Dedicated Track Car Progress Thread

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Ah, well done! It is so well written that I almost felt being there!

Regarding the LSD: I have one myself in a daily driver and I noticed one thing: the harder you drive it, the better it gets. Especially in longish turns; you just keep the gas on and it pulls you out of everything.

I am really curios about the inlet; I know you are driving it flat out, but how would you rate it torquewise as you have basically taken down half of the inlet runners and that kills low end torque?
 
Quite surprisingly, no. the car is quite driveable at low speeds.
I`ve compared my printout with some others and the rock steady torque curve is quite a surprise.
It now has only modest pulling power below 4000 revs, but the torque means cornering at higher speeds in a tall gear (4-5k revs) was surprisingly effective.
From 5500 up the power is something else. Changing gear at 7000 drops me right back onto the power.
I do think the LMS design can be improved upon and am already planning a Mk2...

I need more tracktime to really get the most out of this.
 
Thanks everyone for the positive comments.

One small but worthy thing I forgot to mention was gearbox oil.
The FRP LSD is a sealed canister viscous type, so regular gearbox oil is fine.
So I treated myself to 3 litres of Millers finest (Through Opie it wasn`t much more expensive than Halfrauds basic stuff.)

Now, with the car jacked up I would generally throw 2 1/2 liters in and top it up when level.
I added the first two as usual but as I went to add the third, it overflowed immediately!
Thats odd I thought, and realised the LSD must displace quite a lot of oil. So I bit the bullet and put almost a full litre of gearbox nectar `on stock`
And off I went to Cadwell.

Now, I managed to break another shifter at caddy, which is odd..
So while I had the car up in the air to swap the shifter and bleed the brakes. I thought I`d just check the gearbox oil with the car dead level.
Big surprise again as oil gushed out when I undid the plug.
I resealed it, got a funnel and empty bottle and drained another 300ml of oil out of the box!!!

Two things to note.
When checking or topping up the oil make sure the car is level. Overfilling the box saps power and makes gearchanges stiff.
and
You only need <2 litres of oil in a ford LSD gearbox...
 
At weekend I had a little impromptu track outing...


A bunch of lads I know go down to a small (1000M) kart/drift circuit called The 3-Sisters near Wigan every month to do some PAYG tracktime.
I`ve never bothered, even though it`s on my doorstep as it`s a quirky little venue (I`ll explain)
But following my post Cadwell service, I needed one last run before the first Sprint this weekend at Snetterton.
To make sure my brakes were actually operating as required.

The circuit is hard to describe to anyone used to nice flat, wide, GP quality of track with garages and power points
More like a kilometre of roadworks. The paddock is like a flattened demolished building and the outfield is like a scene from All Quiet On The Western Front.

Oh yes. It was pissing down too.

What do you want for twenty quid a session 10 miles from home!
There is a quite healthy Puma community there, the tight track and forgiving chassis go well together.

Now with it being totally open for anyone with a folding note to show up and hoon for 10 minutes, there are some totally ill prepared cars and downright dangerous drivers.
Although there is a very loyal core who go hardly anywhere else and the social scene there is small but friendly.
I pity he poor team running the show. They have to deal with some difficult customers (AKA knobheads)
Consequently, they have to manage things firmly.

Anyway, onto the car.

The conditions were utterly terrible and misting up really spoiled things.
I had to abandon my first session after 6 or 7 laps as I had no Idea where the track was going (it`s quite a tricky circuit)
And it seems like a grip `lucky dip` on every corner. I couldn`t get into any rhythm at all. (car ran like poop too, lumpy!)
I took the opportunity to try to catch some video. And this was the only one I actually got.
I really did end up guessing where the corners were going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxfYlMDiI6I&t=473s

So with a lot of mopping and drying and applying borrowed Rain-ex, I soldiered on...


And I kind got a feel for the place. Although I was miles off the pace.
It`s tight and power steering would have been nice.
Also if I got on the power I`d have driven straight off at the next blind corner!
The surface was a hundred different types (laid by passing travellers I wouldn`t doubt) and with the V wet conditions it made for a trackday to hone those skills.
Nearly every session was red flagged for a crash (none serious thankfully)
And as crashing was kind of out of the question, It really focused the thoughts..

I`ll probably go back there in good weather just so the lads can compare times,
But it wont be a regular haunt..

As for my brakes...
Bang on. 4 lovely clean shiny discs telling me the car is ready to rock.
And with the track being so unpredictable The whole car got a good shakedown (literally)
Felt good even in very testing conditions

Oh yes, just one little job....

When putting my car back on the trailer, the MDF splitter caught the bed and promptly dissolved.
So I need to bang up a splitter before weekend.
This will be the mk4...
.
 
Hi Stu
I've been there to watch the Westfield speed series and at the same time there must have been a TVR sprint as well. It was a real hoot watching the more modern high powered TVRs trying to make it around especially where we were standing (the bottom 180 deg bend). I can't imagine how difficult it is in the wet.
Barry
 
It was fun.
terrifying.. but still fun.
It sort of reminded me of blazing around the derelict steel works site on an old motorbike we `shared` back in the day.
 
Back and settled now from a huge trek to Snetterton (not made much easier by no less than two closures of the M6 on the way home..
It was the first round of the 2017 Javelin Sprint series.
So with my camping gear and helmet all packed I gave my new rig it`s biggest test.
I found it took a few stops to get the car just balanced on the trailer.
But I have now found it`s `sweet spot` with no snaking and the steering not feeling too light.


There`s tons of campling at Snetterton and we really spread out..
The gazebo thing is a Khyam pop up type affair and one of the best camping purchases I`ve made in years..


