Fiat Twin-Cam Powered Westfield
Discussion
First sprint of the season yesterday at Blyton Park. Whilst I’m fairly familiar with Blyton (and competed last year on the Eastern Circuit) this was my first time competing on the main circuit, and the first track outing for the car this year after my very wet and slippery taster at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago.
True to form it rained overnight, but the track was already drying in patches by the time the sighting and practice laps were done. This left some amusing slippery patches at crucial points around the track, one notable patch causing me to lock up and straight-line the chicane on my first practice
My first run was a very tentative 1:19.11, and my second run not much better – but much messier 1:18.38. Fortunately the track kept drying and my times kept falling throughout the day (bar a void run after I got a bit too enthusiastic!) and I managed to get down to 1:13.87 and 15th overall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smS-yXfW7kc
I was less competitive in my own class (6th out of 9) but given that I had one of the least powerful and heaviest cars there I’m not complaining too much
No exciting pics yet, but here’s one showing off this season’s number!
True to form it rained overnight, but the track was already drying in patches by the time the sighting and practice laps were done. This left some amusing slippery patches at crucial points around the track, one notable patch causing me to lock up and straight-line the chicane on my first practice
My first run was a very tentative 1:19.11, and my second run not much better – but much messier 1:18.38. Fortunately the track kept drying and my times kept falling throughout the day (bar a void run after I got a bit too enthusiastic!) and I managed to get down to 1:13.87 and 15th overall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smS-yXfW7kc
I was less competitive in my own class (6th out of 9) but given that I had one of the least powerful and heaviest cars there I’m not complaining too much
No exciting pics yet, but here’s one showing off this season’s number!
And some track pictures - all courtesy of Darren O'Brien of Piston Broke Photography:
And a surprising amount of compression over the finish line!
Blyton round 2 is coming up towards the end of May, and it'll be the first time I've competed on a track layout for the second time (...IYSWIM...). Annoyingly, synchro-mesh on 3rd gear seems to have gone the way of the dodo
Although, judging by the colour of the oil that came out, that's not a huge surprise...
A last-ditch effort was made to cure it by replacing with some Redline MT-90 I had left over. This worked wonders in my old MR2...
God, what a tedious job that was. It's made the rest of the transmission silky-smooth and even cured the mild crunching I used to get if I rushed it into 5th... but 3rd is still crunchier than a crunchy thing. Ah well, lesson learnt and I have a spare gearbox to go in at some point anyway - I'll just drive around it for now and attempt to teach myself to double de-clutch
And a surprising amount of compression over the finish line!
Blyton round 2 is coming up towards the end of May, and it'll be the first time I've competed on a track layout for the second time (...IYSWIM...). Annoyingly, synchro-mesh on 3rd gear seems to have gone the way of the dodo
Although, judging by the colour of the oil that came out, that's not a huge surprise...
A last-ditch effort was made to cure it by replacing with some Redline MT-90 I had left over. This worked wonders in my old MR2...
God, what a tedious job that was. It's made the rest of the transmission silky-smooth and even cured the mild crunching I used to get if I rushed it into 5th... but 3rd is still crunchier than a crunchy thing. Ah well, lesson learnt and I have a spare gearbox to go in at some point anyway - I'll just drive around it for now and attempt to teach myself to double de-clutch
Moar stuff!
The Westy has been kept pretty busy since our last exciting instalment (no thanks to our lovely ‘summer’). First up was a nice road outing organised by my best mate down on the south coast of Kent. Traditionally started as an MR2 run this has attracted various cars over the years, and this time round we were leading the run in our two plastic fantastics. A very enjoyable day with some excellent roads (and a few surprised MR2 Turbos to boot )
Not long after it was time for round 2 of the Javelin Sprint Series, at Blyton Park (again, thanks to some calendar issues with another venue!). This time we were using the Eastern circuit – my preferred layout, and the first circuit I’ve hit in anger with the same car setup as last year. I was very pleased to be far more consistent this time around (gradually improving run-on-run) and ended up taking 0.6 seconds off my best run last year, which felt very much like a bluebird at the time! Class position was low – I simply can’t compete with the 220bhp+ cars that were running in the same class – but I was very happy with my overall 15th position and improvement since last year.
Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTXZSNbloM
After this it was back to the garage for the Westy for a few weeks while I sorted some mild household DIY, and all of a sudden it was a week before round 3 at Croft and it hadn’t turned a wheel in almost a month! I had a quick runout to check everything was still in order (it was) and then popped it up on axle stands to swap over to the track wheels. I’m glad at this point that I did this a few days before-hand, as on the last wheel one of the last remaining original Escort Mk2 wheel-studs decided it didn’t like having thread anymore. f
k. No way I was going to pass scrutineering with only three wheelnuts!
‘Never mind’ I thought, ‘I’ll just drill it out and re-tap it. I’ve seen it done before. How hard can it be?’
You can guess what happened at this point.
The pilot hole I drilled wasn’t as straight as I thought it was, so when I went for the bigger drill-bits I just ended up making a mess of the stud.
I should have thrown in the towel at this point (well, really I should have done so much earlier!), but the red mist had already descended and RAGE WAS HAPPENING. Nothing was working. More drill-bits fell to the cause in a shower of sparks, and I even resorted to trying to ‘drift’ the mangled remains out with another bolt and a mallet (I know, it was threaded, what was I thinking?!). At this point, sitting on my garage floor in a puddle of self-pity and flakes of mangled steel, I was gently guided into the house and a cold beer by my OH; a broken, defeated mess.
