Autograss Puma

[bluezak]

Hi there, I am Chris. I have brought myself a ford puma that I am now racing at my local grasstrack (well chalk really!). Me and my dad both have puma's that we made into race cars and have been racing them since April. They were both scrapyard cars that we saved and I must say they are quick. The class we are racing them in is unlimited engine size and unlimited modifications except 4WD and NO2.

Most of the cars we race against have either zetec or pinto 2.0 engines or Vauxhall red top 2.0 engines but all of them are on carbs. At the moment we are running a standard 1.7 engine with injection and seeing as our engines are smaller, they can kick the butts of the others on the straights, we just are not very good going around the bends at the moment (on an oval track! haha).

I have joined the forum to get tips on how to make the car faster as cheap as possible. Have a few plans for them for the future, just sorting out a few reliability issues first due to their hard road life!

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Very interesting and welcome along.
Where is this local 'chalk' track you use?

 

[bluezak]

Hi, the track is in Horndean near Portsmouth. http://www.saaraceway.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Anonymous]

That shouldn't be too far from me! I'm down in Gosport but work in Pompey.

Welcome along Chris.

 

[bluezak]

Its about a 25 minute drive SENATEpumA, I live in Stubbington. Racing next weekend, there are bangers at the track too.

Thankyou for the welcome. Have picked a few tips up from here already

 

[Ginger Tom]

Been down there for the races you guys do against the NASA lot, which is what I race or used to. Last time I went to your track it absolutely pissed down.

Do you still run the reliant bangers?

 

[bluezak]

I am just a member of the club and race there and have only done both since April. I did see the reliant robins there last year but they were non contact only but they still rolled.

I haven't raced on the track when its been soaking yet, I went onto the track for a race that was wet and broke the driveshaft as I pulled onto the track so I did not race wet but my dad did in his one and it was very stable when it was wet, especially against the RWD starlets and pug's.

Racing this coming Sunday (23rd) and looks as if the track may be wet this time out :grin:

 

[Sparx]

Welcome to ProjP k:

 

[bluezak]

a few mod's done to my dad's puma today, back box removed and lambda sensor disconnected.Not sure if they are going to make it play up or if the car is going to be a little faster this weekend. If it works then will be doing the same to my car. Worth a try just to make them a little more nippy!

 

[Daveyca55]

Welcome! Thought i recognised the track, think it used to be banked round the outside, produced some huge crashes in the bangers. Looks very nice, may have to check it out.
With regards to getting it round the corners on the chalk, there used to be a tyre company called maxxsport trebble b tyres that sold tyres at my local dirt track (smallfield raceway). Cant remember what the tyre was but it seemed to help the non contact cars to get round the track really quickly.
Good luck with the next meeting!

 

[bluezak]

Yeah thats the track, it used to be banked round the outside and inside but about 5 years ago they put armco around the outside and the year after around the inside. Its a fast track by the end of the day, really slippery when wet. The puma has retread tyre's on at the moment and they are really grippy and low profile so less tyre wall movement. I really need a limited slip diff on it to make it go faster but they are not that cleap! Will prob keep running it as stamdard this year, only 8 meetings left and then will go for a few things for next year including fibreglass wings to make it look more FRP like and to accomodate the wheel spacers and wider wheels.

 

[Daveyca55]

Yeah thats the track, it used to be banked round the outside and inside but about 5 years ago they put armco around the outside and the year after around the inside. Its a fast track by the end of the day, really slippery when wet. The puma has retread tyre's on at the moment and they are really grippy and low profile so less tyre wall movement. I really need a limited slip diff on it to make it go faster but they are not that cleap! Will prob keep running it as stamdard this year, only 8 meetings left and then will go for a few things for next year including fibreglass wings to make it look more FRP like and to accomodate the wheel spacers and wider wheels.

Depending on how big the track is, you could fit a switch to turn the torque limiter off in first and second gear as i guess your primarily using those 2 gears round that track. Think the switch needs to be put in the brown wire coming off the gearbox speed sensor plug (i think anyway, someone will probably confirm) at the back of the box. Puts a bit of extra wear on the box but will make it accelerate a little quicker in 1st and 2nd to give u a bit of an extra advantage! :thumbs:

 

[bluezak]

Depending on how big the track is, you could fit a switch to turn the torque limiter off in first and second gear as i guess your primarily using those 2 gears round that track. Think the switch needs to be put in the brown wire coming off the gearbox speed sensor plug (i think anyway, someone will probably confirm) at the back of the box. Puts a bit of extra wear on the box but will make it accelerate a little quicker in 1st and 2nd to give u a bit of an extra advantage! :thumbs:

Did that after the first meeting after a tip from someone with a FRP powered fiesta advised me and it does make a massive difference as it was dropping revs quite a lot and now its so much nippier. At the end of the straight, when I had the speedo in, the car was hitting approx 55mph and you tend to stay in 2nd gear as the track is a bit short.

If you get a chance, type "autograss puma" into youtube and the video of my first race will be on there. Am slightly faster than that now but still losing out to the cars with the locked diff's.