Fiat Twin-Cam Powered Westfield
Discussion
Thought I'd put a few word up on my latest purchase - something I admittedly have very little previous experience with. I should explain that I'm good friends with the previous owner of this car, so (hopefully!) it's not as much of a punt as it might initially seem...
How not to buy a car, vol. 17:
Drive 2 ½ hours north in an MR2 with a freshly built top-end in Friday evening traffic. Arrive c. 9pm, kick the tyres a bit and have some pizza. Have a quick whistle-stop tour of the purchase (“That’s your windscreen-wiper switch. Don’t forget that one.”) and then head off at 10.30pm in a newly purchased car you’ve never driven before, in the dark, in a fixed seat that doesn’t fit you, to S
horpe. Panic about the amount of fuel in the tank (no gauge!), get lost in Shorpe and eventually get directions off a pair of very jealous chavs in MacDonald’s carpark. Place cover (pond-liner and bungees, crude yet effective!) over car, check into hotel and collapse into bed.
Next day: sleep through alarm, miss breakfast and walk out of the hotel as it starts raining. Drive newly-purchased and still very alien car (with no windscreen!) to Blyton Park circuit in the rain: terrifying. Feel silly for organising Toyota trackday and then turning up in a British car with an Italian engine, then gingerly head out onto a patchy damp track. Dodge rain storms, damp tracks, faster cars, slower cars (not many!) and eventually decide that I should probably point my plastic nose-cone down the 180 miles to home. Rains: get wet. Sunny: dry off. This cycle repeated pretty much all the way down South, until I came off the M40 onto the Oxford ring road into a truly biblical rainstorm. Never been more wet or more terrified in my life, aquaplaning at 50mph whilst looking up into the wheelarches of passing lorries is definitely not the one! Arrive home, car into garage and drip my soggy way straight into a hot bath.
Oh what fun
So there we have it, I’m now the owner of a very silly and fantastically fun little Westfield. It’s a great little car with enormous potential, and my plans basically are to tinker with it, improve little bits here and there and generally enjoy it whist keeping a steady eye on the weather forecast
The engine is a recently-rebuilt Fiat Lampredi 2-litre twin cam running R1 carbs, high compression pistons, high-lift cams, a Volumex head and plenty of other tasty little bits and pieces. It also has ARBs front and rear (rare for a kit, I understand), a front wide track kit, Quaiffe LSD and a digidash. We think that it was originally built as a racer or sprint car and then later converted and SVA’d for road use – the underlying build seems to be pretty good but a lot of the cosmetic bits are a bit slap-dash (uneven front wheelarches, wonky numberplates and loose mirrors are a bit of a clue). I think the wiring needs some attention as well as the temperature readouts seem to vary depending on how many electric things I have switched on, and the suspension is clearly set up for track use so that’ll need some attention and setting up as well to make it a little more supple over Oxfordshire��s finest back-roads. I may also look at a couple of other things to make it a little more friendly, such as swapping out the GRP seats, sourcing a tonneau cover and maybe even fitting a windscreen if I get excitable :lol:
Having spanked all my spare money on a pile of stone and mortar most of this will have to wait for a while, so in the meantime I’ll be doing plenty of local (sunny!) journeys in the westy to get used to its little ways and see if there’s anything else that needs attention. I’m already having to completely re-calibrate my ideas of what are acceptable cornering speeds
A few phone pics will have to do for now until I sit down with the proper camera....
A rare dry moment at Blyton:
Obligatory petrol station shot:
With its stablemate!
After a quick wash:
Sumptuous interior:
Wonk!
The family all together:
Yes, ramps necessary!
