It’s getting closer and closer to the first race, although I’ve got one more test before then, but I’m thinking more and more about the race. (That is, I’m getting very nervous!)
So, I’ve just been doing a few bits and pieces really. First up was fixing a small problem. I found at the recent Snetterton test that when I climbed into the car I tended to whack my knee on the connector on the bottom of the Palm, breaking it! So, I’ve put a little extension on the bottom of the mounting plate to hopefully support it a bit better.
Next thing was something else I broke! This was the rear light cover, as here. I was actually using the mounting screws for this cover for holding the entire light unit into the bodywork. And, it fell apart. The cover that is. I did think about buying some new ones but remembered, in the nick of time, that it was a race so I stuck it together with Araldite; hence the tape around this unit to hold it together while the epoxy sets. I also bonded the light units into the rear bodywork so the screws now have to just support the light cover. I hope it stays in one bit this time!
You will remember that I had half a tonneau. Well, I’ve now got an entire tonneau. The driver’s side bit is a bit of a bodge because of the need to go over the screens, but hopefully it’ll keep the worst of the grot out on the trips to and from circuits.
You may remember that we have a rule in RGB, for reasons that completely escape me, that we have to have catalytic converters in the cars. The only way we’ve found of making these survive is to put a slice of cat 
material in the very end of the tailpipe so I’ve done the same. You can see it in the next picture sticking out of the side of the car in a rather ugly manner.
Whether it does any good here is open to considerable doubt. It definitely does something because you can often see the cat material glowing which it wouldn’t do unless it was catalysing some reaction. Hopefully it won’t get too hot here. I’ve put a bit of alumiumium around the hole to make it slightly more heat insensitive but I’m always rather worried about setting the car on fire, for some odd reason. We’ll see how it goes.
Lastly, I’ve said for a while that I want to make some sort of spoiler as a test part to try. So, I’ve been making this rather ugly contrivance for the rear of the car. As you can probably tell, I haven’t finished yet.
The idea is that on the next test I’ll try the car without this (it’s fairly easy to fit and remove) and then I’ll try it with it to hopefully get some idea whether it’s a good idea. As always with aerodynamic things it’s really about efficiency. That is, anyone can make downforce, it’s doing it without increasing drag that’s the issue. Obviously, this thing is going to increase drag…