So, three days before I’m supposed to load it up for a four-hour journey up north, and it’s still sat on axle stands. Hmm. I phoned my usual local indies and had the same conversation several times over:
“Hi. I know it’s a bit short notice, but could you possibly drill out the mangled remains of a Mk2 Escort wheel-stud and re-thread it for me? I need it for a race this weekend and I got angry and things happened and…”
Arse.
Panicking now, I turn to Google to search for a local mobile mechanic. And who do I find but Milan, a local man of Serbian/Croatian origin (he explained this, but his accent was pretty thick so I may have missed an important point here) who promptly turned up at my house at 8pm on Thursday night. After staring at my handiwork in disbelief and muttering “Oh my god, Oh my god, ohmygodohmygodohmygod” over and over he appeared to come to a plan of action. 17 seconds later he emerged from the boot of his car with a grin and an enormous breaker bar and, shortly afterwards had the hub off.
“I’ll take it to my Polish friend, he will fix this in no time!”
“Er, sure! But it’s 9pm now and I’m out all day tomorrow and…”
“Don’t worry! Call me when you’re back tomorrow, I’ll come then!”
And, true to his work, Milan appeared at 8pm on Friday evening, hub in hand, having drilled out the old studs and replaced with new, metric wheel-bolts to match the rest of the car (don’t ask, it’s a bit of a mongrel). Whacked it on the car, charged me a shamefully small amount of money (I had to force a tip on him) and was on his way. Next time I’ll just call him first I think
st photo, but here’s my knight in shining armour!
So, on to Croft! Aside from being bloody miles away from the shires, it’s one of my favourite tracks and well worth the journey. Last time I was here we had both weather and noise issues, so I only had 5 runs (the first three of which I was still learning the track). This time round we had a full nine timed runs, and an excellent day in all. Fortunately my more powerful competition was absent so I managed a far more respectable 2nd in class and 14th overall. There were also two photographers in action this time round, meaning I have some excellent shots of me running out of talent (see below)
Again, very happy to have convincingly beaten my time from last year. Looking at my runs there are still areas I can find more pace – I was about 1.7 seconds off the class win and, while the winner was running slicks, I’m sure I could have made this up somewhere. I’ve briefly thought about slicks myself, but with the additional complication of needing a dry sump, plus additional chassis bracing etc, I think I’d rather just try and be a better driver first.
Youtube vid here of my fastest run, again with some outtakes at the end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIsKwXb1zk
The Westy has been kept pretty busy since our last exciting instalment (no thanks to our lovely ‘summer’). First up was a nice road outing organised by my best mate down on the south coast of Kent. Traditionally started as an MR2 run this has attracted various cars over the years, and this time round we were leading the run in our two plastic fantastics. A very enjoyable day with some excellent roads (and a few surprised MR2 Turbos to boot
)
Not long after it was time for round 2 of the Javelin Sprint Series, at Blyton Park (again, thanks to some calendar issues with another venue!). This time we were using the Eastern circuit – my preferred layout, and the first circuit I’ve hit in anger with the same car setup as last year. I was very pleased to be far more consistent this time around (gradually improving run-on-run) and ended up taking 0.6 seconds off my best run last year, which felt very much like a bluebird at the time! Class position was low – I simply can’t compete with the 220bhp+ cars that were running in the same class – but I was very happy with my overall 15th position and improvement since last year.
Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTXZSNbloM
After this it was back to the garage for the Westy for a few weeks while I sorted some mild household DIY, and all of a sudden it was a week before round 3 at Croft and it hadn’t turned a wheel in almost a month! I had a quick runout to check everything was still in order (it was) and then popped it up on axle stands to swap over to the track wheels. I’m glad at this point that I did this a few days before-hand, as on the last wheel one of the last remaining original Escort Mk2 wheel-studs decided it didn’t like having thread anymore. f
k. No way I was going to pass scrutineering with only three wheelnuts!‘Never mind’ I thought, ‘I’ll just drill it out and re-tap it. I’ve seen it done before. How hard can it be?’
You can guess what happened at this point.
The pilot hole I drilled wasn’t as straight as I thought it was, so when I went for the bigger drill-bits I just ended up making a mess of the stud.
I should have thrown in the towel at this point (well, really I should have done so much earlier!), but the red mist had already descended and RAGE WAS HAPPENING. Nothing was working. More drill-bits fell to the cause in a shower of sparks, and I even resorted to trying to ‘drift’ the mangled remains out with another bolt and a mallet (I know, it was threaded, what was I thinking?!). At this point, sitting on my garage floor in a puddle of self-pity and flakes of mangled steel, I was gently guided into the house and a cold beer by my OH; a broken, defeated mess.
So, three days before I’m supposed to load it up for a four-hour journey up north, and it’s still sat on axle stands. Hmm. I phoned my usual local indies and had the same conversation several times over:
“Hi. I know it’s a bit short notice, but could you possibly drill out the mangled remains of a Mk2 Escort wheel-stud and re-thread it for me? I need it for a race this weekend and I got angry and things happened and…”
- sucks teeth* “Ooh, sorry mate. Sounds like a big job. Could maybe take a look in a couple of weeks?”
- mumble mumble feck mumble* “but but but… it’s a ten-minute job with a pillar drill and a thread tap?”
Arse.
Panicking now, I turn to Google to search for a local mobile mechanic. And who do I find but Milan, a local man of Serbian/Croatian origin (he explained this, but his accent was pretty thick so I may have missed an important point here) who promptly turned up at my house at 8pm on Thursday night. After staring at my handiwork in disbelief and muttering “Oh my god, Oh my god, ohmygodohmygodohmygod” over and over he appeared to come to a plan of action. 17 seconds later he emerged from the boot of his car with a grin and an enormous breaker bar and, shortly afterwards had the hub off.
“I’ll take it to my Polish friend, he will fix this in no time!”
