E5TUS - 2023: Some turbo tinkering & Hillclimbing
Turbo Mini Forums

wow TT2 is still around! such an inspirational car, I still have my mini mag with it in.
Actually in the midst of building a very similar spec 998T having seen that car all those years ago. what condition is the engine in and will you be using it or the 1380? I've just read through the whole thread and love it, a shame the forum is so quiet these days.

I have the 998T it had in 2017/18, was rebuilt in 2020, but replaced with the 1380. We'll be using the 1380 in TT2 for now, its a very high spec engine that was built last year.

Outside of the Downton Championship class structure we may not be as competitive in the 1400-1800cc Mod Prod as the 998T was in the up to 1400cc Mod Prod, but if we decide to take the car into alternative championships, we could reconsider.

Nice, thanks for that recipe

Dazed and Confused....

Sold a car and some other work generated some race funds for this year, also gave us a float for some shiny parts. Powerlite micro starter and competition alternator saved another 2.6kg, but also freed up some valuable space, the gap between the fan and alternator was non-existent. Having had cooling issues previously, I wanted to avoid any risk of a collision. The extra space also means we can now work on all engine peripherals in situ with the front on, should the need arise.



Picked up some handles from Jonny last year, these are next level. Great copy dimensionally and a very nice print. These are sintered print, so incredibly sturdy and a decent finish straight off the machine, far better than the fused machine I have access to. There’s nearly half a kilo saving over the standard handles, which is incredible, I cannot state how light these buggers are. Great job Jonny!



I also got his wide angle mirror, as one of my pet peeves in the paddock is bellends parking badly when they return from their batch. So often the row behind is clear when I get into the car to kit up. Then once I’m in, kitted and strapped in with HANS I have the body manoeuvrability and visibility of my dear old grandmother, you realise the row behind have returned and parked poorly. Actually less of an issue when double driving, as you have the other driver to spot you, you go a batch early and then usually swap in a separate place, but it’s there for any solo misadventures I attempt this year.

I’ve yet to renew my licence this year, I’m hoping I’ll be upgrading to a big boy racing licence, got my ARDS booked in soon. Will be cutting it fine for the start of the season, with the opening event entries going live this week.

With all the jobs on the list complete, I finally got around to weighing it..



This was with the transit wheels and road tyres, there’s a 16kg saving with the Force wheels with slicks, so 610kg less driver.

I’d heard the car was 525kg previously, NA vs Turbo I had expected more of a saving, assuming 12kg for turbo + 10kg difference in the steel to aluminium head. My savings were nearly 4kg after the seat was added so was hoping to see it very close to the 500 mark. I am personally down 10kg now, new race suit is 2 sizes smaller than old one, so I’ll have to maintain or I won’t fit!

So that’s it for the pre-season build up. Car is sorted, scrutineer said passport is in the post, events are opening for entry, we are itching to get behind the wheel. Just need to charge battery and add fuel..

First few events entered. I’m keen to get going.


Clay Pigeon raceway for a sprint on 20th March. Also have a test day there too in a few weeks. Be good to finally drive the car and get some seat time, without the ability to road test the car, it’s a great opportunity to figure the car out and knock the rust off.


Heading up to Loton Park in April for the Hillclimb on 16th/17th. Not been there since 2016, enjoyed it very much, also been resurfaced a couple of years ago, so looking forward to a return.


First couple of Wiscombe events go live tonight, hoping to get a place for the 23rd/24th April.


Also booked for the Mini festival at Prescott in May, not been before, one of the places on the to-visit list.

Thanks for the kind comments 👍🏻.

Hope your season goes well.

Test Day! Last Tuesday we had a day at Clay Pigeon Raceway.



Weather was looking ominous, but forecast for dry but cool morning, dropping in temperature till rain due at 3pm. We decided not to take the slicks. We had the road tyres on the transit wheels and a spare pair of the same offset wheels with ACB10’s on for the front.

What can I say, the car is great. For first drive, it was quickly dependable, and I was gaining confidence each time out on track. We were running the day in a sprint format, standing start from the pit exit (entrance really, but we run the kart track backwards) lap and three quarters then off into pit. One car out on track at a time due to insurance. We did two stints each before switching over in the queue. Worked well, varying gaps between runs, but a good number of laps in.

