Ford Racing Puma - Goes Racing
Discussion
Hi guys.
I thought i would share my latest project with you to see if anyone is interested.
This story is patched together from a number of other updates, so forgive me if it doesn't flow very well. you will see the UPDATE then a date, which shows when it was originally written, hope that makes sense. Its a pretty long read, so go grab a coffee if you feel like going through it.
thanks for your interest an i hope you enjoy it.
IN THE BEGINNING! - JAN 2012:
FIRST
Hi all
Well this is the story of a new project ive recently started. Only last week I sold one of the best cars ive ever owned (FRP 441) to help fund a new venture which I'm really excited about.
In recent years I've been lucky enough to take a Racing Puma out on a few trackdays, and even to themighty Nurburgring, and realise just how good these little cars are, they have so much grip, don't get tired and just keep giving.
I always thought they still had more to give, could be even better if someone was brave enough to try, and one day i was in the right place at the right time and managed to secure another FRP to play with.
Last year I contacted a guy who was selling FRP 70, or P1 FRP as some of you may know it. The guy was at the end of his tether trying to get the car fixed after it had suffered a snapped cambelt. I step in with a small bundle of cash and away I go with a new toy!
Here it is as I found it:
on the way home
so for a short period of time I was lucky enough to own two FRPs!
Various stories came from the garage i brought it from, of titanium valves having been fitted, but not being able to get the right tappets (even though the engine was built up!!), but as it turns out they simple got a spare cylinder head, swapped the cams over and tried to rebuild the engine. Where they went wrong was by firstly not firing the belt tensioner properly (loose belt) and secondly not using the right timing tool.
So FRP 70 is a good base for a project. The car has been loved in the past, with a large folder full of receipts, its been resprayed by Pumabuild at some point and was a cherished example up until about 5 years ago, when it became a daily hack and was a bit neglected, until it eventually died.
Close inspection of the engine also shows the bottom end was knackered, its been run dry of oil (either as a result of the garage running it with no oil in it, or it was prior damage) so the engine was caput. It lasted over 100,000 miles so that's not bad going.
So, we need to broach the subject of modifying an FRP. There is a school of thought out there they we shouldn't change or modify these superb cars because only 500 were built, and only 350ish still exist. That is a very good reason not to mess with them, and one I agree with on the whole. My previous FRP (441) was on its way to becoming a prime example of a superb, original, FRP and I would never have messed it up.However, where FRP70 is concerned, it was a mess when I got it, it would have been either patched up (badly), and run into the ground, or broken for parts and vanished forever. Therefore I don't feel bad about 'messing' with this one. It will become a fantastic car, will be for filling its potential, and most importantly, still be around for many years to come!
Glad that's out the way! Now onto the good stuff!
Here's a short list of jobs to do:
Sort the engine – Port the cylinder head – fit Fiesta ST clutch – Strip interior completely – fit rollcage – replace all worn bushes in suspension – fit decent coilovers – renew /replace anything that's worn out – remove windows and fit polycarb ones – full race seats and harnesses – GO RACING!
So, since getting the car home, the engine has been removed, a new one with 48k miles has been sourced and a full engine rebuild/refresh is taking place.
A full weld in CustomCages roll cage has been ordered and is in the process of being fitted
the fitting will take a couple of weeks, then the engine will be back in and the rest of the project will continue
the aim for this year is to take the car to the Nurburgring at the end of may, so I don't have long to get all this sorted!
I will keep this thread up to date with all the progress and let you know how I get on.
Cheers
Ross
[B]
UPDATE 19-02-12[/B]
Afternoon all, its been a productive weekend. the dash is out, and the cage is in place. only held in with tape and zip ties at the moment, but good news is it all seems to fit pretty well.
it will be welding in properly over the next couple of weeks, but these pics give an idea of how it will look.
more next week!
cheers
ross
05-03-12 UPDATE
Hi All
Well its been a busy weekend. P1 FRP is now really coming on and starting to take shape. Ive spent most of the weekend in the workshop with my dad and his mate welding in my roll cage. its looking awesome. But before we get to that some other news is that I've now got myself some awesome new seats. Im lucky enough to work for Lotus Cars, and occasionally they scrap off parts they no longer need. I stumbled across some brand new carbon fibre seats. So I bagsyed them, and they will be pride of place in my FRP!
Im sure it will make the car unique, surely it will be the only FRP in the world to have hand crafted, carbon fibre seats from a super car?! Plus i weighed these new seats, and they weigh 8kg each! the Old Sparco FRP seats weighed in at 21kg each! what a saving!
I'm obviously really chuffed with these!
Anyway, this weekend the whole cage was finally welded in, and looks great:
Some action shots!
So thats it for now. Ive got a plan, and only 8 weeks left until the first track day is booked at Snetterton in May, so its all systems go.
Next up is having the cylinder head ported, fitting a Tran-X LSD, and generally rebuild.
thanks for looking
Ross
UPDATE - 18-03-12
Quick update on my project. This weekend has been mostly about the engine. Its now back together and almost ready to go. Its a new (to the car) unit that i brought from ebay recently, had a verified 42,000 miles on the clock and was absolutely mint when we stripped it back. We've done quite a lot to it:
• Full strip down, and a paraffin clean of EVERYTHING!
• Cylinder head has been ported, polished and flowed by a highly experienced guy at Lotus
• New cylinder head bolts
• New head gasket
• New cam belt
• New belt tensioner
• New thermostat
• New water pump
• New accessory belt, pulley and idler
• All new gaskets and hardware
• New oil filter
• Plus the cams have been timed up properly using a new FRP timing tool, and double checked with a DTI.
• A brand new Fiesta ST clutch (with brand new puma master cylinder)
Thats taken most of the weekend. However the rest of the project is progressing well. Ive recently ordered a whole host of new parts, most of which are waiting to be fitted, including:
• A brand new FRP gearbox with a brand new Quaife LSD from pumabuild. this is due any day now, so the car will also benefit brand new transmission.
• New driveshafts (including the FRP unique blue one)
• New CV joints
• New wheel bearings (front and back)
• New brake lines
• New Fiesta ST clutch (with Puma master cylinder)
• New heater control valve
• A complete set of Powerflex bushes (both wishbone bushes, antiroll bar and rear beam)
• New front damper strut tops
• New drop links
• New track rod ends
Most of these bits are sitting in the workshop waiting to be fitted, along with my seats, so its like a parts dealer round mine at the moment!
Its a good feeling to be finally bolting things back onto the car though rather then taking stuff off. I can't wait to get the thing running though, that will be a great day!
The next big job is the roll cage, I'm deciding what colour to paint it. Im definitely going for a dark grey interior (floor, roof etc) but can't decide whether to have a Red, Orange, White, Grey or Blue cage. What do you thing???