“Er, sure! But it’s 9pm now and I’m out all day tomorrow and…”
“Don’t worry! Call me when you’re back tomorrow, I’ll come then!”
And, true to his work, Milan appeared at 8pm on Friday evening, hub in hand, having drilled out the old studs and replaced with new, metric wheel-bolts to match the rest of the car (don’t ask, it’s a bit of a mongrel). Whacked it on the car, charged me a shamefully small amount of money (I had to force a tip on him) and was on his way. Next time I’ll just call him first I think
s
t photo, but here’s my knight in shining armour!
So, on to Croft! Aside from being bloody miles away from the shires, it’s one of my favourite tracks and well worth the journey. Last time I was here we had both weather and noise issues, so I only had 5 runs (the first three of which I was still learning the track). This time round we had a full nine timed runs, and an excellent day in all. Fortunately my more powerful competition was absent so I managed a far more respectable 2nd in class and 14th overall. There were also two photographers in action this time round, meaning I have some excellent shots of me running out of talent (see below)
Again, very happy to have convincingly beaten my time from last year. Looking at my runs there are still areas I can find more pace – I was about 1.7 seconds off the class win and, while the winner was running slicks, I’m sure I could have made this up somewhere. I’ve briefly thought about slicks myself, but with the additional complication of needing a dry sump, plus additional chassis bracing etc, I think I’d rather just try and be a better driver first.
Youtube vid here of my fastest run, again with some outtakes at the end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIsKwXb1zk
Ah yes, I've seen one or two floating around over the last year or two. There was a very tidy twink-engined SEI that sold on eBay last year, think it was a dark green one running twin Webers.
I did think about a Type 9, but mine's running the (currently still crunchy) Fiat box. Will get the spare on at some point and see about getting the original rebuilt...
Glad to see this is still being read
I did think about a Type 9, but mine's running the (currently still crunchy) Fiat box. Will get the spare on at some point and see about getting the original rebuilt...
Glad to see this is still being read
Well, the season is over and I’m currently sat in a hotel in Cincinnati (officially the most boring city in the world) so I think it’s time for an update.
First up, Anglesey – if nothing else, the biggest pain in the arse to get to from the home counties. As one of the other competitors put it, the biggest problem with Anglesey is that Manchester’s in the way
Still, the event was to be joint run with the Toyota Sprint Series, so my Celica-owning mate (and room-mate for most of the last two seasons!) and I duly schlepped up there on Saturday, eventually arriving late afternoon. There was a 24-hour 2CV race going on so we braved the wind and walked right round the track perimeter, trying to pay attention to the lines the racers were using and generally enjoying a bit of grass-roots motorsport.
The 2CV race didn’t finish until 10am the next morning, so after a pleasant evening of local beer and hearty pie we took a leisurely trip back to the track to be scrutineered, sign on and watch the survivors competitors cross the finish line. After an admirably quick turnaround by the Javelin crew we were out on the practice runs and the first timed runs of the day.
Fortunately, Anglesey turned out to be well worth the journey. It really is a fantastic track, with all sorts of cambers and elevations I’ve never had to deal with before. Somehow I managed my fastest lap on my fourth run of the day – lucky really, as the heavens opened mid-afternoon meaning no-one would be putting any blinders on the board!
Still, I’d gone all that way and it seemed a shame to waste track-time, so the waterproofs were donned and back out we went
Usual video format here – my best run, followed by the two runs I was cocking about in the wet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG4CxmwYdJI
Not my best driving really, looking back. I spent the day really struggling with understeer through the slower corners (not this one though!)
Position was less impressive (3rd out of 4 in my class) but it was a lot of fun. And, understeer aside, the old westy performed admirably.
The next, and penultimate, round was to be at Woodbridge – site of my first ever sprint and still one of my favourite venues. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it as I being rather distracted by something else…
I’m not even sorry.
My homework before the final event at Snetterton (after rattling all the bd way to Wales and back) was to give the trailer a bit of TLC. This mostly involved stripping some weight by removing the previous-owner-DIY centre section and giving it a general clean up and check over. I think it had seen better days, certainly….
That’s better
The final hurrah of this year was to be a full weekend of fun at Snetterton – a trackday on the Saturday (unbelievably my first this year!) on the 200 circuit and the sprint on Sunday on the 300. Admittedly I did worry a little about whether the car would stand up to a full weekend’s abuse – particularly after a fellow competitor blew the engine on his Elise at Snet a couple of days before – but I’d already started a mental list of things that needed to happen over winter so figured I may as well enjoy it! I packed all the tools I could think of along with my daily wheel/tyre combo (a set of Federal 595 RSRs which are a few years old now) and headed up.
The trackday itself was excellent – very few stoppages and minimal idiots (aside from one chap in an E36 compact who WOULD NOT move out of the way) and a good mix of cars on track. While I’m not one for giant-slaying I was pleased with how we got on. I think being able to overtake through Coran (by consent) really helped as I wasn’t relying so much on more powerful cars letting my by on the straights. Managed to keep it mostly on the track as well
The Federals, as predicted, took a couple of laps to warm up and were a bit squealy compared to the R888s I sprint with. More worrying was that after 7-8 laps I was starting to see a brief, but still alarming, dip in oil pressure after the long right-hander of Coram going left into Murrays. It was only momentary, but led me to keeping stints fairly short and has put paid to any ideas I might have had about running slicks next year without going for a pricey dry-sump setup.
For the last couple of runs I swapped over to the soft-compound R888s to scrub them in for the following day. Mindful of the oil pressure I kept the stints down to 4-5 laps but they’re still such an improvement – not bad for a £200 set of second-hand wheels and tyres that have lasted two seasons!