Mixing with the big kids at Homebase
Italy’s finest (and god it sounds good!):
How not to buy a car, vol. 17:
Drive 2 ½ hours north in an MR2 with a freshly built top-end in Friday evening traffic. Arrive c. 9pm, kick the tyres a bit and have some pizza. Have a quick whistle-stop tour of the purchase (“That’s your windscreen-wiper switch. Don’t forget that one.”) and then head off at 10.30pm in a newly purchased car you’ve never driven before, in the dark, in a fixed seat that doesn’t fit you, to S
horpe. Panic about the amount of fuel in the tank (no gauge!), get lost in Shorpe and eventually get directions off a pair of very jealous chavs in MacDonald’s carpark. Place cover (pond-liner and bungees, crude yet effective!) over car, check into hotel and collapse into bed.Next day: sleep through alarm, miss breakfast and walk out of the hotel as it starts raining. Drive newly-purchased and still very alien car (with no windscreen!) to Blyton Park circuit in the rain: terrifying. Feel silly for organising Toyota trackday and then turning up in a British car with an Italian engine, then gingerly head out onto a patchy damp track. Dodge rain storms, damp tracks, faster cars, slower cars (not many!) and eventually decide that I should probably point my plastic nose-cone down the 180 miles to home. Rains: get wet. Sunny: dry off. This cycle repeated pretty much all the way down South, until I came off the M40 onto the Oxford ring road into a truly biblical rainstorm. Never been more wet or more terrified in my life, aquaplaning at 50mph whilst looking up into the wheelarches of passing lorries is definitely not the one! Arrive home, car into garage and drip my soggy way straight into a hot bath.
Oh what fun
So there we have it, I’m now the owner of a very silly and fantastically fun little Westfield. It’s a great little car with enormous potential, and my plans basically are to tinker with it, improve little bits here and there and generally enjoy it whist keeping a steady eye on the weather forecast
The engine is a recently-rebuilt Fiat Lampredi 2-litre twin cam running R1 carbs, high compression pistons, high-lift cams, a Volumex head and plenty of other tasty little bits and pieces. It also has ARBs front and rear (rare for a kit, I understand), a front wide track kit, Quaiffe LSD and a digidash. We think that it was originally built as a racer or sprint car and then later converted and SVA’d for road use – the underlying build seems to be pretty good but a lot of the cosmetic bits are a bit slap-dash (uneven front wheelarches, wonky numberplates and loose mirrors are a bit of a clue). I think the wiring needs some attention as well as the temperature readouts seem to vary depending on how many electric things I have switched on, and the suspension is clearly set up for track use so that’ll need some attention and setting up as well to make it a little more supple over Oxfordshire��s finest back-roads. I may also look at a couple of other things to make it a little more friendly, such as swapping out the GRP seats, sourcing a tonneau cover and maybe even fitting a windscreen if I get excitable :lol:
Having spanked all my spare money on a pile of stone and mortar most of this will have to wait for a while, so in the meantime I’ll be doing plenty of local (sunny!) journeys in the westy to get used to its little ways and see if there’s anything else that needs attention. I’m already having to completely re-calibrate my ideas of what are acceptable cornering speeds
A few phone pics will have to do for now until I sit down with the proper camera....
A rare dry moment at Blyton:
Obligatory petrol station shot:
With its stablemate!
After a quick wash:
Sumptuous interior:
Wonk!
The family all together:
Yes, ramps necessary!
Mixing with the big kids at Homebase
Italy’s finest (and god it sounds good!):
Edited by BenWRXSEi on Tuesday 8th November 01:48
Thank you all. I rather like it
No video as yet, although I'll try and get some this weekend. It's pretty special when it comes on cam though.
In terms of engine weight I'm not too sure tbh. A quick internet search turned up this:
Block & caps 45kg
Head built less manifolds 25kg
Crank 18.5kg
So wet weight with ancillaries should be the right side of 150kg with any luck. The rest of it is pretty minimalist, certainly!
No video as yet, although I'll try and get some this weekend. It's pretty special when it comes on cam though.
In terms of engine weight I'm not too sure tbh. A quick internet search turned up this:
Block & caps 45kg
Head built less manifolds 25kg
Crank 18.5kg
So wet weight with ancillaries should be the right side of 150kg with any luck. The rest of it is pretty minimalist, certainly!
So, what's new? Not a lot in all honesty, turns out moving house takes up a lot of spare time! :lol:
Still, a bit of progress has been made with the little westie...
First off, the entirely useless mirrors have been replaced with some lightly convex units:
Before:
After:
It's hard to show through photos, but if you compare how big the rear wing is in each pic it should give you an idea as to how much more you can see with the new mirrors
Couple more engine bay pics, just because:
Other than that, I've just been driving it and compiling a list of what needs attention. The main issue is that it has clearly been set up for track use - the suspension is too low and too hard for road use, so I've got it booked into Northampton Motorsport in a couple of weeks time for full suspension setup, corner weighting and alignment which should make it far better behaved on the road.