Also, last weekend we spent a great deal of time refitting the dash board. I took lots of the dash away, including all the metal framework as the roll cage replaces most of this. I reckon its saved at least 10kg of weight. Also i finally finished the lovely job of removing all the sound deadening, and cleaning all the gunk that it leaves behind. Its looking quite good now though, ready for paint. Here it is:
So thats all for now. Its certainly getting there, but with only 6 weeks left until the MOT there is no time to waste!
cheers
Ross
Update 01-04-12
Hi All. well its been a good weekend once again. Got quite a lot done and things are really moving on nicely now.
Firstly the engine. This is now fully built up and ready. We've checked the cylinder pressures and port vacuums and they are all absolutely spot on. We did have an issue with one of the ports having not seated properly in the head (which showed up with a lesser vacuum value then the others) so the head was taken apart again, the valve re-lapped and the whole thing rebuilt until it was perfect.
Also my new gearbox arrived, which is a new FRP box from Pumabuild, which also has a new Quaife LSD fitted to it
And so, on friday we started to put the whole engine together and after a couple of hours it looked like this:
So the rest of the weekend was spent putting the engine back in to the car. And after lots and lots of effort by my good old dad it now looks like this:
Whilst dad was hard at work I was in the car cleaning up the welds and prepping for paint.
The really good news is that my Roll Cage installation has been given the official certification by custom cages so I've got the go ahead to paint it.
Here is this weekends progress on the interior. After a good clean up and de-burring the welds:
Then after lots of masking:
And then as time was running out i had one can of primer, so thought id do the rear of the car, which now looks like this:
So there we go, the engine is back in, its almost all connected and next week it will be fired up (fingers crossed!) and the interior is clean, masked up, and painting has begun. Next weekend i hope to have the whole interior painted. (Matte black cage, satin grey interior)
Its really coming together now! These are the good days, when the effort you put in starts to make a big difference!
Cheers
Ross
UPDATE 09-04-12
Well its been a brilliant bank holiday weekend, with me and my dad spending most of it in the workshop. And we've achieved loads more then i thought we could.
At the start of the weekend the car had its engine in but not fully plumbed in and not running, and the interior masked up and half painted with primer. Its amazing to see it now.
First job, primer the interior which went from this:
to this
here its all primer'ed and I've masked up the cage ready to paint the interior silver. At this stage I've already painted the cage matte black which looks really cool. here is the cage painted in matte black, before the interior was painted
once the cage was painted i masked it up
and began painting the interior metallic silver. at the end of yesterday it looked like this:
I'm really chuffed. its the first time I've done anything like this before and its come out really well.
next job was to put a seat in to see how its would fit, heres a sneak peak:
plus i trial fitted my new 6 point Luke harnesses which look amazing. no pics of these yet though.
So the interior is really getting there now. Onto the mechanics.
The engine is now in the car and is RUNNING
it sounds sweeeeet, idles really well and is great.
We also got both driveshafts built up, both have brand new CV joints, and the right hand side blue shaft is also brand new.
Also, we fitted new wheel bearings in the front hubs, and fitted new powerflex bushes in the front LCAs
also, heres a pic of my shiny new gearbox (complete with new Quaife LSD) fitted to the engine, with a new 4 branch manifold
So all in all a pretty good weekends work, in summary since thursday night me and my dad have:
• painted the whole interior in primer
• painted the roll cage matte black
• painted the interior metallic silver
• wired/plumbed in the engine and got it running with no issues
• fitted new wheel bearings in front hubs
• changed CV joints in LHS drive shaft and build up a brand new RHS drive shaft complete with a new CV joint
• rebuilt the front end drive line
• measured up and installed the front drivers seat
• refitted the bonnet
I'm pretty pleased with that! still lots to do, and only one month today until the track day at snetterton, so its still a tight schedule but with progress like this I'm certain we can do it!
more updates next week.
cheers
Ross
[B]
UPDATE 15-04-12[/B]
Evening all.
Well yet another weekend in the workshop with my good old dad sees some more decent progress. Focus has been on the drivetrain and the seats. We've got the whole front end built up now and finished, and the driver seat in mounted (on custom built mounts) and the drivers harness is mounted in the car as well. so pretty good really.
On the front end, it was time to build up the brakes, so the callipers have been refurbished and cleaned and it was time to dig out some special parts id been saving. Time to get these out of the drawer!
and these
and get everything built up
Regarding the suspension, i was lucky enough to have 2 sets of FRP dampers. both had been used, with one set covering 70k miles, and the other 95k miles. So i needed to decide which set to install on the car. Now I'm lucky enough to have a job which involves suspension tuning, and have access to a machine which can rate dampers and show there performance. so i took my four front dampers to work (at Lotus) and rated them.
so, i chose damper number 1 and number 4 as they were the most closely matched. and these are now on the car.
Regarding the interior my dad designed and made some custom mounts for the seats, and these are now installed. The seat is very low in the car now, much lower than the standard seat. its practically bolted to the floor (though some 1 inch box section), so its a really awesome driving position. We are also in the process of lowering the steering column as well (bracket designed) and this will make it just perfect.
Also, i splashed my final budget on some sticky tyres. I decided to go for Yokohama Advan AD08 in the correct size. I'm sure they will be great, one things for sure they look awesome!
So thats about it for now.
Next weekend the other seat will go in, and the rear beam will be out back together (once the new wheel bearings are in the hubs)
Only 3 weeks until the MOT, and 4 weeks until the track day, so not long to go. I can not wait to drive this thing!
thanks for reading.
Ross
UPDATE 24-04-12
Hello All. Its been a couple of weeks since my last update so i thought id share my progress.
Quite a lot has been done since last time. Now all the rear end is built up and the car is back on its wheels. The rear beam has had Powerflex bushes fitted, new rear brake discs and pads fitted, new wheel bearings, and all rebuilt.
So the car was looking like this:
On the inside the passenger seat has now been properly fitted along with the other harness, and I've painted the door skins silver to match the rest of the interior, its looking sharp.
So it was finally time to give the old girl a wash. After being sat in pour workshop for 6 months, and in the workshop we brought it from for a further 10 months it was pretty dusty! To make matters worse it didn't look like its had been polished much in the past either so the paint was knackered.
It started off looking like this:
and after a lot of washing, polishing, clay-bar, machine polishing, and waxing, it now looks like this!
I'm really pleased with it, but to be honest it needs a lot more TLC before the paint is anywhere near perfect. I really need to repeat the whole process a couple more times as there are still lots of swirl marks and scratches that will eventually polish out, but for now its a start.
Big news is MOT DAY ON SATURDAY! Thats going to be nerve racking, not sure if it will pass yet or not, but still have a couple of weeks until the track day so thats cool.
I also got my insurance sorted out today. I went with Adrian Flux in the end, got a good deal (in my eyes). Declared the full list of mods (cage, harnesses, exhaust, seats, etc etc) They recognise it as a proper FRP, 3000 miles a year, full breakdown cover including recovery from anywhere in Europe, all in for £500. Not bad considering its a modified and rare car.
