Sagaris Bonnet
Discussion
Having been at the VMAX day yesterday (thanks again Craig) I feel I should warn other Sagaris drivers of a couple of issues at high speed...
Firstly at about 154 mph (happened twice) the rear fixings for the bonnet give up and release.... not a fun moment, even with extra measures to try and hold it down.
Secondly at 156 mph the tailgate blew it's catch and openned (did this twice as well).
Best speed of the day 156 MPH with bits falling off around me.....
Firstly at about 154 mph (happened twice) the rear fixings for the bonnet give up and release.... not a fun moment, even with extra measures to try and hold it down.
Secondly at 156 mph the tailgate blew it's catch and openned (did this twice as well).
Best speed of the day 156 MPH with bits falling off around me.....
speedyellow said:
Firstly at about 154 mph (happened twice) the rear fixings for the bonnet give up and release.... not a fun moment, even with extra measures to try and hold it down.
Secondly at 156 mph the tailgate blew it's catch and openned (did this twice as well).
This used to happen on mine. The problem is caused by the bonnet vibrating at speed. The up/down flexing in the centre of the bonnet means the width of the bonnet fractionally changes very rapidly. This causes the retaining pins to slide backwards and forwards and gradually rotate so they come undone.
Myself and Silverstone TVR cured the problem temporarily by removing the original rotating pins and bolting it down with coach bolts. This didn’t look very nice but it worked for my trip to Le Mans and also reduced the amount of bonnet vibration a little.
When my car went back to the factory they removed the coach bolts and refitted fixings similar to the originals, although the flat pieces of metal through which the rotating pins go are now painted/adonised black instead of metal colour. They also added a strut in between the bases of the wipers supporting the centre of the bonnet. So far the clips have stayed done up, but I’ve not been over 140 for any length of time.
I think ultimately I’m going to devise a neat looking “bolt down” solution, as I really don’t trust the standard clips.
I’ve not had any tailgate problems yet – apart from the catch on mine not wanting to open very easily. What sort of speed where you doing when it popped open?
hobo said:
156mph ? Seems very slow.
Having done Vmax before in the T350, and having seen a speed of 159mph myself, and around 165mph by another T350c, though the Sag would be pushing 170ish.
Assuming Speedyellow wasn’t slowed by the bits coming loose, I’m not too surprised by this speed. My Sagaris is ballistic up to about 130 and then you can feel the rate of acceleration slow as it really begins to battle against the air. I don’t think the Gurney flap on the back is very helpful if you’re Vmaxing. My 3.6 Tuscan felt more accelerative above 140 than my Sagaris.
It is however noticeably more stable at these speeds than my Tuscan and T350’s I’ve driven.
Speedyellow, how did your car compare in acceleration up to 120 with the other cars at Vmax?
TSS
My car has the bonnet modifications...... it used to be much worse and I thought this was the cure, but over 150 it still gave up.
Tailgate popped at 154/5 both times.
Side by side with a Lambo Diablo VT neck and neck to 120 then he walked away, made about 4 car lengths on a Fer 360 upto 120 then he passed me.
Played with the data logger, if you assume the all up car weight was 1200KG, (me, 2/3 tank of fuel) it looks like the car is producing only about 290hp at the wheels??
Oh mine has done 3500 miles and had been into racing green for a check up and tune the friday before.
Tailgate popped at 154/5 both times.
Side by side with a Lambo Diablo VT neck and neck to 120 then he walked away, made about 4 car lengths on a Fer 360 upto 120 then he passed me.
Played with the data logger, if you assume the all up car weight was 1200KG, (me, 2/3 tank of fuel) it looks like the car is producing only about 290hp at the wheels??
Oh mine has done 3500 miles and had been into racing green for a check up and tune the friday before.
Plotloss said:
all I can tell you is 150 is 7K in 4th, if I went into 5th the car slowed down.....
I thought that Sagaris was the first TVR that had wind tunnel time under its belt?
That either sounds very odd or the wind tunnel claim is knackers...
Downforce = drag maybe?
daftlad said:
higher though?
I'm a layman in aero terms but it dropping off in 5th seems odd.
Hence the gearing question. I did hear tales of early cars running quite high final gearing which may explain the lower achievable speed in 5th gear.
.. so it's like an overdrive then..?
With regards to the 5th gear thingy. I found exactly the same at Vmax.
the car would be accelerating 'briskly' into the point where you changed into 5th, at which point it was accelerating soooo... slowly. Would need a runway of about 10 miles to get anywhere near top speed. Somewhere like ? Rouen to LeMan
My car would keep up with most upto circa 100mph, but then would seemingly go backwards compared to the exocita.
the car would be accelerating 'briskly' into the point where you changed into 5th, at which point it was accelerating soooo... slowly. Would need a runway of about 10 miles to get anywhere near top speed. Somewhere like ? Rouen to LeMan
My car would keep up with most upto circa 100mph, but then would seemingly go backwards compared to the exocita.
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