Not Your Everyday Race Car - The Mighty Citroen
Discussion
Rich, do you have a source for that info about the number of cars in build? I hope that is the case.
One of our worries is that we spend £4-5k building a car and then only 5 cars turn up and so the series gets canned.
TBH, there's not really anywhere else to race them and so that money is down the pan.
I think we are close to agreeing that we will do it, as an additional low cost effort to our existing individual racing plans, but then have to find and build a car. Simple in theory but not that simple when we are all juggling work and family lives. But I want to do it and a couple of others are talking about buying in as a means of getting their kids involved in racing.
One of our worries is that we spend £4-5k building a car and then only 5 cars turn up and so the series gets canned.
TBH, there's not really anywhere else to race them and so that money is down the pan.
I think we are close to agreeing that we will do it, as an additional low cost effort to our existing individual racing plans, but then have to find and build a car. Simple in theory but not that simple when we are all juggling work and family lives. But I want to do it and a couple of others are talking about buying in as a means of getting their kids involved in racing.
andy97 said:
One of our worries is that we spend £4-5k building a car and then only 5 cars turn up and so the series gets canned.
TBH, there's not really anywhere else to race them and so that money is down the pan.
That's what I said to Rich back in September, and well, this thread was started in October when we bought the car......TBH, there's not really anywhere else to race them and so that money is down the pan.
I have no willpower.
Mark Benson said:
That's what I said to Rich back in September, and well, this thread was started in October when we bought the car......
I have no willpower.
I am a salesman at heart!I have no willpower.
andy97 said:
Rich, do you have a source for that info about the number of cars in build? I hope that is the case.
One of our worries is that we spend £4-5k building a car and then only 5 cars turn up and so the series gets canned.
TBH, there's not really anywhere else to race them and so that money is down the pan.
I think we are close to agreeing that we will do it, as an additional low cost effort to our existing individual racing plans, but then have to find and build a car. Simple in theory but not that simple when we are all juggling work and family lives. But I want to do it and a couple of others are talking about buying in as a means of getting their kids involved in racing.
Andy, I see you have posted on the C1 Club forum, Philip or any of the chaps on there will be confirm approximate numbers too.One of our worries is that we spend £4-5k building a car and then only 5 cars turn up and so the series gets canned.
TBH, there's not really anywhere else to race them and so that money is down the pan.
I think we are close to agreeing that we will do it, as an additional low cost effort to our existing individual racing plans, but then have to find and build a car. Simple in theory but not that simple when we are all juggling work and family lives. But I want to do it and a couple of others are talking about buying in as a means of getting their kids involved in racing.
I bought a cage in the first group buy of six in late September last year (before Mark had agreed to go ahead, ooops). There were two existing cars and four new build cars at Spa for the 24hr race in October, we weren't planning on starting our car until after the race, the same for the yellow Absolute Alignment car.
Mark and I will build a second car at some point, the series organisers are aware of this and I was offered one of the second group buy order of fifteen cages last week. We are not ready so that cage has been taken by someone else. At that point they were aware of 23 cars either built or in build, I know another car has been purchased since then too.
A tremendous take up before the series starts. Mark and I race my Boxster with CSCC and that costs a fair bit of money, the C1 series will give us tremendous value for money with very good close racing too. In terms of £££ per minute of race time, it is a no brainer. At Spa, the quality of the racing was fantastic, lots of opportunities to overtake and be overtaken by faster cars in other classes. We are really looking forward to the start of the season.
I have now been told that 30 kits have been sold. A great take up. Even if all the kits are not converted then that should still result in circa 20 cars being built.
And I think there's a reasonable chance a team of us will also build a car to do a few races in addition to our existing plans
And I think there's a reasonable chance a team of us will also build a car to do a few races in addition to our existing plans
ribiero said:
Silly question, according to the regs these cars have to be road registered (which is great for true budget racing imo) does this throw up any surprises when trawling yards for cat c's and d's?
We ended up buying one that a breaker had put back on the road (new wing and a couple of other bits) so we didn't have to jump through too many hoops and we have an MOT until September.One tip we were told was when you come to MOT it after it's converted, find somewhere that will test it as a rally car as they can then ignore airbag lights etc. Don't know how true this is but it seems to make sense.
Having it road registered means that you can do a lot of shakedown testing on the road, rather than having to buy track time every time you want to check something. Living on the edge of the Dales helps on that score, too
ribiero said:
Silly question, according to the regs these cars have to be road registered (which is great for true budget racing imo) does this throw up any surprises when trawling yards for cat c's and d's?
Cat C and D shouldn't be a problem any more - the DVLA have scrapped the VIC check for C's, so you just apply for the log book as normal.Save anyone clicking the link
April 1 Spa 3 hour endurance.