After a very pleasant day, those of us who were doing both events managed to get scrutineered as the sun went down…
I was feeling pretty confident at this point. We all know how that ends!
The scrutineer made a few ‘hmmm’-ing noises as he pointed out a bit of oil here, a touch of coolant there, and a few other little bits that had been fine all season but were now mysteriously not OK. In fading light I gave everything a clean up as best I could, tightened a couple of jubilee clips here and there and headed back to the hotel, mildly concerned but so knackered after a day hacking around in circles I was asleep by 9pm! Arriving the next day I was heartened to see that the spreading pools of liquid I was half-expecting to see under the car had not materialised, so after a quick check over it was time for the sighting laps.
Oh yeah, did I mention it rained?
After tip-toeing around with everyone else I tried to use the untimed practice solo run to see if a wet Snet really was as bad as everyone said it was. I ended up facing backwards, twice, but evidently had better luck than the chap who went before me as I caught him up a few corners from the end
Worse, though, was being waved down by Peter Jebson on the way back in with the words I really didn’t want to hear: “you dropped some oil on the start line.” Arrrrrrrrse.
Really not wanting to ruin anyone’s day by being ‘that’ guy, some slightly more drastic measures were necessary. So I spent an hour, in the rain, checking, cleaning and tightening everything I could get my hands on.
That waterproof romper-suit is definitely the best £25 I’ve ever spent.
After checking everything I could and taking it on a test run around the perimeter roads (eventful in itself, as I’d elected to leave the bodywork off in case anything needed attention and drove straight past a visiting police car!) all seemed ok, so I crossed my fingers and headed out just in time to make run 2.
Did I mention it was wet?
Fortunately lunch brought with it some sunshine, and my previous day’s homework really paid off. Run 3 was a big improvement and run 4 was bone dry, and fortunately everything came together into a run I was very happy with. Well, apart from the crow that I hit at 90mph which led to a brief track closure while one of the unfortunate marshals has to go and, er, scrape up the remains(didn’t lift, mind!).
I didn’t realise it at the time but I’d actually managed to put in a faster run than both of my two main competitors (by which I mean, the two in my class who have beaten me at every other round!), and when the rain inevitably came down later it was clear the positions weren’t going to change. A few of us headed out to have a play in the wet (it’s always the ones without roofs who do this!) but with the weather worsening the team called it a day and we started packing up.
A mixed day in all, but I was very happy with 3rd place in by far the largest group my class has been all year
As an added bonus, I also ended up third in class for the season – despite dropping a round.
So, SORN has now kicked in and I need to get my arse in gear with an ever-growing list of things to fix – first and foremost being to swap out the gearbox for my spare and also send the diff off for a rebuild (any recommendations for English diff rebuilds I’m all ears!). Plus servicing, giving the chassis a rub down and re-paint, fitting flared side panels and a rear diffuser, and sorting out some new tyres.
Naturally, the only thing I have achieved thus far is putting some new lights up in the garage (sorry it's not like some of the showroom-esque creations on these hallowed pages!) and giving the ever faithful tow-car a clean
Until next time!
First up, Anglesey – if nothing else, the biggest pain in the arse to get to from the home counties. As one of the other competitors put it, the biggest problem with Anglesey is that Manchester’s in the way
Still, the event was to be joint run with the Toyota Sprint Series, so my Celica-owning mate (and room-mate for most of the last two seasons!) and I duly schlepped up there on Saturday, eventually arriving late afternoon. There was a 24-hour 2CV race going on so we braved the wind and walked right round the track perimeter, trying to pay attention to the lines the racers were using and generally enjoying a bit of grass-roots motorsport.
The 2CV race didn’t finish until 10am the next morning, so after a pleasant evening of local beer and hearty pie we took a leisurely trip back to the track to be scrutineered, sign on and watch the survivors competitors cross the finish line. After an admirably quick turnaround by the Javelin crew we were out on the practice runs and the first timed runs of the day.
Fortunately, Anglesey turned out to be well worth the journey. It really is a fantastic track, with all sorts of cambers and elevations I’ve never had to deal with before. Somehow I managed my fastest lap on my fourth run of the day – lucky really, as the heavens opened mid-afternoon meaning no-one would be putting any blinders on the board!
Still, I’d gone all that way and it seemed a shame to waste track-time, so the waterproofs were donned and back out we went
Usual video format here – my best run, followed by the two runs I was cocking about in the wet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG4CxmwYdJI
Not my best driving really, looking back. I spent the day really struggling with understeer through the slower corners (not this one though!)
Position was less impressive (3rd out of 4 in my class) but it was a lot of fun. And, understeer aside, the old westy performed admirably.
The next, and penultimate, round was to be at Woodbridge – site of my first ever sprint and still one of my favourite venues. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it as I being rather distracted by something else…
I’m not even sorry.
My homework before the final event at Snetterton (after rattling all the b
d way to Wales and back) was to give the trailer a bit of TLC. This mostly involved stripping some weight by removing the previous-owner-DIY centre section and giving it a general clean up and check over. I think it had seen better days, certainly….
That’s better
The final hurrah of this year was to be a full weekend of fun at Snetterton – a trackday on the Saturday (unbelievably my first this year!) on the 200 circuit and the sprint on Sunday on the 300. Admittedly I did worry a little about whether the car would stand up to a full weekend’s abuse – particularly after a fellow competitor blew the engine on his Elise at Snet a couple of days before – but I’d already started a mental list of things that needed to happen over winter so figured I may as well enjoy it! I packed all the tools I could think of along with my daily wheel/tyre combo (a set of Federal 595 RSRs which are a few years old now) and headed up.
