Someone liked my car so much, they decided to take a closer look with the front of theirs :(As I’m at no fault, it shouldn’t be too much of a pain to get it sorted out. Fingers crossed it’s not a write off!
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What a joke of a letter. “You’ve done something bad, but we wont tell you what, but make sure you don’t do it again”. Cheers for the heads up. I’ll be more careful not to do that thing that I did, whatever it may be.
Read MoreIt was Sanj’s birthday last week so to celebrate a whole load of us went to watch the A1GP at Brands Hatch. I’ve never seen a proper motorsport event before and tbh I doubt I could have chosen a better day to change that fact. The great thing was it wasn’t just the A1GP cars racing on the day, they had the Britcars out for a proper race, Formula 3000, Formula Palmer, Ginettas, Heritage Cars and a couple more.
The A1GP cars sounded absolutely amazing. I’ve never heard anything like it in my life. The pops and crackles on the over run and the enormous roar as they pass by at full throttle. We managed to walk around nearly 3/4ths of the track so we got to experience the race from different view points which was a great plus. I especially enjoyed watching the Britcars race. They had a couple of Ferrari’s, an Exige, an RX7, some other marques and loads of Porsches running. There was an old Porsche 939 that managed to come first after starting in 17th!
You can see all my photos here: A1GP Gallery Link
Driving home on Friday there was a loud bang and jolt to the side as I was coming off a big three lane round-about at 40mph. I stopped up and the rear diver side was now sitting a good two inches lower and running -20 camber. Thankfully I was only a mile from home so I managed to limp home although any bump or hole sent a spine wrenching sound through the car :cry:
I managed to find time to get the car in the air and inspect the rear suspension to find the camber bolt on the rear had sheered. Pretty nasty stuff. To add insult to injury it looks like the opposite bolt has siezed to the metal insert on the bolt. God knows how I’m going to get it off. Some people on the forums are saying my only option is to hack off both ends :S I’ll have to get on the blower tomorrow and see if I can get them to send me a replacement set of bolts. I’m just thankful it’s not my Teins that had exploded :P
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This year we went karting for our Christmas do. I’ve never been before but that didn’t stop me mouthing off in the weeks running up to the event that I was going to claim victory! I was pretty exhausted come the day though as I was so tired from the drive down from Scotland the day before and was still feeling pretty worse for wear from my cold, but that didn’t stop me putting up a good fight. The format was a quick 15 minute qualifying session, followed by two 20 minute races. During the races I felt at a real weight disadvantage as I was struggling to keep up with the front runners. The only way I could gain ground was in the corners. In the end I came third out of 18, after my boss who’d been plenty of times before and Colin who used to have his own cart. So for a first timer I’m pretty chuffed I managed to get into the top three. I’m especially proud of my trophy. Being bronze means I look like I’ve been Han Soloed!
The karting bug has already bitten the office. I think we’re going to try and go again in Feb! I can’t wait!
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I got my car back after it being away at the garage for two weeks. Turned out the loud knocking was coming from worn top mounts on my HKS Hipermax II coilovers. No big deal, I’ll order some new mounts which sohuldn’t be a problem until HKS Europe and Japan tell you the top mounts are now discontinued. The toss up for replacements were between Tein Flex and Super Drift (Previously known as HEs). Sumo Power said I’d find the Flex was too soft coming from the Hipermax, so I opted for the Super Drifts. Even though the spring rates are a lot harder (10/8kg) compared to (8/6kg) on the HKS’, the dampening is in another league so bumps and holes no longer feel harsh but well masked.
The car also had some sub-frame colars fitted while it was in, so now the car just corners and corners and corners. I’m getting some understeer now, but I’m hoping I can get that dialed out when the alignment is re-done. I may try making the rear a littler harder for the time being to see if that helps.
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