Ford Racing Puma - Goes Racing
Discussion
UPDATE - 23-09-12
Morning all!
Well its been an interesting month for me and P1, we had out 15 minutes of fame by having a feature published in this months Performance Ford magazine. I was really pleased with how it came out. It is always a little embarrassing this sort of thing, but what the heck, im proud of it!
Here are some pictures from the photographer which were not used in the magazine, there are some really nice ones in there:
it was a cool day meeting the PF guys, and I was lucky enough to be able to blag the Lotus test track for the photoshoot which was a nice perk of the job!
P1 is tucked up in the workshop once again, but will be coming out again in October for a trackday at Cadwell Park, I cant wait!
There will be some GoPro videos coming from the day.
As for the next steps, well im looking at some Poly windows to replace the glass, and by removing the window mechanisms I should save a decent bit of weight in the process.
All in all im still really happy with the car, it’s a great little toy.
Cheers for reading
Ross
Great thread Ross 
As a fellow FRP owner (No.31), I'm interested to understand a bit more about a couple of things you've done to your car.
Firstly, where you think the majority of the weight was saved? The cage and safety equipment looks like it should weigh more than the trim removed but clearly it doesn't. Did you happen to weigh the car before, 1174kg does sound a bit high?
Secondly, did your "head man" put in on a flow bench? Could you share the before and after flow rates with me? Did he think different cams or valves would help or are the ports the main restriction?
Keep up the great work
Mark
As a fellow FRP owner (No.31), I'm interested to understand a bit more about a couple of things you've done to your car.
Firstly, where you think the majority of the weight was saved? The cage and safety equipment looks like it should weigh more than the trim removed but clearly it doesn't. Did you happen to weigh the car before, 1174kg does sound a bit high?
Secondly, did your "head man" put in on a flow bench? Could you share the before and after flow rates with me? Did he think different cams or valves would help or are the ports the main restriction?
Keep up the great work
Mark
Edited by p-car on Wednesday 3rd October 15:47
p-car said:
Great thread Ross
As a fellow FRP owner (No.31), I'm interested to understand a bit more about a couple of things you've done to your car.
Firstly, where you think the majority of the weight was saved? The cage and safety equipment looks like it should weigh more than the trim removed but clearly it doesn't. Did you happen to weigh the car before, 1174kg does sound a bit high?
Secondly, did your "head man" put in on a flow bench? Could you share the before and after flow rates with me? Did he think different cams or valves would help or are the ports the main restriction?
Keep up the great work
Mark
Hi Mark, thanks for the comments, always nice to hear from another FRP owner. As a fellow FRP owner (No.31), I'm interested to understand a bit more about a couple of things you've done to your car.
Firstly, where you think the majority of the weight was saved? The cage and safety equipment looks like it should weigh more than the trim removed but clearly it doesn't. Did you happen to weigh the car before, 1174kg does sound a bit high?
Secondly, did your "head man" put in on a flow bench? Could you share the before and after flow rates with me? Did he think different cams or valves would help or are the ports the main restriction?
Keep up the great work
Mark
Edited by p-car on Wednesday 3rd October 15:47
For the weight, well i was really pleased with the final weight and a little surprised, but when you add everthing up its understandable. i reckon it roughly equates to:
Front seats = 60 kg (i weighed the old ones which were 20kg each without subframes, and my new seats including all mounting weight 7 kg each!)
Rear seat bench = 50 kg
all door cards = 15kg
carpets and headlining = 20kg
sound deadening (burned out with a blow torch) = 30kg (and including a lot of weight from behind the dashboard)
a/c pipes, rad, fluid = 15kg
finally the wheels must weigh a total of 10kg less then the standard
so thats 200kg removed.
The cage weighed 55kg when i had it apart, so guess 70kg with the welding.
so 1175 - 200 + 70 = 1045
obviously im guessing the figures but i think thats roughly where the weight saving came from. My weighed figure with a full tank of fuel was 1134kg, so im happy with that.
For the head, it wasnt flowed, so i dont have any actual data. the engine seems to rev cleaner and it seems to pull very strongly across the whole range, upto 7200rpm. id recommend having it done.
cheers.
ross
Congratulations on a great build, and kudos to your Dad for all his help.
Compliments on your lap at the 'ring, very smooth driving, nicely flowing.
Slightly of topic, are you still at Lotus, with all the recent issues? I am keeping my fingers crossed that all works out, we can't afford to lose the firm, nor the engineering talent within.
Compliments on your lap at the 'ring, very smooth driving, nicely flowing.
Slightly of topic, are you still at Lotus, with all the recent issues? I am keeping my fingers crossed that all works out, we can't afford to lose the firm, nor the engineering talent within.
UPDATE – 26-10-12
Hi everyone.
Its been a little while since I wrote a proper update so here is the latest on P1.
The Performance Ford article was published, and although this sort of thing is always a little embarrassing I was really pleased with how it came out.
For those who didn’t see it here is a copy.
Im happy with it, and it’s a nice thing to add to the history file of P1.
Since the photoshoot the car has been out on track again. This weekend just gone I took it to Cadwell Park and had a fantastic day. The car was perfect and the track was amazing, its almost like the car was built for this circuit, with its elevation and camber changes its easy to understand why people call it a mini nurburgring.
Anyhow, here are some pics from the day
And obviously here is the obligatory video of a couple of laps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA9F4WqOtsU&fea...
I had a great day, met some nice people and generally really enjoyed myself.
But that’s the last outing of the year for P1. Its now back in the workshop for the winter. Over the next few months im going to replace the glass with polycarbonate windows, cut out all the old brackets, door skins, window mechanisms, and get the car as light as possible.
So that’s all for now, thanks for reading.
Ross
Hi everyone.
Its been a little while since I wrote a proper update so here is the latest on P1.
The Performance Ford article was published, and although this sort of thing is always a little embarrassing I was really pleased with how it came out.
For those who didn’t see it here is a copy.
Im happy with it, and it’s a nice thing to add to the history file of P1.
Since the photoshoot the car has been out on track again. This weekend just gone I took it to Cadwell Park and had a fantastic day. The car was perfect and the track was amazing, its almost like the car was built for this circuit, with its elevation and camber changes its easy to understand why people call it a mini nurburgring.
Anyhow, here are some pics from the day
And obviously here is the obligatory video of a couple of laps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA9F4WqOtsU&fea...
I had a great day, met some nice people and generally really enjoyed myself.
But that’s the last outing of the year for P1. Its now back in the workshop for the winter. Over the next few months im going to replace the glass with polycarbonate windows, cut out all the old brackets, door skins, window mechanisms, and get the car as light as possible.
So that’s all for now, thanks for reading.
Ross
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