24 replies to this topic

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

The website is finally finished and has gone live!

 

Please go and have a look and let me know what you think.

 

http://www.matthewbentleyracing.co.uk

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Matt 

[Graeme Lambert]

We are Matt - here http://www.vx220.org...ing-a-good-egg/

 

Looks good to me, save for the issue that Steve has spotted re the S1 Elise and Exige being listed with Toyota servicing prices?

 

Now, when should we discuss my fee for using my VXT in your photos?

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

What issue was that?? :-p Yes, I will cost you £50 for the privilege. How do you want to pay :-)

[jules_s]

Looks quite nice that Matt Early days I guess; my only suggestion would be some 'mission statement/strapline' (god I hate those phrases) on the homepage. I know we all know you and what you do...but if I didn't you could be a photographer with good taste in cars

[chris_uk]

£320 for a geo! fcuk me.

Edited by chris_uk, 30 October 2013 - 12:08 AM.

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

Guessing you think that is a lot? I does take me a full day or more to do it properly.

[Graeme Lambert]

What issue was that?? :-p Yes, I will cost you £50 for the privilege. How do you want to pay :-)

 

I'll swap you for some PR work and press release writing!

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

Done

[chris_uk]

let me try explain why i think that. i went to get my geo done recently, pulled into the shop, got it up on ramps and got the diffuser off, did the geo, adjusted the camber, rake, ride height, we checked and set the toe, i reset the dampers to slightly softer (prepping for a wet trackday) even had a chat about the setup over a cuppa (arb's, stiffer springs etc) ... the only things we didnt do was corner weighting, Adjust the bump steer and setting the castor.. Granted it was pretty minor adjustments which were made, we had to take some shims out for the camber but no machining was required.. and i appreciate that my car is easier than some to work on because nothing is stuck or rusty etc and i did help out in places but nothing which saved masses amount of time. i drove in at 8am and drove out at 9:15am, the price for the above.. £80 (this is the cost whether it took 4 hours or 1) can you see where im coming from? maybe if you could explain what exactly takes all day (or possibly more) then i could maybe see why you charge £320, even if you had a twat of a car to work on then possibly i could see it taking a couple of hours but i just cant see all day.. but at the end of the day im northern.. and thus tight as a camels arse in a sandstorm..

Edited by chris_uk, 30 October 2013 - 12:50 AM.

[jules_s]

I could be wrong (usually am ) But IIRC getting the castor correct is where the £££ is at. I was quoted more when I had mine done from scratch

[chris_uk]

I dont see why, all your doing is taking the top wishbone bolts out, someone as skilled as matt knows how much castor they need/want so he only needs do it once, not keep taking it off to try different shims. Taking the top 2 bolts out isnt hard when you know how and have the tools to make life easier. Maybe im just lucky and they undercharge everyone for geo's..

[Rickwoo118]

The website is finally finished and has gone live!
 
Please go and have a look and let me know what you think.
 
http://www.matthewbentleyracing.co.uk
 
 
 
Thanks
 
Matt 

Matt, website looks good. May consider using you in the future as you are just down the road.

[rizo9]

Looks good. But it took a while to load. Even on my 60mb connection. Might be worth looking at he image sizes?

[rob999]

Too many lego bricks on that website Mr Bentley, you'll never get Lotus owners that way.

[siztenboots]

there is no black magic involved in setting the geo , once you know the current settings, the changes to move castor washers , or cambers shims are a known quantity.

 

its the checking for worn parts that takes time and should be done first otherwise this can give a tolerance error when checking the new adjustments that means time consuming rechecking/resetting duplicating work.

 

doing all this on your own feels like it takes a lot longer than if you have a helper, especially stringing up the car.

 

the number of jobs that you could get done in a fully equipped workshop with ramps in one day is , well a lot.

 

 

[Pidgeon]

My comments, intended to be constructive!

 

'Home' is merely images of some race cars.  What is the relevance of these?  It tells me nothing.  I know you've worked on two of them, if I didn't it could be a photography website.

 

'About us' is generic pap that tells me little.  "Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd supports owners, drivers, sponsors or entrants with professional racing team support", OK, you support people with support.

 

Tell us about yourself, a mini CV, notable successes, why you are passionate and why you believe you are better than the competition.  Don't try to be the 'big business' by avoiding talking about the individual, the business is 'Matt Bentley'.

 

Kimbolton may be near Huntingdon, but I don't kniow where Huntingdon is.  A little parochial.

 

I don't think the divisions between 'Motorsport' and 'Track and Performance' are well thought out.  I'll still need a geo if I am racing.  Perhaps to pander to the tight northerners above, call the 'full geo' a 'full chassis set up'

 

Sadly, Rob is correct and take up Graeme's offer and rewrite your content.  "Finding a good balance of compromise obviously needs careful consideration, the desire to have the fastest lap will preclude most if not all compromises. Fortunately owners often reach suitable compromise and discussion with ourselves can generally help to find the best mix of variables available.  