Anyway thats it for now, i'll post more when i have an MOT and the car is out in the real world! (Cant wait!)
cheers for reading.
Ros
UPDATE - 07-05-12
Well its been an interesting couple of weeks. P1 passed its MOT first time last weekend, and I've driven it for 200 miles since then. I LOVE this car, its just awesome!
The noise it makes is incredible, it certainly can be a bit deafening, but its a good sound.
It feels much more powerful then my old FRP, you can now really feel when the VCT kicks in, and the whole car feels more urgent.
The new gearbox is really sweet and the Quaife is more more refined then the other ford fitted LSD, it doenst tug or torque steer as much, but the way it drags you around corners is just amazing. I honestly think its much better than the Ford unit.
So the idea was to run the car on the road for 200 miles to iron out any bugs, and I certainly found one. There was a big problem with the ABS, which was kicking in as sson as the car was driven over 35mph, even if you hadn’t touched the brakes. After lots of searching we eventually found the OSR ABS sensor pickup ring was slightly warped, probably as a result of the wheel bearing change. So this was replaced and not the ABS is perfect.
I also took the car to work and put it on a Hunter wheel aligner to sort the geometry out. This is now set perfectly and the car drives so wheel as a result. Whilst I was at work I also put the car on a set of corner scales to see how much it weighed. From looking around on the internet I struggled to see the exact weight of a standard FRP, any one know? The figure I eventually came to was 1174kg, kerb weight (ie no passengers, full tank of fuel)
Anyway, I weighed my car, and it came in at 1034kg, which im really chuffed with. It was also empty of passengers, and had the fuel tank brimmed to the top.
Here is a picture of the scale machine to prove it!
This shows front left as 322kg, front right as 335kg, rear left as 191.5kg, rear right as 185.5kg. and total weight 1034kg.
So, with everything in the interior removed, but the roll cage and all fitted, its still a whopping 140kg lighter then standard!
So, with the car suspension geometry aligned, the car weighed, and the new Yokohama Advan AD08 tyres fitted it is now finally complete!
I spent some time this weekend cleaning it. It looks just about as shiny as its possible to get it!
So there you have it, its finished!
On Wednesday im taking it to Snetterton for a full day on track, and at the end of may we are off to the Nurburgring for a week! Its gonna be a tough time for P1 but im fairly certain she can take it!
In other news ive brought myself a GoPro Hero 2 camcorder, so I will be filming a lot of track work and posting it on here.
Ive had a go at making my first film of P1, it’s a bit rubbish! But if your interested them feel free to have a look
http://youtu.be/fNXxgF-6gjU
Thanks for all your support over the past few months, getting good feedback is always a moral booster in the tough times.
Big thanks to my dad as well, who spent many hours on this one!
Cheers
Ross
UPDATE 10-05-12
Well here is a video from yesterdays very wet Snetterton session. For the best laps skip on a few minutes as the first lap i was trying to get some heat in the tyres.
the camera angle is a bit rubbish, its good to give you an idea of what it was like being inside the car, but not so great for seeing out the windows. plus the fact that the window was steaming up cos of the rain (and the heated screen didn't work!) means you can see much of the track. I will change this for the next time, bringing the camera forward in the car.
http://youtu.be/kkCJ8fMYrnA
All set now for the Nurburgring in two weeks
I thought i would share my latest project with you to see if anyone is interested.
This story is patched together from a number of other updates, so forgive me if it doesn't flow very well. you will see the UPDATE then a date, which shows when it was originally written, hope that makes sense. Its a pretty long read, so go grab a coffee if you feel like going through it.
thanks for your interest an i hope you enjoy it.
=====
IN THE BEGINNING! - JAN 2012:
FIRST
Hi all
Well this is the story of a new project ive recently started. Only last week I sold one of the best cars ive ever owned (FRP 441) to help fund a new venture which I'm really excited about.
In recent years I've been lucky enough to take a Racing Puma out on a few trackdays, and even to themighty Nurburgring, and realise just how good these little cars are, they have so much grip, don't get tired and just keep giving.
I always thought they still had more to give, could be even better if someone was brave enough to try, and one day i was in the right place at the right time and managed to secure another FRP to play with.
Last year I contacted a guy who was selling FRP 70, or P1 FRP as some of you may know it. The guy was at the end of his tether trying to get the car fixed after it had suffered a snapped cambelt. I step in with a small bundle of cash and away I go with a new toy!
Here it is as I found it:
on the way home
so for a short period of time I was lucky enough to own two FRPs!
Various stories came from the garage i brought it from, of titanium valves having been fitted, but not being able to get the right tappets (even though the engine was built up!!), but as it turns out they simple got a spare cylinder head, swapped the cams over and tried to rebuild the engine. Where they went wrong was by firstly not firing the belt tensioner properly (loose belt) and secondly not using the right timing tool.
So FRP 70 is a good base for a project. The car has been loved in the past, with a large folder full of receipts, its been resprayed by Pumabuild at some point and was a cherished example up until about 5 years ago, when it became a daily hack and was a bit neglected, until it eventually died.
Close inspection of the engine also shows the bottom end was knackered, its been run dry of oil (either as a result of the garage running it with no oil in it, or it was prior damage) so the engine was caput. It lasted over 100,000 miles so that's not bad going.
So, we need to broach the subject of modifying an FRP. There is a school of thought out there they we shouldn't change or modify these superb cars because only 500 were built, and only 350ish still exist. That is a very good reason not to mess with them, and one I agree with on the whole. My previous FRP (441) was on its way to becoming a prime example of a superb, original, FRP and I would never have messed it up.However, where FRP70 is concerned, it was a mess when I got it, it would have been either patched up (badly), and run into the ground, or broken for parts and vanished forever. Therefore I don't feel bad about 'messing' with this one. It will become a fantastic car, will be for filling its potential, and most importantly, still be around for many years to come!
Glad that's out the way! Now onto the good stuff!
Here's a short list of jobs to do:
Sort the engine – Port the cylinder head – fit Fiesta ST clutch – Strip interior completely – fit rollcage – replace all worn bushes in suspension – fit decent coilovers – renew /replace anything that's worn out – remove windows and fit polycarb ones – full race seats and harnesses – GO RACING!
So, since getting the car home, the engine has been removed, a new one with 48k miles has been sourced and a full engine rebuild/refresh is taking place.
A full weld in CustomCages roll cage has been ordered and is in the process of being fitted
the fitting will take a couple of weeks, then the engine will be back in and the rest of the project will continue
the aim for this year is to take the car to the Nurburgring at the end of may, so I don't have long to get all this sorted!
I will keep this thread up to date with all the progress and let you know how I get on.
Cheers
Ross
[B]
UPDATE 19-02-12[/B]
Afternoon all, its been a productive weekend. the dash is out, and the cage is in place. only held in with tape and zip ties at the moment, but good news is it all seems to fit pretty well.
it will be welding in properly over the next couple of weeks, but these pics give an idea of how it will look.
more next week!
cheers
ross
05-03-12 UPDATE
Hi All
Well its been a busy weekend. P1 FRP is now really coming on and starting to take shape. Ive spent most of the weekend in the workshop with my dad and his mate welding in my roll cage. its looking awesome. But before we get to that some other news is that I've now got myself some awesome new seats. Im lucky enough to work for Lotus Cars, and occasionally they scrap off parts they no longer need. I stumbled across some brand new carbon fibre seats. So I bagsyed them, and they will be pride of place in my FRP!
Im sure it will make the car unique, surely it will be the only FRP in the world to have hand crafted, carbon fibre seats from a super car?! Plus i weighed these new seats, and they weigh 8kg each! the Old Sparco FRP seats weighed in at 21kg each! what a saving!
I'm obviously really chuffed with these!
Anyway, this weekend the whole cage was finally welded in, and looks great:
Some action shots!
So thats it for now. Ive got a plan, and only 8 weeks left until the first track day is booked at Snetterton in May, so its all systems go.
Next up is having the cylinder head ported, fitting a Tran-X LSD, and generally rebuild.
thanks for looking
Ross
UPDATE - 18-03-12
Quick update on my project. This weekend has been mostly about the engine. Its now back together and almost ready to go. Its a new (to the car) unit that i brought from ebay recently, had a verified 42,000 miles on the clock and was absolutely mint when we stripped it back. We've done quite a lot to it:
• Full strip down, and a paraffin clean of EVERYTHING!
• Cylinder head has been ported, polished and flowed by a highly experienced guy at Lotus
• New cylinder head bolts
• New head gasket
• New cam belt
• New belt tensioner
• New thermostat
• New water pump
• New accessory belt, pulley and idler
• All new gaskets and hardware
• New oil filter
• Plus the cams have been timed up properly using a new FRP timing tool, and double checked with a DTI.
• A brand new Fiesta ST clutch (with brand new puma master cylinder)
Thats taken most of the weekend. However the rest of the project is progressing well. Ive recently ordered a whole host of new parts, most of which are waiting to be fitted, including:
• A brand new FRP gearbox with a brand new Quaife LSD from pumabuild. this is due any day now, so the car will also benefit brand new transmission.
• New driveshafts (including the FRP unique blue one)
• New CV joints
• New wheel bearings (front and back)
• New brake lines
• New Fiesta ST clutch (with Puma master cylinder)
• New heater control valve
• A complete set of Powerflex bushes (both wishbone bushes, antiroll bar and rear beam)
• New front damper strut tops
• New drop links
• New track rod ends
Most of these bits are sitting in the workshop waiting to be fitted, along with my seats, so its like a parts dealer round mine at the moment!
Its a good feeling to be finally bolting things back onto the car though rather then taking stuff off. I can't wait to get the thing running though, that will be a great day!
The next big job is the roll cage, I'm deciding what colour to paint it. Im definitely going for a dark grey interior (floor, roof etc) but can't decide whether to have a Red, Orange, White, Grey or Blue cage. What do you thing???
Also, last weekend we spent a great deal of time refitting the dash board. I took lots of the dash away, including all the metal framework as the roll cage replaces most of this. I reckon its saved at least 10kg of weight. Also i finally finished the lovely job of removing all the sound deadening, and cleaning all the gunk that it leaves behind. Its looking quite good now though, ready for paint. Here it is:
So thats all for now. Its certainly getting there, but with only 6 weeks left until the MOT there is no time to waste!
cheers
Ross
Update 01-04-12
Hi All. well its been a good weekend once again. Got quite a lot done and things are really moving on nicely now.
Firstly the engine. This is now fully built up and ready. We've checked the cylinder pressures and port vacuums and they are all absolutely spot on. We did have an issue with one of the ports having not seated properly in the head (which showed up with a lesser vacuum value then the others) so the head was taken apart again, the valve re-lapped and the whole thing rebuilt until it was perfect.
Also my new gearbox arrived, which is a new FRP box from Pumabuild, which also has a new Quaife LSD fitted to it
And so, on friday we started to put the whole engine together and after a couple of hours it looked like this:
So the rest of the weekend was spent putting the engine back in to the car. And after lots and lots of effort by my good old dad it now looks like this:
Whilst dad was hard at work I was in the car cleaning up the welds and prepping for paint.
The really good news is that my Roll Cage installation has been given the official certification by custom cages so I've got the go ahead to paint it.
Here is this weekends progress on the interior. After a good clean up and de-burring the welds:
Then after lots of masking:
And then as time was running out i had one can of primer, so thought id do the rear of the car, which now looks like this:
So there we go, the engine is back in, its almost all connected and next week it will be fired up (fingers crossed!) and the interior is clean, masked up, and painting has begun. Next weekend i hope to have the whole interior painted. (Matte black cage, satin grey interior)
Its really coming together now! These are the good days, when the effort you put in starts to make a big difference!
Cheers
Ross
UPDATE 09-04-12
Well its been a brilliant bank holiday weekend, with me and my dad spending most of it in the workshop. And we've achieved loads more then i thought we could.
At the start of the weekend the car had its engine in but not fully plumbed in and not running, and the interior masked up and half painted with primer. Its amazing to see it now.
First job, primer the interior which went from this:
to this
here its all primer'ed and I've masked up the cage ready to paint the interior silver. At this stage I've already painted the cage matte black which looks really cool. here is the cage painted in matte black, before the interior was painted
once the cage was painted i masked it up
and began painting the interior metallic silver. at the end of yesterday it looked like this:
I'm really chuffed. its the first time I've done anything like this before and its come out really well.
next job was to put a seat in to see how its would fit, heres a sneak peak:
plus i trial fitted my new 6 point Luke harnesses which look amazing. no pics of these yet though.
So the interior is really getting there now. Onto the mechanics.
The engine is now in the car and is RUNNING
it sounds sweeeeet, idles really well and is great. We also got both driveshafts built up, both have brand new CV joints, and the right hand side blue shaft is also brand new.
Also, we fitted new wheel bearings in the front hubs, and fitted new powerflex bushes in the front LCAs
also, heres a pic of my shiny new gearbox (complete with new Quaife LSD) fitted to the engine, with a new 4 branch manifold
So all in all a pretty good weekends work, in summary since thursday night me and my dad have:
• painted the whole interior in primer
• painted the roll cage matte black
• painted the interior metallic silver
• wired/plumbed in the engine and got it running with no issues
• fitted new wheel bearings in front hubs
• changed CV joints in LHS drive shaft and build up a brand new RHS drive shaft complete with a new CV joint
• rebuilt the front end drive line
• measured up and installed the front drivers seat
• refitted the bonnet
I'm pretty pleased with that! still lots to do, and only one month today until the track day at snetterton, so its still a tight schedule but with progress like this I'm certain we can do it!
more updates next week.
cheers
Ross
[B]
UPDATE 15-04-12[/B]
Evening all.