The trackday itself was excellent – very few stoppages and minimal idiots (aside from one chap in an E36 compact who WOULD NOT move out of the way) and a good mix of cars on track. While I’m not one for giant-slaying I was pleased with how we got on. I think being able to overtake through Coran (by consent) really helped as I wasn’t relying so much on more powerful cars letting my by on the straights. Managed to keep it mostly on the track as well
The Federals, as predicted, took a couple of laps to warm up and were a bit squealy compared to the R888s I sprint with. More worrying was that after 7-8 laps I was starting to see a brief, but still alarming, dip in oil pressure after the long right-hander of Coram going left into Murrays. It was only momentary, but led me to keeping stints fairly short and has put paid to any ideas I might have had about running slicks next year without going for a pricey dry-sump setup.
For the last couple of runs I swapped over to the soft-compound R888s to scrub them in for the following day. Mindful of the oil pressure I kept the stints down to 4-5 laps but they’re still such an improvement – not bad for a £200 set of second-hand wheels and tyres that have lasted two seasons!
After a very pleasant day, those of us who were doing both events managed to get scrutineered as the sun went down…
I was feeling pretty confident at this point. We all know how that ends!
The scrutineer made a few ‘hmmm’-ing noises as he pointed out a bit of oil here, a touch of coolant there, and a few other little bits that had been fine all season but were now mysteriously not OK. In fading light I gave everything a clean up as best I could, tightened a couple of jubilee clips here and there and headed back to the hotel, mildly concerned but so knackered after a day hacking around in circles I was asleep by 9pm! Arriving the next day I was heartened to see that the spreading pools of liquid I was half-expecting to see under the car had not materialised, so after a quick check over it was time for the sighting laps.
Oh yeah, did I mention it rained?
After tip-toeing around with everyone else I tried to use the untimed practice solo run to see if a wet Snet really was as bad as everyone said it was. I ended up facing backwards, twice, but evidently had better luck than the chap who went before me as I caught him up a few corners from the end
Worse, though, was being waved down by Peter Jebson on the way back in with the words I really didn’t want to hear: “you dropped some oil on the start line.” Arrrrrrrrse.
Really not wanting to ruin anyone’s day by being ‘that’ guy, some slightly more drastic measures were necessary. So I spent an hour, in the rain, checking, cleaning and tightening everything I could get my hands on.
That waterproof romper-suit is definitely the best £25 I’ve ever spent.
After checking everything I could and taking it on a test run around the perimeter roads (eventful in itself, as I’d elected to leave the bodywork off in case anything needed attention and drove straight past a visiting police car!) all seemed ok, so I crossed my fingers and headed out just in time to make run 2.
Did I mention it was wet?
Fortunately lunch brought with it some sunshine, and my previous day’s homework really paid off. Run 3 was a big improvement and run 4 was bone dry, and fortunately everything came together into a run I was very happy with. Well, apart from the crow that I hit at 90mph which led to a brief track closure while one of the unfortunate marshals has to go and, er, scrape up the remains(didn’t lift, mind!).
I didn’t realise it at the time but I’d actually managed to put in a faster run than both of my two main competitors (by which I mean, the two in my class who have beaten me at every other round!), and when the rain inevitably came down later it was clear the positions weren’t going to change. A few of us headed out to have a play in the wet (it’s always the ones without roofs who do this!) but with the weather worsening the team called it a day and we started packing up.
A mixed day in all, but I was very happy with 3rd place in by far the largest group my class has been all year
As an added bonus, I also ended up third in class for the season – despite dropping a round.
So, SORN has now kicked in and I need to get my arse in gear with an ever-growing list of things to fix – first and foremost being to swap out the gearbox for my spare and also send the diff off for a rebuild (any recommendations for English diff rebuilds I’m all ears!). Plus servicing, giving the chassis a rub down and re-paint, fitting flared side panels and a rear diffuser, and sorting out some new tyres.
Naturally, the only thing I have achieved thus far is putting some new lights up in the garage (sorry it's not like some of the showroom-esque creations on these hallowed pages!) and giving the ever faithful tow-car a clean
Until next time!
Really useful, thanks! I'll work through the pictures when I can and see if I can fix some of the links. I think a brief spell with Imgur is to blame.
The sump I have is the second one you have pictured as far as I can tell (although I've not had it off the car yet to check the internals). I do have a spare, however, which is identical to the second pic and includes the baffles. It's also in better overall condition (i.e. not dented) so I'll probably swap it out over winter.
Any idea how to identify which gearbox I have? Happy to post up a pic when I'm back in the UK.
Engine wise, this is what I know (from the previous owner):
Gas flowed 'Volumex' head with 43.5/36mm valves.
Bogg Brothers R1 Carb conversion, running 160 main jets and Dynojet needles
Piper BP300 high lift 290deg 'Rally' cams
High compression 84.4mm domed forged pistons giving 11:1CR (from Vick Autosport in the US)
Guy Croft uprated head gasket
Guy Croft 12:9 race head bolts
Guy Croft oil pump
New std size big ends
Competition adjustable vernier pulleys
Tuned by Torque Tune, supposedly running circa 170bhp @ 7000rpm but I don't believe any actual power runs were done. I'm taking this figure with plenty of salt.
As I've said in the past it's a bit of a mongrel and I'm sure more could be had with some fine tuning and/or plenty of money (it's still running clockwork ignition for starters). Having read a couple of your threads I'd be very interested to hear you opinion! It was previously owned by a friend of mine who bought it as a fairly questionable eBay purchase, and the engine rebuild was done by a mutual friend of ours after the PO dropped a grub screw through one of the carbs....
