BARGAIN BASEMENT ST - Building a budget race car

[SparrowHawk]

BobbyA I remember yes, they're a great car for Brands Indy. I had a Eunos race car a few years ago, it was good fun. I wasn't experienced enough at the time to get the best out of that car, as they're all about maintaining momentum aren't they. Great fun in the right hands.

Bigmacca1, I'll get the next update on today

[SparrowHawk]

FIRST RACE MEETING

The car was superb.

We made a few rookie errors and learned a few things. One or two mistakes we won't make again with regards to car preparation and decisions made during the final stages of the build.

But, in short, we came out of the weekend with the best result we could possibly have hoped for - and we were absolutely buzzing.



My plan had always been to build the car as much as we could ourselves, keep it road legal, and then drive it to each race myself and camp overnight at the circuits with only the very basics to support. Inspired by the Malle Moto class at Dakar. This is a really fun way of doing it, but also slightly risky.. especially once you start venturing further afield. If you get it wrong and end up bending the car - or if you have a mechanical failure.. then you have no trailer or tow vehicle to get you home.

The journey down to Lydden was fine. It's very loud out on the road, with virtually no sound deadening. But the car is still running a standard exhaust/manifold, so the exhaust noise isn't deafening. We're also still on OEM shocks, so the ride isn't as awful as it would be in a fully finished race car. The most uncomfortable part of driving a track car long distances is often the drone from the track focussed tyres - but we've now got a second set of wheels with Uniroyal Rainsports on. These will act as my 'wets' but also be used to get drive the car to and from the circuit, again making the car less uncomfortable to drive on the road.



I wouldn't be doing it full Malle Moto style though, not this weekend anyway. My dad drove down on the Saturday morning with a car containing a few important bits like the race wheels/tyres, and essentials like a jack, axle stand, basic tools etc. Without this, I would have needed to cram the second set of wheels into the race car (not easy with a full cage). That tactic might be called upon for further away circuits but whilst we're at our local Kent circuits Dad is happy to come along with the 'support vehicle'.

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Qualifying went well. We were running with another almost identical Fiesta ST in our class, so we knew we'd have close competition and hopefully some good racing in the day ahead. I enjoyed my first ever session on the Lydden circuit - it's fairly short and un-intimidating, but still quite tricky. It became clear that driver experience/skill is important here as I watched several less powerful cars, such as the Citroen Saxos, disappear off into the distance.

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I managed to just about keep up with our main competition, the blue Supatune Fiesta ST - but he still put in a quicker time and I'd be starting alongside him on the grid. The car felt good during qualifying, I felt I had ample grip and the car was not leaning too much in the corners as I'd feared it would. The main limitations were clearly all in the driver. I didn't know the circuit and did not manage to find the right lines through turn 1 or through the tricky Devils Elbow. I was also clearly scrubbing off too much speed through Paddock turn, which was impacting my lap time.



After quali we sat down to talk about the car. We felt like it was performing well. We'd been warned that Lydden was very hard on tyres, and I'd opted to run our very used set of R888 tyres. Those tyres had done A LOT of laps on trackdays on our other car, but they performed well during our shakedown at Brands earlier in the week so we kept them on the car.

The suspension was also ok, although I could clearly see that the other cars were quicker than me through turn 1 and I did feel that this was down to our fairly basic suspension setup. The blue ST had much better traction through that turn and was getting a much better slingshot out onto the back straight; I was fairly sure this was due to my road suspension not giving me the ability to sit the car down into the corner and power out of it. I wasn't getting massive understeer, I just knew that the car would be turning in better and carrying more speed if I could rely on the suspension to do a better job.. it was the limitations of running such a basic set up. The suspension was adequate, but if we wanted to be as fast as the other cars on track then we needed to upgrade to coilovers and get the geo done professionally at some point soon.

The main upside was that our brakes were mega; we were able to brake late and very deep into one or two of the corners giving us a slight advantage there.



We decided on a pretty simple race strategy. The blue ST had shown that it was quicker in quali, and I was unlikely to magically find another few tenths during the race. So it was clear that our best shot was to get in front at the start and then try to stay there. If we allowed to blue ST to remain in front after lap 1 then he'd slowly pull away and we'd lose (barring any mistakes).

So the strategy was to go in hard during lap 1, trust the brakes, and get in front using the braking zones in turns 1 and 2. If that paid off, then drive a defensive race and see what happens.



Race 1 was interesting!

The rolling start almost went wrong when the cars in front caught us off guard and there as a slight jump-start as we came down Hairy Hill. Luckily we managed to keep pace with the blue ST and went deep into the braking zone picking up a couple of car lengths along the way; we then got out onto the back straight and did the same thing into the next turn at Devils Elbow finally getting the job done heading up the hill. We were in front and leading our class, and I managed to pull a few more car lengths over the opening lap or two. The opening laps of the race were fairly comfortable and I was just settling into a rhythm.

Then.. the tyres went off. Big time!

What came next was a very long slog to the end of the race; with the other ST filling my rear-view mirror for every second of the next ten laps. We were bumper to bumper with neither of us willing to give an inch, and with my front tyres getting worse and worse.



I was losing bucket-loads of time in turn 1, as the blue car sat down and turned in, and my car began to wash wider and wider out to the outside of the track. But our car was mega on the brakes, and I was also gaining a small advantage by snatching second gear heading up the hill to the hairpin at North Bend and winning a couple of yards back.

We both raced fair, with no weaving or diving, and I made the little silver Fiesta as wide as possible. I was being hounded by a clearly faster driver, and it was a hard task keeping him behind me; especially as we found traffic and passed a couple of slower cars - and even more so as the overall race leaders came storming past us towards the end of the race.

In the end there as a big crash in the leading pack, as a Civic took a heavy hit into the barriers on the start straight. I came through Paddock bend to find an EP3 strewn across the circuit and we slowed to a walking pace as the red flags came out.

After a few minutes lined up on the track the decision was made that as there were only a couple of minutes left, the race was called. We'd done it! In our first race we'd managed to finish and we'd somehow managed to stay in front and take the class win. What a result!



We were over the moon. The result had surpassed our expectations, and it had been a hard fought race. What a great way for this little racing car to begin it's career.

But the main talking point for us was the tyres. We'd made a big mistake leaving those used R888s on the car for the race, and it was simply down to our inexperience. The tyres had performed well during qualifying, and I guess I just thought they had eternal life left in them. In reality when they were pushed hard for five laps during the race they simply dropped off a cliff, and I no longer had grip at the front end.

Once this happened the car went from being very manageable and fairly quick, to over a second slower and almost unmanageable through the corners. In the end I'd had to drop my corner entry speed significantly in order to drive a defensive line. If I'd tried to carry my usual speed through Turn 1 or through the Hairpin, the car would have washed wide and I'd have left the door wide open to my pursuer.



We were left with a decision to make about Race 2. Do we change all four wheels and run on our wets. Or to we swap the rears to the front, and only put wets on the back? Either way the front 2 had to come off the car as they were toast!!

Our friend from Kent Motorsport had kindly come down to watch the races. He knew a few other drivers racing that weekend, and came over to give us some support and advice. With his help we opted to put the rear R888s onto the front, and put a pair of our wet wheels (Rainsports) onto the rear.

Race 2 went brilliantly!

We started in front this time. After the rolling start we pulled away slightly, gaining a fairly decent gap. Our rival got caught in a battle with one of the Saxos which allowed us to pull ahead and we again settled into a rhythm. I started to feel confident, the front tyres were miles better than the fronts we'd taken off - and the Rainsports on the rear were doing the job. I did find the back of the car started to slide much earlier with the wets on; but it was a predictable and manageable slide, so I reduced my corner entry speeds slightly and the car stayed neat and tidy through the corners.

Then.. the front tyres went off, again!