I've given myself the job this weekend of fitting the seat in a position that's comfortable for me - so it'll need raising slightly and moving forward slightly to accommodate my 'compact' frame :lol:
I'm also getting a bit of sticking brakes which I think is the pedal mechanism - I'll investigate tomorrow as well.
Other than that, the electrics will need looking at. The digidash in particular is in complete fantasy land (either that or my coolant temp really does fluctuate between 80 and 149 C on a seemingly random basis! Not to mention tho oil pressure shooting up when I turn the lights/fan/indicators on...) and I'm starting to think I need to fit an indicator/full-beam stalk in place of the current dash buttons which are pretty hard to find in the daytime, let alone when it's dark. Still, didn't stop me enjoying a nice evening blat earlier on
Still, a bit of progress has been made with the little westie...
First off, the entirely useless mirrors have been replaced with some lightly convex units:
Before:
After:
It's hard to show through photos, but if you compare how big the rear wing is in each pic it should give you an idea as to how much more you can see with the new mirrors
Couple more engine bay pics, just because:
Other than that, I've just been driving it and compiling a list of what needs attention. The main issue is that it has clearly been set up for track use - the suspension is too low and too hard for road use, so I've got it booked into Northampton Motorsport in a couple of weeks time for full suspension setup, corner weighting and alignment which should make it far better behaved on the road.
I've given myself the job this weekend of fitting the seat in a position that's comfortable for me - so it'll need raising slightly and moving forward slightly to accommodate my 'compact' frame :lol:
I'm also getting a bit of sticking brakes which I think is the pedal mechanism - I'll investigate tomorrow as well.
Other than that, the electrics will need looking at. The digidash in particular is in complete fantasy land (either that or my coolant temp really does fluctuate between 80 and 149 C on a seemingly random basis! Not to mention tho oil pressure shooting up when I turn the lights/fan/indicators on...) and I'm starting to think I need to fit an indicator/full-beam stalk in place of the current dash buttons which are pretty hard to find in the daytime, let alone when it's dark. Still, didn't stop me enjoying a nice evening blat earlier on
Thanks guys, glad you're enjoying it. I have to say it's all a bit of a learning curve for me - I've historically been a Japanese car man and relied a lot on specialist garages, but I'm determined to do as much of my own fettling as possible on this one. Even if it does take bloody ages to do a seemingly simple task...!
Little update from today:
Shower cap purchased!
And, thanks to the British summer, tested:
All dry inside!
Today's achievements also include refitting the seat in such a way as I can actually reach the pedals. No more pillow/cushion combo for me! No pics of the during I'm afraid, was too busy swearing at it, but here's an 'after' shot:
I now have some storage space! Hooray for being short!
Also managed to sort out the sticking brake mechanism. It turned out the bias adjuster was too biased towards the rears, and the position of the mechanism meant it was twisted slightly and thus not moving freely. A quick adjustment (once I'd worked out what did what!) and I now have freely moving brakes again. And, now the bias is roughly where it should be, bloody fantastic brakes as well! Seriously, the first time I used them in anger was like hitting a wall :shock:
Little update from today:
Shower cap purchased!
And, thanks to the British summer, tested:
All dry inside!
Today's achievements also include refitting the seat in such a way as I can actually reach the pedals. No more pillow/cushion combo for me! No pics of the during I'm afraid, was too busy swearing at it, but here's an 'after' shot:
I now have some storage space! Hooray for being short!
Also managed to sort out the sticking brake mechanism. It turned out the bias adjuster was too biased towards the rears, and the position of the mechanism meant it was twisted slightly and thus not moving freely. A quick adjustment (once I'd worked out what did what!) and I now have freely moving brakes again. And, now the bias is roughly where it should be, bloody fantastic brakes as well! Seriously, the first time I used them in anger was like hitting a wall :shock:
Well, had a very constructive trip up to Northampton Motorsport on Saturday. As I sort of expected, it wasn't going to be as simple as just setting up the existing dampers and doing the geo from there – there are a couple of issues with the existing set-up. First of all, while the fronts have the full 20-odd clicks of adjustment, the adjusters on the rears are FUBAR. On one side I have 5 clicks, and on the other none. Hmm.
