Sam's build thread

[metalhead]

I think you're doing very well, especially considering what you're up against! Watched the video you put up at Tamworth, the car and your driving look good. I should've realised that for the Hillclimb championship it would need to be arranges as an actual hillclimb rather than a flying lap... That'll explain the time differences.

[sambb]

Do you mean you did the 3 lap sprint format at Tamworth. Graham was telling us about that, that looks a good little event. So you head out of the gate straight onto the circuit, do 3 laps and your quickest lap time gets posted. That would be fun. How many times do you head out for the 3 laps at the event? I must admit at the end of my run it was very tempting to take that last corner! ha ha Yeah who knows what it would do to lap time comparisons cos I have no idea where the start/finish is for that event, mine was timed one corner short of a full lap and I do a standing start versus a flying lap.

[metalhead]

Yeh, did the 3 lap sprint, had 4 runs (plus another 4 practice on the Saturday). Two cars on track at any time. Start/finish where the overhead building is on the main straight. Head out of the pits straight ahead onto the main straight, 3 laps, then exit the track in the same spot you were entering and exiting, after most of a lap of cool down. I enjoyed it! I prefer that to a hillclimb arrangement to be honest, gives you a chance to push the limits and try different approaches on different corners. All positions/results based on your single fastest lap of 12.

[sambb]

Yeah we may go back up for that event next year some time. I'm absolutely addicted to hilclimbs at the moment. I love the whole challenge of needing a perfect run with so many things you have to get right under really tough conditions (cold tyres - cold brakes - a bit of pressure and the start line launch) and its just so competitive with the times just so close its ridiculous. You just can't do a cheaper form of competitive motorsport I don't think. I'm not that attracted to track day type stuff cos to be honest I can't afford the brakes and tyres and I'd rather do the competitive stuff, but doing 3 lap timed sprints definitely sounds good and within the realms of what I'd be able to afford in terms of car abuse - Tamworth looks like a reasonably safe track too in case you come unstuck.
You should check out the Whiteline tarmac rally sprint series that takes place over summer. There's lots of vids on youtube. That a good'n and not too much of a drive down from Newcastle. 5 X 3.5km tarmac course runs through the carparks and grounds and access road of the eastern ck dragway with a co driver under rally regs. Come to think of it cos you have your L2S license you'd be eligible to run and could co-drive which is free to do.

[sambb]

So now that I'll be blowing all my kitty on coilovers, I've revisted the K03s mods and parked the turbo upgrade I was toying with. So I will get a new CHRA into it soon (or maybe use Seans if it has no play and isn't haemoraging oil) and chuck it back in with the ported manifold and turbosmart wastegate actuator.
So the pics above show the end result of removing the turbo muffler. It basically resembles a K04 compressor housing now. There's absolutely no step change as it moves into the straight pipe (which there was with the canister) and should flow better. Who knows what it'll sound like with no muffler but the main thing is it may improve flow a little. Looking up the muffler in the direction of air travel the air would come round the bend and shoot directly into those baffles in the canister. To my eyes that would have mangled flow so hopefully there's some sort of improvement. My mate who welded it for me rolled a nice bead into the top of the pipe too and said it welded beautifully so should be strong as. Should look a hell of a lot neater, the canister won't press/wear into the TIP as it did before and maybe just maybe i'll have created a new spot in the engine bay where a hand can actually fit into somewhere useful.

[sambb]

I just got an email from the NSW Hillclimb Championship panel. Rejoice rejoice they are going to change the classes next year to fall fully into line with the other CAMS regulated bodies. Road registered is one of the classes that will get a rejig. So instead of 0-2500cc and >2500cc (which is my class and just a way for blown V8's to smash all before them), they will be changing it into 3 classes of 0-2000cc, 2001cc-4000cc and >4001cc.
The bonus of that is that i'll be competitive at all events, not just banking everything on 1 or 2 events out of the 8, but the disadvantage is that I can't think of many cars that would even be in my class because to date its always been split into 2WD and 4WD. If its going to be an all drivelines class though that would be cool cos then I'd be in with EVO's, WRX's, Golf R's etc. One thing is for sure mmmracer over on the Skoda forum needs to make a come back with his 2 time <2.5L championship winning Fabia VRS so we can go head to head in the new 2-4L class. C'mon Matt!!!

Now I could do what these guys did and build an oversquare 1170cc block for the 20V 1.8T head which makes an equivalent capacity of 2000cc and dominate the bottom class with 370hp: VAG 1170cc Turbo 370Hp Dyno 4x4 KMS MD35 Blip / Powershift / ALS testing - YouTube, or stroke it to 2.1L and be near the top of the 2-4L class with an equivalent capacity of 3.6L. Sponsors?

edit: just got clarification. all the road registered classes will be "all drivelines classes" so 4WD, 2WD and everything in between as long as it has rego papers and engineers certificates for an mods that are a bit outrageous.

edit 2: actually now I'm worried. someone will probably enter a screaming 4.0L V8 Audi S4

[metalhead]

Interesting... My other car (pulled apart for paint at the moment) is an MG Midget with a supercharged 1330cc, would end up in that class too I guess.

Turbocharger modifications look good.

I have vids (including in car) of the event at Tamworth on YouTube if you wanted to get an idea what it was like.

[sambb]

Nice. there's a couple of little midgets and sprites that I've seen with blown engines on the hillclimb circuit. They look sick. Yeah I'll hunt for the vid. You can still have road reg and enter in a more favourable class if you get it log booked though - like marque sports or something like that.
I'm a bit special for sure. Now that they look like they'll lock in a 2000cc capped class I'm reading up on NA versions of my engine. I mean really who doesn't want quad throttle bodies poking out through the grille.

[metalhead]

I haven't specifically looked at the NSW Hillclimb classes but most of the time adding non-factory forced induction pushes a car out of Marque Sports, and basically means Improved Prod/Type3 (with an inlet restrictor) or sports sedans/type 4. Or a catchall street car class... Like the Vette it is purely a nice street car, wire wheels and all, but should still be decently quickish.

A search for "1979 Corvette Tamworth" should pop up the videos. There's some in the rain on the Saturday (practice) too.

A tough n/a engine in your Polo would be cool! Forced induction is generally a fair bit faster, but driving a tough n/a engine is a different and imo very enjoyable experience.

[metalhead]

My entry for next weekend was accepted too. See you there!