I don't know the exact wording but I think the saying goes something like, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting a different result. When we swapped the rear tyres onto the front, I think the intention had been that I would drive the car slightly more cautiously in race 2, knowing that the front tyres would probably go off again if I pushed them too hard. Sadly, being relatively inexperienced what I actually did was to drive the car almost exactly the same way that I had in race 1. The result, unsurprisingly, was that half way through the race the front tyres stopped gripping, and I started understeering badly in the corners.

It was a rookie mistake, especially given that I was a good two or three seconds ahead of my main rival. In hindsight I could have nurtured my front tyres a bit more, and given them less of a hard time through turn 1 and at the hairpin. As a result within a single lap that blue ST was right back on my bumper again and we still had at least half a dozen laps ahead of us.

What followed was almost a carbon copy of the final laps of Race 1. With my mirrors completely full of Ford performance blue. I played the same tactics of driving the car incredibly defensively; hugging the apex all the way through Turn 1, braking deep into the Devils Elbow, bouncing the car off the limiter in second gear going up the hill, and taking up the entire track coming down Hairy Hill.



This time my rival was even more intent on getting past, and did! He'd cottoned on to my second gear advantage going up the hill and was now doing the same thing. The result was that on more than one occasion he got alongside and then in front of me going up the hill. But driving incredibly fairly he gave me room and didn't cut across me, and I won the lead right back in the braking zone at the hairpin.

This carried on corner-for-corner lap-for-lap, until we finally crossed the finished line and I took the chequered flag by a miniscule 0:00.04...!!!

What an incredibly tight race, and again, what a result! We'd bagged another class win.



We'd come to the weekend hoping to finish both races, and hoping not to uncover any huge flaws in the car.

What we'd come away with was 2 class wins, and some important lessons learned on the importance of tyre management.

A great result all round - and even better we had no packing down to do and no loading or unloading to take care of. We just chucked a few things in the back of the car and set off.

Our smooth departure didn't quite go as planned as the support vehicle failed to start.. luckily the only time we needed help from the stewards that weekend!

Edited by SparrowHawk on Tuesday 4th May 15:28

[SparrowHawk]

DID WE HIT BUDGET ???

There is more than one answer to this question.

If I took into account the value of various parts that I already had (eg. wheels & tyres) the car would cost more than £5k. There is also the fact that I haven’t technically finished the car yet... not many people would go racing without having coilovers fitted! So in that sense, you could definitely argue that I didn’t quite manage to build & finish a race car for less than £5k.

However. Did I manage to build a car and take it racing, spending less than £5000 in the process? Yes, I did!

Here’s a pic of the car before we started…



And here’s a pic of the car ready to race…



One from the day we collected the car...



And one from Brands Hatch this weekend just gone...



As this thread was started specifically to see if it could really be done for under £5000, I thought it would be helpful to list EXACTLY how much I’ve spent, and what I spent it on.

This will inevitably highlight that the finished race car (once suspension is fitted etc) will clearly cost way more than £5000. But at the point that I lined up on the grid for Race 1 at Lydden Hill, the total I'd spent was UNDER £5000. Here is a breakdown of those costs...

MONEY SPENT:

£500 Car was bought as an MOT failure (real market value probably around £1000)
£150 Exhaust fitted for MOT
£70 Oil service & other (spark plugs, wipers etc)
£100 Struts, topmounts, droplinks
£40 MOT

£950 Rollcage - JP Cages
£400 Rollcage fitting
£165 Rear anti roll bar – Whiteline
£125 Front strut brace – OMP

£445 Race seat – Sparco
£175 Race harness – TRS
£90 Seat subframe – OMP
£30 Seat mounts – Demon tweeks
£20 Foot rest - Motamec

£150 Polycarb windows
£100 Doorcards
£10 Door pulls
£20 Tow loops
£25 Bonnet & boot pins

£165 Fire extinguisher – Tegiwa
£100 Electrical parts for cut-off
£50 Cut off switch
£40 Yuasa race battery
£35 Battery tray – Motamec
£35 Rain light
£60 Steering boss - OMP
£50 Steering wheel – Motamec

£180 Front brake pads – EBC RPX
£65 Rear brake pads – EBC
£140 Brake discs – Halo Performance
£75 Braided hoses – Goodridge
£10 Caliper slider kit

£350 Clutch
£80 Front lip spoiler

TOTAL £5000


My other main question was; how much harder is it for a complete novice – when you don’t have a workshop & years of experience at your disposal?

The answer to that was as predicted; it's harder. It's colder. Sometimes its wetter. And it definitely leaves you more prone to throwing a spanner across the driveway and going indoors to have a cup of tea and sulk. But evidently, its not impossible!

Lots of lessons learned along the way; things I’d do differently, items I’d prioritise more if I did it again, jobs I’d pay extra for a professional to do next time, parts I wouldn’t purchase again, new skills learned, and a new-found confidence that – even if you’re not a mechanic you can still have a crack at something like this and get the job done (with a little help along the way).

I'll do another post answering this question in more detail soon.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Thursday 13th May 09:30

[SparrowHawk]

SECOND RACE MEETING - QUALIFYING

This was a two day event at Brands Hatch - on the Grand Prix circuit. This race weekend came in quick succession, just 12 days after our race weekend at Lydden ended.

Again, we learned a number of new lessons. But also acted on some of what we'd learned from Lydden Hill. Prime amongst this was careful consideration of tyre choice.. rather than just rocking up to the race weekend with a knackered old set of trackday tyres!



We had heavy rain forecast all day Saturday, meaning we'd almost certainly be qualifying on a wet track. Most people were optimistic that Sunday would be dry, so we headed to Brands Hatch with a set of Uniroyal Rainsports on the car; we'd been recommended these as an effective & affordable wet weather tyre option.

In addition to the Rainsports we of course got rid of that blitzed set of R888's that had been destroyed at Lydden - and replaced them with a set of Nankang NS-2R's. I know that these are not everyone's semi-slick of choice; some people see them as a bit of a budget option. But this is a budget build (or at least it was when it started) and I have lots of positive experience of this tyre. It worked very well on our Civic Type-R, and also lasted for almost an entire season on one set. Not bad at £65 a corner.

We also invested in a set of the much more popular Dunlop Direzza race tyres. These will come into play later in the season.

Another lesson learned at Lydden was that our brakes were one of the best performing aspects of our car. So to capitalise on this we have since added a set of Goodridge braided hoses (which I'd failed to fit to the car in time for Lydden), and also took that opportunity to give the brake system another flush out - and replaced with high performance race spec fluid. Our intention was to retain our advantage under braking.

The other key thing we'd learned about the car was that the suspension was by far the weakest link. But we simply would not have time to get coilovers and setup sorted in the small window between races. So we headed to Brands, again, on standard shocks and lowered road springs.



Qualifying was wet. Very wet! I was certainly glad to have the Rainsports on the car. I know that some cars did go out in qualifying with semi-slicks on, but I was not tempted. The rain was lashing down as we got ready to go out on track, and although the track wasn't covered in standing water - it was very very wet.



The biggest 'weakness' of the car actually played to our advantage in the wet. Rather than holding us back, the suspension gave us a nice soft setup, allowing me to carry plenty of speed into the corners without risking running out of grip - and making the car very predictable and easy to manage on the incredibly slippery surface.



As a result we qualified on poll in class, first of the Fiesta ST's and ahead of a couple of other much faster cars from 'higher' classes who had struggled for grip in the very tricky conditions. A great result for us. But we were very aware that Sunday would likely be a different story in the dry weather.

[SparrowHawk]

NEW TYRES

Sunday was sunny as forecast.

We learned at Lydden that poor tyre decisions could easily potentially cost you a win. You can’t just wing it with tyres and say ‘ah, they’ll be alright!’

So last minute we’d ordered a set of NS-2Rs to go on the car. I’d run out of time during the weeks, so Sunday morning they still weren’t on the car!



