Brands testing and racing this weekend

This coming weekend we have our first round of the year now that the snetterton even was canceled. In fact we have a double header and on top of that I am also testing this coming Friday at Brands Hatch. Now that we have the car running, we spent most of the weekend refitting panels and auxiliary components. I almost forgot to refit the heat protection between the driver and engine which could have created a rather hot test for Friday despite the poor weather forecast! Unlike Tim, the focus was really on just getting the car back together in its original state but we did improve a couple of items in a very small way to make it easier to work on in the future. Not quite in Tim's league where his rebuilt became almost a completely new car, but we did some!!!!!

We have slightly modified the end layout of the exhaust to minimise the reflection increase for noise testing as well as making it easier for the noise tester to see where the exit is and therefore where to place the noise meter. The pipe will now exit where the top light cluster sat on the passenger side. The extra length is all thanks to a V8 landrover. The exhaust is now repacked and it will be interesting to see what noise reading we get. The details for the testing at Brands include, for the first time, a notice that we will all be noise tested. Oh how the complaints from a very small minority can have an effect on thousands of people!

One item that we noticed when getting the car back to working order but not related to the snetterton race was a bent top wishbone on the drivers front corner. We have swapped this out to the spare, a nice and simple process on this new car and the only thing that needs double checking is the camber setting. Of course the camber is a simple in place adjustment in itself.

This weekend will also be the first run out for the new race support van / motorhome so that will be fun, staying in the paddock with the rest of the racers and having somewhere to change, freshen-up and relax.