So, onto the competition...

This was my first visit to Snetterton and a sprint not the ideal way to learn a track..
It`s a quite long track (3 miles) with twelve, quite different, corners. Very tricky..
I would certainly come back here for a trackday.

There were one practice and six timed runs, I spent the morning getting a feel for the track and working on lines and braking points.
In the afternoon, I started to push the limits.
And I found at least one of them.
On the second run after lunch I tried not backing off through Hamilton. The fifth turn, a fast left @75mph
I might have got away with it on a trackday with properly warm tyres, but not on a sprint.
Big spin onto the grass and that run over.
Now there`s another car coming! So you need to try to get going and beat it to the line to save screwing up the timing.
So off I went...
Now I knew my mate had gone down to the final corner with his cameraphone so I barrelled into the last complex from the Bomb hole, through Coram and round Murrays. Going faster than my brain told me was right.
Here`s a vid from his photo`s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hsI_q8Jm0M

Lots of fun, but not exactly fast..
I had my camera on and this was the one run that didnt record!
The sound and picture quality of my chinese cheapocam is awful so I`ll not be posted the others.

I went faster with each run all day and shaved nearly 5 seconds off my first run to my fastest time of 2:31.30.
This time was good enough to get me second in class.
Only the Pumesta had me!!


This was always going to be a place that the wee Puma would not be able to keep up with the big boys (there was a 458 Speciale there amongst other turbo`d exotica)
Overall I came 65th out of 75. (Nothing like a long straight to negate any skills in the twisties!)

With the sprint series allowing us to drop two results this year, I always figured my overall result here would yield few points (it did) so will probably be one I discount (Croft is the other power circuit)
So, with this in mind. I kept my brand new Toyo R888 SG`s in their little hidey hole.
Driving on my trackday tyre of choice. The Dunlop DZ03G`s which are quite hard and wear well, but take an age to warm up.
The Toyo`s are realy REALLY soft and will wear by looking at them.
So I want to save them until the rounds where I am competitive...
They`ll be on for the next round, which is Blyton Park on Easter Sunday.

Overall a good day (The car behaved well and only wants for it`s splitter. Could have gone better with it)
I`m looking forward to the next round. (No Pumesta at this one)
So a class win and at least 15 places netter overall is my target.

 
So sad I missed this, I did Snetterton in the wet last year, would have loved to see how much better I could do in the dry. Well done on getting the trophy. Roll on Blyton :)
 
Next Tuesday I have what is probably my most eagerly anticipated trackday so far..
I am at Brands Hatch, driving the GP circuit. Cannot wait..

Now the car behaved perfectly well at Cadwell and Snetterton, so major surgery is not nessesary.
It only really need bit of making pretty in the sunshine this weekend, (and a ply splitter cutting/fitting)

So last weekend I just swapped my plugs.
Sounds simple, but...

When I`d unwrapped the car after winter, condensation had drenched the engine. And as it ran okay, I`d just gone with it.
I knew the plugs were just what was in when I got the engine (looked okay so I left them where they were)
I decided to check it over and stick some shiny new sparkers in there.


The spark plug wells were full of the crud that engines collect. (no oil, :thumbs: )


As I removed the HT leads I was not happy to see them fall apart in my hands.
One of the connectors was actually rusty ant two fell off the leads.


They are not exactly top quality and I doubt they ever gave me a power advantage.

Quite the opposite if anything. :roll:

So I`ve fitted a quite new looking OE set (and matching coilpack)


I quite forgot to get some pics of the plugs.
But there was nowt wrong with them.
Interestingly, they had a standard type of electrode, I`m sure they were the wrong ones!
Either way, there`s now a set of NKG Platinum`s in there now.

With solid wires booting them up...
.
 
Last August I managed to break a little bone in my foot, ending my season on track.
In September I recieved a call from Motorsport Days to tell me I`d won a free trackday.
Great, except for the foot!
One of the options was any 2017 UK trackday with Javelin, so I took that.
When Javelin released their dates for this year I was straight on the phone asking for the highlight trackday of the year.
An OPL at Brands Hatch on the GP layout. (RRP £350)

That trackday was on Tuesday, and is right up there with the best trackays so far.
The circuit is fantastic with fast tight corners and astonishing top speeds.


Whether or not the car was better for new HT leads is difficult to tell. But it didn`t skip a beat.
What definitely made a difference was the refitting of a simple 9mm plywood splitter.
The car feels planted at high speed with more traction and grip.
I really recommend this mod to anyone serious about their pumas handling. Especially on track. :wink:
235 miles at 5-7000 rpm and no issues right to the chequered flag :thumbs:
apart from the glue coming unstuck on a headlight and finishing a set of brake pads.
Which are hardly issues...

I have relocated my video camera and the sound is a lot better.
Here`s a video of one of my quickest laps (1 min 54 secs) followed by a 70mph save at the start of the next lap.
(looks great at .25 speed!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z58wrWTssDY

The video doesnt show much other traffic, there were some ultra exotic machinery there.
One couple turned up in a Mclaren to drive their Radical!!

Car behaved perfectly and came home unscathed
Which I`m glad of with a quick turnaround for Blyton Park on Easter Sunday for Round 2 of the Javelin Sprint Series.

New pads fitted and tyres swapped over from my trackay rubber (Dumlop Z03G`s) to my all new sprint tyre (soft compound Toyo R888`s)

I`ve sprinted at Blyton every year since I first went on track.
My best time so far was 1:18.21 (I think) so I want to beat that.
With my new box and super sticky tyres I might just pull it off...
 

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