Handily there was a tyre fitter on site at Brands Hatch, and they kindly agreed to fit up our new tyres for a very reasonable fee.



Big thanks to Mr Tyre Motorsport for getting the tyres fitted and balanced just in time for our first race. The Radicals we’re keeping these guys busy so thanks again for squeezing us in.

Once putting the tyres on I took the car out onto the road to put a heat cycle through the tyres. They wouldn’t have 24 hours to cool down and ‘set’, but it was better than going straight out on track on a brand new set of tyres and potentially ruining them.



In addition to putting new tyres on the car I’m pleased to say we had another addition to the car on Sunday. Kent Motorsport have been incredibly helpful to us over the course of the build and getting to the first two race weekends. Yaser at Kent Motorsport has a wealth of experience in racing; and specialises in car setup and race support. I’m delighted to say they are sponsoring us this season, so help us go racing - and in return we will be displaying their branding on the car at each race meeting this season in addition to talking about them and recommending them to our fellow competitors.



The car was looking good and we felt fairly confident we’d keep pace with the other cars in class today. We were starting on pole in class for Race 1. But in the dry conditions there was every chance that we’d struggle for grip on the fast GP circuit as the car was still setup very soft indeed.



Next update will be of Sunday Race 1 & 2.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Wednesday 19th May 13:54

[SparrowHawk]

BRANDS HATCH GP - RACE DAY

Glorious sunshine all day at Brands Hatch for races 1 & 2 on the Sunday.

We were excited to try out the long circuit in dry weather. But we also knew that we'd struggle to keep up our good form, as the warm conditions would take away the edge we'd had in the wet.



The car looked epic out there in the sunny conditions, and I have to say it felt good to be romping around the Grand Prix circuit that I'd visited so many times as a spectator for the BTCC, driving out own car that we'd built. It's a true drivers circuit and I can't recommend it enough - especially if like me you have driven the Indy circuit a hundred times and never been on the GP circuit.

The race began with 2 warm up laps - due to the change of conditions from the torrential rain the day before. This would usually have been welcome, but on this occasion it wasn't so great. The safety car took off at what can only be described as racing speed. By the second warm up lap the safety car was doing at least 120mph heading towards Hawthorns, and we just couldn't keep up.. not ideal.

I'm not usually one to whine, but at the end of the second warm-up lap the cars at the front did not form up - they simply carried on going at full chat. Not ideal, especially with a massive grid of about 35 cars, and it meant that by the time we got around to the start straight - the cars in front were a country mile ahead.

Not a big deal for us Fiestas, as we would be nowhere near those cars in the race anyway. The issue was, us Fiestas had a shed load of much faster cars stuck behind us as they'd struggled for pace in the rain the day before. Sorry chaps!!



As the race got underway the car felt good. It felt great on the brakes as always, and the new tyres were clearly a huge improvement on the knackered set we'd been running at Lydden 2 weeks before. However, reality did bite fairly early on. We got a couple of laps in and found that in the dry conditions we just couldn't keep up the pace we wanted. Our car was severely lacking in the corners.

Our weakest point was the left hand turn, Surtees, as you head down Cooper straight and turn onto the long circuit. Unfortunately this is also one of the most important corners on the circuit - as it precedes the VERY long straight down into Pilgrim's drop; and a bad entry into that straight can cost tenths of a second, if not more.

The car was leaning so far over into this corner, that I wasn't able to take the line I'd been instructed to - for fear of the car disappearing off the track altogether. I wasn't so much worried about missing the apex, as missing the corner! Subsequently we were getting an awful run into that straight on almost every lap, and I just didn't have the driver skill to remedy the problem.

It was a simple case of having an under-prepared car. Running stock suspension had been ok at Lydden, where the top speed is lower, and the cornering speeds are significantly less. In the rain on the Saturday our road suspension was a blessing, landing us pole in class. But in the hot weather on a high speed F1 track, the car was well and truly found out.



We battled hard and managed to maintain our position at the front of our class for a few laps ahead of the other Fiestas. In the opening 2 laps we were passed by various quicker cars including a few BMWs and a few of the 'Classics' class including the glorious Mustang that had struggled in the wet.. what a beast!

After a few laps our main rival (Ian in the Blue Supatune Fiesta) had caught up and was on our tail, alongside a yellow Seat which was running very similar lap times to us. The 3 of us had a good ding dong for the rest of the race. Things got more interesting for me, as whilst defending our position the gearknob came off in my hand! Probably not a problem the pro drivers have to face - and a comical example of the kind of shenanigans a home-built car can throw at you.



The yellow Seat got past me on lap 4. Then on lap 5 Ian drew level on the start straight, but thought twice about a lunge into Paddock. Probably a good thing as this corner was probably one of our quickest. He then tried again at our weakest corner (Surtees) and this time managed to get in front on the long straight. I tucked in behind him and followed closely, thinking about making a dive up the inside at Stirlings but he slammed the door shut in my face. Great racing!

On the start straight Rod Birley came blasting past us both, lapping us in his 500BHP Escort Cosworth. As we headed up the hill after Paddock I saw my chance and dived down the inside under braking, and got back past Ian again at the hairpin. On the in-car footage I can be heard shouting with delight. What a buzz!

Down onto the back straight and the car washed out wide yet again at Surtees and the blue Fiesta slipped back past at the same point. But at this stage I could tell there was no way I could keep this up. The other car was just too much faster into that section of the circuit and I was losing between five and ten car lengths by the time we got to Hawthorns.

I stuck with the cars in front and we were then caught up by some of the other faster cars coming around to lap us. This provided an opportunity, and as a few of the bigger cars forced their way through I managed to tailgate one of them and nip back in front of our friend in the yellow Seat, just as the chequered flag fell!

It was great to win that position back, but we'd lost out on the class win as the Supatune Fiesta finished a couple of seconds ahead of us. Disappointed, but a fair result for sure.

Race 2 was a similar affair!

Our rival in blue started ahead of us on the grid this time. And luckily we only had 1 green flag lap. The grid formed up properly this time and we went across the line in formation.

We got a great start – jumping the blue car next to us and taking the class lead. Driving into the space ahead we then overtook our good friend in his EP3 Civic ahead of us into Paddock bend.

Up at the hairpin we looked to make the move stick, but an M3 came out of nowhere and squeezed us off our line. Heading out onto the back of the circuit that same M3 appeared to blow its engine and a giant plume of white smoke filled the circuit.

I drove into the smoke blind and coming through Sheene Curve saw that other cars had slowed down in the low visibility. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I kept my foot planted through the smoke and nipped past another pal of ours in his Integra DC2 – a favour he returned 30 seconds later on the same lap!



Following the line of the Integra in front was good fun. It was then a case of staying in front of our main rivals – the other Fiesta ST’s, and maintaining the class lead for as long as possible.



This we managed for a good few laps. The car felt good. With the exception of the horror-show corner (Surtees) we were going well. But then after about 7 laps that bloody blue Fiesta once again caught up with me and got the run on us at Surtees, going past on the straight. Not willing to give up the position I held the inside line and did him on the brakes at Hawthorns, winning the position back.

He got a great run out of Stirlings and got his nose in front, but I braked later and was in front as we came through Clearways. The close racing carried on as Ian got the run on me up the start straight – getting in front again – but I then once again out-braked him and took the inside line at Paddock.

We went neck and neck up the hill and I went into the hairpin first, but then Ian pulled a great move on me – ducking up the inside and taking the position back, almost forcing me off the track as I tried to exit the hairpin.



Heading down into Graham Hill bend we once again had Rod Birley thundering past us, and I did my old trick of tailgating him and took the class lead back off Ian again! We had now traded position something like 6 times in one lap. Absolutely superb close racing, and immense fun.

But sadly this was where it ended. As we headed up the back straight towards Surtees I felt it. The clutch slipped badly as I changed up into 4th.

