Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Lazydocker on 22 September 2012, 23:06:38

Title: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: Lazydocker on 22 September 2012, 23:06:38
...trying to watch some club level racing at Brands.

My employee in Kent is part of the team that race at club level in a Fiesta. He wanted the day off so I was on call but invited to the day with full paddock access :y To be fair, I am (now) a sponsor although I get it for free :y I have agreed to pay for the fuel at the next meet though :y

Anyway... Turned up at 8 this morning and managed to keep my hands in my pockets for about 40 mins ::) Then I started helping ;D It's running a 1600 OHC engine on 4 Suzuki GSXR Carbs. They've just fitted a new clutch and lightened (by 4.5Kgs) flywheel. There's plenty more but anyway... Got it off the trailer, checked it over and then on a short test drive it was obvious the clutch was slipping ::) After a little digging I managed to discover that they hadn't adjusted the cable since the change (completed 2 days ago ;)) so sorted that  :y

We passed scrutineering and sound checks so chilled and watched some racing...  Caterhams, Radicals, sprint cars... Great fun, especially as we were strolling around the paddock and pits :y

Just as it was time for practice and qualifying I got a job in Caterham so had to shoot off  >:( Managed to get it sorted and get back 5 mins before the first race :y First lap was going well, 2nd... Nowhere to be seen ::) Ended up losing all drive (fuel pump feed failed) and getting punted off ::) Why is it always a BMW :-X ::)

Finally get the car back and we had 15 mins to get it ready to race :o Sorted the dodgy fuel pump feed (after giving way all sorts of trade secrets :-X) so we had 5 mins to secure the bodywork and exhaust (which had objected to the trip across the grass) so we were cracking on... Another job ::) Missed the race but we did get him on track and it went well :y  I have been invited again :y
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: albitz on 22 September 2012, 23:15:57
Sounds like a good day out.I do love Brands,and you often see some great racing on the lower rungs of the ladder. :y
Used to do recovery at Brands & Lydden for the international Rallycross meets,had some great times and had the best seat in the house when the cars were on track. :)
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: feeutfo on 22 September 2012, 23:17:11
Good stuff. Where did they finish in the end?

Great place to watch racing. Horrible place to compete, nauseous in fact. :(
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: Lazydocker on 22 September 2012, 23:33:01
I was on the pit wall for the first race :y Well 4 laps of it until we realised he wasn't going to appear again and thought we should find him, especially as his (pregnant) wife was getting a little concerned ::)

Not sure how he placed in the second race... I know he smoked the BMW that punted him off (bearing in mind he started from the back) and almost beat the Evo he out qualified for race 1 :y

TBH, they are racing on a very small budget and have pretty much the slowest car in class... Brands is just too wide for it to be competitive ::)

I did get asked for my input and advice on improving the performance so made a couple of small suggestions, one of which was to put a dedicated cold air feed to the carbs as they're currently drawing hot air from around the engine ::)
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: albitz on 22 September 2012, 23:36:20
A good cold feed may make a decent improvemnet.They probably had a lot of col air forced in by the ram air on the bike they came off,unless it was a very old bike. Potentially quite a few horses to be unleashed by that I would think. :y
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: feeutfo on 22 September 2012, 23:42:31
And then get it dyno'd and set up correctly. :)
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: dbug on 22 September 2012, 23:47:42
Used to love driving Brands in the "S" back in the late 60s :)
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: Lazydocker on 22 September 2012, 23:48:28
I did say that the cold feed would make a big difference ;)

As for the dyno... Can't see that happening soon due to budget and new baby due in a couple of months. They were set up on a dyno when fitted  :y
Title: Re: Today I have been mostly...
Post by: dbug on 23 September 2012, 00:00:57
I did say that the cold feed would make a big difference ;)

As for the dyno... Can't see that happening soon due to budget and new baby due in a couple of months. They were set up on a dyno when fitted  :y

Good luck with it - interesting to see the use of  4 Suzuki GSXR Motorbike Carbs on a 1600 OHC motor.  I ran my 1293 "S" for a while on 4 Amal Carburetters - chucked out more power than 2 twin choke webers.