As the summer sets in all the classics come out and head for the shows. This one was also in need of a few touch ups in the exhaust department. Again there was no need for a complete new system and given that the car only did limited mileage each year the owner felt a stainless exhaust wasn’t necessary. For a fraction of the cost of stainless we custom built the back box in mild steel saving him money and still giving that tailor made touch.
A bit more mild
May 25th, 2011Stainless Repairs
May 25th, 2011Sometimes even the finest quality stainless exhaust can get damaged. Speed bumps and fields at car shows can take their toll. This lovely classic had a battered stainless exhaust but it turned out that with a few select repairs his current system could be saved. This saved him spending extra on e complete new system and allowed him to change the exhaust note slightly while we were there. Everyone’s a winner.
CSCC from Snetterton
May 1st, 2011The 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!
Car Vs Train
March 30th, 2011AA 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.
Testing tyres
March 30th, 2011AA 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.
Difficult De-cat
March 30th, 2011This lambo was in need of a little extra silencing. The cat’s had failed causing a loss of power and a nasty noise. The customer wanted us to take out the cats and replace them with silencer boxes hoping for more power and less noise. That’s always a tall order but even more so when squeezed into the back of a lambo. We managed to twist and turn the pipework and boxes into the tiny gaps. hopefully the car will be a little quieter, it will certainly get it’s power back with the exhaust breathing properly.
VX carbon goodies
March 30th, 2011This VX happened to be passing by in search of someone brave enough to tackle a job turned down by other garages, fitting his diffuser. It was a custom made piece but many garages don’t know what one is, let alone how to fit it. In actually fact it’s only held on with about 12 screws and took 10 minutes to fit. Since then we’ve helped with several more day to day things like checking his brakes and servicing.
AA Sport
March 30th, 2011AA 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!
’tis the season to build roll cages
December 6th, 2010I think the snow must have made everyone a little cautious. This is the third roll cage we’ve built in as many weeks. This time it’s for a track car built by our friends at Rapid Remap. This car is foir promotional use and they guys wanted it to look the part and be safe too. Rapid Remap take care of our remapping services, they’re experts in their field, offering a superb tailored service. They take such good care of their customers we’re happy to refer people to them, knowing they’ll be in safe hands. This BMW has had uprated suspension and the Rapid Remap hydrogen drive system fitted. The car interior had been stripped ready for the roll cage. It’s just a simple rear cage but should provide the safety they need.
Classic Celica
November 29th, 2010Another 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