Ian went past me (as usual!) as we came out of Surtees, and as we headed up the long straight the clutch slipped again badly as I changed into 5th.

Our race was effectively over.

I nursed the car around for the remainder of that lap and as there was only 1 lap remaining, decided to stay out and try to complete the race. The clutch held together, and we dropped back significantly – but did manage to complete the final lap and even retained 2nd place in class.

It was a real shame as the racing for those 2 previous laps was probably the best I’ve ever experienced, and felt like it would go right down to the line. But it wasn’t to be – and that’s racing.

So in conclusion, we came away from the weekend with two 2nd in class; with the car still in one piece; a destroyed clutch; a successful outing for our new set of tyres; and a fairly conclusive answer that our car couldn’t remain a class winner without proper racing suspension.

[SparrowHawk]

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[SparrowHawk]

COILOVER CHOICE

This has been the only choice I've really agonised over during the build.

With other major purchases (eg. rollcage or race seat) I've been very clear on what I wanted and which options best suited by needs and my budget. But with the coilover choice, I just can't make my mind up.

When building a car like this I think it's important to build it the way you want it. Not to focus too much on things like future re-sale value. This is a budget racecar and I'm unlikely to ever sell it, so I don't need to worry about which coilovers will be most appealing to a new owner. But I do need to future proof the car to make sure it remains fit for purpose and can race in the series I may want to race in.



The ideal scenario would be to fit AST coilovers. They seem to be almost unanimously agreed to be the best choice on this platform of car; and they are used by the BRSCC Fiesta Championship. They would also keep the car eligible for my current series (and Class) in CMMC Tin Tops.

However, the price of the AST's is an eye-watering £4,261.

This isn't just a lot, its almost what the entire rest of the project has cost me so far! Someone racing one of these cars at the front of their field, told me that the AST's are worth the money. So I have seriously thought about it.

Now that I have built the car and taken it racing, I am no longer restricting myself to that strict £5K target budget. I'm happy to spend more as and when I feel like it, to increase the cars performance and enjoy driving and racing it more.

But, if I was going to spend £4,261 on suspension then I probably would have also spent a thousand pounds more on the rollcage, another few hundred quid on an even better seat, and so on. I have built a relatively 'budget' car and so to throw over four grand at the suspension now just doesn't make sense.. even if it would help me race in the Fiesta Championship next year.



So for now I'm keeping within the more reasonable price range of circa £800-£1200 for coilovers.

Top of my shopping list at the moment are Gaz Gold coilovers. The main thing going for them; numerous people have told me these are the best all-rounder coilovers for racing. Everyone from MX-5 racers to Escort owners and MG club members seem to recommend these.

At £1,100 the main thing against the Gaz Golds for me, is that they do not come with the adjustable topmounts included; those will cost a further £200 on top. The other thing going against them is that I don't know them as I've never used them before. But that's not much of a worry, given the absolutely countless good things you will hear from anyone who uses them.

My other main contender is the BC Racing RM or BR series.



The BC Racing coilovers are superb. We have them on our trackday Fiesta. They are track oriented, have 30 way adjustable damping - and in terms of value, these come WITH the camber adjustable topmounts included; making them very good value in my opinion.

The main thing going in favour of the BC Racing coilovers is that we have these fitted on our other trackday Fiesta. I have done thousands of laps of driving in a Fiesta with these coilovers, at tracks all over the country. For this reason I feel very confident they will give me what I want, I know how they perform and how to adjust them, and I also know they won't let me down.

So I'm very torn between these two choices.

I'm running out of time to make a decision, as they'll take a while to arrive and will then also need fitting and setting up. So any input from fellow PHers very welcome!

[SparrowHawk]

COILOVER CHOICE MADE

After narrowing my options down to just two choices, my decision was made for me.

I had fully intended to go with Gaz Golds, until I found out the wait times. I appreciate that these coilovers are all made to order, and I knew that Gaz would not be able to send me a set (especialy with custom spring rates) within a week or two.

However, I was not prepared for the 3-4 MONTH wait time predicted by the dealer I spoke to. Again, I understand that these are made to order, but 4 months is longer than it takes some people to complete a house purchase. In fact some people have built a house in less time than that! So waiting potentially until the season was almost over was not only surprising, it was also not an option.

So my decision was made easy. BC Racing; a good price - a known quantity to me - with custom spring rates available - topmounts included - made to order within 3 weeks.. these were definitely the best option for me.

There are quite a few variations available. I have opted for:

"BC Racing BR Type RA Coilovers with solid top mounts and custom spring rate of 8/6"



There are several outlets you can order them from, all of whom offer a similar 5-10% discount over ordering direct from the wholesaler. The BC Racing wholesaler was very honest and said they cannot offer discounts because they have to leave the discounts for the resellers; he then listed a few of the resellers for me which I thought was pretty decent of him, and I chose Kam Racing.

At £850 including delivery and a custom spring rate, I think they offer good value.

Should also add for those who have a real gripe with incorrect use of the term 'coilover' that I understand that on a Fiesta only the front units are technically coilovers, as the rears are still shocks plus adjustable springs. But lets be honest, we all know what we mean by coilovers.

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback I've received on here and on Instagram, its really useful - especially from more experienced racers.

One piece of feedback I received was that the BC Racing coilover is more of a 'trackday coilover' than a 'race coilover'. This point got me thinking, as it's something that's been said to me about other aspects, like tyre choice, and even oil choice. What I don't understand is the big distinction people make between those two uses.

I get the main point; that over the course of a 15 or 20 minute sprint race, you put your car through hell. And in that respect people would argue that you need the most extreme and the most capable parts on your car. But the question that raises for me is, how are trackdays any less punishing on my car or its components?

On an average race weekend I'll complete a 20 minute qualifying session, and 2 x 15 minute races. That means the car will be under maximum stress and the components under maximum duress for approximately 50 minutes.

Now in my years of doing trackdays, I cannot think of 1 single time where I've punished my trackday car for as little as 50 minutes. My point is that trackdays are hugely hard on your car. Looking at my laptimes (let's pretend for a moment that its within the rules to time yourself at trackdays) I am driving consistently as hard and fast on those trackdays as I am on a race day. I put the trackday car through hell! And that means I'm doing the same to its coilovers, its tyres, its fluids, and everything else. If anything, given that sessions on track are just as long as a 15minute race.. and I'm doing 6, 8, 10 sessions on a full trackday; I'd argue that trackday use is far harder on a car than race use.

A bit of a tangent, but its something that has puzzled me for a few years now, why people make such a distinction between the two different formats. Perhaps I'll understand it better once I'm a seasoned racer. For me, both are incredibly hard on your car, and both deserve equal caution, and equal investment in the right parts. The BC Coilovers on our trackday Fiesta have been absolutely superb for many years now, covering hundreds of laps at many different circuits, giving excellent performance and no issues. So they're going on the race car too!

Hopefully I don't end up eating humble pie again, like I did when I went against advice to buy a proper race spec clutch.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Friday 2nd July 10:02

[SparrowHawk]

10 LESSONS LEARNED - AND WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

The aim of the project was to build a race-ready car within a certain budget, but there were a few additional ambitions. Learning some new skills, getting my hands dirty, trying some mechanical jobs I'd not done before, gaining confidence to do more work on my own cars, spending some quality time with my dad, and maybe even winning the odd race (in class) if possible.

We feel pretty happy to have achieved pretty much all of those aims over the course of the past 6-12 months.

But alongside the positive lessons learned, there were also a few failures and therefore a few tougher lessons learned. I've tried to summarise these here. It may perhaps be helpful for any other amateurs starting a similar project - or might simply act as a nice 'told you so' moment for some of those reading this thread!

1. DO NOT RACE ON OLD TYRES

One of the best lessons I learned was the importance of starting the season on a fresh set of rubber. Race tyres do not need to be mega expensive. I could have bought myself a full set of brand new NS2-R semi slicks for a little over £200. Instead I opted to attend my first race weekend with the car wearing a set of knackered R888's, and almost lost 2 races as a result - not to mention nearly losing control of the car several times.