The pistons, rings and pulleys were all purchased in the US on a timely road trip, the head was donated by the engine builder from his Lancia Montecarlo and it was all put together in his garage before going for tuning. 3 years later and it's still going
The sump I have is the second one you have pictured as far as I can tell (although I've not had it off the car yet to check the internals). I do have a spare, however, which is identical to the second pic and includes the baffles. It's also in better overall condition (i.e. not dented) so I'll probably swap it out over winter.
Any idea how to identify which gearbox I have? Happy to post up a pic when I'm back in the UK.
Engine wise, this is what I know (from the previous owner):
Gas flowed 'Volumex' head with 43.5/36mm valves.
Bogg Brothers R1 Carb conversion, running 160 main jets and Dynojet needles
Piper BP300 high lift 290deg 'Rally' cams
High compression 84.4mm domed forged pistons giving 11:1CR (from Vick Autosport in the US)
Guy Croft uprated head gasket
Guy Croft 12:9 race head bolts
Guy Croft oil pump
New std size big ends
Competition adjustable vernier pulleys
Tuned by Torque Tune, supposedly running circa 170bhp @ 7000rpm but I don't believe any actual power runs were done. I'm taking this figure with plenty of salt.
As I've said in the past it's a bit of a mongrel and I'm sure more could be had with some fine tuning and/or plenty of money (it's still running clockwork ignition for starters). Having read a couple of your threads I'd be very interested to hear you opinion! It was previously owned by a friend of mine who bought it as a fairly questionable eBay purchase, and the engine rebuild was done by a mutual friend of ours after the PO dropped a grub screw through one of the carbs....
The pistons, rings and pulleys were all purchased in the US on a timely road trip, the head was donated by the engine builder from his Lancia Montecarlo and it was all put together in his garage before going for tuning. 3 years later and it's still going
Edited by BenWRXSEi on Monday 7th November 15:58
)
Well, I suppose it’s about that time!
The westy hasn’t turned a wheel since last November (well, until this week. But more on that later) as I’ve been busily beavering away at the long list of jobs needed to bring her back up to scratch. I say beavering away, I’ve actually been busy with such trivialities as work, Christmas, house improvements etc, but I’ve managed to disappear off into the garage here and there. As ever, it’s not yet finished, but hopefully I’ve broken the back of the work needed. It’s almost ready to go sprinting again, at least!
First job (and the one that took the most time) was to get the chassis and various suspension components back up to scratch. It’s all 27 years old now and the original paint isn’t up to much, so my habit of driving it in winter lead to some pretty crusty looking surface rust:
The rear end was definitely going to need some attention – the wishbones were particularly grotty and the diff was also making some unpleasant noises, so apart it all came…
I also discovered at this point that the rear ARB was practically seized!
First step, attack it all with the rust proofer:
Then, once dry and left for a few days to cure, attack with a wire brush drill fitment…
And break out the POR-15:
Not a professional job, certainly, but it does the trick.
Job number two was to fit a pair of flared side panels I purchased recently. This purpose was twofold: partly as an aid to cooling, but mostly to give me better access to the sides of the engine so I could find where that bd oil leak was coming from. Unfortunately it was pretty soon clear that it was from an earlier car and wouldn’t fit without a bit of bodgery, so I turned to plan B.
Break out the Dremel
I can see things!
Old girl was looking a bit sad at this point.
So, time to start putting a few bits on. I was a bit limited at this point as the diff was off with Tracsport having a rebuild, so I started with a few cosmetics. Firstly, fitting of a new set of front wings (after I botched the existing ones trying to get them so sit straight) and the Flared Side Panels 2.0:
And then I got a shiny thing back!
I’ve finally also been able to confirm that it does indeed have a Quaife ATB diff.
It was a proper bd to refit though, but after much swearing…
It took a bit of fettling to get everything lined up and the speed sensor working again, but we got there. Final touches were to get the wings a slightly better colour, and give it a good service:
(no pics of the servicing, but you all know what oil looks like? All over the garage floor? Yeah, that.) I found out where the oil leak was coming from though – turns out a few of the sump bolts weren’t torqued correctly so some oil was seeping through and dripping off the bottom of the sump.
Finally, new driver’s harness:
Put it all back together…
Out of the garage (leaving behind a bit of mess!)
Et voila!
It had a lovely run out last weekend. Loads of fun! A few little niggles here and there, but nothing major. All I need to do now is a couple of fiddle bits – replace the choke cable, refit the rear ARB – and give it a run on its new rubber:
First sprint is a week on Sunday. Definitely nervous now!
The westy hasn’t turned a wheel since last November (well, until this week. But more on that later) as I’ve been busily beavering away at the long list of jobs needed to bring her back up to scratch. I say beavering away, I’ve actually been busy with such trivialities as work, Christmas, house improvements etc, but I’ve managed to disappear off into the garage here and there. As ever, it’s not yet finished, but hopefully I’ve broken the back of the work needed. It’s almost ready to go sprinting again, at least!
First job (and the one that took the most time) was to get the chassis and various suspension components back up to scratch. It’s all 27 years old now and the original paint isn’t up to much, so my habit of driving it in winter lead to some pretty crusty looking surface rust:
The rear end was definitely going to need some attention – the wishbones were particularly grotty and the diff was also making some unpleasant noises, so apart it all came…
I also discovered at this point that the rear ARB was practically seized!
First step, attack it all with the rust proofer:
Then, once dry and left for a few days to cure, attack with a wire brush drill fitment…
And break out the POR-15:
Not a professional job, certainly, but it does the trick.
Job number two was to fit a pair of flared side panels I purchased recently. This purpose was twofold: partly as an aid to cooling, but mostly to give me better access to the sides of the engine so I could find where that b
d oil leak was coming from. Unfortunately it was pretty soon clear that it was from an earlier car and wouldn’t fit without a bit of bodgery, so I turned to plan B. Break out the Dremel
I can see things!