Being a Saturday we weren't able to get any replacements there and then, so given that the geo was so far out I opted to continue with the corner-weight and geo set-up. First off, to stop the rear tyre rubbing and the sump-guard dragging itself along the road quite so often, the ride-height was raised an inch at the rear and half an inch at the front. Following this a full alignment done based on track/fast road settings. These changes highlighted another issue with the shocks: they're too short. They need to be about an inch longer all round to give me the suppleness and travel I need. This, coupled with the stiff springs and my sub-10st weight means that the back end can still feel quite skittish over bumps, as effectively it will easily lift the inside rear on bumpy corners. There’s barely any sag. Not ideal, but still the difference now that all the wheels are pointing in the right direction is still night-and-day – it’s far more driveable and controllable as long as the road is pretty smooth. The A43 roundabouts were a lot of fun on the way home
I was also met there by a chap from the Westfield club who had a lovely box of goodies for me – a complete set of analogue gauges which will eventually make up my new dash layout. Barny will be having my digidash for his new build, which I’m very much looking forward to seeing!
I also spent Sunday at the Javelin/TSS Sprint day at Croft, playing pit-crew for a friend with his MR2. Had lots of fun watching a certain Duratec-powered SEIW blitzing almost everything else there – think I could be tempted to join in with this next year as it’s a good mix of cars, people and talent.
So, jobs for winter:
- New dash set-up (argh, electrics!)
- New longer and softer shocks and springs all round, plus another set-up at NMS
- Purchase tow-hook (and possibly new tow-car, more on that soon...)
- Get noise-tested somewhere…
Up she goes!
Geo before:
And after:
And the ride-height now (yes, this is raised an inch!)
Being a Saturday we weren't able to get any replacements there and then, so given that the geo was so far out I opted to continue with the corner-weight and geo set-up. First off, to stop the rear tyre rubbing and the sump-guard dragging itself along the road quite so often, the ride-height was raised an inch at the rear and half an inch at the front. Following this a full alignment done based on track/fast road settings. These changes highlighted another issue with the shocks: they're too short. They need to be about an inch longer all round to give me the suppleness and travel I need. This, coupled with the stiff springs and my sub-10st weight means that the back end can still feel quite skittish over bumps, as effectively it will easily lift the inside rear on bumpy corners. There’s barely any sag. Not ideal, but still the difference now that all the wheels are pointing in the right direction is still night-and-day – it’s far more driveable and controllable as long as the road is pretty smooth. The A43 roundabouts were a lot of fun on the way home
I was also met there by a chap from the Westfield club who had a lovely box of goodies for me – a complete set of analogue gauges which will eventually make up my new dash layout. Barny will be having my digidash for his new build, which I’m very much looking forward to seeing!
I also spent Sunday at the Javelin/TSS Sprint day at Croft, playing pit-crew for a friend with his MR2. Had lots of fun watching a certain Duratec-powered SEIW blitzing almost everything else there – think I could be tempted to join in with this next year as it’s a good mix of cars, people and talent.
So, jobs for winter:
- New dash set-up (argh, electrics!)
- New longer and softer shocks and springs all round, plus another set-up at NMS
- Purchase tow-hook (and possibly new tow-car, more on that soon...)
- Get noise-tested somewhere…
Up she goes!
Geo before:
And after:
And the ride-height now (yes, this is raised an inch!)
Blimey, that sounds like an exciting combination! I'm still learning my way around the car really, it's so unlike anything I've had before (in a good way!). Might see if I can get down to an Abingdon trackday at some point as it's only half an hour from me, be a good starting point to see what else needs doing before next year.
Well I'm starting to collect bits... on top of the set of gauges I have now acquired a Megajolt electronic ignition system. I'll also be investigating which route I want to go down for the new shocks and springs.
I've got it booked onto a trackday at Abingdon on Friday 14th November, primarily so I can get it out on track before pulling it off the road for the winter so I can fit all the upgrades. Why Abingdon? Mostly because it's 20 minutes from my house and I can easily get the car home if I break it
I've got it booked onto a trackday at Abingdon on Friday 14th November, primarily so I can get it out on track before pulling it off the road for the winter so I can fit all the upgrades. Why Abingdon? Mostly because it's 20 minutes from my house and I can easily get the car home if I break it
I was hoping Abingdon would be a good final hurrah before pulling the car off the road for winter to start working on her, so when I woke up to pouring rain on Friday morning I was more than a little gutted. The morning continued in a similar vein - the ten miles to Abingdon took over an hour thanks to the Oxford ring road - loads of fun sat there in traffic, in the rain, in a car which doesn't really idle very well 
Finally, after getting lost and employing the help of a friendly local, we arrived. And I promptly failed the noise test
I had a chat with the guys doing the test and they said I was only just over the 100db limit, mostly because the engine was popping and banging a lot with no load on it - and perhaps I should have a word with the organisers and see if they could test me with their own equipment. A quiet chat later and a reading of 99.9db and I was through! Thanks to the chap in the Caterham who offered me a muffler, that was plan B. Plan C being 'drive home and get the Subaru.'