The only thing we couldn’t get right was the rear pressures, first few laps we were finding the back hopping round. I had this on my car and reduced pressures until it stopped, but these pressures were already lower than I expected. We tried a few combinations, but in the end, braking earlier and accelerating through the affected corners seem to negate the effect. Can only guess that the hopping was a combination of breaking traction with the limited grip on those tyres along with the stiff and light back-end trying to keep it all inline.

When cornering nicely, you could feel the inside wheel cock and it just sat beautifully round the corner. But the car did not like lackadaisical driving. Either you had to be on it, pushing, or it would kick back and turn on you. I like it, it’s a demanding car that wants to be driven hard. The turbo experience has taught me the necessity for braking in a straight line early then power through, but I think the NA experience in my dad’s car meant it was more of a difference.

The dog box is phenomenal, we’ve had enough briefing by the others that run them “just commit to the change and it will be in gear” it often doesn’t feel like it’s shifted, but it has. After a few runs, just became normal.

Weather came in as predicted at 3pm. I took another session out, but after that we called it a day. A few people started spinning and dragging crap on the track from the grass, Decided we’d got what we needed out of the day, and wasn’t worth an incident on day 1!

Looking forward to running on slicks, another learning curve but have some good information for where to start with pressures from previous driver. Although only by video or some crude timings, we weren’t a million miles from the current class record, 83.04. Although it was set in July, if it’s dry Sunday, I think we can get into the 83 bracket (famous last words). Given I have only competed three times at the venue, not since 2016 and best time in my car was 91 seconds, gives you an idea of my confidence in this car. Let’s see what happens at the weekend…

First sprint of the year completed. Weather was as good as we can hope for this time of year, but still four degrees when we were unloading. First time with a wheel change required, added to the setup time, but the car didn’t need anything else. Scrutineering was a breeze, the sight of a fresh Motorsport UK vehicle passport kinda scared them off!



First session, twelfth car out, an Audi A3 spins out at the end of the straight. Looked like it must have been a mechanical issue. He gets recovered, but the next three or four cars spin in the same place. Turns out it was coolant, took a while to clean up, with the next few cars taking it easy whilst the effects faded. We were running at the very back of the order, so a while to get to us, but Dad was out first. They don’t run a batch system at this venue, the double drivers just change over in the pits and filter into the continuous queue. Didn’t know how this would work on the engine/tyre warmth, but did mean we could watch each other from the pits. Being a kart track, also meant you could see 80% of the track from any one position.

I watched dad head out, decent launch, clean first few corners on the cold tyres and he disappeared off round the back of the grandstand. When he reappears he’s flying towards the chicane, through and back off for the second lap. Gets to the chicane where we were suffering from the rear hopping on the test day, I'm eagerly watching to see if the slicks do the same. Nope, they grip like shit to a blanket and the car tips up on two wheels.

I’ve seen this on that very corner before, always cars on slicks and always towards the exit where the corner tightens. I was nice and calm before this, composed and ready for my practice run. But seeing this did cause a minor heart attack and a flood of panic before my go.

Got in the car, sorted belts out and was pushed into the queue. Had enough time to recompose and just commit to a solid, clean run. I’d take that corner wide and deep, as per end of the test day, it had made the hopping go away, hopefully it would also reduce the chances of a two wheel tip. Clean and tidy, felt good, first impression of slicks were very good. Didn’t get the best run through the chicane. Which incidentally had a different layout that the test day and with a load of cones to the entry point made it much tighter. Immense levels of grip (obviously) but not too different to the ACB10 when cold. Get back to the paddock to find we’re in striking distance of the previous record. Dad did 84.31, I did 83.26. Record is 83.04

Had a clean up of the tyres, the paddock is tarmac, but lots of the carpark is gravel and as it’s predominantly karts, there’s also hundreds of cut zip ties, discarded bolts and general crap everywhere. What makes it more painful, the company that owns it, rents out road sweepers!

Second session, dad has joined me with the shift into 1st around the hairpin to scrub the speed, didn’t tip up. He had a nice clean run, looked very quick through the chicane. He managed a tip on the back curve. We switched over and as we fell into the swing of the running order, the same car left a gap for me to merge into. With the track temp increasing and nerves settling, I attacked the track, all felt good. Still not 100% through the chicane, but happy with the run.