Well yet another weekend in the workshop with my good old dad sees some more decent progress. Focus has been on the drivetrain and the seats. We've got the whole front end built up now and finished, and the driver seat in mounted (on custom built mounts) and the drivers harness is mounted in the car as well. so pretty good really.
On the front end, it was time to build up the brakes, so the callipers have been refurbished and cleaned and it was time to dig out some special parts id been saving. Time to get these out of the drawer!
and these
and get everything built up
Regarding the suspension, i was lucky enough to have 2 sets of FRP dampers. both had been used, with one set covering 70k miles, and the other 95k miles. So i needed to decide which set to install on the car. Now I'm lucky enough to have a job which involves suspension tuning, and have access to a machine which can rate dampers and show there performance. so i took my four front dampers to work (at Lotus) and rated them.
so, i chose damper number 1 and number 4 as they were the most closely matched. and these are now on the car.
Regarding the interior my dad designed and made some custom mounts for the seats, and these are now installed. The seat is very low in the car now, much lower than the standard seat. its practically bolted to the floor (though some 1 inch box section), so its a really awesome driving position. We are also in the process of lowering the steering column as well (bracket designed) and this will make it just perfect.
Also, i splashed my final budget on some sticky tyres. I decided to go for Yokohama Advan AD08 in the correct size. I'm sure they will be great, one things for sure they look awesome!
So thats about it for now.
Next weekend the other seat will go in, and the rear beam will be out back together (once the new wheel bearings are in the hubs)
Only 3 weeks until the MOT, and 4 weeks until the track day, so not long to go. I can not wait to drive this thing!
thanks for reading.
Ross
UPDATE 24-04-12
Hello All. Its been a couple of weeks since my last update so i thought id share my progress.
Quite a lot has been done since last time. Now all the rear end is built up and the car is back on its wheels. The rear beam has had Powerflex bushes fitted, new rear brake discs and pads fitted, new wheel bearings, and all rebuilt.
So the car was looking like this:
On the inside the passenger seat has now been properly fitted along with the other harness, and I've painted the door skins silver to match the rest of the interior, its looking sharp.
So it was finally time to give the old girl a wash. After being sat in pour workshop for 6 months, and in the workshop we brought it from for a further 10 months it was pretty dusty! To make matters worse it didn't look like its had been polished much in the past either so the paint was knackered.
It started off looking like this:
and after a lot of washing, polishing, clay-bar, machine polishing, and waxing, it now looks like this!
I'm really pleased with it, but to be honest it needs a lot more TLC before the paint is anywhere near perfect. I really need to repeat the whole process a couple more times as there are still lots of swirl marks and scratches that will eventually polish out, but for now its a start.
Big news is MOT DAY ON SATURDAY! Thats going to be nerve racking, not sure if it will pass yet or not, but still have a couple of weeks until the track day so thats cool.
I also got my insurance sorted out today. I went with Adrian Flux in the end, got a good deal (in my eyes). Declared the full list of mods (cage, harnesses, exhaust, seats, etc etc) They recognise it as a proper FRP, 3000 miles a year, full breakdown cover including recovery from anywhere in Europe, all in for £500. Not bad considering its a modified and rare car.
Anyway thats it for now, i'll post more when i have an MOT and the car is out in the real world! (Cant wait!)
cheers for reading.
Ros
UPDATE - 07-05-12
Well its been an interesting couple of weeks. P1 passed its MOT first time last weekend, and I've driven it for 200 miles since then. I LOVE this car, its just awesome!
The noise it makes is incredible, it certainly can be a bit deafening, but its a good sound.
It feels much more powerful then my old FRP, you can now really feel when the VCT kicks in, and the whole car feels more urgent.
The new gearbox is really sweet and the Quaife is more more refined then the other ford fitted LSD, it doenst tug or torque steer as much, but the way it drags you around corners is just amazing. I honestly think its much better than the Ford unit.
So the idea was to run the car on the road for 200 miles to iron out any bugs, and I certainly found one. There was a big problem with the ABS, which was kicking in as sson as the car was driven over 35mph, even if you hadn’t touched the brakes. After lots of searching we eventually found the OSR ABS sensor pickup ring was slightly warped, probably as a result of the wheel bearing change. So this was replaced and not the ABS is perfect.
I also took the car to work and put it on a Hunter wheel aligner to sort the geometry out. This is now set perfectly and the car drives so wheel as a result. Whilst I was at work I also put the car on a set of corner scales to see how much it weighed. From looking around on the internet I struggled to see the exact weight of a standard FRP, any one know? The figure I eventually came to was 1174kg, kerb weight (ie no passengers, full tank of fuel)
Anyway, I weighed my car, and it came in at 1034kg, which im really chuffed with. It was also empty of passengers, and had the fuel tank brimmed to the top.
Here is a picture of the scale machine to prove it!
This shows front left as 322kg, front right as 335kg, rear left as 191.5kg, rear right as 185.5kg. and total weight 1034kg.
So, with everything in the interior removed, but the roll cage and all fitted, its still a whopping 140kg lighter then standard!
So, with the car suspension geometry aligned, the car weighed, and the new Yokohama Advan AD08 tyres fitted it is now finally complete!
I spent some time this weekend cleaning it. It looks just about as shiny as its possible to get it!
So there you have it, its finished!
On Wednesday im taking it to Snetterton for a full day on track, and at the end of may we are off to the Nurburgring for a week! Its gonna be a tough time for P1 but im fairly certain she can take it!
In other news ive brought myself a GoPro Hero 2 camcorder, so I will be filming a lot of track work and posting it on here.
Ive had a go at making my first film of P1, it’s a bit rubbish! But if your interested them feel free to have a look
http://youtu.be/fNXxgF-6gjU
Thanks for all your support over the past few months, getting good feedback is always a moral booster in the tough times.
Big thanks to my dad as well, who spent many hours on this one!
Cheers
Ross
UPDATE 10-05-12
Well here is a video from yesterdays very wet Snetterton session. For the best laps skip on a few minutes as the first lap i was trying to get some heat in the tyres.
the camera angle is a bit rubbish, its good to give you an idea of what it was like being inside the car, but not so great for seeing out the windows. plus the fact that the window was steaming up cos of the rain (and the heated screen didn't work!) means you can see much of the track. I will change this for the next time, bringing the camera forward in the car.
http://youtu.be/kkCJ8fMYrnA
All set now for the Nurburgring in two weeks
Edited by RESTELL on Sunday 24th June 12:21
Thanks for all the good comments!
The car is a real hoot on the track, it has so much grip on the corners now, and that little bit of extra power helps to hang onto the coat tails of the things that used to drive away from me on the straights now too!