Out onto a wet track we went. I know it was wet, but going sideways in third gear on the first corner of the sighting lap was a bit of a wake-up call! I quickly learnt the differences on surface type and their associated grip levels (or lack of) - one particular corner onto the main runway had a surface change at the apex which lead from wild understeer to hilarious oversteer. The sun came out and as the track started drying I had a lot of fun with this section - a couple of 'hero' moments at full opposite lock in third gear finally lead to my only spin of the day although there were a couple of other hairy moments (apologies to the respective passengers at the time!).
Brilliant day overall though, the track was bone dry by early afternoon and I was really finding some speed with the little car. The earlier geo setup really came into its own and I was very pleased overall with how it handled. It felt astonishingly quick through the coned chicane sections, I'm sure I could have gone faster with some more brave pills!
No vid from me sadly (my knock-off Go Pro died) but I did find this video from another trackdayer. I feature from about 30 seconds in, and you get an idea of the noise from the little Fiat engine going through the chicanes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzTG3m_KMWE
And a couple of pics:
The day after, true to my original plans, work begun!
Before:
Out comes the dash...
And, for good measure, off comes the nose!
The wiring in there is mostly OK, but does appear to have been attacked bu a five-year-old in places. Plans are to mock up the new dash layout with MDF and tidy up the wiring loom as much as possible (hopefully I won't have to start again). I'll need to get hold of some back=lit switches along with a directional indicator switch - the ones in there at present are next to useless as I can't see which is which in the dark. Not ideal.
Once the dash is in and working I'll then start looking at the Megajolt system - ideally both of these will be complete early 2015, but given that earlier this evening I was proud of myself for wiring a household plug (yes, really) I obviously have a lot to learn! The good news from Abingdon was the suspension - it's horrendously hard and too short for the road, but it works very well on track. The idea is to sort out a trailer and compete in the Javelin Sprint Series. Fingers crossed
Finally, after getting lost and employing the help of a friendly local, we arrived. And I promptly failed the noise test
I had a chat with the guys doing the test and they said I was only just over the 100db limit, mostly because the engine was popping and banging a lot with no load on it - and perhaps I should have a word with the organisers and see if they could test me with their own equipment. A quiet chat later and a reading of 99.9db and I was through! Thanks to the chap in the Caterham who offered me a muffler, that was plan B. Plan C being 'drive home and get the Subaru.'
Out onto a wet track we went. I know it was wet, but going sideways in third gear on the first corner of the sighting lap was a bit of a wake-up call! I quickly learnt the differences on surface type and their associated grip levels (or lack of) - one particular corner onto the main runway had a surface change at the apex which lead from wild understeer to hilarious oversteer. The sun came out and as the track started drying I had a lot of fun with this section - a couple of 'hero' moments at full opposite lock in third gear finally lead to my only spin of the day although there were a couple of other hairy moments (apologies to the respective passengers at the time!).
Brilliant day overall though, the track was bone dry by early afternoon and I was really finding some speed with the little car. The earlier geo setup really came into its own and I was very pleased overall with how it handled. It felt astonishingly quick through the coned chicane sections, I'm sure I could have gone faster with some more brave pills!
No vid from me sadly (my knock-off Go Pro died) but I did find this video from another trackdayer. I feature from about 30 seconds in, and you get an idea of the noise from the little Fiat engine going through the chicanes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzTG3m_KMWE
And a couple of pics:
The day after, true to my original plans, work begun!
Before:
Out comes the dash...
And, for good measure, off comes the nose!
The wiring in there is mostly OK, but does appear to have been attacked bu a five-year-old in places. Plans are to mock up the new dash layout with MDF and tidy up the wiring loom as much as possible (hopefully I won't have to start again). I'll need to get hold of some back=lit switches along with a directional indicator switch - the ones in there at present are next to useless as I can't see which is which in the dark. Not ideal.
