Archive for the ‘Track day toys’ Category

Alfa update

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

we’ve been working on this Alfa for quite a while now. One things had lead to many more and a set of carbs that had been refurbished turned out to be faulty. To remove the problem once and for all the owner had us fit this tasty set of Jenvey throttle bodies and full Canems management. The car is back on the rolling road at the moment and hopefully will reward the owner with some pleasant power figures

MX5 at the rolling road

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

The MX5 we’ve been building for Practical Performance Car went to the rolling road recently. We can’t give too much away as you’ll have to read the magazine for details, but the car made over 180 bhp!

Mazda MX for practical perfromace car magazineMX5 on the rolling road

Robin Returns

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

After test runs at Santa Pod the Robin hit the track at Mallory Park. With it’s suspension upgrades the grip was so good we upped the boost and timing slightly for more power. About 3 laps later the headgasket blew, it was fairly inevitable. After the Nissan Deltawing was so successful in this years Le Mans we opted to take the Robin project to the next level. The Robin already uses many similar principals to the Deltawing but until now has used a different concept for weight distribution. The whole car is coming apart again to have a massive rearward shift designed into the weight balance. The engine will get more power and better cooling. nissan deltawing at lemans

custom throttle body manifold

bike throttle bodies on our manifold for the Reliant head

 

Reliant Robin track day car

At Mallory Park

 

ensuring engine is level

Relocating the reliant enginebike throttle bodies on our manifold for the Reliant headAt Mallory Park

The Pig flies again

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Our very own Reliant Robin, or the Flying Pig as it’s become known, took to the strip at Santa Pod recently. This was just a test run for the newly turbo charged engine. We fitted the turbo to blow through the standard carb with a few modifications. The test ran well although it was on very low boost so the car is now ready for Practical Performance Car magazines show at Mallory Park. The Robin draws a crowd wherever it goes and is a challenge to drive. We wanted to build a car to prove we can make anything handle. With a modified double wishbone front suspension set up it corners and brakes as it should now. It just goes to prove anything is possible. Check it out on our you tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3exKXBlqFY

MX5 Hillclimb car

Friday, April 27th, 2012

We’ve been building this hillclimb car for Practical Performance Car Magazine. The full details of the build will be available to read over the next few months. PPC mag have an event called the 999 challenge. The idea is to build the best MoT passable car you can for 999 quid and carry out  a timed quarter mile and handling course. The fastest car wins. We decided to take the concept a step further and see if we could build a hill climb car for full competition still sticking to the 999 pound budget. The list of modifications is massive. We reduced the weight by about 20% which is hard going on a car that’s so light to start with. With all the weight stripped out we built a cage that not only keeps the driver safe but adds to the shells rigidity. The engine received a turbo and anti lag system including launch control and flat shift. It also features a hydrogen gas system for better combustion and a cold water spray for the intercooler. We carried out a few suspension and brake modifications and thoroughly set the cars geometry to give it perfect handling. The aerodynamics were last to be addressed and are controlled tightly by the regulations. We designed an aero package that other than the allowed rear spoiler didn’t change the cars silhouette. We achieved this with a flat underfloor, undercut splitter and a rear diffuser than uses a cut out into the rear bumper. The rear aero is fed by the exhaust gases between the spoiler and the diffuser which aid flow attachment. There’s still some fine tuning to be done but it should be an awesome package on a very tight budget

Ford Capri gets more aerodynamics

Friday, April 27th, 2012

The AA Silencers Ford Capri is always getting little developments here and there. Because of a change in championship regulations we have been able to develop a new front splitter and diffuser. The device is designed to control the airflow to the under body section. The splitter harvests pressure ahead of the car to create downforce. Further back air is accelerated to create downforce towards the middle of the car. The new front section controls the air in stages to manage its flow. It is also designed to create vortices along the underbody to seal the floor section and improve downforce. It’s not a perfect design as we have to work within the regulations but it vastly improves lap times. Also fitted are a type of dive plane in front of the rear wheel. Unlike regular dive planes these are mostly to deflect air from the exposed portion of the the tyre.

More Porsche engines

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

A regular customer of ours runs this 924 carrera GT in the MSVR championship. He was due to race on a Saturday so opted for a quick test session the Wednesday before. The car arrived with us on Wednesday afternoon with an odd misfire and an hour later we had found a hole in one of the pistons. Not wanting him to miss out on any racing we set about stripping the engine down. By Friday lunchtime the car was running again and he made it to the race on Saturday.

Boys Toys

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

This BMW is a track day regular but as the owners talent has grown he felt the need for more grip. We carried out a full geoetry check but as a lot of the car was standard we could do little more than adjust the tracking. The customer decided to start his upgrades with a set of camber adjustable top mounts. These allowed us to improve the geometry to give him more front end grip. Next on the list is a set of coilovers. One step at a time though

Ferrari Jigsaw

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Ferrari P6 kit came to us for an exhaust build. The engine is from a 355 so I think it’s fair to say it’ll be loud. The problem is the car needs to meet the IVA compliance of 99db and have catalytic converters. the engine needs to breath freely though matched length primary headers and have it’s secondary air system, temperature sensors and lambdas included. The customer also wanted quad tips and a cross over adding, all in the space of about 3 feet and without fouling the closely fitting body. That’ll all add up to a challenge then. We just about squeezed it all in there, the pictures speak for themselves. The finished article looks beautiful but as the car is incomplete we couldn’t check the noise levels. we’ll continue to work with the customer though until his creation is on the road.

 

 

more dodgy DPFs

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Particulate filters are the latest emissions control idea for Diesels. The only major problem is that they have a life span as short as 30,000 miles if a car only gets local town use and the dealers consider their £2000 replacement costs to be an acceptable service charge. Personally we feel that’s a more reasonable cost for a new engine, never mind a wearing component that you’ll need to change again. because of this we do a lot of DPF removals. We bypass the filter assembly and the car then gets sent to have the ECU decoded. the whole lot costs around £200 to £500 and you’ll never need another DPF. You’ll also gain a bit of power as an added extra. This BMW had a full stainless system built for better performance and had the car remapped while he was at it. It produced driveshaft snapping torque figures once finished.