May 6/7 Snetterton 300 4 hour endurance, 3 mandatory driver changes
July 8/9 Pembrey 4 hour endurance, 3 mandatory driver changes
September 23/24 Cadwell Park 4 hour endurance, 3 mandatory driver changes
October 20-22 Spa Francorchamps 24 hour endurance.
Subject to confirmation
May 27/28 Croix 6 hour endurance.
June 23/24 Anneau du Rhin 6 hour endurance.
November 11/12 Anglesey Race of Remembrance 1000km
April 1 Spa 3 hour endurance.
May 6/7 Snetterton 300 4 hour endurance, 3 mandatory driver changes
July 8/9 Pembrey 4 hour endurance, 3 mandatory driver changes
September 23/24 Cadwell Park 4 hour endurance, 3 mandatory driver changes
October 20-22 Spa Francorchamps 24 hour endurance.
Subject to confirmation
May 27/28 Croix 6 hour endurance.
June 23/24 Anneau du Rhin 6 hour endurance.
November 11/12 Anglesey Race of Remembrance 1000km
So a bit of a break from the build as life got in the way, however yesterday saw me back out into the garage to get the car ready for taking to the welders.
First problem, when Rich and I drilled the holes for the captive nuts in the cage spreader plates, we didn't take the paint and seam sealer off before we refitted the cage.
That meant the whole cage had to come out yet again so I could prepare the areas to be welded:
Seam sealer is a pain to remove, especially in the inaccessible areas around the B pillar. An old chisel, copius amounts of paint stripper and a lot of swearing were the answer but it took a long time to get all four areas prepped. However, I got there and there is now clean metal to weld to:
Another problem that had been annoying me was the steering wheel - Demon Tweeks sold us a boss which was purportedly for a C1 but it can't have been because once refitted, it crushed the connector for the horn and airbag against the housing and caused the stalks to wave around when the wheel was turned. See the connector in this picture:
...well the recess in the boss wasn't big enough to accommodate it, so with a combination of drill and Dremel with a milling bit, I made it larger (and in the process look like rats had been at it):
The wheel now goes on without fouling anything. So next up was fit the seat back in for the trip to the welders. We have a race seat but one of the welding jobs is to fit the harness mounts. I didn't want to use a race seat with standard belts, and even if I did the receiver is attached to the seat so it would make more work just to have the race seat in, so back in with the original driver's seat and belt:
The bumper went back on, rear suspension was all bolted up and the car lowered onto it's wheels, the rear (which has the new springs and dampers) is significantly lower than the front (which is still on the original setup), the car looks like it's collapsed at the rear.
So, off to the welders this week with any luck then the front suspension and tracking.
First problem, when Rich and I drilled the holes for the captive nuts in the cage spreader plates, we didn't take the paint and seam sealer off before we refitted the cage.
That meant the whole cage had to come out yet again so I could prepare the areas to be welded:
Seam sealer is a pain to remove, especially in the inaccessible areas around the B pillar. An old chisel, copius amounts of paint stripper and a lot of swearing were the answer but it took a long time to get all four areas prepped. However, I got there and there is now clean metal to weld to:
Another problem that had been annoying me was the steering wheel - Demon Tweeks sold us a boss which was purportedly for a C1 but it can't have been because once refitted, it crushed the connector for the horn and airbag against the housing and caused the stalks to wave around when the wheel was turned. See the connector in this picture:
...well the recess in the boss wasn't big enough to accommodate it, so with a combination of drill and Dremel with a milling bit, I made it larger (and in the process look like rats had been at it):
The wheel now goes on without fouling anything. So next up was fit the seat back in for the trip to the welders. We have a race seat but one of the welding jobs is to fit the harness mounts. I didn't want to use a race seat with standard belts, and even if I did the receiver is attached to the seat so it would make more work just to have the race seat in, so back in with the original driver's seat and belt:
The bumper went back on, rear suspension was all bolted up and the car lowered onto it's wheels, the rear (which has the new springs and dampers) is significantly lower than the front (which is still on the original setup), the car looks like it's collapsed at the rear.
So, off to the welders this week with any luck then the front suspension and tracking.
Edited by Mark Benson on Monday 6th March 09:59
I think that "being built" is stretching the point somewhat at the moment, but we have ordered the cage and the rest of club supplied kit. We are getting a list together of the stuff we need from Demon Tweeks etc and we have already bought a second set of wheels.
When we actually start doing anything to it is a moot point. Probably only do Cadwell this year.
When we actually start doing anything to it is a moot point. Probably only do Cadwell this year.
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