Once the dash is in and working I'll then start looking at the Megajolt system - ideally both of these will be complete early 2015, but given that earlier this evening I was proud of myself for wiring a household plug (yes, really) I obviously have a lot to learn! The good news from Abingdon was the suspension - it's horrendously hard and too short for the road, but it works very well on track. The idea is to sort out a trailer and compete in the Javelin Sprint Series. Fingers crossed
Edited by BenWRXSEi on Tuesday 18th November 20:34
...been a while then!
Finally back today after an extended stay at NMS - victims of their own success in terms of workload I think, but still - I'm really happy with the new dash setup and they also very kindly balanced the R1 carbs for me so it runs beautifully now!
Quick run out this evening:
And a full house again!
Finally back today after an extended stay at NMS - victims of their own success in terms of workload I think, but still - I'm really happy with the new dash setup and they also very kindly balanced the R1 carbs for me so it runs beautifully now!
Quick run out this evening:
And a full house again!
Having watched a friend of mine compete in his MR2 in the Toyota Sprint Series, it didn’t take much persuasion for me to enter a round of the Javelin Sprint Series. Both series are operated by Javelin and run simultaneously through the day using the same circuit, timing equipment etc. The Javelin series is open to all marques and runs a fairly loose class structure accordingly – on the same day there was everything from a Yaris Hybrid to an Ultima GTR!
This round was at RAF Woodbridge, with a very technical layout paired with lots of ‘interesting’ surface changes. Having done a handful of trackdays this was my first timed/competitive event, and to be honest I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was in a class of three – me, a track-prepped Caterham running a 160 VVC k-series, and another Westfield – which turned out to be running a 3.0 V6 Duratec-powered SEiW. Gulp.
After a couple of sighting laps and an untimed practice run I was still struggling to piece together the twisty circuit in my mind – my first time was 1:52.8. A couple more runs and I was starting to get more confidence in the car and getting a feel for the lines, but I was struggling massively with heel-and-toeing – frustrating, as this is normally second nature for me. I think I need to reconfigure the pedal setup a tad (or buy myself some new feet!). After a few runs with frustrating mistakes, including a *small* spin at the end of the back-straight, my times started falling. I finally got down to 1:47.2 on my first run after lunch, which I was happy with, but felt I still hadn’t had a good clean run. Naturally, I then fluffed up my next two runs – the first was tidier but slower (more brave needed!) and the second was horrendous – missed braking points, missed gears, terrible lines, the works. I was pretty frustrated with myself. When finally I lined up for my last run of the day I sat in the queue just thinking to myself “braking, braking, braking.” The start was tidy, and once I made it through the twisty midsection with a clean set of braking points and downchanges I started thinking it could be a good time. I hammered down the final straight and through the final two chicanes and caught a glimpse of the timing board: 1:46.06! I was over the moon, so pleased to have knocked over a second off a time I thought I couldn’t beat. It’s a hell of a rush!
A few pics below, I’m hoping for a few more once the sight photographer puts his photos up. It was an excellent day in all, and I managed second in class by 2-3 seconds (no chance of catching that V6 though! I think I need some sticker tyres. And a turbo…)
And I borrowed my friend’s GoPro for what turned out to be my fastest lap of the morning. It’s pretty messy still, with plenty of sideways and a missed gearchange slowing me down. I promise my later runs were neater!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRLziLpCSc
This round was at RAF Woodbridge, with a very technical layout paired with lots of ‘interesting’ surface changes. Having done a handful of trackdays this was my first timed/competitive event, and to be honest I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was in a class of three – me, a track-prepped Caterham running a 160 VVC k-series, and another Westfield – which turned out to be running a 3.0 V6 Duratec-powered SEiW. Gulp.
After a couple of sighting laps and an untimed practice run I was still struggling to piece together the twisty circuit in my mind – my first time was 1:52.8. A couple more runs and I was starting to get more confidence in the car and getting a feel for the lines, but I was struggling massively with heel-and-toeing – frustrating, as this is normally second nature for me. I think I need to reconfigure the pedal setup a tad (or buy myself some new feet!). After a few runs with frustrating mistakes, including a *small* spin at the end of the back-straight, my times started falling. I finally got down to 1:47.2 on my first run after lunch, which I was happy with, but felt I still hadn’t had a good clean run. Naturally, I then fluffed up my next two runs – the first was tidier but slower (more brave needed!) and the second was horrendous – missed braking points, missed gears, terrible lines, the works. I was pretty frustrated with myself. When finally I lined up for my last run of the day I sat in the queue just thinking to myself “braking, braking, braking.” The start was tidy, and once I made it through the twisty midsection with a clean set of braking points and downchanges I started thinking it could be a good time. I hammered down the final straight and through the final two chicanes and caught a glimpse of the timing board: 1:46.06! I was over the moon, so pleased to have knocked over a second off a time I thought I couldn’t beat. It’s a hell of a rush!