Old girl was looking a bit sad at this point.
So, time to start putting a few bits on. I was a bit limited at this point as the diff was off with Tracsport having a rebuild, so I started with a few cosmetics. Firstly, fitting of a new set of front wings (after I botched the existing ones trying to get them so sit straight) and the Flared Side Panels 2.0:
And then I got a shiny thing back!
I’ve finally also been able to confirm that it does indeed have a Quaife ATB diff.
It was a proper b
d to refit though, but after much swearing…
It took a bit of fettling to get everything lined up and the speed sensor working again, but we got there. Final touches were to get the wings a slightly better colour, and give it a good service:
(no pics of the servicing, but you all know what oil looks like? All over the garage floor? Yeah, that.) I found out where the oil leak was coming from though – turns out a few of the sump bolts weren’t torqued correctly so some oil was seeping through and dripping off the bottom of the sump.
Finally, new driver’s harness:
Put it all back together…
Out of the garage (leaving behind a bit of mess!)
Et voila!
It had a lovely run out last weekend. Loads of fun! A few little niggles here and there, but nothing major. All I need to do now is a couple of fiddle bits – replace the choke cable, refit the rear ARB – and give it a run on its new rubber:
First sprint is a week on Sunday. Definitely nervous now!
Similar, but mine's a narrow chassis and I think originally had a Ford X-flow fitted. It's actually running a Fiat 5-speed gearbox. Always nice to hear of another twink-powered one though! Don't suppose you have any pics?
Which reminds me, I still need to swap that out for a non-crunchy spare I have...
Which reminds me, I still need to swap that out for a non-crunchy spare I have...
It's great to see more of them coming out of the woodwork! I've had a couple of people mention Fiat powered cars over the last couple of years, but the only one I've ever actually seen was a green and yellow (I think) car that was sold on eBay a couple of years back. I think it had a Lancia-branded engine on twin Webers.
Did the car in question have a windscreen? When I did the dash project last year I found lots of wiring labelled things like 'wipers' and 'washers.' Suffice to say that's all gone now
tr7v8 said:
Mine was originally a x flow car. I bought it in two pieces as it was crashed on a track day, the rear end was in boxes, the front had been used to build a new Sierra based Westie. It came with the damaged body & a few other bits.. The factory rebuilt the chassis with a new front clip from the foot boxes forward. I started to build it up & had it close to a roller, then damaged my shoulder putting the diff in. My wife wasn't keen so I replaced it with a TR7 V8 meant to be temporary, but we sold the Westie to Phil Lawrence off the 7 bulletin board. He got it running & was then offered a load of money for it so sold it on.
Pics is a good question not sure I have any. The reg was from memory Q827xxx
Sounds like it was quite an undertaking! I can sympathise with your difficulties getting the diff in. It was a massive pain trying to do it on axle stands and I'm still not entirely sure how it finally slotted into place Pics is a good question not sure I have any. The reg was from memory Q827xxx
Furyblade_Lee said:
My neighbour used to have a red Fiat powered Q plate Westfield, wonder if it is the same car? He must have sold it 6 or 7 years ago, lived in Oxted but bought it from Devon? When he arrived home with his missus after an epic journey she hated it, and he said it was awful to drive. I checked it over and found it had 30 psi in the tyres and dampers pretty much on full stiff...... I was horrific to drive, but after 20 minutes sorting it for him he could have kissed me!!
It's entirely possible I suppose - I really know very little about the car's history before the owner before me. I think he bought it from a typically crap eBay ad somewhere up north. Anything before that (3-4 years ago) is a bit of a mystery. Certainly when I first bought it the shocks were all rock solid and the rear springs were far too high a rate for the car, and a suspension setup by Northampton Motorsport transformed it.Did the car in question have a windscreen? When I did the dash project last year I found lots of wiring labelled things like 'wipers' and 'washers.' Suffice to say that's all gone now
I did a thing!
And how did I achieve this never-seen-before and never-to-be-seen-again (probably) feat, you ask? Well, I’m not altogether sure really.
This weekend just gone was the first Javelin Sprint Series event of the year. A wonderfully varied field of 80-odd cars rocked up to Snetterton, a good mix of previous competitors and new entrants. Cars ranged all the way from a Smart For-Two (yes, really) to a 458 Scuderia.
My winter preparation complete the morning before I drove up on the previous day – by way of an el cheapo fibreglass rear diffuser in an attempt to curtail the parachute-like tendencies of the rear end – I was more than a little nervous. I reckon the car had done less than 30 miles since the last event of 2016 (also at Snet, as it happened) and I’d not had time to book in a corner-weight or alignment since I’d taken all the suspension to bits. Three times.
Loaded up (note new diffuser):
My main objective really was to beat my time from last year – a 2:17.63 lap, 2nd in class and 18th overall. I also wanted to not break the car! I had to come to terms with the new staggered tyre setup – I’ve gone wider at the rear with my new R888Rs on recommendation of another competitor who pointed out I had a pretty wayward read end (snigger). Plus I have the novelty of a limited slip diff which isn’t totally knackered.
Scrutineering was over with the evening before without too much fuss:
Fortunately the weather the following day was about as perfect as we could hope for in March – dry overnight, sunny and temperatures in the high teens.
Weighing up the competition was interesting at this stage as well. Two drivers who beat me consistently last year (a Caterham R400 and a Locost bike-engined kit) were back in pretty similar spec (although a new engine and set of lairy-looking cut slicks set off the Locost nicely!), and there was a newly-purchased Caterham RoadSport as well. Confidence at this point was pretty low in obtaining anything other than last place in class! However after the usual sighting and practice runs I was already impressed with the new tyres, a confidence which was confirmed when I pulled a 2:14.something on my first timed run. Result!