Tyres are right up there with the most important aspects of your car - so don't scrimp. Start your build by ordering a fresh set so that you know exactly what you're working with. And if you have the budget, get a second set of wheels with some wet tyres too.

2. DON'T SCRIMP ON YOUR CLUTCH

This was a tough one because (thus far) it's the only mistake that's directly cost us, both out on the race track AND in the wallet. When planning the build I decided that a new replacement clutch was a good use of money, because although the clutch appeared to be fine I would certainly end up changing it at some point - so why not change it at the start. The issue was, I went against advice to fit a high performance clutch. That advice came from a fellow racer, and also from the clutch centre doing the work. But I knew better. This resulted in me having an oem LUK clutch kit fitted; and subsequently frying the clutch after just 4 races.

It might be a stretch to say the clutch failure cost me a class win, but it certainly was a big factor. At Brands Hatch I was several seconds ahead of my main rival, when I started to feel the clutch slipping on the straight. As the gap closed I lost my composure and fried the clutch even more! So by the time we entered the last 2 laps I lost almost all drive in fifth gear, and then fourth gear. That meant I conceded the lead, and limped around the final lap and a half, nursing the car home in 2nd place

As I type this I'm waiting for a performance clutch kit to land on my doorstep, and the car is booked in (again) for a clutch replacement in 2 days time. This time with an uprated clutch designed for race use and capable of taking more punishment. All in all the poor decision has probably cost me around £300-400 of wasted costs, money which I could have spent on a shiny new exhaust manifold - not to mention the time taken to go and get the replacement done. Perhaps clutch replacement is a job worth learning to do yourself?

3. ORDER YOUR SUSPENSION FIRST

I've waffled on about suspension a lot on this thread, so I won't do the same again. Simply put, suspension should really be one of the main priorities (second to safety gear and maybe tyres) when you are planning your build. Because I was building the car on a budget I put off choosing and buying the race suspension for far too long - meaning I actually showed up to the first couple of race meetings with standard road suspension. Not the best idea. And now that I have ordered new coilovers, I am sat waiting weeks and weeks for them to arrive. If I did this build again, I'd order the coilovers first - alongside the roll cage.

4. ROLL CAGE FITTING DOES NOT INCLUDE PREP WORK

When you drop off your car to have a full race cage fitted, you will need to have the car fully stripped already. I had envisaged just taking out the seats, carpets, and roof lining. But in fact the fitter will almost certainly expect you to remove the dashboard too, and all of the sound proofing and matting that is behind the dash. In my car this was a big job. It was not a couple of hours of work pulling things out, it was complicated and time consuming. This was a lesson learned the hard way as I wasn't actually able to do this in time and had to rely on someone else coming in at the last minute to finish off the strip down; which didn't go down well!

5. TRY YOUR SEAT BEFORE YOU BUY IT

The race seat is a big investment. As a crucial piece of safety equipment, it's likely you'll spend a fair bit of money on it. I chose my seat based on the quality, and on the price; it was the most expensive and highest rated seat I could afford. But what I didn't do was make time to go and see it or sit in it before I bought it. This is easier said than done, as not many shops stock this type of item. But your comfort in the car is important, so if the seat is too small or it makes you uncomfortable, that could well affect your performance on track. So ideally, try before you buy. I've ended up with an absolutely superb seat, but one that is slightly too small for me.

6. FUNCTION OVER FORM

There were one or two things I bought that I didn't need. Doing the process again I'd save myself a hundred quid or so and not buy doorcards - they're not necessary on a race car and you could spend that money on some new bushes or an anti roll bar instead. Likewise I bought a very expensive steering wheel, but later opted for a much less expensive but almost identical one that does just the same job and has just the same build quality, giving me another hundred quid to spend on lubricants. Save money by buying good quality parts at a good price, do not waste money paying for a name. So long as the parts are high quality, who cares what logo they carry.

7. PEOPLE WILL GIVE YOU ADVICE IF YOU ASK

Although this build might not seem too complex to many people, for me it was a big undertaking and a bit of a step into the unknown. What really helped me was how helpful people were, often complete strangers. Any time I needed advice, on a new part, on how to do something, about which grade of something to use, I asked. Whether it was on forums, on instagram, at a race meeting, or by emailing suppliers directly. And almost without fail people responded and gave me advice or an answer.

One of the best things about motorsport is the likeminded people you meet. And that counts for the build process too. Plenty of people took 2 minutes out of their day to respond to a quick message on instagram, or to give advice about a part I was ordering. That goes a long way and helps keep your confidence up. There are a lot of people out there who know a lot more than you do, so don't be afraid to ask.

8. SOME ADVICE IS WORTH PAYING FOR

There are plenty of people who will do absolutely every aspect of a race car build themselves. I'd have liked to do that myself. But there are a couple of areas where I knew my limits. Therefore, rather than have a go at everything myself there are some areas where I accepted that a professional not only knows better, but will also do a better job.

Areas we decided it was better to pay a professional are: roll-cage fitting; clutch fitting; bracket fabrication; suspension set up & geometry.

These are all things I could potentially have taught myself to do. But not only would the learning process have been time consuming and costly, I could also have ended up making mistakes and even compromising on safety. In hindsight I wish I had budgeted for professional advice on suspension/setup sooner. A day spent at Kent Motorsport having the car setup properly may possibly be the best money I end up spending throughout the whole build process.

When you pay someone else to do something, you are not admitting defeat. Sometimes it is just the best course of action. And although I have baulked at some of the prices I've been quoted for various jobs, I've realised that you are not just paying a professional for their time; you're also paying for their years of knowledge, expertise, specialist equipment, and overheads. So if a price seems high, think about just how much money all of those things cost that professional to accumulate over many years.

9. THE BEST BANG FOR BUCK IS PAYING FOR SEAT TIME AND TUITION

I can confidently say that the best investment I've made is not in any car-part or upgrade. The hours I've spent bashing around tracks around the country have helped me far more than any handling upgrade or performance part. Learning car control, learning the circuits, learning your limits, learning the limits of your car. These are immensely valuable, and only need cost a hundred quid or two.

With the possible exception of tyres (see point 1 above!) there is no modification you can do to your car that will make you faster than spending a day with a professional driver. A full stainless steel exhaust system on a Fiesta ST is approximately £1000. The same amount of money will pay for a FULL DAY of tuition with a current British Touring Car driver. Ask yourself honestly, which one of those options will make the most difference out on track?

10. REMEMBER IT'S ALL JUST FOR FUN

I caught myself getting angry a few times during this process. Losing tools, finding a job much harder than it looked online, trying to do something I simply wasn't capable of, parts arriving the day after the weekend I'd set aside to do that job!

The reality is, if you're building a budget race car and taking on a lot of the work yourself, you're doing all of this for fun. The building, the prep, the racing. There's no paycheque or career at the end of it. It's all just for fun. So its worthwhile keeping that top of mind along the way. When things don't work out, there is no world championship at stake.

Just enjoy it.

[SparrowHawk]

DELIVERY

As promised these showed up within 3 weeks of ordering. I think it was Just over 2 weeks, not too bad considering they take longer to arrive when you order a custom spring rate.



We had considered getting Kent Motorsport to fit them. But decided this was an important job for us to tackle ourselves. We will get the professionals to set them up for us after they’re fitted.



Build quality on the coilovers is superb. Next job is getting the old set out, and then putting these in.

[SparrowHawk]

FITTING COILOVERS

This took a bit of time, but it was one of the most rewarding aspects of this entire process.
 
We had an offer from our sponsor Kent Motorsport, to fit the coilovers, cut out the suspension turrets, and do full geo/alignment + corner-weighting for a very reasonable price.
 
