This Moggy has been in to us before for a bit of rolling restoration. This time there was only a small crack in the chassis rail at the front. We cut it out and treated the inside of the rail with rust killer. A new chassis section was then grafted in and the whole thing treated to a dose of Waxoyl. The owner of this car takes a lot of pride in it. It’s a pleasure to take the time to do a thorough repair to a high standard.
With the Pug all repaired after the problems at Snetterton we headed to what it basically my home circuit. I love Donington and it’s a perfect circuit for the agile little pug. Qualifying started in the rain and we were running fastest when I handed to my co driver for his qualifying laps. Early on he ran wide into the gravel but rejoined having seemingly caused no problems. Keen to make up for his mistake, and on a drying track his lap times tumbled and once again we wound up with pole position. Checking the car after qualifying revealed the trip into the gravel had pulled the alternator belt off and the battery was now flat. The car was jumped started and headed out for the race. When the lights went green my co driver went off like a scalded rat, leaving the pack behind. At the driver change we had a healthy lead but the car wouldn’t start due to the flat battery. By the time we’d bump started it we were down to second. After 3 or 4 laps of chasing through the back markers I retook the lead, only for the race to be red flagged a lap later due to several accidents. We kept the win which was a nice result after the seasons poor start.
AA Silencers and AA Sport went to Mallory Park with their Reliant Robin recently. The theory behind this is that if we can make a Robin handle on a race track then we can do it to anything. The next step is better braking, front suspension tweaks and then a turbo. The car handled well considering it’s deficiency in the wheel department and was ridiculous fun to drive. Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.
The stainless exhaust on this Jag had kissed one too many speed bumps. Although the battered box was doing little to silence the car the owner quite liked his new found exhaust tone. We replaced the box with a sportier design and with a few modifications saved the rest of his stainless system. Another nice cheap fix to a potentially expensive problem.
This XR3i challenge car came to us in need of a custom engineering job. The front pipe to his race exhaust had been supplied by another well known exhaust builder but the front flange wasn’t strong enough. It kept bending causing it to blow. Also the centre section of the exhaust wasn’t properly supported causing it to droop down and catch kerbs during the race. We gas flowed the manifold as far as regulations allowed and had a new flange laser cut from industrial strength steel. We designed and built a new smooth flow front pipe and centre section, then mounted them all with extra hangers and supports.
The first race of this season was at the new Snetterton 300 circuit. I’ve got to be honest I didn’t like it much, I missed the old fast corners but the revisions that have been made are definitely a challenge. I guess it’s just a matter of personal preference. Either way we didn’t get to see much action. The car for this eyars racing as an ex BTCC pug 306 which is prepared elsewhere but we are helping with set up and driver training. Half way into the qualifying session the wheel studs sheered leaving the front wheel to make a bid for freedom. It’s the first time we’ve run the car in anger and it’s had a hard life after 10 years of racing. There will clearly be some parts that have seen a lot of stress over the years so it’s understandable that stress failures will occur. On the plus side despite only running half of qualifying the car was still fast enough for pole position. Shame it didn’t have enough wheels on it to race!
AA Sport took on public transport for Practical Performance car magazine. The challenge, can you buy a car and drive it across country for less than the price of the train ticket, and get there faster. The destination was Cornwall, just £499.00 from Stafford. The car was a little MX5. Did we manage it? Find out soon in Practical Performance Car.
AA Sport has teamed up with Practical Performance Car magazine again for some tyre testing. tyres are the most important factor in performance driving, getting them working well is a test for the driver and mechanic. Gathering data from the tyres will tell you how well the car is set up and help improve things. It’s a labourious process but worth the effort. Our test car is an astra GTE race car. Read how we get on in Practical Performance Car mag.
AA Silencers is going racing this year with sister company AA Sport. AA Sport deals with the performance side of the business including chassis tuning, car handling set ups and driver training. Company owner, Mark hammersley, is co-driving an ex BTCC Peugeot touring car. He shares the seat with Nigel Tongue who is campaigning his first season in this car. Mark will help with getting car and driver onto the pace and to the front of the grid. Pre season testing has gone well so far, time will tell when the lights go green at the first race!
Another car for a feature in Practical Performance car. This time we joined the owner on a track day to gather some data on how his car handled. With some 380 BHP on tap the suspension was having to work pretty hard. Improvements were made on the day and using the data we’ve gathered there’s plenty more still to come. It’s lovely to see a real classic rally car like this still being used in anger on sprints and hill climbs