The car is a real hoot on the track, it has so much grip on the corners now, and that little bit of extra power helps to hang onto the coat tails of the things that used to drive away from me on the straights now too!
marmite monster said:
dude you need to set your go pro to "spot meter" look in the instructions it will tell you how
Thanks for this Marmite, i hadnt spotted this feature and to be honest i was a little dissapointed with cameras performance, so im sure this will help. I will reposition the cam next time to be lower and further forward as well. Thanks again for the good comments. Its always nice to get good feedback from a project thats taken a good chunk of time to complete.
You can ignore this guy below though, he's just some buffoon who sits opposite me at work!
You can ignore this guy below though, he's just some buffoon who sits opposite me at work!
The Wookie said:
Unfortunately on that journey took it via the Nurburgring... 
FWDRacer, i completely agree, the FRP will be a classic in a few years time and i expect values to go up massively from where they are at the moment. I will no doubt one day hugely regret not simply restoring the car back to a nice FRP, but as you say, this was more of a project to bring a tired old car back to life and show off its full potential. I do intend to keep the car for as long as i possibly can, would love to have it indefinitely, so maybe it will retain most of its value in the long run. FWDRacer said:
Will one day own an FRP. Modern Ford Classic-no doubt about it. Many will lament what you've done - I think it has been about breathing new life into a tired car. Top work.
Another Fluffer (thats quite a name!) - well i got the car cheap because of its condition, as a none runner. i paid £2k for it, and have since spent roughly another £6k, but that is an ever increasing number! Another Fluffer said:
Amazing car!
How much was the initial cost? If you don't mind me asking
cheers all. i will add some new pics taken whilst on the track at Snetterton shortly, so watch this space. How much was the initial cost? If you don't mind me asking
cjgreaves41 said:
Looks brilliant! What did you do for door cards?
I have removed the door cards, and just sprayed the door silver. I was thinking of making some carbo sheets to cover the metal but decided against it. i think i will eventually cut the inner door skin away and add a light weight cover, but not just yet.MagicalTrevor said:
I may have missed it but are you intending doing something about the suspension? It looks like it's too high with the additional weight removed
I know what you mean, the car does look like its sitting very high. Worth remembering that these FRP's do sit high as standard due to them meant to replicate a rally car. in fact the current suspension set is pretty good, very stiff, and very little body roll. Eventually i will either fit some coilovers and lower the car, or design some custom damper settings and change the springs to do the same thing,
CarsGoVroom said:
Lovely project and nice garage Ross.
Think I met you as we were sort of collectively with the Ford guys at Cadwell in October '10. Cant believe how long ago that was. I spent a few laps out with Tony and Wes, went out in my rusty old Megane Coupe.
Lucky to have two of these FRPs anyway, they seem right fun!
Rich
Pretty sure i remember that! was a long time ago. I love cadwell park its such a great circuit. I will definately be returning there this year at some point Think I met you as we were sort of collectively with the Ford guys at Cadwell in October '10. Cant believe how long ago that was. I spent a few laps out with Tony and Wes, went out in my rusty old Megane Coupe.
Lucky to have two of these FRPs anyway, they seem right fun!
Rich
UPDATE 03-06-12 – The Nurburgring!
Hi all. Well its been a while since I last wrote on here and lot has happened. Ive been back from my week long holiday to the Nurburgring for a few days now, and im still buzzing from it! So here is a full report of the car and the place!
So, Thursday 24th May, I finally finished the longest day at work ever, time seemed to stand still for the whole day, but once 5:15 arrived I literally ran out of the door like a child finishing school for the 6 weeks holidays!
First job for that night, load the car onto the trailer.
Friday 25th, was an EARLY start! Up at 4am and driving to Dover for a morning ferry.
A fairly flawless crossing with P&O but then an absolute nightmare of traffic through Belgium meant a 9 hour trip to our hotel.
We stayed in our usual hotel, a place weve been to for the past 4 years, the good old hotel wilhelmshoehe.
http://www.hotel-wilhelmshoehe.de/
Meeting up with the other two ‘Ring Warriors, Rob (Burfyboy)
and Adam (AWX85)
a few beers and off to bed, in anticipation of tomorrows track time.
Saturday 26th – Time to hit the track!
After a short and sunny drive from the hotel to the track we arrived, brought our laps, and after I collected myself from the floor after passing out at the cost of lapping this place, got my helmet on and jumped in the car.
I had forgotten just how made this place is on a public day. It was completely packed, and even though I had driven about 30 laps of this place over the previous 3 years I felt like I was learning it for the first time all over again. I spend more time looking behind me then in front, and after about 11 minutes the first lap of the year was over and I could breath again!
Clearly I needed more practice.
This year my dad also returned to the track with me, and after his ‘eventful’ year in 2011 (see my FRP 441 thread for details!), he had some demons to face. He did very well, I was really proud of him, and the first time he drove around the corner that he became a bit over familiar with last year I could feel a sigh of relief from him, and that we were gonna be ok this year!
So Saturday was a day of driving, we did 8 laps that day, with no issues. They were not fast ones. I had a GoPro in the car of most laps, and in the evening we reviewed our progress. We were getting more confident throughout the day and out times were improving, from about 10mins 30 down to 9:45’s in the first day. I was happy.
Back to the hotel, and time for a few of these
Sunday 27th – Back to the Track
This place is still rammed with people! Lots of crashes and closures, and only small opportunities to get on track before closures, and even when on track it was really hard to get a clean lap, lots of yellow flags and marshal’s. But we were getting more confident, not panicking when cars came to overtake, and managing to actually do come overtaking as well!
The worst thing was the car parking, we were forced on the fields at the back of the track, which was just full of dust. The weather was roasting (28 degrees) and the dust was unbearable. The cars soon were covered in it!
but we had time for some lunch in our amazing back up vehicle!
That day we managed 10 more laps, my dad did 2 and I did 8. My times were hovering about the 9min 30s which was ok considering the conditions.
Back to the hotel
Monday 28th – The last day on track!
This was the day I wanted that one clear lap, when everything could come together, I could flow through the 12 mile madness with full commitment, to hold the throttle flat through the blind corners with complete confidence and have no hold ups!
The traffic on track was lighter, lots of people had gone home the day before, and there were less closures.
We were doing well, I went out a couple of times without a passenger, and had two ‘ok’ laps, both suffered with yellow flags, but I was now setting 9 min 10s and 9 min 12s. Things were looking up!
My dad had his final couple of laps, and managed his target of a sub 10 minute lap. Again he did so well and was happy with his performance.
So, the time came, it was my last lap of the trip, and the last lap for the next couple of years (getting married next year means no ring trip!)
This was my last chance. My fastest ever lap of the ring was in 2010 in my old Focus ST 260, which was a 9 minute 2 seconds.
Could a little Puma, with only about 165bhp do a lap on a public day of the nurburgring, in less then 9 minutes?