But we decided to go ahead with the fitting ourselves; and then rely on the professionals for the final setup at the end. It was important to me to do this bit myself.



We tackled the job over 3 separate days to fit around work in the daytime. I’m reliably informed a professional could do the fitting in one afternoon (plus additional time for setup). In total I’d say it took us about 18 hours to fit them!!
 
But it was time very well spent, it was another great opportunity to learn more about the car, learn about setup, and to gain new confidence in working on the car myself. I also got to use some new tools and whack stuff really hard with a big hammer. All good stuff.



We tackled the rear suspension first. Removing the stock struts & springs is really easy, basically a case of removing the wheels, undoing a few bolts, and dropping the rear beam down. The Rear ARB gets in the way a bit, so in hindsight I’d recommend removing this completely and then reinstalling afterwards.
 
The rear struts come out with just two bolts at the top & one at the bottom – really easy to remove and just as easy to replace the new units. The new struts & springs were set to match the same heights as the BC Racing coilovers on our other Fiesta; and are a direct fit into the rear of the car.



It all bolted back up again really nicely, and genuinely was as straightforward as it looks online.
 
The fronts were tackled over two more evenings – with the added complication of having to drill large holes at the top of the suspension mounting point in order to give access to the adjustable topmounts. In terms of advice and lessons learned, I’d say use a hole-cutter. It is extremely tough steel and not easy to cut with a dremel etc.

We measured the holes previously cut on our other car, which measured 70mm across. We had invested in a 70mm hole cutter (two in fact – just in case!) and decided that our best hope of getting the hole to align precisely where we needed it, was to create wooden guides to act as a centre.



Dad knocked up a couple of these wooden guides to bolt under the turrets before drilling, with a pilot hole intended to help guide the hole cutter and locate the 70mm hole accurately between the three fixing holes. The main risk was if we cut the hole too wide or off-centre, we risked cutting the metal too thin around the fixing holes and reducing the security of the strut into the body of the car.
 
We removed the bonnet entirely to give proper access, and also the wipers and plastic cowlings beneath the windscreen, then removed the front wheels, and the front struts. There is a really good walk-through guide on Youtube for removing the struts, on a channel called Autodoc. It’s a reasonably straight forward process, much easier than getting the struts back in again!



Once it was all removed we took the opportunity to also remove and replace the droplinks. A couple of months back I actually fitted brand new droplinks and suspension struts, so it was odd taking these out again.. but its good to have spares. These new adjustable droplinks went in, again set to match the same ones in our other car. The wooden guides were then bolted securely in place and the cutting began.



The holes located quite nicely, and the guides definitely worked. We landed up dead centre on one of the turrets, and 2mm or so off-centre on the other. Fortunately, this did not compromise the strength of the fixing holes, and of course there is also a strut brace going in over the top of the holes anyway adding significant support.



We test fitted the front coilovers and found that the side which was 2mm off-centre didn’t give us 100% access to the topmounts – so we used a dremmel tool to widen the hole by another mm or so. After touching up the area with paint, we then bolted both front coilovers in place. That was the first really tricky part done.



Re-fitting is the next tricky part. No matter how easy it looks on Youtube, getting the bottom of the suspension strut to relocate into the hub assembly is not easy! Ideally you really want the car on a ramp for this, with a transmission jack underneath the hub. Rolling around on your back, trying to use a trolley jack to lift the wobbly hub upwards, is not a fun way to do it. In the end I decided to remove the brake calipers, brackets, and discs to make the hubs less unwieldy.
 
One strut went in after quite a few thumps with a lump hammer. The other side did not want to go in. It took a few attempts, and a couple of tea-breaks to calm down.. but eventually I gave up trying to finesse the strut into the hub and just ‘sent it’. Brute force won out, and the coilover was eventually seated properly into the hub.



I’d recommend buying replacement pinch bolts before starting this job. The large bolts that clamp the bottom of the strut into place have taken a real pounding on my car and were quite rounded. I’d wrongly expected to get new ones in the coilover kit, so for a few quid it’s probably worth knowing you’ve got fresh ones to go on the car that can be torqued up to the correct setting without rounding off. I luckily had another Fiesta ST parked next to me on the driveway, so jacked it up and ‘borrowed’ a spare bolt.
 
The new (much shorter) droplinks bolted into place fairly easily and rest of the car went back together no problem at all. We had set the adjustable topmounts to match our other car, which on the white car gives us 3 degrees of negative camber at the front. Once the car was dropped down this camber was very visible, and along with the significant drop in ride height, meant that the car FINALLY looked like a racing car. I think the cool kids call it stance.



This had been one of the most rewarding jobs so far. I’m not sure if anyone is reading this, as I realise I’ve just waffled on for about 1,000 words about a job that would take some people just an hour or two. But it really was a lot of fun, and had been one of the main steps I’d been looking forward to when planning this build. After a quick test drive all seemed to be ok, and I could feel a huge difference in the responsiveness of the car and its ability to turn in and remain planted through bends.

The car is going to Kent Motorsport tomorrow for alignment and final tweaks. I’ll also get some photos of the car then with its final ride height and stance.
 
I’m expecting a significant improvement in overall performance, and pace, when next out on track. So here’s hoping the trip up to Cadwell Park this weekend returns some good results.

[SparrowHawk]

GEOMETRY + SETUP

The car was at Kent Motorsport yesterday for race geo and a final once over.



Yaser is an expert in suspension setup, and spent a good deal of time ensuring everything was as it should be.



The car required a good deal of adjustment in toe and camber. We had aimed to install the new coilovers with 3 degrees of camber at the front by copying the topmounts settings on our other car. But once measured properly we found we were way out.



The car is now set accurately with 3 degrees camber and the perfect amount of toe, and some positive rake.



We have not messed about much with the ride height, and may come back and spend another afternoon on this and to do proper corner-weighting soon.

The car feels mega, can’t wait to get it on track this weekend at the next round of CMMC Tintops - at Cadwell Park.

[SparrowHawk]

CADWELL PREP

It’s a long way to Cadwell Park. That statement seems to apply regardless of where you’re from in the UK. Does anyone actually live near Cadwell Park?

Given that I’d chosen to race in the CMMC SOUTHERN series I was pretty surprised to see Cadwell on the calendar at the start of the season - and half intended to give it a miss.

But as the weekend got closer I couldn’t resist putting my name down, given that it’s arguably the most challenging and most rewarding circuit in the country. It also gave us a reason to get the car ‘finished’ and ready for the next round.



The next couple of weeks leading up to the weekend were manic. With the car at last getting it’s long overdue suspension upgrades (see previous post), finally having the alignment done, alongside also going for a new uprated clutch, and also having a new windscreen fitted too!

As mentioned previously, I made a really duff call when I insisted on installing a standard specification clutch during the build. This decision came back to haunt me at Brands Hatch when the clutch completely overheated in the second race and ended my challenge for the class win (although I’d arguably still have been beaten on outright pace anyway).

Having scratched my head for a while after that race, we’ve decided I must have been accidentally riding the clutch during that race; as a standard clutch really should be capable of taking that kind of abuse from a standard power engine.



Either way, it would be nothing short of stupidity to fit the same clutch again. So this time around I opted for the uprated clutch from Pumaspeed, which has a 10% larger surface area and is certified to 230 BHP. Should be fine in our little tin can then.



As you can see from the pic, the kit didn’t look quite how they advertised it to me online. I pinged Pumaspeed a message about this, and they replied something along the lines of ‘we forgot to paint your one’.

Lee Clutch Centre fitted the new clutch at a very reasonable price, as they’d only just fitted the last one! The technician just about managed to stop himself saying ‘I told you so’ as I asked him what he thought of the new clutch kit I’d supplied, although I’m pretty sure that was what he was thinking, along with ‘this muppet has no idea what he’s doing’.



