Mk2 Ibiza 16V Hillclimb/Sprint car 2012 season

[RobT]

Ta, it went well once it hooked up....but a lot of wheelspin in first 2 gears, too much -ve camber for dragging and got a sprint next weekend so didnt want to mess about with it. Zero camber might do a 4-someting 0-60.....which i may have to try and do now......Might also fit a launch control rev button......useful.....

Didnt know something happened to the mk1???

[Matt-V5-Duffy]

We did see it spinning away to begin with but went well afterwards.

I don't know if something had gone wrong, but it was being towed by one of the stewards cars after one of its runs.

[Revo Kev]

Great to see the pickle out, even better to catch up and spend some time with Little G.
Will have to get out to one of the hill limb/sprint events soon to see the pickle in maximum attack mode...

...give it some pasty as always!

[RobT]

Should also say a big thanks to Kev, Mark and colleagues at Revo for excellent hospitality - you guys OWNED the show - fantastic BMX also. Terrific.

[RobT]

Originally Posted by Revo Kev

Great to see the pickle out, even better to catch up and spend some time with Little G.
Will have to get out to one of the hill limb/sprint events soon to see the pickle in maximum attack mode...

...give it some pasty as always!

Likewise. G is proper made up with his Revo hat - no doubt he will be even faster on his bike now! Need to get the bmx dudes contact info from you to get some advice on bike racing.

Next sprint next sat at Aintree.

Ave it!

[andyj]

Didn't make it down to Inters unfirtunatley, due to the house move this week.

But I did get to see Pickle in action late on Sunday afternoon....... on the back of a trailer being towed along the A50 past Derby I was heading the other way in the Mrs' Swift, when I spotted something green heading the other way !!!

[RobT]

Honestly - a man cannot go anywhere without getting spotted.....

But its not like its exactly stealthy is it LOL

Prep already underway for Saturday at Aintree - good turnout of cars with 10 in class. Looking forward to it.

Have decided that my tyres are past their best as the grip is definately dropping away with them. Quick look into the records shows they are infact almost 3 years old! Time to cut them into a set of wets....

So quick call to Michelin to source some new ones - sorry sir, they are not made in that size any more. Great. Ok, what about the Michelin supersoft circuit tyres? Well...Michelin are not making those anymore either.....

I had a bad time finding the right compound and size last time, so already know the options are very limited.

So it looks like its time to go back to 15" wheels. So need some nice lightweight 15x8's, ET35. Not exactly loads of them about.....

Finally track what might be a suitable candidate at Compomotive - new TH1581



A new wheel, and first batch of castings just produced



So got a set on hold, done some measurements tonight, sent them in, and hopefully they clear the brakes.

Was going to go for the ATS DTC wheel, nice and light (6.4-6.8kg) but only available in ET20 which wont do for the rear of the car and want to keep all 4 wheels the same for even tyre wear.

TH1581 is lighter than the MO anyhow - 7kg vs 9kg - so not far off the DTC and available in correct offset.



So assuming these fit ok, need some tyres.....hmm......quite like the Michelin rally radials but even the very soft arn't as soft as VERY soft hillclimb tyres.....decisions decisions

[RobT]

Very marginal that the 15" wheels clear my brakes. Hmm again. And would really like to use same size wheels and tyres front and rear.

Never easy is it?

Class win at Aintree on Sat - full report later tonight.

[gtikezz]

spotted your car at inters very nice took a sneaky pic with the bear

[RobT]

Thanks for the pic - did you enjoy the show?

[RobT]

GTI Inters results are now up - http://www.theresults.co.uk/gti_inte...l_results.html - looks like I got put in with the Extreme Machines, which seems a bit daft given my car is a single engined front wheel drive atmo car....whatever.

Times were

Morning
6.08 / 14.541
5.86 / 14.345
5.28 / 13.895 (nice improvement as I was working out the grip level and rpm launch)
Afternoon
6.22 / 14.607
5.67 / 13.977

Pretty pleased with that actually - never had a go at proper dragging and have to say its a lot harder than it looks - if you fluff your start in sprinting you can always go into the first bend harder and make it up, but in dragging your run is toast. So really enjoyed it. Might need to set my car up for less camber now and see what it will really do got to be a sub-5 sec 0-60 in it.....

[RobT]

OK - report from Aintree on Sat - my Round 4 of the Liverpool and Chester Speed Championships 2012.