A few pics below, I’m hoping for a few more once the sight photographer puts his photos up. It was an excellent day in all, and I managed second in class by 2-3 seconds (no chance of catching that V6 though! I think I need some sticker tyres. And a turbo…)
And I borrowed my friend’s GoPro for what turned out to be my fastest lap of the morning. It’s pretty messy still, with plenty of sideways and a missed gearchange slowing me down. I promise my later runs were neater!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRLziLpCSc
samj2014 said:
That video looked like a ridiculous amount of fun!
Oh it was! Messy as hell, but I had a lot of fun I've already booked the next round at Croft in August. Jobs needed before then:
- Track wheels and sticky tyres (if I can find some that don't break the bank). The Federal RSRs are good for dry road and trackday use, but they're too hard a compound for sprinting.
- Fit tonneau cover I have in the garage (for when towing).
- Get some decent driving shoes. Possibly also rearrange the pedal box.
- Buy a GoPro and play around with mic locations. Not that you can tell from the vid, but it actually sounds chuffing awesome
ol said:
Great thread.
I've also been looking at getting into some kind of hill climb / sprint eventing, and had never heard of the javalin one. What did you think of it? Croft isn't far from me so might book on and come have a go in my bike engined seven (build thread also hanging about in the readers car section).
Thanks ol I've also been looking at getting into some kind of hill climb / sprint eventing, and had never heard of the javalin one. What did you think of it? Croft isn't far from me so might book on and come have a go in my bike engined seven (build thread also hanging about in the readers car section).
Whilst I can't compare Javelin to anyone else personally, I have attended several of these as a spectator and without fail every single one has been impeccably run. There were probably about 50 cars in total (split between the Toyota series and the Javelin series) and we each had two sighting laps, one untimed practice and eight timed runs in plenty of time for the day to wrap up at about 5ish.
The class structures are deliberately loose but there's a large variety of cars in attendance, so you may find you're one of only 2-3 cars in your class, but for me the target was knocking as much as I could off my original time
One of the things I was struggling with at Woodbridge was getting enough temperature into the fairly hard-compound tyres. I'm currently running a set up Federal RSRs which are fine for road and track-day use, but need a couple of laps to get them warmed up.
So yesterday I went and picked up a set of sprint wheels:
13" Minilites shod with SG (super-soft compound) Toyo R888s. Probably wouldn't last a whole trackday but will be ideal for ten single laps from cold. Gave them a quick road test yesterday and the difference is immediately noticeable
So yesterday I went and picked up a set of sprint wheels:
13" Minilites shod with SG (super-soft compound) Toyo R888s. Probably wouldn't last a whole trackday but will be ideal for ten single laps from cold. Gave them a quick road test yesterday and the difference is immediately noticeable
Thanks Alan. To be honest, no - when I discussed it with the guys at NMS they explained it was a fairly common issue with the early SEI's and not something that could be adjusted out.
I've got a new set of rear shocks to go on soon which are both longer, softer, and have the luxury of working adjusters (woo!) so I'll need to get it realigned. Will be interested to see how I can get it set up with some suspension which is the right size
I've got a new set of rear shocks to go on soon which are both longer, softer, and have the luxury of working adjusters (woo!) so I'll need to get it realigned. Will be interested to see how I can get it set up with some suspension which is the right size
ol said:
Thanks to your advice I'll probably be at Croft to try my first sprint. Mine is just finishing an engine transplant - I'm meant to be picking it up next week, so it's all dependent on it being back in time so I haven't booked on yet. I think I would be in class B1 due to the bike engine.
Excellent news! I'm all booked, looking forward to it immensely. I spectated last year and Croft looks to be a fantastic track.Yep, you'll be in class B1. Class structure is fairly loose, I usually pick a couple of cars in other classes who are of similar pace to me and try and beat them
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