The windscreen was badly cracked after a fellow racer, who shall remain nameless, took an optimistically wide line at Brands Hatch and then pebble-dashed the front of my car with gravel. These things happen in racing, but in the heat of the moment you find yourself comically shouting expletives as if the gravel has been fired at you on purpose.



The new screen went in - and I found another advantage to having a road legal and fully insured racing car. Only a small excess to pay for my shiny new heated windscreen to be fitted. Let’s see how long this one lasts!

We did a thorough spanner check on the car, and Kent Motorsport did likewise after finishing the car’s alignment. So after a quick wash it was ready for race weekend.



I got the tent, a bag of tools, stash of supplies, and a couple of wet tyres (for luck) into the race car.. and set off on my own for my first Malle Moto race weekend at Cadwell Park.

[SparrowHawk]

CADWELL RACE WEEKEND

It was worth the long drive up. The car was faultless on the 4 hour journey to the circuit.

It now has a much firmer ride, but with the suspension set to it softest damping setting the car was still perfectly useable on the road. If anything the harsh noise from the track tyres is more uncomfortable.



Cadwell is a special track. Arriving while it was still light, I pitched up my tent next to some of the other TinTops and then found that the clubhouse was still open and serving hot food; now that’s nice to find after a long drive.



After getting pitched up and grabbing a bite to eat there was just time to do a walk of the circuit before it got dark. This track is just different from other circuits. I guess it’s not hard to put your finger on why - the mixture of fast straights alongside really twisty technical sections, alongside big changes in elevation, and the added fun of a couple of sections disappearing off into the trees.. it really does feel like a mini-Nurburgring.. just like everyone says it does.



The next morning we were qualifying in a large group with a real mix of machinery. Everything from the big super saloons to the lovely Classic Challenge cars that we’d previously raced with at Brands GP.



As quali started I decided to just get a few slow and steady laps in to warm the car up and re-learn the circuit. After a cautious session, including finding fluid out on the tarmac, I managed a fastest lap of 2:00:00. This is not a very quick time, but I knew I had seconds to take off that time during the race.



Looking at the lap-times it turned out my closest competitor would be car No.3, the Class D BMW 330. I’d be lining up next to him in Race1 and made it my goal to stay in front on lap 1 and then see what happened.



The car performed well on circuit and I could really feel the transformation in the handling. It turned in much better, held its line without wanting to under steer, and we seemed to have almost eliminated the body roll that had been a nightmare at Brands GP.

In Race1 the rolling start went well and we kept pace with the cars in front. The BMW came storming past through turn1, a really nice move considering we were on cold tyres.

Through turn2 and into Park Straight I managed to get a really good run and kept on the BMWs tail up the hill. I saw my chance in the huge braking zone before Chris Curve and went down the inside and took the place back.



My tyres seemed to get up to temperature really quickly and I pulled a couple of seconds gap over the next lap or two. I had ideas of keeping up with the red Puma which had joined us in the Invitation Class, but he was much quicker than anticipated and disappeared ahead, chasing Gideon in his well-sorted Civic Type-R.

More through luck than judgment, and probably a little foolhardiness, I managed to eek out a bit of space and the next few laps I remained fairly comfortably ahead of my rival.



But this soon changed as the BMW got up to speed. Lap after lap I could see him appearing over The Mountain behind me closer and closer each time, and by the last few laps of the race he was right with me again.

We had a great battle to the wire with him filling my mirrors and the little Fiesta just about held out to make it across the line ahead! One more lap and I think he would have got me.



It was a great feeling to finish ahead of one of the Super Saloons. Although we were in different classes it just goes to show you can always have a great race with whoever happens to be around you on track. And it was good to rack up another class win, despite the thin field - a wins a win!



Race2 almost went the same way. But after managing the gap for a number of laps that big BMW grill was again filling my mirrors. I couldn’t block him any longer and he came cruising past on Park Straight in the second half of the race. I couldn’t keep up after that and he actually beat me by a good few seconds in the end, a really good drive. I’d thoroughly enjoyed the battle.

In the end I had half an eye on my journey home as I brought the car across the finish line - in one piece! I’d managed a best lap of 1:55. A huge improvement on my qualifying time, and not a bad lap time for a car that would be driving the long journey home on the public roads.



The weekend had been a last minute decision, and I was very glad I went. It was a shame not to have a bigger field of cars, I think we ran with 9 cars in the end.

But we went there for 2 class wins and that’s what we got so can’t complain! The car was mega, and most importantly it was good fun. And I also got to do my first proper Malle Moto race - on my own with no help and managed to get home safe in one piece.



A 350mile round trip, plus a full day of racing, and the car didn’t skip a beat.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Wednesday 4th August 11:22

[SparrowHawk]

COOLING

When we first built the car I must admit I didn’t put too much thought into cooling.

In terms of engine cooling I already knew the week link was the power steering - and that we’d be fitting a relocation kit to counter that issue. But the engine itself is fairly bulletproof on these cars and doesn’t tend to need additional cooling.

And with regards to cooling in the driver compartment; the car came with air con installed, so I figured I’d keep this in place so that the cockpit would remain cool enough.



In the end, we opted to add some further ventilation at the front, by removing the number plate and cutting cooling holes in the front bumper to increase air flow in the engine compartment. Temperatures have remained under control and we’ve had no issues.

However, the same cannot be said for inside the drivers compartment. The air con does work; but once the car is up to temperature and being run at full speed during a race - the air conditioning simply does not work. Temperatures sky rocket, and within 15 minutes it feels like an oven in there.



We did opt for the sliding window attachment on our polycarbonate driver side window. But this just doesn’t add enough ventilation to keep temperatures under control; air just doesn’t seem to come in through the window. There is not enough flow.

So seeking added airflow in the cabin we’ve opted to drill further vent holes in the rear hatch. With an MK|Attack cooling plate keeping things looking tidy. I’m hoping that this will draw more air through the front vents and the drivers window.



In addition to these vent holes, it’s clear that we need more air coming in through the front of the car. So I’m looking at the options there. I’ve noticed some people add a small vent into the polycarbonate windows on their A-pillar, with a hose directing air onto the driver.

I’m also considering taking more drastic measures and cutting the roof to install a TRS air scoop. This feels like overkill on a small budget race car. But I need to do something.

If anyone can share experiences of having / fitting a roof scoop like this I’d be all ears.



Hopefully we’ll have sorted something in time for our next race. Which incidentally will be in the Modified Fords series at FORD POWER LIVE on Sunday 19th September at Brands Hatch.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Tuesday 31st August 16:48

[SparrowHawk]

Thanks @Megaflow that makes a lot of sense. You're right, even when the P/S fluid is bubbling up it should still not be leaking out of the bottle and all over the aux belts! We have the relocation kit fitted now anyhow, and there have been no leaks since.

@indigorallye this is a really good point. I spent most of the season with CMMC and in their regs I think it does state that you're not allowed to change the outline of the car or make significant alternations to the body. I'm currently thinking that an air scoop / duct fitted to a side window will do the job. We currently only have polycarbonate door windows, so perhaps its time to upgrade the 3 rear windows too.

@topcat1 & @Silver Smudger thanks for the encouragement. It took longer than anticipated, but we got there in the end.

Our final round of the season was with Modified Fords at Snetterton, so I might do a quick write up and end of season wrap-up about how the car has been and what's next.

[SparrowHawk]

SNETTERTON - FINAL RACE MEETING OF SEASON

We were very pleased to finally get out on track with the BRSCC Modified Fords in October at Snetterton circuit.

It was a patchy weekend of mixed weather and mixed results. But it was cracking fun, and thoroughly enjoyable.

In addition to the qualifying session and 2 x 15min races, the series organiser had also secured us a third race on the Sunday afternoon. So it was great to head up for a full weekend of racing, knowing I’d get 4 sessions out on track.

The Fiesta was packed full with wet wheels, tools, lots of spare fuel, and I set off on Friday evening for my hotel near Snett.