I get back to the paddock and there’s some wild speculation that we’ve both just beat the previous record. I’m dubious, but production of a timing sheet shows that dad completed an 82.50 and I had run an 81.38. I'm gobsmacked. Due to the delays in the practice session, they stop for lunch after first timed run. We have a fair wait until timed run 2, but the track is only getting warmer.

Chatting to the current Modified Production class record holder, although he’s now in a Jedi he set the time in his 16v mini a few years ago. He said to drop to 1st for the chicane, to mitigate the bogging of taking it in second. It means a busy sector with 3rd, to 2nd, to 1st, chicane, to 2nd, corner then continue. But he is bloody quick so we take his word for it. Dad went out and did exactly as he said, looked loads quicker through the chicane and clean and tidy from what I could see had a clean lap.

I went out and applied the same process, dropping to 1st certainly helps shed the speed for the chicane but had the power to pull out of it without any hesitation. Despite it feeling quicker, dad was half a second slower with 83.06, mine had come together with an 81.27.
At this point the previous owner arrived to see how we were getting on, he seemed pretty happy we were beating his record, but was confused with the tyres we were running. The car came with a varied selection of wheels and tyres, turns out I’d misinterpreted the discussion we’d have over compounds and venue. The force wheels with slicks are marked up for each corner, which we’d run, but it was softs on front and supersofts on rear. Apparently, should have moved softs to rear and run the hards on front. Hence the amount of grip and the tipping dad was experiencing, the bigger downside, in a day we’ve probably used 70% of the softs up. So that’s an expensive lesson to learn.

Last run each we both hit a cone, I was stood at the chicane for dad’s run and he didn’t just clip it, he ran the thing over and tore it in half! He also tipped up on two again then ran two wheels onto the grass on the back curve, not the clean end he was hoping for. I’m not sure where on track I clipped a cone, nothing shown on the video, it wasn’t at the chicane as several people were stood there. 2 second penalty each for the cones, with an 87.45 for dad and 83.42 for me.

A great first event for the car, new class record and 1st and 2nd in class to boot, first time I’ve ever got a trophy at an event, fair to say I was buzzing. Looking at the results, asides from the single seat racing classes, there was only one car quicker than me, a Mod Prod 1660cc Fiesta with an 81.00 run. Quicker than a GT3 and GR Yaris, there's some ammo for the pub...

Anyways, here’s the video of timed lap 2, new class record of 81.27…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHLpNKr93So

Sounds like a big step forward, with plenty more silverware in the pipeline

Sounds like a big step forward, with plenty more silverware in the pipeline

That does look very quick!
Nice write-up

Dazed and Confused....

Looking forward to seeing what it's like on the hills. Loton 16th/17th April and Wiscombe 23rd/24th April.

Asides from cleaning up the tyres that got chewed up at Clay, not a lot to be done with TT2. Relocating the GoPro remote in the hope I can get Dad to record some footage (he has history for starting recording on his return to the paddock).

In the hope to increase my experience and gain some valuable seat time, I decided to get my circuit racing license. It was also the old man’s 60th in January so treated him and arranged ARDS for both of us, but it got delayed due to the series of storms in February/March. Finally, at the start of the month we got round to doing it.

Chose Goodwood for the test, bit more expensive than other venues, but the three track session would provide decent number of laps compared to the sprint format we have done previously. Had a decent theory session in the morning with John Powis then sat the written exam before lunch, the three of us in our session all passed, one of the two in the other group failed.

Afternoon brought us a mixed bag of weather for the sessions on track. Dad and I were paired with Peter Snowdon, rotating driver each session. Dad certainly had the worse batch of cars to deal with on track, both fast cars, some slower classics and a few novices, whereas I was incredibly lucky to have clear track for all three of my sessions. I had a lap of sun, one of snow followed by heavy rain in the last session whilst I did the observed laps, which was a fair bit to contend with but all good for both of us. Only got marked down on "traffic" as I didn't have any to deal with during the assessment.

Peter was a great instructor, cleaned up a few sections where I was previously just hanging on for dear life in the turbo. Gained confidence in the school car quickly and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Can’t wait to get my car back there, think I can remove some serious time from my previous lap time. I would need some more top end, thinking about slapping the 998 turbo in my car, changing the final drive so the gearing would suit and use the turbo for track and TT2 for hills.