Well have a look here to find out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYk5mY2xdU
Yep that’s right, my last lap of this trip was 8 minutes, 55 seconds! I was so happy. It was a pretty faultless lap, but there was traffic (scope for a few more seconds off the time?!) but I loved it.
I know it should not be encouraged to time your laps at the nurburgring. Im not encouraging it here, and it’s a personal choice if you want to do that. I was not ‘live timing’ my laps, I just had a GoPro attached to the car and watched them back in the evenings to see how I did and what the times were. If you time your laps, be careful, don’t drive beyond your limits to chase those last few seconds.
So, we went home, with huge smiles. Back to the hotel
Tuesday 29th – A Day Off!
After the hangover, we went for a drive about the area, and first headed to the town of Nurburg, to see the castle.
The castle was closed!
So we went to try and find the out ‘south loop’. The Nurburgring used to be a 17 mile long track, with a large southloop. This part of the track was decommissioned and closed in 1927. Some of it is the new GP circuit, some is now the normal roads around the track, and some of it is just left to return to nature.
We had a look on google earth, and found what we thought might be a bit of track. So we drove off to try and find it.
And we did. Here are some pics of the old south track as it stands today.
it was really cool walking on the old forgotten track. Some sections were so steep, its amazing anything from the 1920’s could even drive up them!
We also went for a long walk along the main track and stopped at various places. Some of my pics:
So, after a good day, it was back to the hotel.
and on the next day we had a 11 hour drive home ☹
what an awesome trip, and an awesome car. All the efforts of the last 8 months have been worth it. The car was perfect, it performed amazingly well and im so happy with it.
Thanks for reading.
Ross
Hi all. Well its been a while since I last wrote on here and lot has happened. Ive been back from my week long holiday to the Nurburgring for a few days now, and im still buzzing from it! So here is a full report of the car and the place!
So, Thursday 24th May, I finally finished the longest day at work ever, time seemed to stand still for the whole day, but once 5:15 arrived I literally ran out of the door like a child finishing school for the 6 weeks holidays!
First job for that night, load the car onto the trailer.
Friday 25th, was an EARLY start! Up at 4am and driving to Dover for a morning ferry.
A fairly flawless crossing with P&O but then an absolute nightmare of traffic through Belgium meant a 9 hour trip to our hotel.
We stayed in our usual hotel, a place weve been to for the past 4 years, the good old hotel wilhelmshoehe.
http://www.hotel-wilhelmshoehe.de/
Meeting up with the other two ‘Ring Warriors, Rob (Burfyboy)
and Adam (AWX85) a few beers and off to bed, in anticipation of tomorrows track time.
Saturday 26th – Time to hit the track!
After a short and sunny drive from the hotel to the track we arrived, brought our laps, and after I collected myself from the floor after passing out at the cost of lapping this place, got my helmet on and jumped in the car.
I had forgotten just how made this place is on a public day. It was completely packed, and even though I had driven about 30 laps of this place over the previous 3 years I felt like I was learning it for the first time all over again. I spend more time looking behind me then in front, and after about 11 minutes the first lap of the year was over and I could breath again!
Clearly I needed more practice.
This year my dad also returned to the track with me, and after his ‘eventful’ year in 2011 (see my FRP 441 thread for details!), he had some demons to face. He did very well, I was really proud of him, and the first time he drove around the corner that he became a bit over familiar with last year I could feel a sigh of relief from him, and that we were gonna be ok this year!
So Saturday was a day of driving, we did 8 laps that day, with no issues. They were not fast ones. I had a GoPro in the car of most laps, and in the evening we reviewed our progress. We were getting more confident throughout the day and out times were improving, from about 10mins 30 down to 9:45’s in the first day. I was happy.
Back to the hotel, and time for a few of these
Sunday 27th – Back to the Track
This place is still rammed with people! Lots of crashes and closures, and only small opportunities to get on track before closures, and even when on track it was really hard to get a clean lap, lots of yellow flags and marshal’s. But we were getting more confident, not panicking when cars came to overtake, and managing to actually do come overtaking as well!
The worst thing was the car parking, we were forced on the fields at the back of the track, which was just full of dust. The weather was roasting (28 degrees) and the dust was unbearable. The cars soon were covered in it!
but we had time for some lunch in our amazing back up vehicle!
That day we managed 10 more laps, my dad did 2 and I did 8. My times were hovering about the 9min 30s which was ok considering the conditions.
Back to the hotel
Monday 28th – The last day on track!
This was the day I wanted that one clear lap, when everything could come together, I could flow through the 12 mile madness with full commitment, to hold the throttle flat through the blind corners with complete confidence and have no hold ups!
The traffic on track was lighter, lots of people had gone home the day before, and there were less closures.
We were doing well, I went out a couple of times without a passenger, and had two ‘ok’ laps, both suffered with yellow flags, but I was now setting 9 min 10s and 9 min 12s. Things were looking up!
My dad had his final couple of laps, and managed his target of a sub 10 minute lap. Again he did so well and was happy with his performance.
So, the time came, it was my last lap of the trip, and the last lap for the next couple of years (getting married next year means no ring trip!)
This was my last chance. My fastest ever lap of the ring was in 2010 in my old Focus ST 260, which was a 9 minute 2 seconds.
Could a little Puma, with only about 165bhp do a lap on a public day of the nurburgring, in less then 9 minutes?
Well have a look here to find out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYk5mY2xdU
Yep that’s right, my last lap of this trip was 8 minutes, 55 seconds! I was so happy. It was a pretty faultless lap, but there was traffic (scope for a few more seconds off the time?!) but I loved it.
I know it should not be encouraged to time your laps at the nurburgring. Im not encouraging it here, and it’s a personal choice if you want to do that. I was not ‘live timing’ my laps, I just had a GoPro attached to the car and watched them back in the evenings to see how I did and what the times were. If you time your laps, be careful, don’t drive beyond your limits to chase those last few seconds.
So, we went home, with huge smiles. Back to the hotel
Tuesday 29th – A Day Off!
After the hangover, we went for a drive about the area, and first headed to the town of Nurburg, to see the castle.
The castle was closed!
So we went to try and find the out ‘south loop’. The Nurburgring used to be a 17 mile long track, with a large southloop. This part of the track was decommissioned and closed in 1927. Some of it is the new GP circuit, some is now the normal roads around the track, and some of it is just left to return to nature.
We had a look on google earth, and found what we thought might be a bit of track. So we drove off to try and find it.
And we did. Here are some pics of the old south track as it stands today.
it was really cool walking on the old forgotten track. Some sections were so steep, its amazing anything from the 1920’s could even drive up them!
We also went for a long walk along the main track and stopped at various places. Some of my pics:
So, after a good day, it was back to the hotel.
and on the next day we had a 11 hour drive home ☹
what an awesome trip, and an awesome car. All the efforts of the last 8 months have been worth it. The car was perfect, it performed amazingly well and im so happy with it.
Thanks for reading.