Friday night was interesting!! After rocking up at the local Premier Inn I found that !SOMEONE! had booked my two-night stay on the wrong weekend. Due to it being race weekend, the hotel was fully booked! If that doesn’t go down as a rookie-error then I don’t know what does.



I’ve really enjoyed doing the occasional solo race weekend this year. Driving the race car to the circuit and getting by with the minimum supplies over the weekend (whatever will fit in the car). But it does mean when you make a mistake like this you don’t even have a van to sleep in!



A quick pop to 24Hr Tesco at 11pm for some extra camping gear, and I made my way to the circuit to set up a tent in the dark, on the concrete. Again, the glamour of budget club racing.

Saturday was great fun. It was awesome waking up to find so many beautiful Fords of all eras cramming every inch of the Paddock - as well as our friends from CMMC and what seemed like about 1,000 Caterhams!

Qualifying was about going slow and reminding myself how the 300 circuit flowed. It’s a fun track. The lack of elevation changes does make the 200 configuration fairly boring in my opinion, but the infield section of the 300 is really technical and offers plenty of challenge.



The Modified Fords are a quick grid of cars. The sheer number of cars on track was amazing, with some epic Mk1 Escorts, Sierra Cosworths, and several absolutely rapid Mk6 Fiestas for us to try to keep up with.

The car felt fine, but I took it easy in quali and it showed on the time sheet. We were the slowest of the Fiestas, with some of the fastest cars miles up the road 10 seconds a lap quicker. I knew I was going slow but I didn’t think it was that slow!



Race 1 on Saturday afternoon was fairly eventful at the start. We had a mega getaway and overtook something like 5 cars in the opening couple of corners. Our road-based tyres are pretty grippy straight off the bat, whereas a large portion of the grid ahead of us were running racing slicks that take time to warm up.

I’ve got some nice screen grabs of the days Racing that I’ll try to edit into something that can be shared here. And will come back to edit this post and complete the write up of the weekend l’s racing soon.

[SparrowHawk]

SNETTERTON - PART 2

My last post left off as we got started on Race 1 on the Saturday. We'd qualified near the very back of the impressive grid of cars, with a number of other Fiestas ahead of us, including 3 Mk6 ST's directly ahead of us on the grid. Plenty to chase after.

We got a great start, with loads of traction off the line. Heading up the start-straight and through Turn1 we went past at least 5 cars. Being brave on the straight I threaded the car between the Mk1 Escort ahead of me, and then went late on the brakes to get in front of the Fiesta in front of me. 'What a start', I thought to myself, 'we're going forwards here'!



Then reality bit. Round the Turn2 hairpin and up through Turn3, two of the cars I'd overtaken whistled past me! 'Oh, I see' I thought to myself. As we hammered down towards the heavy braking zone at Turn4 I again pulled level with the 2 cars ahead - where, to our horror, we found a red Fiesta parked broadside across the circuit, right on the apex. This was following some contact made with another car - and sent us all scattering in different directions to avoid a further collision.



After this I tried my best to cling onto the back of the Fiesta ST in front of me, and the surprisingly quick red Ford Puma. But I didn't have the pace and by the end of Lap1 they'd both pulled clear of me. As I came across the start/finish straight I lost out on another place as the Mk1 Escort I'd overtaken at the start also screamed past me. Perhaps this wasn't going to be my day after-all.

But what followed over the next few laps was an absolute hoot. Chris in the black Fiesta ST had sat patiently behind me for the first couple of laps, and soon made a move going into Turn1. I fought back at Turn2 and we were still battling going into Turns 3 & 4. This was great fun, as our cars are both built to 'CMMC TP Class' standard and so are very evenly matched.



We were then also joined by Dave in his rapid Mk5 Fiesta. He undertook me on the infield part of the circuit, leading to a last minute dive from me back up the inside at the final corner Murrays, after Coram. It was great fun battling it out in a little pack of Fiestas. But ultimately I was the slower driver/car and they both came out on top.



After a starting position of 26th on the grid, we finished the race in P22. Doesn't sound like a terrible result, but to be completely honest I was way off the pace. I don't know Snetterton that well, and I just didn't seem to have the knowledge of the in-field section to keep up with the other cars in my class. In addition, my car seemed to really struggle for grip; whether I was slightly over-driving or whether I'd got the setup wrong, other Fiestas seemed to be carrying a lot more speed than me in important corners and I was losing out.

I prayed for rain on Sunday - for Races 2 & 3.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Thursday 16th December 18:40

[SparrowHawk]

SNETTERTON - PART 3/3

Well it's been a while since I updated this thread. But I should really finish off the story of the 2021 season, and our journey of building a race car from scratch and going club racing with it.

And with the new season looming, I might even keep going with updates from 2022.

Snetterton was great fun, racing with the Modified Ford Series. The Saturday was tough, I felt like I was miles off the pace, but I got some good seat-time and spent the Saturday sessions 're-learning' the circuit.

Sunday morning came, and brought with it just what I needed. Rain!
Race 2 in the morning was.. well.. chaos!

After our not too awful Race1 finish, we were starting P22 out of 27 starters.



As the race started the circuit was covered in standing water, and the start quickly turned into a reactions-test for everyone on track. Cars seemed to be spinning everywhere, with so many drivers caught out wearing cold slick tyres on what was suddenly a very wet and slippery track.

During the opening couple of laps there were a number of incidents; cars spilling off the circuit, a couple of very unfortunate incidents of contact (very rare in the Modified Fords) and a couple of cars spinning on track and ending up facing the wrong way. I managed to avoid all of this, whilst picking off a number of places and making a couple of opportunist moves. The little Fiestas really inspire confidence in the wet - and so I decided to be brave and make hay while the sun did not shine.



My semi-slick road legal tyres were an absolute god send in these conditions. So despite the fact that most of the drivers in front of me were far more skilled/experienced than me, and in far quicker cars - I found myself climbing up the field. After starting near the back of the grid in P22 we found ourselves in P12 by mid-way through the race.

There was plenty of fun to be had mixing it with the other Fiestas on track, and trying hard to defend my track position, with the quicker cars eventually finding grip and coming past me again. The conditions began to change and a dry line began to appear, meaning the cars behind me on slicks came roaring past. There's nothing like a 500horsepower Cosworth storming past you in the wet, to wake you up!



We managed to cling on to P13 right up until the final lap - we were still there with just 0:53 seconds remaining on the clock. But on that final lap several cars finally came past us. Including the frustratingly fast red Puma of Team Hadfield. We again battled with Chris in his black Fiesta ST all the way to the line on the final lap, and just managed to remain in front as we crossed the finish line.

We eventually came home in P17 and admittedly that was pretty much the back of the field given the number of cars forced into retirement by the poor conditions. But all told, I'd say it was one of the most enjoyable races I've ever had. It had a bit of everything. And I'd been smiling from start to finish.



The final race was a slightly different story as the weather cleared up and Race 3 took place in perfect sunshine on a nice dry track. We started P16 out of 27 starters.

Very quickly in these conditions I found that (just like in Race 1 yesterday) I was off the pace. The other Fiestas soon disappeared off up the road, with me having the familiar experience of losing seconds to them in the in-field section of Snetterton. My car also felt like it was missing some power on the long back straight.

With one eye on my journey home (which the race car would be driving, on the road!) I eased the car home, finishing in P19 some way behind my closest rival.

What a great weekend it had been. I knew I'd definitely be back to race more with the BRSCC Modified Ford Series. The organisation was great, the social side of it was brilliant, the paddock was so friendly, and the racing was very fair. Racing on track with some of the most beautiful race cars in the country, was a real privilege.



Despite this meeting being our last planned race weekend of the season.. we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to race at our local circuit Brands Hatch at night time. So we signed up to the BRITCAR Into The Night race weekend in November to end our season in style. Update on that weekend also coming soon.

Edited by SparrowHawk on Thursday 10th March 12:56