Loton Park this weekend, not been there since July 2016, 68.03 is my PB, DMC class 6 record is 62.84 and the Mod Prod up to 1400 record is 57.52. So plenty of room for improvement on my PB!

Cracking weekend at Loton Park, a great venue that’s well run by the Hagley and District Light Car Club, weather was on our side too. We had a long old haul up on Good Friday and asides from forgetting the car cover, we were ready to go.

Good entry from Downton, mix of roadgoing, mod prod (8v & 16v) and libre.





Couple down on entries due to COVID and the Easter weekend, also meant there was a few less marshals than usual. Also, one less scrutineer than normal, which caused any high number double drivers to slip out of running order until the cars were scrutineered. Meant that for the practice runs, I was in the middle of the big boys, which was pretty surreal.



Before the event, I’d reviewed our footage in our different cars from 2016 and various others’ footage. Walked the hill twice on Friday evening and decided that asides from Hall, we’d stick to 2nd until the “straight”, then 3rd, back to 2nd for Fallow through Museum and 3rd across the line. Realise this is little help to most people, so here’s the course…



Seemingly worked, a good solid practice run of 63.65. Over four seconds quicker than my previous PB, I’ve said it before, but this car is an animal. There’s plenty of data provided at Loton, with splits at Loggerheads, a speed trap down to Lake, splits at Triangle, Keepers and Cedar with a speed trap at the top, then split for museum and final time. Plenty to digest, and good for reference. When one sector isn’t ideal, you can still compare the rest. First thing on the practice data was the speed on the straight was about 10mph less than my turbo. But it was practice, so ok. But I don’t remember the approach to the top of the straight being as blind, would prove to be a key point of the track.

Second practice I was much braver and kept it planted until Fallow was in sight, increased my speed to 72 from 64. I gained half a second in the first half, then more at the top. Second practice 61.71. That’ll be a new class record if I can repeat in first timed run. Of course first timed run I panicked and bottled it on the straight, lifting early and braking at the marker 25 yards before my actual braking point. Still a clean run, and even with my error the 62.56 was a new class record, but I was disappointed as I’d done a 61.

I busied myself checking the car over, cleaning the tyres up and polishing the car to not sit and stew on the previous run. Anyone that’s seen me at events, if I’m wiping the car down, that’s me killing the nervous energy, in fact, I think I ended up cleaning the windscreens of all cars in my class… Sad, I know.

Final run, I’ve got an unseasonably warm day, clean clear track and a 1380 on slicks that wants blood. I’ve also got my dad chewing down his times from 66.24 in practice to 63.84 in timed run to keep me honest. No pressure. Launch was good (arguably a benefit of following the single seat race car class up, I have the best prepared tarmac), managed to gain 2mph on the speed trap down through Lake, clean through triangle, keepers and onto Cedar. Kept it pinned on the straight and waited until the right marker for Fallow. Tied the run together for a 61.61. Chuffed.

Dad had been recording the run down to triangle, through keepers and onto the straight, the footage sounded painfully high revved, although hadn’t reached the redline, it wasn’t very considerate. He decided to pull third down lake and shift back to 2nd for triangle. It gained some extra speed through the trap and the shift down whilst on the brakes was far more effective at scrubbing speed than braking alone for triangle. Got him down to a 63.55. We decided we’d both take that approach for Sunday, and also grab forth on the straight.

Second in our championship batch, behind Derek in his Maguire on 58.72! New class record for class 6 in our championship and my second trophy. We had a plan for further improvements on the Sunday and another decent day of weather predicted.

Loton has a church opposite, so no cars run between 0930-1000 on Sunday. My batch was heading up before and I was last car to run before the break in proceedings. The new approach felt much smoother, far less hard on the car and more importantly, like there was more room for improvement. First practice was 62.09, second 61.71. As we felt out the various changes, it felt a lot cleaner. The downshift into triangle really helped scrub the speed, braking points came a bit later at the end of the straight too as the double down shift assisted. Although the times got better, I never did feel like I got the fallow corner correct the whole weekend, someone watching up the top said I got both inside wheels off the ground, something to work on next time. It’s a long hill compared to Wiscombe, so it’s going to take a bit longer to get all the sectors ironed out. Despite an unclean Fallow, it came together nicely on timed run 1, 60.89, another improvement on Saturday.