I was even more pleased upon finding out that my run was enough to put me first in class and in the top 10 overall, and what followed was a fantastically fun and close-fought battle for class F2. After flirting around the 2:13s for a while and losing the lead I was disappointed to drop to 2:14, but my fifth run started really well and as I entered the penultimate corner I thought I was aiming for a 2:12. Unfortunately the car before me had had issues causing them to almost lose a rear wheel, so I caught them on the last corner and had to slow. Fortunately the Javelin team were on it and I was called forward for a re-run, and managed to get down to 2:11.35. I was pretty chuffed with myself, but with one run to go (which I voided after running off track twice) I was nervous about the competition!
As it happened, it was all rather close...
Best of all, I even managed 6th fastest overall which is far higher than I’ve ever managed before!
Video of my best and worst runs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELR9VzjKLo
As you can probably tell I’m still getting to grip with the car’s new dynamics (I certainly need to work on that understeer!) but overall I’m hugely pleased with the progression. Next round is Blyton in 3 weeks time, and there’s already seven cars in my class alone.
Until next time!
And how did I achieve this never-seen-before and never-to-be-seen-again (probably) feat, you ask? Well, I’m not altogether sure really.
This weekend just gone was the first Javelin Sprint Series event of the year. A wonderfully varied field of 80-odd cars rocked up to Snetterton, a good mix of previous competitors and new entrants. Cars ranged all the way from a Smart For-Two (yes, really) to a 458 Scuderia.
My winter preparation complete the morning before I drove up on the previous day – by way of an el cheapo fibreglass rear diffuser in an attempt to curtail the parachute-like tendencies of the rear end – I was more than a little nervous. I reckon the car had done less than 30 miles since the last event of 2016 (also at Snet, as it happened) and I’d not had time to book in a corner-weight or alignment since I’d taken all the suspension to bits. Three times.
Loaded up (note new diffuser):
My main objective really was to beat my time from last year – a 2:17.63 lap, 2nd in class and 18th overall. I also wanted to not break the car! I had to come to terms with the new staggered tyre setup – I’ve gone wider at the rear with my new R888Rs on recommendation of another competitor who pointed out I had a pretty wayward read end (snigger). Plus I have the novelty of a limited slip diff which isn’t totally knackered.
Scrutineering was over with the evening before without too much fuss:
Fortunately the weather the following day was about as perfect as we could hope for in March – dry overnight, sunny and temperatures in the high teens.
Weighing up the competition was interesting at this stage as well. Two drivers who beat me consistently last year (a Caterham R400 and a Locost bike-engined kit) were back in pretty similar spec (although a new engine and set of lairy-looking cut slicks set off the Locost nicely!), and there was a newly-purchased Caterham RoadSport as well. Confidence at this point was pretty low in obtaining anything other than last place in class! However after the usual sighting and practice runs I was already impressed with the new tyres, a confidence which was confirmed when I pulled a 2:14.something on my first timed run. Result!
I was even more pleased upon finding out that my run was enough to put me first in class and in the top 10 overall, and what followed was a fantastically fun and close-fought battle for class F2. After flirting around the 2:13s for a while and losing the lead I was disappointed to drop to 2:14, but my fifth run started really well and as I entered the penultimate corner I thought I was aiming for a 2:12. Unfortunately the car before me had had issues causing them to almost lose a rear wheel, so I caught them on the last corner and had to slow. Fortunately the Javelin team were on it and I was called forward for a re-run, and managed to get down to 2:11.35. I was pretty chuffed with myself, but with one run to go (which I voided after running off track twice) I was nervous about the competition!
As it happened, it was all rather close...
Best of all, I even managed 6th fastest overall which is far higher than I’ve ever managed before!
Video of my best and worst runs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELR9VzjKLo
As you can probably tell I’m still getting to grip with the car’s new dynamics (I certainly need to work on that understeer!) but overall I’m hugely pleased with the progression. Next round is Blyton in 3 weeks time, and there’s already seven cars in my class alone.
Until next time!
Round 2: Blyton. Bit of a different story!
Basically, it rained at the wrong time. That't my excuse. I stuffed up the first (and only dry) run so had no hope of even a half-decent result, and then spent the rest of the day in these conditions:
I also managed to void my first three runs (a personal record!) and spin a grand total of five times during the day
Somewhat frustratingly, my untimed practice run was on par with my previous personal best, and had it rained earlier my (one good!) wet time would have put me in a fairly reasonable 13th place overall. Ah well - we can drop two rounds during a season so I think this'll be one of them!
It also gave me the opportunity to cock around with some video editing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dot41Jk0VUc
And a couple of stills from the most frustrating day's sprinting I've ever had:
Next up for me is Croft in a couple of months. Need to sort out the replacement gearbox and a corner-weight/alignment session. And also have a stern word with myself
Basically, it rained at the wrong time. That't my excuse. I stuffed up the first (and only dry) run so had no hope of even a half-decent result, and then spent the rest of the day in these conditions:
I also managed to void my first three runs (a personal record!) and spin a grand total of five times during the day
Somewhat frustratingly, my untimed practice run was on par with my previous personal best, and had it rained earlier my (one good!) wet time would have put me in a fairly reasonable 13th place overall. Ah well - we can drop two rounds during a season so I think this'll be one of them!
It also gave me the opportunity to cock around with some video editing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dot41Jk0VUc
And a couple of stills from the most frustrating day's sprinting I've ever had:
Next up for me is Croft in a couple of months. Need to sort out the replacement gearbox and a corner-weight/alignment session. And also have a stern word with myself
Now for sale, sadly.
New sprint-car project, for anyone interested! https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
New sprint-car project, for anyone interested! https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
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