 

 

 

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

I dont see why, all your doing is taking the top wishbone bolts out, someone as skilled as matt knows how much castor they need/want so he only needs do it once, not keep taking it off to try different shims. Taking the top 2 bolts out isnt hard when you know how and have the tools to make life easier. Maybe im just lucky and they undercharge everyone for geo's..

 

Ok I'll try.

 

- For a full geo setup the car comes in, off the floor, full check over, all bushes, ball joints, dampers etc. 

- Back down on the floor, measure ride heights, string the car up and record how the car is currently setup.

- Up in the air, wind off all the damper pre-loading and re-set (90% of the cars that I have had in the pre-loads have been set wrong)

- Set the front camber

- Set the ride height and rake

- Set the camber

- On the corner weights to verify that the pre-loading is correct and nothing bent etc (A couple of cars recently have had springs go weak and the car was sitting on two wheels)

- Set the front and rear bump steer base settings

- String up, check and adjust the front and rear camber

- Adjust the front and rear toe

- Road test number one - work out if the base toe settings are correct, checking the bump/roll steer is set correctly, feeling for damping characteristics.

- Back in, string up again, base settings will more than likely have changed (possibly not if on bearing bushes) and the steering wheel is most often is out. Re-set all of these.

- Additionally dampers settings may need to changed

- Road test number two - where all these changes correct, do all the variables feel right. 

- Back in string up once more to check.

 

That's what happens if everything goes smoothly. If I need to change bump steer front and/or rear then that needs a full string up again and reset the static toe. Do that a couple of times and the time really tics by.

 

The area I try and push is the individual setup. No one car leaves the workshop with the same setup. Also anyone can nick my static settings and put them on another car, but the car won't handle the same. I setup one car that has x spring rates, x roll bar, x wishbone bushes, x tyres and x intended use with certain settings, change one of those items and the geo needs to alter.

 

If you go from solid wishbone bushes to soft OE bushes some settings need to be exaggerated. If you use the car purely on the circuit other areas need to be different. Also as soon as you have bump steer adjustment then your static settings are meaningless because dynamically on the road they are completely different.

 

I can bang some camber and toe settings on a car really quickly and cheaply, but understanding the customers use, the cars spec and especially understanding dynamically what is happening with the chassis and setting it 'correctly' is what I try and do. 

 

So far I haven't had any complaints, I have had positive feedback. Some of the customers who have had their cars setup by me who previously had their cars at other specialists have commented how much better the car was after leaving me. I really don't want that to come out big headed as it isn't meant to, I am just explaining the cost and time implication. 

 

I also really enjoy working with customers, I want the customer to go away and drive the car and make sure it is right. For instance some customers don't like lots of castor when on the road and so I find a compromise. They may mean a few alterations after handing the car back which I am happy to do within reason. 

 

Hope some of that helps answer your question. 

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

Looks good. But it took a while to load. Even on my 60mb connection. Might be worth looking at he image sizes?

 

I'll talk to my web guy. Thanks 

[Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd]

My comments, intended to be constructive!

 

'Home' is merely images of some race cars.  What is the relevance of these?  It tells me nothing.  I know you've worked on two of them, if I didn't it could be a photography website.

 

'About us' is generic pap that tells me little.  "Matthew Bentley Racing Ltd supports owners, drivers, sponsors or entrants with professional racing team support", OK, you support people with support.

 

Tell us about yourself, a mini CV, notable successes, why you are passionate and why you believe you are better than the competition.  Don't try to be the 'big business' by avoiding talking about the individual, the business is 'Matt Bentley'.

 

Kimbolton may be near Huntingdon, but I don't kniow where Huntingdon is.  A little parochial.

 

I don't think the divisions between 'Motorsport' and 'Track and Performance' are well thought out.  I'll still need a geo if I am racing.  Perhaps to pander to the tight northerners above, call the 'full geo' a 'full chassis set up'

 

Sadly, Rob is correct and take up Graeme's offer and rewrite your content.  "Finding a good balance of compromise obviously needs careful consideration, the desire to have the fastest lap will preclude most if not all compromises. Fortunately owners often reach suitable compromise and discussion with ourselves can generally help to find the best mix of variables available.  

 

 

 

 

 

I'm hearing you. I was as you mentioned trying to get a balance. If I just worked with high end race cars then the website you look X and read like X, and if I just did track-day cars I would be very different. 

 

I will try and re-word some of the areas and add some more to the about us. 

 

Thank you, appreciate t. 

 

Matt

[chris_uk]

Ok i can see where the time goes now you explained it.. If people are happy to pay it then fair play. I will leave it at that.