Tried a bit too hard on the final run and overdrove it, bit scrappy in a few places and generally not as clean, 61.58. Smooth is fast, but it’s hard to keep your head sometimes!

Very pleased with the weekend, a double class record breaking event and two more trophies on the shelf. Next up, Wiscombe. This has a bit more tied to it, Loton is not as well campaigned for our championship with only one event invite a year, but we get 10+ events at Wiscombe so the records are tight. The class 6 record was set in our car, not by the former owner, but when it was double driven by that A1 class record holder a couple of years back. 45.19, as soon as we bought the car, he messaged saying there’s a 44 in the car. My PB is 47.43, will be very interesting trying to get through the esses in the woods quicker, it’s quite daunting in certain weathers, and the hill will be somewhat green for the first event. Dad has also got a vast amount of experience at Wiscombe, with his car being far more comparable to TT2, it will be an interesting event. I don't expect to be challenging for a new record! With the weather currently predicted, it'll just be a test of our luck on running order and whether we can find grip.

Here’s the fastest climb from the weekend. 60.89. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5fmXSchOHY

Well, what a weekend. Wiscombe has its own weather system, and despite all the predictions was an unbelievably warm Saturday. Hill was dry from first thing, took no time for it to scrub in from the off season.

I was once again running the car out of batch as the double-driver, last man out in batch 3, before the rest of our championship ran in batch 4. I like running start or end of batch, you can control the timing of getting ready and temperature of the engine etc. First practice was to gauge how the car felt and mainly confirm what gears for where, although we figured it would be same as our usual approach. Took it fairly sensible and happy with a sub 50 time of 49.23. Dad went straight into the 48’s with 48.94. Game on.

I kept in with the others on slicks in the paddock, questioning how they felt the grip levels compared to normal. Although the slicks are very grippy, I’m still not sure to what level they get in the summer etc, so always worth leaning on the experience of others rather than learning an expensive lesson. General consensus was the hill felt great, mid-season level, thanks to the dry weather and breeze drying out the track in the woods. Figured I could start to push. Second practice yielded a 45.99, new PB by 1.5seconds. Car felt good, diff was fighting more today, Wiscombe is far more twisty than anything else we’ve done this year. Dad put in a 47.30, his PB here was 47.09, so making progress.

It was only getting warmer and several runners in the opening batches of the first timed run were nearing PB’s and class records, so further improvement was there to be had. My first timed run wasn’t the cleanest, but I was pushing the car pretty hard, felt I was fighting the diff and tyres the whole way through the esses, but having survived the climb I was greeted by a time of 44.82. New class record, and the car certainly has more in it, just the driver needing to catch up. Dad produced a tidy run, with a climb of 46.18, new PB.

Last run we both tried to tidy up the squirrelly bits, especially after the gate and the two hairpins. Tidy, but not quicker. But a very good day for us and the car, straight to the bar to celebrate. First place honours went to Derek Kessell once more, the spaceframe Maguire managing a 44.00 run. Derek has done a 43.02 and is searching for a 42 second run, but when you consider the gap, I’ll take 8 tenths away from first place over the sports libre car! Very happy with another 2nd and 3rd result in the Downton Championship and a new class record to boot.

Overnight, it pissed down, very noisy in the van and in addition to a gentle hangover, I didn’t fancy it first thing. By the time I’d taken on enough caffeine to coax me out, it had stopped raining, and the track wasn’t too bad considering. The winter work to improve drainage had definitely worked, usually the esses are a river.

Quick chat to the big boys who usually run slicks, they were all staying on the dry tyres, so who was I to question them. First practice was fun, finding out the limit of the grip, pretty good considering. The biggest thing was managing the power, more than gently touch the loud pedal and it would break away. But made it up and happy with a 51.31. Came back to some abuse for complaining about the conditions by some of the road going classes, who said they can’t get consistent results in the dry that quick!

Did wonder if the gap to Derek’s Maguire from saturday could be maintained in the wet, usually it’s the only time our previous cars got close. But his 34 years with the car and excellent skill behind the wheel meant he went mid 49 for first run in the wet conditions. A firm no then! Dad completed a 52.12, had a big grin on his face, he likes arduous conditions, used to always favour Grunty Pig in the wet as it could still put down all its power.

