Posts Tagged ‘hill climb’

low rider

Friday, October 5th, 2012

This classic cortina gets used in the occasional hillclimb and sprint event, which having worked on it is very brave of the owner. These things are worth a bob or two and he’s a brave man throwing it around a track. Especially considering he restored it from a basket case by himself. All we had to do on this one was get him some more ground clearance. The exhaust had been custom built elsewhere but it didn’t really fit his needs. The car is lower than standard and the exhaust scraped in various places. We reused a large amount of what was already there but with a few changes we tucked the exhaust away. There was so much extra clearance that we were able to lower the engine slightly which will help the cars handling. If I had a car this valuable and I was throwing about on a race track I’d want the handling to be perfect!

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

Classic Celica

Monday, November 29th, 2010

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

Snotty Skoda

Monday, November 29th, 2010

I’m not being rude, Snotty is the nick name that’s been given to the Skoda, probably for obvious reasons. The cars owner has done a wonderful job of preparing the car for sprints and hill climbs. It has come to us for a Car Clinic feature in Practical Performance Car magazine. We carried out a full geomtry set up and made a few light modifications to the front suspension to help with grip. The car was tested at Mallory park and the owner now has all winter to carry out the suggested developments.  If you come across this Skoda out on the road you’d better give him room, it’s a whole lot more car than it first appears. Or than the name suggests!