Another year, another season. So, right at the start of the year, it’s time to tell you what I’ve been up to and, more importantly, what I plan on being up to. I’ve got a bit less time than I had in that having been “retired” since last January I’ve now actually gone and got a real job again. (Well, real-ish, if you count being an academic as actually working…) It’s only 80% of my time though, so there is at least Fridays. Continue reading “2016, and all that”
Tag: bodywork
Eeek!
It’s getting awfully close to the new season now, and I’m getting more ready but I’m still not there yet. In particular, I’ve done no testing or anything which is not something that can be said for much of the rest of the grid… Oh well. Continue reading “Eeek!”
There’s a new season arriving
So, here I am again with a few things to write about. The new season is approaching fast and, what’s more, it’s not quite so bloody cold in the garage and as such it’s rather easier to spend time in there.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it but I stopped working full time at Christmas and that’s supposed to make it a lot easier to do car things. Doesn’t seem to have quite worked out that way yet though… Continue reading “There’s a new season arriving”
Breathing in
As part of the airbox cover that I showed you in that last post, I’ve been working on how to get air into the airbox in a rather more organised manner than I’ve done before.
A return to the lists
No, I don’t charging up and down on a horse with a lance and trying to kill someone. In contrast, I mean making lists of things to do over the winter, many of which won’t actually get done. This year, though, things are a little different in that I’ve (well, really we’ve decided) to stop full time work at the end of the year. Whether this translates immediately into no work, or just part time work is anyone’s guess. For now, though, I studiously avoiding the R word, because that’s something that old people do. Continue reading “A return to the lists”
Eeek!
It’s getting awfully close to Rockingham now, but I think it’s going to be possible as long as I don’t strike any fundamental problems.
One of the things to do is to add a front and rear floor to the car. In the future, I’m doubtless going to want to be more sophisticated about this but I decided to do something simple for now. For the front floor, I haven’t sorted the rear one yet, I made a mould by bending a sheet of aluminium around some bits of wood and laid up a mixture of various bits of fabric using some polyester resin with some stiffening ribs made our of coremat embedded in the mix. Also embedded in the mix, as a consequence of the location, are 1 Red Admiral butterfly and various bits of honeysuckle.
Note the innovative use of three wheelie bins… Continue reading “Eeek!”
Aiming at Rockingham
Well, even though I hate the circuit, I’m now aiming for the next race at Rockingham which will take place on 5th and 6th of July. What’s more, that’s the date of the annual RGB marshals’ BBQ so I really have to be there.
As such, I’ve got a real mountain to climb although I think it’s just about feasible. Getting some time for testing sounds a bit tricky though.
The return of the job list
Well, it’s not that long since the last update and I have made some progress. I’ve been a bit spurred on by going to the RGB race at the weekend and feeling that I was missing our rather a lot. The objective now has to be to get the car ready, in whatever expedient way is possible, just to be able to go racing. I can tart it up after that. Assuming I don’t biff it of course.
A plan gets closer together
So, carrying on from last week, I pressed on with the overall bodywork fitment. Having started fitting that ply floor I showed you last time I carried on and added some diagonal supports to stiffen it up. You may noticed that I added a piece of angle all along the edge of this; this will provide some place to rivet the outer surface to. Continue reading “A plan gets closer together”
The finishing line hoves into view
Although, to be fair, it’s still a long way away… I’ve managed to make a decent bit of progress over the long Easter weekend, the time albeit being marred by death of an old friend and being laid up with a bloody migraine. (I reckon I know what it is now, whenever I take a holiday I get cluster of migraines. Apparently that’s not uncommon.)