It continued to dry out, but never to the level of Saturday. Improved second practice with a 47.03, dad with a 47.74, nibbling away at the gap. Derek streaking away with a 44.56. The bottom half of the track dried out quickly, but the two hairpins remained tricky for a while. I’d diverted off the wider line I typically favour and adopted the tight over the apex approach in the wet to avoid washing out into the bank, but as it dried out it was costing time. Shown particularly as our split times for first half caught and even improved on Saturday, but overall times didn’t quite get there. I had three more attempts as one run was red flagged whilst I was on castle straight due to debris from a spun caterham in front. That split was quicker than my fastest run on Saturday, the re-run exactly the same but lost the momentum taking the wet line at sawbench hairpin and only getting down to 45.77. Dad got a 46.35, but found the same issue with the hairpins.

He got it right on his last run, improving Saturdays time to 45.46, New PB. I made a cock-up, changed into 4th not 2nd on the approach to sawbench, frantic double shift down to first but the damage was done. Shame, the split was one hundredth off best, so could have been a good time.

Derek pushed to complete a 43.81 run, so took top honours, dad took second and I collected third. All in all, a very good weekend, did not expect such a variety of weather, or indeed the summer we had on the Saturday. Certainly did not expect to be challenging for the class record from a very formidable driver set in this car! We do have some things to look at, mainly the steering wheel, initially thrown on when we were fitting the seat and adjusting the column. We chose a smaller 12” one, as my leg was hitting the original (14”) when shifting, but we have since moved the position of wheel. We found the diff fighting us a few times, a bigger wheel in suede would help improve grip and leverage.

Here’s my run from Saturday. 44.82, bit messy but did the job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhs6ZMd3gDQ

Here’s dad’s run from Sunday. 45.46, nice and smooth (oh and he’s holding the wheel funny in places as his right shoulder is goosed and he’s waiting for an operation on it!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaLCi7A7EXM

Next up is Prescott on 14th May, never been to this hill before, class record is 52.07, no pressure…
Cheers, Stu.

Looking good and great vid's Stu, you doing Harewood classic & Vintage in June or is it too far ?

Thats a shame, we'll be spectating it's gonna be a bit of a mini do apparently.

Prescott Mini Fest

My dad was on holiday, and with an impending shoulder operation, this was my first of many solo events for the rest of the season. Trekked up to Prescott on the Friday, annoyingly some last minute changes to the paddock layout moved me off the nice tarmac onto the grass, but with decent weather, it wasn’t too bad.

First time to the hill there, done as much prep as I could, walked the hill a few times on the Friday night with a beer or two. A fantastic hill, kept very well (not exactly unexpected given the involvement of the Bugatti owners club).



Absolutely belting weather on Saturday, once we got going the paddock flowed well. No red flags until our championship batch, where one competitor took a liberal line around pardon and onto the gravel. First practice run was smooth and settled, greeted with a 51.92 as I came down the return road. Given the previous class record was 52.07, I assumed this was the Maguire in front of me. But it was my time, pretty happy with that, can only assume the previous record was a damp or wet time.

Checked tyres over (the return road is pretty loose) and decided to push a bit more on each of the key sections, mainly braking later for Ettores and Pardon. 2nd Practice and push I did, too much into Pardon and came up on two wheels, with the back then hopping round to catch up. Bit hairy, but the front did its job and pulled me out of trouble. It was a 50.40 but needed to be much cleaner.

The runs had gone cleanly, and we were well ahead of the schedule so after the non-competitive parade runs were complete, we were given another practice run. Braked a lot earlier and pulled through it this time, barely cost any time. 50.42. Strangely, the more runs I did, the harder I began to find the Esses, I guess ignorance only got me so far, but the last left before the approach to Semicircle seemed to be getting tighter each run!

First timed run was ok, again not the cleanest through the Esses, but banked a new class record with 50.62. Speaking to the locals, the hill was as good as it gets for condition and weather, so wanted to get nearer my PB in the morning. I got off the line quicker than my PB, faster through the speed trap at Bridge, quicker through Orchard and Pardon, up to midway time point I was still 3 tenths up on the PB, but a scrappy journey through the Esses cost me time. 50.43. I am very happy with this for my first visit, but I’m certain I can do a 49 run here. I guess I’ll need to come back and prove it.

