Ross Nicol
GT40s Supporter
Well it was a close call as the new motor was dynoed last tuesday for the meeting at the weekend. As usual nothing goes as smoothly as you think it will and a small problem showed up with the Motec sync signal. Actually it disappeared completely and I had sequential injection firing fuel in any cylinder it wanted to, having lost it's ability to recognize number 1. Needless to say it didn't run very well. We fixed it but didn't get to bed until 3am on friday morning.The sync wire had pulled out of the 36 way ECU connector. I'm ashamed to say this fault can be traced back to when I first got the car running, I damaged the connector and bought a new one but hadn't fitted it, enough said on that I reckon. Now it was running and Idling well so after a final brake bleed on Friday arvo I went to put some fuel in, during which I accidentally dropped some pvc tape in the tank. It was a relieved Ross that retrieved the tape through the sender and baffle holes. Made it to Sandown on Sat morning and felt confident all was ok. During the first 15min practice I got to experience the power and torque of the new motor, wow! tacho shooting round to 7000 rpm in no time and fast. About at this time I started to realize the brakes were'nt to good and I was having to brake at 200m and only just getting the speed down low enough to turn into the corner. Next was qualifying and I set a disappointing time due to the early braking and getting used to the power. The first race in the afternoon was after a heavy shower and the race controller let us come in and change to wets.I really didn't go as well as I normally do in the wet as I was still unsure what the extra power may do, call it a little lack of confidence.On Sunday morning I decided to try and buy some new brake pads from Coxy who sells motorsport spares from his truck. He had some Hawke fronts that weren't quite right but with a little mod they fitted. I had to do the first race with the old pads while the new ones were modified but they were in for the 2nd race.Boy They worked well however with no chance to bed them in apart from a warm up lap. I was concerned with the smell they generated during the race. So I had better brakes but the rotors were warped and I had to put up with confidence sapping pedal vibration. On to the final race and I was starting to enjoy the power with confidence returning in the brakes. I tried to stay with a bunch of cars lapping about a sec quicker than me but I fell away still having to brake early due to poor balance and the bouncing pedal.However I came home in ninth place and in front of one Porsche with a time equal to my best at Sandown 1min 20.6sec so not really disappointed. Next upgrade is brakes. It's looking good for the future guys.
Ross
Ross