Ross
Thank you all for the great comments, really nice of you.
Regarding the noise, well yep its a bit noisy inside, i love it! Its running a full stainless exhaust system, a 4-2-1 manifold into a straight through system with no catalyst. At a recent snetterton track day it measured 89dB at 4500rpm. i thought it would be louder but I'm pleased with it.
Ive had to re-process my nurburgring lap video due to an error with the sound on the old one, so the new link is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKa5pvJb_Y
Also, I've been contacted by Performance Ford magazine this week, and they want to run a feature on my car, so thats pretty cool. more to follow on that one.
thanks again
Ross
Regarding the noise, well yep its a bit noisy inside, i love it! Its running a full stainless exhaust system, a 4-2-1 manifold into a straight through system with no catalyst. At a recent snetterton track day it measured 89dB at 4500rpm. i thought it would be louder but I'm pleased with it.
Ive had to re-process my nurburgring lap video due to an error with the sound on the old one, so the new link is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKa5pvJb_Y
Also, I've been contacted by Performance Ford magazine this week, and they want to run a feature on my car, so thats pretty cool. more to follow on that one.
thanks again
Ross
02-09-12 – UPDATE
Hi All! As it’s been ages since I last wrote anything on here I thought id just do a quick update on what ive been upto with the Racing Puma.
Since the Nurburgring trip the car has been cleaned and stored in my dads workshop where it stayed for a while, but has been out for a couple of notable things.
Firstly, ive been featured by Performance Ford Magazine, which was exciting! After a few chats with the guys there I managed to arrange for them to come to my workplace to take some photos and have an interview.
The full feature is meant to be out this coming Thursday (6th September) so I wont spoil it, but here are a few ‘behind the scenes’ pics! (can u guess where we are?!)
Im really looking forward to reading the magazine to see how the car looks! The guys from the magazine were really nice, and I was even lucky enough to have exclusive use of the track so I could give them a few full chat demo laps of how the car handles, it was awesome!
The other main thing ive done is my first taste of genuine motorsport.
I competed in the Lotus Hethel Sprint, which was basically a series of timed laps, against a whole range of other more exotic machinery, such as old Lotus F1 cars, Ferrari’s, TVR’s, various single seaters and a range of hot hatches.
My class had a couple of Clio Cup race cars, a Lotus Elan, 106 Rallye, and a few other things. I eventually came second in class, to a new generation Clio race car, so I was pretty happy with that. Here are a few pics of the car on track
So that’s about all for now.
I do have a trackday booked at Cadwell Park in October, so will do a full report on that with some Go-Pro videos to match.
Thanks for reading.
Oh, and look out for me in this month Performance Ford Magazine, available in all good service stations!
Ross
Hi All! As it’s been ages since I last wrote anything on here I thought id just do a quick update on what ive been upto with the Racing Puma.
Since the Nurburgring trip the car has been cleaned and stored in my dads workshop where it stayed for a while, but has been out for a couple of notable things.
Firstly, ive been featured by Performance Ford Magazine, which was exciting! After a few chats with the guys there I managed to arrange for them to come to my workplace to take some photos and have an interview.
The full feature is meant to be out this coming Thursday (6th September) so I wont spoil it, but here are a few ‘behind the scenes’ pics! (can u guess where we are?!)
Im really looking forward to reading the magazine to see how the car looks! The guys from the magazine were really nice, and I was even lucky enough to have exclusive use of the track so I could give them a few full chat demo laps of how the car handles, it was awesome!
The other main thing ive done is my first taste of genuine motorsport.
I competed in the Lotus Hethel Sprint, which was basically a series of timed laps, against a whole range of other more exotic machinery, such as old Lotus F1 cars, Ferrari’s, TVR’s, various single seaters and a range of hot hatches.
My class had a couple of Clio Cup race cars, a Lotus Elan, 106 Rallye, and a few other things. I eventually came second in class, to a new generation Clio race car, so I was pretty happy with that. Here are a few pics of the car on track
So that’s about all for now.
I do have a trackday booked at Cadwell Park in October, so will do a full report on that with some Go-Pro videos to match.
Thanks for reading.
Oh, and look out for me in this month Performance Ford Magazine, available in all good service stations!
Ross
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
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
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
Well it's been ages since I updated this post and there have been a few little changes to the car over the last few months so here goes.
First of all I've managed to save some more weight by removing the windows, wing mirror motors, all the wiring, door skins and side impact bars. All together that's a saving of about 20kg's. I replaced the windows with some pre made polycarbonate items from http://www.acwmotorsportplastics.co.uk and I cannot recommend these enough.
The company is great, really good to deal with and the product is great, nice quality and a great fit.
So with the windows fitted we went to snetterton for a sneaky Trackday on the 300 circuit. It was a wet day but still lots of fun. I did get a video of the last two laps of the day when it was just drying out.
http://youtu.be/0eZybn1a5GQ
So I still love the car, it's so much fun. It lives in the workshop most of the time, then we drag her out and after a quick service it loves being thrashed around the track all day, never misses a beat, and then goes back in the workshop. It's brilliant.
I've also got another new toy, a nice little Boxster S 3.4. It's lovely, but the puma is still the most fun. I'll never sell this car, it's just far too good!
Thanks for reading.
Here's the fleet (FRP, Boxster and the daily Mondey 2.2 TDCI)
First of all I've managed to save some more weight by removing the windows, wing mirror motors, all the wiring, door skins and side impact bars. All together that's a saving of about 20kg's. I replaced the windows with some pre made polycarbonate items from http://www.acwmotorsportplastics.co.uk and I cannot recommend these enough.
The company is great, really good to deal with and the product is great, nice quality and a great fit.
So with the windows fitted we went to snetterton for a sneaky Trackday on the 300 circuit. It was a wet day but still lots of fun. I did get a video of the last two laps of the day when it was just drying out.
http://youtu.be/0eZybn1a5GQ
So I still love the car, it's so much fun. It lives in the workshop most of the time, then we drag her out and after a quick service it loves being thrashed around the track all day, never misses a beat, and then goes back in the workshop. It's brilliant.
I've also got another new toy, a nice little Boxster S 3.4. It's lovely, but the puma is still the most fun. I'll never sell this car, it's just far too good!
Thanks for reading.
Here's the fleet (FRP, Boxster and the daily Mondey 2.2 TDCI)
Edited by RESTELL on Sunday 11th August 21:58
Edited by RESTELL on Sunday 11th August 21:58
It does have wing mirrors, just an empty shell with the glass fixed to a small bracket. (Not fitted in those pictures as they were still being made) total weight saved from those was about 5kg. They have a fairly hefty metal bracket plus motor and wiring which is now all gone.
Ollie that 5kg saving means I can have a double bacon roll for breakfast. Someone needs to keep the canteen going since you left
Ollie that 5kg saving means I can have a double bacon roll for breakfast. Someone needs to keep the canteen going since you left
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