443 replies to this topic

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

Can't say too much right now but I've had a bit more bad luck Engine went pop in testing so I gave my slot up to a fellow VX'r who happenned to be there with a lovely VX. Worked till nearly midnight preparing the car with \ll the regulation parts from my car and off he went today. He won it too Think my car is fixed to pulled another late one putting all my bits backj on my car Hope it works, wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Seb.F]

Hope it all turns out ok. Wish I could be there, end of uni party!! I will be making an effort to attend one later in the year though.

[ChrisS1]

bad luck jimmy......seems to be the only luck you're having at the moment! Soooo...who did you give your slot to??

[techieboy]

J&L Performance's patented team building exercise

[chris_uk]

[Dave E]

Really bad luck Jimmy, hope it changes from now on Cliffie jumps in last minute with tyres he's never used and wins.........why am I not supprised Jimmy for hand over the reins Everyone involved in getting all the work done No pressure now Jimmy, time for a vx clean sweep I'm just about to leave so see you all later

Edited by VXT'ED, 26 June 2011 - 06:41 AM.

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

Epic weekend! Full report to follow, I'm stll recovering!

[VXT Tim]

Well done guys. I would've packed up and gone home long before you.

[siztenboots]

Epic weekend! Full report to follow, I'm stll recovering!

still dizzy from going round and round the indy circuit?

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

Brands Hatch double header So I’m due some luck after the disaster @ Knockhill…. I’ve had the piston and head repaired since the car blew up and we went into Brands with high hopes!! I had an hours testing booked Friday evening and that would put me in good stead for the coming weekends action. Plan was meet cliffie at the circuit and cliffie was going to come out with me and teach me the circuit as I’ve not been here before. That was the plan reality didn’t fancy that plan though! Took the car out for a warm up lap and decided to push it for a hard (ish) lap. Bwaaaarp!! Massive misfire. Fearing for a repeat of Knockhill I pulled into the pits and Cliffie and myself went to work trying to id the issue. Coil pack change and some faffing and back out I went for another try. First lap same fault. At this point I had lost my car for the weekend, meaning two stages dropped, meaning season win was now out of the question. Cliffie had a different idea though…… Generously he suggested we strip all the regulation parts from my car and build his car up to spec and use it for the weekend. I took some convincing as I was terrified of crashing his car but eventually I agreed; on the provision that Cliffie took one of the drives for the team and I drove the other day as it seemed the fair thing to do given he was prepared to risk his personal car for the cause. Mike didn’t like the idea but I was insistent that I wouldn’t take his car otherwise. Cliffie agreed and we were in business! It took me months to prepare my car for Time Attack regulations. We had one night to prepare Cliffside’s. MASSIVE thanks to Joe who drove down right away to help and the three of us worked till nearly midnight preparing Cliffie’s car. Wheels, tyres, shocks, shock mounts, data loggers, seat, harnesses, fire extinguisher, sticker packs, numbers….. You get the idea. It's amazing what a team of guys can achieve sometimes! We got in about 1:30am with an early start (5:30am) ahead of us. Saturday Race. Arrived to a wet and dreary circuit. Sunday was set to be nice weather so decided that Cliffie would take stage 1. Warm up. Cliffie is already pretty darn hot around here so took the field by surprise by dominating the damp warm up session and finishing 1’st in class and more impressively 3’rd overall with a rock solid 1:03.5 Too easy! Practice. Track had dried up nicely now and the times began to fall significantly as Cliffie took an impressive 4 seconds out of his previous time with a 57.6, again 1’st in class by over 2 seconds. After a red flag I managed to get out in the car to finish the last 10 mins of the session to start learning the circuit. Managed a 59 second lap off the bat which was ok for what were essentially sighting laps! Qualifying This was a tough session as it really hot us as there are points up for grabs! Ronnie Amis put down an impressive 57.2 top take max points, with Cliffie slipping to 3’d in class with a 58.4 Final After quali’s we spent a massive amount of time trawling through the GPS data log’s we had and identified exactly where time had to be made back up. Cliffie knew what he had to do and delivered an unbelievable lap wringing 1.3 seconds off his best and taking 1’st place by a clear 4/10th’s! None of us are quite sure how he managed that in his car as it’s still a road car essentially! The team were so proud as we’ve managed our second win of the season, happy days!!! Now we had a tough decision to make….. One car/driver change a season is allowed to any team but as Brands was a double header we’d argued that although it was 2 rounds it was one stage. The officials said as long as there were no objections from the competitors (which there wasn’t) then we could run in Cliffie's car again Sunday. However – We’d found a split diaphragm on a boost control solenoid which we believe would cause the engine to run lean. We decided it was a worth the risk to attempt to run in my race car. So we completely stripped Cliffie’s car again and rebuilt mine as god intended. Knowing Cliffie’s capabilities and seeing how close he and Ronnie finished in the final, coupled with the fact the whole pack had now had a full day’s racing at the circuit (that I was unfamiliar with) I did feel a little intimidated going into the next day. Time would tell! Sunday Race Warm up They decided the field did not require a warm up as they’d had the previous days racing…. Not good! Practice First full session out – Hit a 57.0 straight out of the pits, 1’st in class, BOOM! Well happy! Car was great until the end of the session when disaster struck…. The misfire returned Straight in the pits for diagnostics Qualifying Could not hit full revs without misfire but was learning the circuit fast! Decided amongst the team that if I hit a mid 56sec lap they were to signal me in so as to preserve the engine. Short shifted and pushed on until I saw the signal so came in. 56.8 Hoped that would be enough until Ronnie hit a 56.2 at the end of the session to take max points again. 2’nd in class so happy enough but knew I had a ton of time to come out of the lap and after some advice had a whole new line through clearways that made a load of sense (I’d yet to find one that worked). Final Decided to take 3 cold laps to ensure a finish then push on and go for broke. 4th lap out red flag. Back to pits. After a delay we went back out. Only one cold lap then straight into a hot one which was ruined by a misfire and a slower car. Started winding up for the next lap and hit another red flag. Back to pits. After a delay they sent us back out for a final stint but with everyone jostling for a good lap, traffic was terrible and with the car deteriorating I didn’t manage to put a flying lap down at all….. The new line through Clearways was great but only recorded a 57.3 my slowest of the day. Gutted as I knew there was a massive chunk of time to come out of my quail time but it didn’t go my way. That’s motorsport eh..? Still took 3rd place by over 2 seconds but the win and a sub 56sec lap was what I was after. If my car was fault free I’m confident I could hit one, maybe even a late 54sec. Although my weekend ended with a sour taste it could have been a ton worse and if I am to take positives away from it, they are as follows I've got a fantastic team! We are dynamic and hard working and this weekend has proven that nothing is too much effort!! When my car is on song I am fastest in class without doubt so we can still win this season. I had doubts about my pace after Knockhill but I know now that was the car deteriorating. With the points we've ammassed we are still leading the championship Looking ahead we have Cadwell and Anglesey which should be strong stages for a VX. Only Snetterton then in the future which I believe will be a power circui so it might go to the wire!!!!!! Thanks again guys for all your work this weekend, we achieved loads!! now to see what my missfire is

