MK1 GOLF RACE CAR (Rebuild)

looking good Nick can I have a look around this when I pick the pedal box up?

 

Unfortunately its gone for paint but the other race is in.

 

Went to see how the car's getting on and drop a few parts off yesterday. The bodywork is looking good.

 

Cheers for the parts Nick your MK1 coming along nicely now, hope your latest "secret Weapon" works out ok!!

 

Whats the latest Nick how are things progressing?

 

When are you out Nick?
Hope it is all coming together

 

Good news is the car is almost there now. The bad news is John will not let me run in the VAG trophy! To much power and not enough weight apparently. Not even allowed in invitational class.

The other bad news is i fell over on Thursday and have fractured my shoulder , so i out for a little while anyway. Gutted!

Sam, hope your almost there now? I'll pop over and see you on the brands meet.

 

Some old racing photos......mainly to inspire me to finish the car and get back out there

 

Any other series you can enter Nicholas?

 

Could go back to the DMN (Now QMN) but the series isn't great. The entry for this season is shocking, only 13 driver for the first race. I did enjoy myself last year and had some great racing but really wanted to race against more like minded people. i.e the vag guys.

 

That's a shame Nick as the car looks like it's going to be great. Must be a series out there to run in although it seems like a really tight year out there.

The Welsh Hillclimb and Sprint Championship only has 22 entries this year and the 22nd is me! I'll not be out till later in the season so will probably not be able to do enough events to defend the my Championship win from last year although with about half the entries it makes you wonder if it's worth going out!

 

Right, progress on the car has been slow BUT it will be finished for Gti International and will be there for the whole weekend.

We fitted the SQS shifter today, looks and feels like a great bit of kit. Only took half hour to fit but i'm sure it will take some fiddling to get working nicely. Very clever how it works, lots of cogs!!!

No Photos i'm afraid and all the progress is on individual elements and nothing complete yet. The head has been built up now and the bottom end stripped, checked and rebuilt with new parts where needed. Everything was spot on bottom end wise, which is great as it has done almost two years since its original build. The old valves were showing signs of wear so its lucky i decided to upgrade them really.

Not really sure what these engines can rev to, hoping the ferrea valves and uprates springs and retainers should take it safely to 8000rpm. I will leave it up to the mappers to sort out where to set the rev limit, nice to know its could take some abuse if there was an early down change.

Roll cage has had the additional door bar added to comply with the MSA regulations, . The scrutineers were getting a bit funny about us not having them last year so i've had them put in. More weight and harder to get in and out now but happy for the sacrifice for safety. its more of a requirement for modern cars where the windscreen angle is low, so more reinforcement in the cage is required. Not really needed on a mk1 where the screen is almost at a 90 to the bonnet!!!

As soon as i've got some photos i'll put them up as pictures are so much better the me writing rubbish.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing everyone at inters, i'll be up Sunday car will be up all weekend on display. Make sure you come say hello is you coming up, its nice to put faces to forum names.

 

The red arrow is pointing at where the new bar should be really but its almost pointless putting it there as its so close to the existing windscreen upright bar.

 

Hey Nick.
Hows the shoulder?
Nice to hear the car is nearly done.

I am surprised you need the extra windscreen bar. I thought that was for cages with 2 bends in the 'windscreen' tube...? Yours only has one, doesn't it?



Shame you cannot run in the VAG! What are your lap times compared to the Seat's?
How about the Tin top series.... 'Cannons tin tops' is it? I know a few drivers in there, I reckon you and the car will do well.
Brands Indy result from the other day: http://www.tsl-timing.com/barc/2012/121621ctt.pdf
Dave Clark has a beast of a Renault 5 that is doing 56.4 second laps and qualified 2nd behind a focus RS doing 54's.

Quaife/Motorsport news championship has some faster cars in it.... 51/52 second laps of the indy circuit.

 

Shoulders much better mate, thanks for asking. Hows your mk1?

Yup your right but the scrutineers always question it so i thought i'd just put it in. Plus i spend far to much time watching crash clips on youtube so got really concious about safety!

 

I got down to hi 54's but that was with the old set up (230bhp, 205 tyres and 285mm brakes). Now 450bhp, 235 tyres and massive touring car AP brakes. So i'd like to think with a good driver it could do a 52. What you reckon?

 

Sounds about right to me, maybe better!! 450bhp That thing is going to be such a rocket Nick, and those brakes are going to rip your face off!
Brands won't flatter all that power either, so you should be even better on the bigger circuits I suppose

54's round Brands is pretty quick! I think my best is a 57.8

I know what you mean about safety, I must have watched the same videos... The front half of my cage is currently out, and I'm putting new cross door bars in with gussets. Tempted to put a 3mm plate over the top too.... who cares about a few Kg's, it could save your hips and MAN bits! I would like to tag bars onto the sill, but regs say 6-point only. Oh, and added roof bars maybe...
I want to add a 4Kg extinguisher too, with more nozzles. They always say an extinguisher only buys you time, but I want one to put the bloody fire out!!!

Money is my issue, as with most people. I will be out at Oulton in July, even if I have to borrow more.

This is a scary one to share. it cartwheeled a couple of times, ruptured the tank, and took out a marshal post. My Dad built him another and he went racing again! 4kg extinguisher I say!


Hope the car comes together nicely

 

This is it on the scrap heap. I was always a bit shocked when I was younger looking at this wreck because the driver had bent the steering wheel like a pringle during the accident! Better than bending your arms I suppose!

 

Exactly! whats a few bloody kilos. Your right about the extinguisher too, are cars are the cars built to crash but fire is a different matter. i races without nomex underwear last year, MAD! was actually angry at myself when i thought back on it. i'm going to buy full underwear for racing now.

The seatsport toledo is a lovely safe car, cage is so special and massive fire extinguisher with nozzle's everywhere.

I've also added more bars under the engine bay, with 450bhp weight is not so much of a problem.

Looking at be results, how do you think you'll slot in this year? many new comers?

 

Do you race a Toledo sometimes?

Yeah, I should get some nomex underwear too. It is obligatory in Europe isn't it.

There is a Seat Ibeza in Class B that is going very well 1.8T. His laptimes where close to mine at Snetterton last year, but I am not sure if it has developed since. Looking at lap times, he is 1.2 faster than the 16v golfs during the race, which is where I should be too really. I got there by the end of last year, so it could be close between us.

Have you got any on-board footage? If we are ever at the same event I'll lend you my Camera.