September 2010
Sorry there has been no update since the Croft Heat. Obviously the holidays have played a large part in this!
We have not been idle in this time and progress has been made on the car. Again the smallest negative comments from scrutineering can have a dramatic effect on what happens to the car! This is the same with rule changes and I would love some stability now the new rules have been announced. Everything is massively expensive and having to change the batteries every couple of years etc is getting beyond a joke! I understand the need for some of these changes but now they have been made, leave the rules be for a specified period! One small good piece of news is that the Corporate Challenge is being held at Silverstone next year which may mean that we could make an appearance without the trek down to Goodwood!
As mentioned above Michael’s comments at Croft re. our rollbar and the angle of the support have been taken on board. I am not happy about this as the modifications asked for are not easy with the current bodyshell and the car was built exactly to the rules as stated. To this end the current rollbar support was cut away and a new one made to the back of the car. New Cellite was cut, drilled, bushed and glued to accept this new position. Several parts of the rollbar now need to be welded and a massive thanks to Andrew at Sutcliffe play for sorting this for us!
The above work to the rollbar meant the bodyshell had also to be cut and a new piece made from thin ply to clear the new bar. This was glued and pop riveted into position. New bushes were also made to allow the uprated rollbar to be firmly bolted. Because of the modifications forced on us to the bodyshell we also decided to improve it in some other areas. A strip of ply was glued to the bottom of the shell to extend it to clear the base completely and prevent the cracking that had taken place. The wheel arches were also improved to even the gap around the front wheels and an extra piece to close some of the cockpit opening. The shell will now have to resprayed and we are waiting for it to be taken to those fine gentlemen at Ringways Ford for this to happen. However as yet a colour scheme has not been decided on!
The last major job is to fit some new special bearings and convert the current rear axle to a freewheel. Hopefully all this work will be finished for our opening evening on the 5th of October and we are also going to take the car to Siemens in Newcastle for a Greenpower promotional event on the 6th. We would love to go to the final as well but this is looking less likely as the heats progress. Currently we are in 56th position with three more heats to go.
Speak soon!
