Engine Running !!!!!!

Finally she runs!!!

The plan for today was to check the cam sensor rota which was had swapped to make use of the changed position from the 2000 model and to check the crank sensor setup to see if that had changed in the 2005 design. With some diagnosis from Brian and some comparison and logic deciphering from John and Tony, we swapped the crank position disc over from the 2000 model, moved the engine to Top Dead Centre and then positioned the Cam session rota to a position half way between the 2000 and 2005 model locations. It would seem there are quite a few differences between the 2000 and 2005 models. We had experience from Brian around the differences between the 2000 and 2004 models but Kawasaki have changed the generator, cam rota sensor position, crank position disc and probably a few other items I have probably forgotten about. Any way after a week of uncertainty we now have a car that runs, and have warmed it all through for some considerable time to check for oil and water leaks, of which there are none. All we have to do now is to put all of the panels and other items together and try to do a test of everything before the race in 3 weeks time.

Round 1 - Snetterton

We went to Snetterton with high hopes after winter testing and fired up for a pair of races. I had entered in for the Allcomers race on the Saturday and the RGB race for the Sunday. Saturday was changeable in weather but stayed dry for the allcomers qualify and race with Sunday forecast to be wet.

Allcomers race on Saturday.
We all went out for the qualify session and there were cars everywhere. The nature and fun of an allcomers race is the variety of cars but it does make the qualify session very tricky. For the first couple of laps I just gently made my way around, be careful with the new car and picking my way through the traffic, just behind Paul. In the paddock, I must have knocked the driver side mirror as it collapsed on the outlap, making it hard to see behind. As we came out of Russels three laps in, the engine sounded and felt a little flat and I could not keep up with Paul's acceleration. As I came up to the entry for the back straight, I turned my head around to look behind, compensating for the lack of rear mirror and noticed a lot of smoke. Strangely there was no drop in oil pressure so I wondered if it was engine or a tyre rubbing. I came off the racing line and slowed considerable and brought it back around to the pitlane. As I stopped in the pit lane I could see loads of oil dripping from the engine compartment. Opps!

Engine Issue
Once back at the trailer we set about the task of trying to find the hole in the engine where the oil had escaped. It took a while but we eventually found a small hole just above the clutch on the main block. It would seem that the clutch basket had exploded and a small piece had entered the engine and ricocheted off something and exited the block, followed by quite a bit of the oil.

The hole was low down in the block and the oil had just sprayed out into the engine bay without making a major drop in pressure. Of course once I stopped in the pitlane, it all drained out through the holes in the undertray! Sorry to anyone who found the oil on the circuit.

One saving grace is that Andy (AB Performance) had brought along my spare engine to this race so we did have some hope but this was going to be a touch challenge as we had zero experience of engine changes in this new car. As it would turn out, its quite a different story compared to a blade engine change in a class C car.

We spend the afternoon stripping the car down and trying to work out the plan for the installation of the new engine, made a little more complicated by the replacement engine being a 2005 model compared to the 2000 we were taking out.

As there were small pieces of metal flying around the engine, we had a major task to clean up any items there were needed to transplant into the new installation, the most complicated of which were the dry sump components. We headed home on Saturday night and spent 3 hours in the garage with parafin and an air compressor cleaning out the sump pan, dry sump pump and tank, along with all of the pipework.

Sunday Race
On a very wet Sunday morning, we were joined by Andy from AB Performance and Brian and Ian from BDN to start the install. Looking back on the situation now, we were attempting a fairly impossible task of doing a complete installation of a new engine model whilst at the track side. We completed a number of items but decided by mid afternoon just pack up and retire to the garage and do things in a more relaxed and controlled environment. Unfortunately for all of the competitors on the day and although it did not seem so at the time, quite fortunate for me, the weather was so bad that the entire race day was called off, with the final decision being made at lunch time. It would have been good to see how well the new wet pattern tyre performed but this was we are all still on zero points.

