Hi All.

Bedford Autodrome was the venue and a couple of Ultimas were there today.

I have yet to check my short video so that can wait.

This is one of my front tyres afterwards



I ended the day with a couple of small issues.
My rack started to move and it is a bit of a job to tighten as there are a few things to remove to gain access to the Allen heads (might change them to HT bolts). I obviously erred on the side of caution when tightening to avoid squeezing the internals too much!

Air (gas) in the clutch and brakes was also an issue. The fluids gets quite hot but the standard AP fluid should be able to cope so not sure what the issue is there. I may well fit a second bulkhead in front of the clutch/brake/battery area as you could not put your hand on the chassis behind the rad.

No fuel, engine or cooling issues. Noise was 97.8db so very happy with that.

The car is quick. Nothing there able to keep up - even round the corners - and the brakes are mega.
Anti-roll bars, at least on the rear, may be a worthwhile addition as I don't want to fit track springs which would harm the ride on road.

A bit more gravel rash to get repaired over winter (I should have had that film my painter recommended!) More polishing to do - hope it removes rubber marks!!

Craig.
Nice to see you again. These car's are not too quiet as they go by. You can hardly hear the lovely V8 growl. Hope you had a good end to the day and got home OK. Did your lovely lady (I am crap at remembering names, sorry) have a go on track??
Nut torque is 288 to 322lbs/ft which is still bloody tight!!!!


Paul

Nice one!!!

Good choice of tyres to. They really are good on track.

Here are mine after Bedford:





With regards to the track springs. They really make a massive difference on track, and to my surprise found them perfectly acceptable on the road. The only thing they do seek out is just how well your panel joints are buffered. I needed to revisit the buffers to ensure no chattering.

Pete

A few pics







When a camera man is waiting at a hairpin, what else are you supposed to do?

Dampers were on 11 clicks out of 25, will wind them up another 5 next time.

where have you got Our mirros from .?

Hi Dom

All of the front tyres I've tried on the Ultima have tram lined a fair bit, so I was thinking it's more a car issue than the tyres. Can't remember what I had on last, but the only noticable difference I found was that the Kumho's had loads more grip.

Might see you at Cholmondley next weekend?

Cheers Andy

Tramlining is an issue made a little worse by the Khumo tyres but is still an issue on the Goodyears too. However, you need to ensure there is no play in any of the front wheel components. Wheel bearings, track rod ends, rack, rack attachment bolts, upper and lower ball joints and all bushes. Also all steering column joints. A small amount of play in any of these components will exaggerate the tramlining.

Bump steer can be drastically reduced if the rack is correctly positioned. It takes a while to do and the tolerances are quite small to get it right.


Paul

Yup, roll bars look to be needed. What about some stiffer springs as well?

Might be worth checking the amount of camber - higher levels can cause tramlining.

Glad you had a good day Paul. With regards to track springs - you can go quite (very!) hard without compromising the ride - its the damping that makes the difference.

Jonny

Stiffening the damping essentially effects the velocity with which the dampers can move - it does not effect the amount they move. Stiffening the damping will improve the transient response of the car (it will feel more responsive) but ride will suffer.

It will not effect the amount of overall roll you get very much at all - only if you are, for example, slaloming or going through a tight chicane with very fast inputs will effect the overall roll - through normal/longer corners the roll will likely be the same.

Yikes that is some nasty roll