If I'm ready, I want to be at all the meetings from brands onwards.
Not sure if the project8's are actually racing at night??
I'll check that 1 out
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If I'm ready, I want to be at all the meetings from brands onwards.
Not sure if the project8's are actually racing at night??
I'll check that 1 out
Should be able to make the cadwell park one, thats in lincolnshire aint it. lol
somewhere there yes, never been there before,so a new experience for me.
cheers for showing interest in what I'm doing
and if you dont mind I'll post up some pic and details on here as the thread is
up and running. probrably do something at the weekend,if I'm not under the bonnet!! lol
cheers
JT
Ok, here goes, I'll do my best...
Been following some friends around on the Project 8 Racing Saloons for two years. Done a few track days in my 911 and got the bug and decided I wanted to join my mates on the race track.
It's a pre '94 series, my mates race Sierra Cosworths which I didn't fancy. The other obvious choice are the BMW M3/M5's but there are plenty of those already in the series, so I started to look for something different.
Googling BTCC reminded me of going to Brands Hatch and watching the touring cars back in the early 90's and gave me a few ideas. First idea was a Vauxhall Cavalier, which I soon discovered didn't have much to give in the way of extra performance. Second idea was the Volvo...
Having looked into it, the performance gains on the 850 are massive and having followed the BTCC around in the early 90's and supporting the Volvo's, that's what I've decided to race.
So this was the car I bought:
http://i56.tinypic.com/2qsutf8.jpg
£600, Bargain!
First step, stripping it out...
http://i52.tinypic.com/raz401.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/mjpym1.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/wjyrr7.jpg
I'm sure you've seen all this before so I'll leave stripping it at that for now
Next step...having the roll cage put in.
http://i54.tinypic.com/2cgd3dy.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2cpxi8i.jpg
The roll cage was done by Rob at RAW Motorsport, who was recommended by the two cossie drivers. Rob is also racing in the same series in a BMW M5.
Woooaaa!, nice cage!!..
Next up, the paint job...
Aiming for the original touring car design I decided to get it painted white as a base colour
http://i54.tinypic.com/24wdcn4.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2zfn500.jpg
Whilst that was being done I decided to spray some bits of trim and bumper etc that I had sitting in the garage...
http://i52.tinypic.com/24655c4.jpg
The first job after the body shop was to fit the front bumper, headlights and towing eye whilst I was at it:
http://i52.tinypic.com/2jdf3ax.jpg
Next was building the dash
As the car doesn't have to be road legal I decided to simplifly the dash and only keep the necessary switches for racing
http://i53.tinypic.com/16lwyaf.jpg
The seat was welded into place whilst the car was being painted and I fitted the fire extinguisher once I had the car back in the garage
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ut0z2s.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/4t4w2g.jpg
thanks for the info & pictures, the car should still be road legal anyway isn't it? & have you any ideas on how much it weighs now?
Regulations for the series state that you can only run brakes that are big enough to fit under the original wheels for the car so I found these on fleabay...
http://i52.tinypic.com/f9jns6.jpg
I believe they are the optional extra 17" wheels for the 850 but they had been hand painted by the previous owner so I had them resprayed to their original glory and had the race tyres fitted
http://i52.tinypic.com/21nr2v6.jpg
this is a good thread mate....
Excellent, looks good :B_thumb:
Next I fitted the 3" exhaust from JT tuning (which is quite nice as it has my initials on it :D) , MT brake discs and EBC 'Yellowstuff' pads. I also fitted my new K&N induction kit. At this point I was still waiting on the suspension to arrive in preperation for a track day at Snetterton.
http://i55.tinypic.com/2yw91uh.jpg
I was then told that I wouldn't get the suspension until the morning I was due to be at Snetterton...
I got the suspension at the track on the morning of the trackday and started to fit it with the help of one of my friends in the cosworth's. It took all morning but we got there in the end...
Rear springs...
http://i56.tinypic.com/2uejq55.jpg
Coilovers at the front (along with the rusty calipers :( )
http://i52.tinypic.com/54yadd.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/303bevo.jpg
Then during the afternoon sessions I got some laps out on track
http://i55.tinypic.com/1zgw6ls.jpg
(I would put up a better picture but my nephew got told off for taking pictures from the pit wall, so this is the only one we have)
Onboard footage which you may have seen already - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMUdJEIACv8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMUdJEIACv8[/ame]
Between bolting on the suspension and the end of the day I managed to make good progress on lap times by adjusting the ride height, camber and dampening settings. Considering its the cars (and my) first run a 3.02 lap to a 2.36 lap is a good improvement, but considering the engine is completely standard shows it has a lot more to give.
The next step was to make the car comply with the race regulations, e.g electrical shutoffs etc. as well as moving some weight around i.e. moving the battery
http://i51.tinypic.com/23ibamw.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/dea1pz.jpg
Removing the original battery allowed me to run two hoses from one of the grilles in the bumper up to the air filter to provide it with as much cold air as possible
http://i52.tinypic.com/28whxxi.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/6y2yv7.jpg
Its looking good, you going to get the full decals?