Replacement Week
I will outline in a separate post the items we had to change over and the steps to diagnose the new engine transplant, but the short story is that we spent the entire week trying to get the engine components swapped over, built up, installed, wired and plumbed in. The engine did not want fire once we had all of the required items installed and so started the debugging process for the new engine process being mated to the existing 2000 loom and ECU. The newer models have quite a few electronics to get around to run in the race car, such as power limiters in the lower gears and a speed limited in 6th. With little time to spend in the garage during the later part of the week and a number of failed attempts to get the car powered up, we were left a little deflated. The engine was getting fuel and seemed to be sparking but was just producing lots of back fires with the timing appearing to be miles off.

Quick F1 Practice Link

A 5 mins extract from the Friday Practice sessions for the Australian GP for those of us in the UK that did not have any TV coverage last night. From the excellent Axis of Oversteer blog.

Much Oversteer from Axis of Oversteer * on Vimeo.

In-Car Video setup working.

The bullet camera and Neuros solid state video recorder are installed and finally working in the car. Many thanks for Tim H for the suggested setup and to the 'Posh' in Posh'n'BECs Birket team, Mr Neil C.B for the loan of a 4 pole mini jack to Phono cable to replace the faulty item that Maplins supplied.

Here is the very quick test. Subsequent videos should be longer and considerably more interesting!

Telemetry Analysis - Just 4 days to go!!!!

So with just 4 days to go before the first 2008 RGB race and 3 days before the Allcomers which will be my first race of the year, the car is sitting in the garage almost ready to roll.The BDN between Riches and Sear. Thanks once again to Jamie for the photos.

The focus of work over the winter has been to get the car to fit me and provide the right feedback to help me to reach its limits. We so far have not worked on improving the overall speed of the car with the exception of getting the weight distribution, ride height and brake setup to suit me. The Palm is now installed and working on the dash and this weekend I will be able to test out Tim's new software for the sector timing. All we have left to complete is the installation of some new bonnet catches and the new bullet camera although this is playing up at the moment and may need to be sent back for a replacement which will mean we won't have a video for the racing this weekend which is sad. The bonnet catches are just to stop the rear rub from moving backwards at high speed and fouling the tyres. The relaxed run up to the start of the season, unlike Tim's situation, has enabled me to reflect upon the winter testing and look at the telemetry from the DL1.

The telemetry shows a noticeable improvement in speed throughout the lap due to the focus on ride height and brakes along side increased seat time.

In the following telemetry trace you can see the fastest lap from the pre-Christmas test in black and one of my quicker complete laps in red from the most recent test, both at snetterton in very similar weather.Telemetry track comparing laps from the last two tests at Snetterton

The second trace is a zoomed in section focusing on the run up to Riches and then leading on to Sears. Here you can see the improved braking and less understeer from the first apex onwards which helps me to get on the power earlier and run a faster exit. Boy thats becoming a quick corner with a mid corner speed of 97mph, but although the improvement is quite evident on the trace, it only made a 10th of a second difference!

Telemetry trace for Riches corner

An additional 0.4 of a second is gained from a better run out of Sear and down the back straight. I don't think this has been effected by the changes to the car, instead I think the improvement is based on increased time in the car and getting used to the turn in characteristics and learning how to be smooth on the throttle with the vastly increased torque of the ZX12 engine. The slide characteristics of the BDN are quite different to the Fury of last year and in the first test I was just concentrating on understanding how to use the mid engined layouts different weight transfer to improve the turn in and apex accuracy. With this latest test, I could help the car to turn with the weight of the rear and then balance before the apex, focus on the apex with small steering adjustments and then be ready to control the exit line with the throttle as soon as I had the line for the apex correct. Mind you this all happens quite quickly so it will be interesting to analyse the consistency with which I can replicate this in the race situation

Sear and the back straight at Snetterton

The main chunk of time with this latest test has been under braking for the Esses and the run through there to the exit of the Bomb hole. Some 0.8 of a second from this sector alone and its quite plain that the later and harder braking through the left hand turn of the Esses, a later turn in which results in a better acceleration run up to the bomb hole and a slight brush of the brake with my left foot rather than a complete lift keeps the red trace of above the previous black trace almost all the way through this sector.

The Esses and Bomb Hole corners