And so, after a season of frenetic car building, engine swaps and sundry other excitements the RGB year ground to a halt at Cadwell at the weekend. It was, yet again, a wet weekend although a very enjoyable one. That the club managed to get 26 races on track over the 2 days, along with all the qualifying sessions, is a testament to how well organised it is. For something that only has two paid staff (and lots and lots of volunteers) this is pretty miraculous.
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Exhausted, completely knackered
After all the faffing around with the exhaust I put the old exhaust system back on again, feeling bad that that wasted a set of header seals which are some alarming price. Like that I could get the car ready to go to Silverstone. This was the annual club August bank holiday weekend meeting where all the formulae get a race, meaning that everyone gets just one race.
Exhausting work
OK, I’m back. It’s been a while but we’ve been on holiday and I spent a week away at a conference which explains the lack of progress.
In fact, if I’m honest there isn’t really much to say anyway. After the Snetterton race I’d decided that I needed to sort the exhaust system out. I spent a while phoning around a few builders without any joy. I’d imagined that they’d all be twiddling their thumbs at this time of year. However, that appears to not be the case. So, after discussing it with Andy I thought I’d try something that I’ve been meaning to have an experiment with for a while. This is making my own exhaust. After all, it’s just a pipe and as Andy manages to make them out of a collection of mandrel bends, why can’t I?
Not quite what I intended
Oh well, that didn’t quite work out as I intended. We went to Snetterton last weekend for the next race in the RGB championship. I was hopeful that the new engine would do something useful, although wary that the bodged around exhaust wasn’t really going to help. Also, the car hadn’t been been on a dyno which wasn’t going to help.
Startup 08
It’s definitely the finishing straight now, barring some horrific problem. First up is that I finished re-installing the transmission. As a consequence of careful design and planning, cough, it all fitted fine and will hopefully work OK.
Luckily, the gearchange lever on the ’08 engine is in almost exactly the same position as on the ’07 engine so no change was necessary here. You can see my super-long gearchange cable snaking around the engine in the photo here.
Liftoff approaches
Well, at least I hope it does.
Since I was last here I’ve been pressing onwards, and missed the RGB meeting at Donington last weekend. Anthea and I went up to watch and got burnt in the sunshine while watching the RGBers swooping down the Craner Curves. What’s to bet that when we go back there later in the year it’ll be raining, like it’s doing at the moment? More importantly, it’s now not long until the meeting at Snetterton which I’m aiming at for the newly engined car.
The engine of progress
So, you will remember from last time’s gripping installment that I’d decided to bite the bullet and get an ’08 engine. But, before rambling about that, here’s a half decent photo of the car at Brands earlier this year, albeit before aero mods and the improved oil cooler ducting.
You say aluminum, I say aluminium
As I sort of intimated last time, I was probably never going to be completely confident about the cooling system. So, I took the plunge and bought an ally radiator, exactly like the one I had in the Fury. Except cleaner. Here it is with the fan attached (with the aid of cable ties, yay!). The fan just fits which was lucky…
Another one bites the dust
Why, you may ask? Well, today’s my birthday and the years seem to be going by quicker and quicker. Long term readers will know that my race number was chosen as a consequence of me reaching a particularly auspicious age since when racing has become rather an, errr, obsession. Still, it’s better than watching the TV all time.
I must admit that I’m feeling rather mortal. An old University friend has popped up on Facebook recently. He was another member of the same group of people who put on and supported all the social activities in the “Guild of Undergraduates” there. He’s been digging out a load of photos of old photos which are rather alarming. One is of the poster for the Christmas ball in 1973. I clearly remember doing the lights for this when top of the bill were a little known band called Queen. Entry fee was 35p; luckily I got in for free…
Pedalling along
I’ve tried to make a bit of progress with the horrific list this weekend. As usual, I seem to have made rather less progress than would seem reasonable. One issue is that it’s COLD in the garage. I hate this time of year…