are placed together right where the garages are now.

08May

Blyton prep #2

I've finally received the dyno sheets for the Intrax 4-eye dampers, so I will print them out and try and work out what adjustments I should make to the dampers. I managed to book a garage at Blyton for next weekend, which means I have electricity etc and shelter should the weather deteriorate. There were only four up for grabs, and a few minutes after I messaged Alan Mugglestone to reserve one, Alan then put out a post on facebook about their availability, and the others were then allocated very rapidly. I had emailed Longton about the garages but never received a reply, hence I tried the direct approach. I have also asked if I can run #21 again, but I've had no response.

I was surprised to see the Force TA of Jones/Bennett at a sprint at Kames last weekend. It turns out the car has been sold and the new owners were putting it through its paces. I do hope we see the 2024 Champion back out again.

04May

Blyton prep

The set of 4 year old Pirellis have been cleaned and are ready for Blyton in just over 10 days time. I reduced the angle of the upper wing elements on the front wing, as they were on their steepest setting and may have stalled the wing, which would explain the understeer at mid to high speed corners. But I've still not had the dyno sheets for the Intrax dampers that Race Shocks serviced for me, so I guess they'll all need softening off a little, I'll try some more adjustments which may help improve the grip. I've also changed the angle of the front wing, added another 1 degree inclination, to see if that generates enough downforce to restore the aero balance. The rear wing upper element is on the lowest setting, so its not like I can take any more rear wing off to adjust the balance.

I'm defintely not entering the Mallory Park sprint in June, too many bad memories for me to want to go back with the same club in charge. And I'm missing Pembrey later this month too, I just cant justify the towing costs to North Wales, instead I'll save my pennies for the trip to Lydden in July.

29Apr

Snet

I've entered the BARC sprint in August, thats £395 hopefully well spent. I've just had a 3 month contract extension through at work which takes me through to the end of July. I'm hoping it will then be extended again. I'm still discovering issues with my clients platform, which I'm busy remediating. Lots to do to keep me interested.

27Apr

costs

I went over to Mallory Park on Sunday to watch Smiles and a few others at the Bentley Owners Club sprint, and was not disappointed in the turnout. There were Mini's, an Imp, loads of different models of Lotus, Aston Martins, and of course Bentleys, and it was great weather for it. It was a very slow running meeting though, and at 12:20pm with a line of cars in the pitlane ready to set off, they stopped the second practice runs for lunch. Smiles had only had one run before lunch.

Anyway it was bringing back unpleasant memories, and the chat was about the £430 entry fee for the Mallory weekend event in June, which most drivers were unhappy about. Then later that day the entry for Snetterton in August opened, the BARC round uses the smaller 100 layout for both days, and that came out at £395. So combined, if you entered both events yesterday, you'd be spending £825!!

I do want to do both events. And I'd like to go to Pembrey in May, but the price of diesel is putting me off making that trip. Plus they've only got 40 entries at the moment. Even Blyton in a little over 20 days time only has 71 entries. People are skint! Will the Mallory weekend event in June attract enough entries to run? The price wont help.

24Apr

Anglesey update

Looking through the data from the ECU, everything looks healthy, and I've ran it through Gemini AI which confirms the same. I've cured the oil surge issues I saw last year, by adding 1.0l of engine oil to the dry sump tank. And with the ECU recording the oil pressure at 100Hz I saw zero drops across all five runs over the weekend, so thats that issue resolved.

I was quite surprised to see my maximum GPS speed on Sunday broke 147mph, which is 10mph higher than my class record run that I set in 2022. I was 3s off my record on Sunday, but I am still getting used to the speeds, having been away from the top tier for almost 21 months. At least on every run I improved, so I know the potential to get in to the top three is still there. My next outing is at Blyton in May, which is a track I love, so I hope to regain some more form at that event.

To give my van some more power, I've got a Forge intercooler arriving today, which should make a big difference to the torque and power output. I also opted for the silicon boost hoses, so I'll hopefully get them fitted this weekend. I've still got the intermittent ABS / Wheel Speed Sensor issue, which I need to order a ODBII scanner to resolve. I'll see what I can find on Ebay.

20Apr

Anglesey sprint

A great weekend with perfect weather for a change. No real issues aside from the Cartek isolater refusing to switch off after the first practice run on Sunday. I had to unplug the battery (its connected with an anderson connector) to turn the power off, and then when I reconnected the battery, everything worked perfectly all day. Can Cartek isolators really freeze like that? Its never done it before. Not even the button in the cockpit would turn the isolator off. I've emailed Cartek to ask if they've seen this before.

The trailer was the perfect vehicle for keeping the Mygale safe inside. However the 2.0TDI in the T5.1 really struggled with the sheer size of the trailer, and I had an ABS error on the way there and back, so that didnt help. I'll get the faulty wheel speed sensor changed, and find out the options for the engine. I do have a TDI Tuning box fitted, but it made no difference whatsoever, in fact, when I turned it off, the engine seemed happier. It certainly didnt pull any differently even on the max (183ps) setting, so I've no idea whats going on there. I will contact TDI Tuning to find out.

11Apr

Trailer test

I mean I did measure the dimensions of the Mygale so I was confident it would fit inside the Woodford trailer. I collected the trailer on Friday, and spent the afternoon loading and unloading the car. Not only does she go in with the race wheels on, but she also fits with the front and rear wings attached, and I have room to spare at the rear of the trailer so there is no risk of it hitting the rear door. I also dont need special timber ramps like I've seen some drivers use, to get the car up and over the ramp. Well not at home anyway, I'll find out at Anglesey if the tilt bed and surface of the paddock allows me to get the car out without catching the underneath of the front wing on the ramp.


I spent ther rest of the weekend fettling the trailer, sorting out a water leak from around one of the front side lights, and doing a few other jobs. The car is now ready for the Anglesey sprint this weekend, apart from the fact I dont know what number I've been allocated, so I still have to wait before getting some numbers to stick on the rear wing. Final instructions should be out in the next few days I'm told. As will be the garage I've been allocated, I've no idea which end of the garage block they've put me. Hopefully I'll be next to the control tower towards the sharp end of the paddock.

The entries for Blyton in May still havent opened. Only 34 days to go, I do hope LDMC get the website updated soon. And the Pembrey rounds also in May have opened and so far only 10 entries for Saturday and 9 for Sunday, and over 50% of those are the regular BSC drivers. That doesnt bode well. With diesel 190+pence a litre I can see why. Pembrey is a hell of a long drag from the Midlands.

I also had to spent a few hours on Saturday cleaning the trailer. Three months parked in a field had done the pristine white gelcoat surface no favours at all, and even washing the exterior didnt fade the black lines that had formed from the rain water running down the sides. I used a strong detergent to get 95% if the zebra stripes off, then sealed the surface with a product I bought some time ago, Extreme Elements Cream Sealant, so I hope the black lines dont appear anytime soon.


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