Was really looking forward to Aintree after GTI Inters the weekend before and to see if I could go round corners again after the drag racing. Weather forecast was decidedly dodgy with the BBC suggesting clear skies until about 12:00, and then heavy showers all afternoon. So it might all come down to the first timed run....

Good entry of 10 cars in 3b Mod Prod 1400-2000, with 9 listed in final regs, and 8 turning up on the day. Usual suspects likely to be at the front were the highly experienced John Moxham and is LAD-prepared Pug 205, and the cars keeper Andy Larton from LAD with a very serious looking 106 which had apparently had a lot of recent mods, and was sporting some very tasty looking sticky Avons. Nice to meet Andy Bradley, driving a Focus ST170, who had never driven Aintree before but frequently watches over proceedings as one of the MSA scrutineers. Known as a specialist at 3-sisters but was out to learn the track at Aintree today.

Times are 64ft, end, (mph over finish line). Me, John, Andy

P1 - 2.75,54.07(114) - 2.51,55.30(114) - 2.43,54.08(111) - Dry
P2 - 2.83,52.74(114) - 2.53,54.44(112) - 2.43,52.37(109) - Dry, Andy taking it
T1 - 2.63,51.97(112) - 2.58,54.26(113) - 2.47,52.30(111) - Dry, back to me

Then the heavens opened......just as predicted by the forecast....meeting halted for a while. Eventually the rain stopped, the temp and breeze rose, and everything started to dry out quite quickly. Lunch was called and the drying continued. Black clouds overhead though and you got the feeling at any point it could pour again.

T2 - 2.71,52.83(112) - 2.54,53.84(112) - 2.46,52.39(111) - Dry, but I wanted to check....
T3 - 51.90(112) - 53.84 - 52.39 - Dry, me nudged forward a bit more
T4 - I didn't go any faster, John 53.71, Andy had one of his throttle bodies come loose and the run was abandoned.

The end - Me (51.90), Andy (52.30), John (53.71)

Great day, and a very well organised event with the weather and the few offs that were experienced during the day. Massive thanks to organisers once again.

Not sure how Championship standings look yet but think I might be doing fairly well - will post up when they are released.

Big plus from the weekend is that I have been offered a drive in an ex-Kimi Raikkonen Formula Renault 2000 - FANTASTIC - more about this soon.



Ave it

Rob

[RobT]

Results from weekend now up:

http://www.liverpoolmotorclub.com/fi...-June-2012.pdf

Championship scores updated also

http://www.speedchampionship.com/wp-...r-Round-10.pdf

Still lots to play for but presently looks like I am about second behind Roger Fish (Honda S2000) when numbers of rounds scored is taken into consideration. Pretty pleased with that actually since Roger has been breaking class records this year in Road Mod.

But anything can still happen......exciting

Still struggling to find the right tyre/wheel solution though

[m0rk]

I thought I replied yesterday... must have dreamed it.

Bloody good times against your opposition. F2000 car looks like fun. Probably addictively expensive fun

[gtikezz]

Originally Posted by RobT

Thanks for the pic - did you enjoy the show?

your welcome , yea it was a great show up untill the accident Shame you couldnt make it to the mk2 line up would of been great to get yours in there

[RobT]

Been investigating tyres some more this week, and had a quote back from Hoosier....sitting down?.....£280/tyre!!!!!

I dont think so.

So the search continues, got a couple more ideas but are running out of options to keep same size tyre/wheel front and rear

[m0rk]

What sort of tyre are you looking for? Are you on slicks?

[RobT]

Yep full slicks, or with a few small cuts.

[RobT]

Tyre puzzle solved.



Thats a 235/610-17 Dunlop BTCC radial full slick. But with a difference

Just a tiny bit smaller than the 24/61-16 Michelin that I was using previously. Same diamater, even though its a 17 rather than a 16.

Should rock.

And as a bonus.....these little beauties that have been sat in the spares shed for a while will now go inside the wheels.

Yeh.

[RobT]

Nothing really to report presently, few things going on in the background which will be winter mods but details of those as and when they are ready - few things for rear suspension and brakes to compliment the big APR front stoppers above.

But...the car made the mags this month after its trip to GTI Inters.

Aug 2012 (Issue 147) Volkswagen Driver



Sept 2012 Performance VW - 2 pics, one a cracker next to Keith Edwards' awesome UR Quat