[techieboy]

Bugger. I really hoped we'd nailed that misfire. It all seemed so positive on Saturday evening.

[garyk220]

Could it be the hydraulic lifters throwing out the cam timing? I had this on my Nova race car and by the end could not rev over 5500rpm without getting a similar misfire. Keeping it under those revs and it ran perfectly. Did your problem happen at the same egnine revs each time? I'm not 100% sure but I think, even with a baffled sump, the oil pump was struggling to keep the oil pressure high enough to deliver enough oil to the top of the eninge for the lifters to work effectively. I had a Blydenstein head on my car and when I chatted to Bill, he diagnosed the lifters as the issue immediately. I changed to solid lifters and it never returned. Might be worth swapping the lifters for a known good set to see if that resolves the problem, initially?

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

Could it be the hydraulic lifters throwing out the cam timing? I had this on my Nova race car and by the end could not rev over 5500rpm without getting a similar misfire. Keeping it under those revs and it ran perfectly. Did your problem happen at the same egnine revs each time?

I'm not 100% sure but I think, even with a baffled sump, the oil pump was struggling to keep the oil pressure high enough to deliver enough oil to the top of the eninge for the lifters to work effectively. I had a Blydenstein head on my car and when I chatted to Bill, he diagnosed the lifters as the issue immediately. I changed to solid lifters and it never returned.

Might be worth swapping the lifters for a known good set to see if that resolves the problem, initially?

yeah fault occurs at same reves each time (right at the top end) so short shifting allows me to run perfectly.

So do you mean the valve springs are not strong enough..? This was suggested by someone else too....

[The Batman]

He is suggestion hydraulic lifters Don't think brand new ones aren't too much money... I wonder if one or two was damaged but un-noticeable when your guy changed the valves I wonder of a saab sump (extra 1L of oil) is also a well worth mod

[vocky]

injector or injector wiring

[leevx2.2]

Changed injectors looked at wiring all looked ok :-(

[leevx2.2]

Would thin oil cause lifters to not work properly mr Vocky ?

[techieboy]

It could make them bleed pressure, especially if the oil is hotter than normal.

[The Batman]

i think he has been using (or atleast yesterday) 0w30 synthetic

[rob999]

Top work as usual Team VX. Least you got some results JJJ and well done Mike too