Hi mate. Do you have any other pictures of the car on those wheels? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Picked the car up from Leeds on Friday. Unfortunately I've been away from home since then and on the drive home I had loads of rattly spare parts in the boot so didn't truly get to test the car's potential. Needless so say though, I could feel the difference that the extra 80bhp was making!
Good to see the car up and running again and in better form. Is that an air jack I can see in the photo above?
It's a QuickJack from https://www.quickjacklift.co.uk/ Basically two hydraulically powered ramps (uses automatic transmission fluid), one for each side of the car. Runs off a 12v supply (I use a car jump-start pack). In the early days of the product there were all sorts of issues with the connectors leaking etc. but when it was introduced to the UK market the UK distributors insisted on some changes to the connectors to achieve CE approval. The quick connects that they use now are pretty damn good. It's a really handy way to get all four wheels up in the air and it has a mechanical lock built in so theoretically you don't need axle stands (although I still position a couple of emergency stands if I'm properly under the car, just in case).
That looks exactly what I could do with, the price seems good as well [emoji1303] I'm with you on the axle stands I do that if I jack the car up and get underneath, nothing wrong with a fail safe Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's been a very useful investment so far - also the UK distributor is in Fleet so not far from me (or you if my memory is right) and they're an excellent bunch to deal with.
Yesterday I was at Snetterton giving the car a bit of a shakedown test before heading out to the Nurburgring at the end of the month. Engine ran sweetly all day - the only 'issue' with the car was slightly disappointing performance from the brakes - going to strip them down to check for pad glazing and give them a bleed too. Few pics from the paddock - I'll add circuit photos as and when they get posted.
A package arrived yesterday from Royal Steering Wheels: I'd picked up an R26 wheel on eBay for about £30 and sent it off to Jack. 1 week later and £150 worse off this is the result: I asked for the wheel to be 2mm thicker, done in black alcantara with red stitching and a red centre band. This is the 2nd wheel I've had done by Jack @ Royal Steering Wheels and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him or use him again - very communicative guy and good workmanship. Will post more pics when I fit it (hopefully tomorrow).
Steering wheel fitted plus a few other cosmetic mods (black door handles and pillars, red badges, Maxton splitter)
Cheers - the photos were taken by Jochem at Frozenspeed - he's ridiculously good! Car went well - 2 wet days and I'm still learning both car and track but definitely didn't embarrass ourselves! Cheers guys. Haha, thanks Charlie. It's been a longer journey than anticipated, but great to finally be able to use her properly. Sounds really good with your exhaust system fitted!
A few photos from Rockingham on Friday. This was the first time I'd driven Rockingham in anger, we were on the long sportscar configuration. A well run day on a really good circuit - enjoyed the track much more than I expected. Surprised a few other cars too, the R26 definitely held her own!
On the hottest June day since 1976, what better way to spend the day than at Bedford Autodrome trashing around their GT circuit. I'd been in two minds about signing up for this day - I'd got the time booked off work but had images of driving around cones on a really bumpy concrete runway. After a quick look on Youtube it turns out I'm a dickhead - the circuit at Bedford is excellent; smooth tarmac, big run offs and an interesting mix of bends along with a big old back straight. This was probably one of the most sociable track days I'd been on - really good to meet @eddie ninja along with a load of other good blokes. Only one red flag all day, and that happened at 16:40, just before the track was due to close anyway. Driving standards were good on the whole - a couple of Porsches were a little unwilling to move over, but nothing exceptionally bad. The car ran well all day and I got progressively faster, although I'm sure I could've taken the fast chicane and the final bend quicker if my balls were larger. Still, I clocked a 2:57.02 when the track cleared toward the end of the day. Video below (already kicking myself for not using the full width of the track and turning in too early!).
Good to meet you too. Cracking track. And your car looks and sounds proper. I'd go again tomorrow if I could!
Cheers pal. First things first - get it through it's MOT in 4 weeks' time. The only other confirmed date in it's diary is Destination Nurburgring in August; 2 day track day at the ring. I've got a refurbed set of swivel hubs to fit, also going to do engine mounts and start to think about polybushes. Battery relocation to the boot is still on my to-do list also. I don't want to go chasing more power just yet - it's already surprisingly rapid on the straights and the engine has already cost me a fortune! So yeah, in short, tighten up a few of the older rubbery bits and enjoy the rest of trackday season!
Sounds like a good plan for it. You can get a lot out of them by stripping weight and doing basic mods to braking and bushes, etc
Swapped the sports cat into my car in preparation for mot time. Thanks to the modular system built by @cgrautomotive this took less than 30 minutes.
That's a great idea moving the cat to a more accessible place. I remember asking k-tec about their system and they said you need to remove the drive shaft to get to it which put me off going down the de cat route. Good to see you enjoyed Bedford, I'm going to book a day there soon I've got a 10% discount for an MSV day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah, this was a big reason I swapped my ktec system for a cgr one. Bedford surprised me if I'm honest - a properly enjoyable track. Have fun!
Fucking Photobucket have ruined this thread for now - I'll swap the pics over to somewhere else and update when possible.
Photobucket is crap, it's so slow and full of ads. I normally upload photos direct from my phone through Tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
MOT passed today, courtesy of @cgrautomotive 's sports cat and Mike @Rentech Portsmouth coding out my missing airbags\pretensioners.
Didn't realise rentech could do that, might have to speak to them about deleting my side impact sensors Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not updated this in a while, but any spare time over the last few weeks has been spent getting the car in shape for Destination Nurburgring, a 2 day track day on Monday and Tuesday next week at the ring. I got a pair of new R888r's fitted - my fronts were totally bald after the last outing at Bedford, bought new brake pads for the front in anticipation of getting through my remaining friction material pretty quickly, installed a custom smaller washer bottle in an effort to make space for brake ducting (air con shit is still in the way - that's getting removed over winter!), did an oil change and fitted an oil cooler at the same time. I'd been getting 130 degrees of oil temp after two hot laps of Bedford (it was a scorching hot day) so figured an oil cooler was required. Bought an automotive plumbing solutions kit off JJC Race & Rally - Dave there was really helpful when it came to getting the right fittings etc. Hardest part wad removing my old sandwich plate and installing a new one - top tip; remove the slam panel. Even if you only move it forward by 6 inches it makes the job literally 50x easier! Cooler is mounted to the crash bar with pipes running through a pre-existing gap above the radiator.
I've also purchased a small 1L washer bottle to do the same thing......less weight and make way for brake ducting. Pure motorsport do an air con delete kit. Loving the oil cooler, will be interesting to see what difference it makes. Have fun at the Ring [emoji1303] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Cheers guys. That pure motorsport air con delete kit is on my winter shopping list (which is getting ever more expensive!!). Hoping for 2 dry days at the ring and some decent videos to share!
I like the look of that, My clio has an oil cooler but I dont think this car has one so will get one ordered up, is it possible to share what the parts cost and which parts need to be ordered?