Derek took first place in our championship running in the Maguire, actually claiming fastest time of the day too on 47.71. I came second in Downton with the Vtechbusa powered car chasing me for third. Looking at the other classes, two other Mod Prod cars beat me, both with 16v BMW heads, so 4th overall is quite an achievement.

Here’s the final run, 50.43
https://youtu.be/BCEjhg_SAUA

No events till June now, then a couple of weekends in Wales for Epynt Hillclimb and Llandow Sprint.

Nice vid, well done.

My experience with powerlite starter has been not as expected. For your consideration:

I have had 2, first, it seems the engagement rod that pulled the bendix across was not strong enough or bent - it would sometimes stay jammed and energised -

Removing it was also a pain, with the bulge for the ignitor wire sitting too close to the underneath bolt - meaning you had to back out top and bottom threads one or two flats at a time to progressively undo..... ( not a quick process inbetween runs) i even tried changing the orientation of the faceplate and slightly dremmeling the boss but that didn't help ( i have a round nose so you might have more room. and finally second starter motor ( for a pre engaged positioned flywheel- just had major short - took out fuses ( and i am hoping left coil and dizzy alone

seemingly no readily available parts ( I think they are are mitsubo/honda type starter with different teeth /throw to accommodate mini)

I hope your experience will differ, but i would keep a spare at the track and just check whether you can get to that bottom bolt

I too found the bottom bolt a pain in the backside, but found slotting the end of the bolt (threaded end) allowing it to be rotated with a dumpy screwdriver or mini ratchet with a flat driver piece form the clutch cover side got around the issue, you just need to use a spanner to crack the nut off.

Shane

Between events I’ve also pimped the trailer a bit. A new issue with running in Mod Prod has come with the selection of tyres. We have 3 pairs of varying compound slicks, a set of wets and the transit wheels and tyres. I say issue, it’s more just a logistical pain in the ass. Looked into options for wheel racks for the trailer, the usual suspects sell them, typically about £600 but I’d have to mod trailer or rack to fit my trailer, so decided to throw something together myself.

I’m always eyeballing what others have done to their trailers and vans at events, I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel. The most common homebrew choice was Q Clamp and Galv tube. Measured up the trailer and sketched something up. Went for 33.7mm tube, which is 1” nominal bore so nice and thick wall. Fittings were very good value, between £2-6, with tube under £6/m. Cost me £130 for everything I needed.



Went together nicely, my spare wheel was up front on the nearside, I moved that to the rear and threw the rack as far forward as the side-markers would allow. Bit of a pain with the car on the trailer, but that is due to my own laziness.



Initially went for a single pair of hooks to secure the bar, I’m planning on running a small strap per wheel anyway. Now having used it a couple of times, I’ve moved to two pairs of secure straps for redundancy on the bar, with the wets mounted centrally (as these will always be on trailer).



Typically, the four tyres for the event will be in the car to be fitted on arrival, I’ll normally know the combo of Hard/Soft/Super that I’ll be running prior. But if you read back, I’ve turned up with the wrong combo a couple of times, I guess that comes with experience!

Turbo News!

I’ve missed a couple of opportunities to use my car this year, what with it currently missing an engine. My dad is having his shoulder operated on next week, and with a few weeks to spare, I thought I turn my attention back to the turbo.



Having got the 998 Turbo engine that was in TT2 for a number of years, I figured I might as well use it. My aim is to use it mainly for track days, maybe the occasional show, so lower FD and she’ll be good to go until I figure a plan out for its long-term development. Currently has a 3.8:1 bolted to the plate diff. Hopefully Force are still able to modify the standard Crown Wheels for LSD fitment.




Other than replacing the braided fuel lines, as without AN fittings, the outer just grows/shrinks at a different rate to the actual hose, bit of heat management, it should go straight in (famous last words). The position of the GT17 is different to the T3, and uses the speedo drive as the oil drain rather than fuel pump blank, and the actuator is currently mounted on the transfer casing, which may be too tight with the servo, but we’ll see.

Haven’t found the GT17 exhaust in the box of stuff yet, but can make another. Asides from the drivers seat now in the other car, should be just a case of cobbling the bits together and hoping it works!