BEAVIS' White Track Car

Postby **beavis** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:27 pm

The wing end plates needed replacement as the ones that were on there where dodgy old alloy/plastic and paint was all scratched up.
So, enlisted the help of Lightyear and we whipped up some carbon flat sheet which I cut into new end plates (we actually used a tombstone as a flat surface... true story

)
I was gonna get some pics of the manufacturing process, but when you get into the thick of it, it's hard to whip out the camera with your hands full of resin.

Here you see the first test fit, after the part had been trimmed to shape:

Another shot, with the second element installed. You can see the old end plates on the ground with blue tape on them.

Here's a shot after being cleaned up, wing isn't mounted properly here, obviously:

Postby **beavis** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:42 pm

Went to Sandown last weekend with the AROCA people for an MX-5 day.
This is the first time the car has had a proper go at Sandown, which shows how much I like Sandown (or not).
Car ran fine, as it usually does. It was getting a little warm though, as it's never been run in the warmer weather with the floor in place trapping the heat in.

Sadly I only got 2 timed sessions due to being sent home for excess noise. So time to make a change to the exhaust I think.
I really didn't get a chance to push the car, there was not enough time on track to find every limit of every corner and braking point.

Video of the fastest lap, a reasonable 1min 27.5sec:

Ned Loh · Postby **Ned Loh** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:31 pm

Nice lap. Looks like the Datsun slowed you down a fair bit coming onto the main straight?

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:39 pm

Needs more weight loss. Take out another 100kgs. Won't need ecu then.

Postby **beavis** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:57 pm

Ned Loh wrote:Nice lap. Looks like the Datsun slowed you down a fair bit coming onto the main straight?

Yep, pretty much.

Postby **beavis** » Fri Oct 03, 2014 6:59 pm

Went down to Phillip Island last weekend with PIARC.
Awesome day, right after the AFL grand final so there were hardly any people there.

The downside was the hefty winds.
I was about 13km/h slower vMax coming into T4 and into Lukey because of a head wind.
Amazingly, early in the day I was able to take lukey without braking.
You can notice the lack of speed in the video.

To try get some extra speed, I reduced the rear wing down a notch, and managed a 1:52.1
Makes me wonder what the car could do without the wind, and some nice tyres like A050's.

Here's the latest video from the Island:

TurboDoseBro · Postby **TurboDoseBro** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 11:24 pm

This thread is amazing!

Any power mods planned in near future? Surely there's only so much you can extract from stock engine and driveline.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 6:57 am

There will be some power mods. As you said there is only so much speed from stock power. The aero is getting too big for stock power. Also needs to remove another 50kg's.

Postby **beavis** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:01 am

My internet friends, I will let you in on a little secret... among a few other interesting things, I'm looking into getting the car onto E85.
It's the way of the future, and so deliciously fruity. And, should achieve a power increase.

I'm also planning some reliability/convenience/safety changes in the form of an Oil Cooler, some improved airflow and heat management, a quieter exhaust and a new seat.

I will update here when I start getting these things happening on the car.... which will be over the next few weeks.

Not sure when the car will be on track again, definitely want to be at Broadford with the MX-5 club in December do get the record there.

Postby **beavis** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:35 pm

A pic of the car at PI a few weeks ago from Chris at P1 Race Photography

Postby **beavis** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:54 pm

So, had to do a few things to the car after the recent event at Sandown...

Wing needed some additional support on the second element as the forces were too much for the mounting brackets on the first element.
Made these supports with the aluminium tube.

Noticed an oil leak under the gearbox, took the floor off and it had some pools of stinky gearbox oil.
Thankfully, nothing disasterous..... somehow the shifter turret bolts had come loose.

Installed myself a little oil cooler.

Welded in a hot dog into the zorst to try take the noise down a notch.

And then wrapped the whole thing in titanium wrapping. Trying to keep underbody temps down as it's melting the flat floor and the passenger footwell is getting damn hot.

Also spent a day at WTAC with the Lightyear doing a bit of aero recon and admiration.
Had a good time being hugely impressed by some of the bodywork, technology and wingy type things.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 6:08 am

You forgot to mention you set a new p.b. Getting mighty close to my NB8A time now. I think my 4.3 diff gears would make the difference.
Great handling car, it's too good for that power level.

I think it could have done a low 1:50 or high 1:49 on the weekend with some practice. It just never seemed to reach the limit of grip all that often when I drove it. Except turn 6 and 10. Oversteer corners. But that's controllable. Turn 1 could go flat out, save close to a second just there. Turn 2 is so fast in your car. You brake, turn in, then realise you can lift off the brake much earlier than any car I have dríven. Turn and it sticks. Then it has no power to get out of the corner. Even running the ripple strip on the apex with foot flat to the floor it does not struggle to stay on track as you run wide to the outside ripple strip on exit. You have to drive to the outside ripple strip.

Even at a 1:50.7 it puts a lot of expensive cars to shame. On Sunday the gap from first to second was 7 seconds in Brendan's class.
I (driving Brendan's car) was in modified over 3000cc class, (entered when I had the WRX) and if you took out the $400,000 cars (GT3) I would have been 2nd to an EVO with big hp.

I think I came 7th out of 22 cars or something like that. Pretty good considering the car is under 2.0l.

Postby **beavis** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:40 pm

So yeah, went to PI last weekend for a bit of fun.
Managed to get a 1:50.7
Pretty impressed with the time, but the car just feels so underpowered now. The grip levels are great considering the tyres aren't the best semi's out there, but its straight line speeds are becoming embarrassing.
I am around 10km/h slower down the straight than what the car has done in the past due to increased weight and drag.

Video of the lap: