I have started preparing the car for racing. I will be racing
the car in the FINE CARS class. This class is for Marquee car that are
registered and licensed for road use. The Club encourages competitors to
drive their cars to and from the circuit. The range of cars entered is
MG's, Morgan's , Mini Coopers, Ford Capri, BMW 2002, Volvo B122, Alfa Romeo
GTV’s Lancia's and many more. This car will be one of two transaxle Alfa's
entered.
The time correction method is used in this class of racing. The last couple of laps are usually the most enjoyable, as all the competitors are in close proximity to each other and things get a bit hectic. The aim is for all competitors to cross the finish line at the same. This makes for a lot of fun to be had by all. Because the cars racing in this class are on the expensive or rare side the drivers are careful in not damaging them.
Planned Modifications:
At this stage I have not modified anything on the car. Depending on the times I will be setting around the circuits I may start changing a couple of things. The first thing I will look at is the suspension. The things I will change are the front torsion bars and the rear coils. The shocks will be next and then the anti roll bars. There after I will look at the brakes, possible changes are the front calipers. The BMW 530i 4 pot ATE front calipers bolt straight on. Modifying the engine will be the last thing I'll do. And even then I'll not go to wild. The plan is to blue print the engine and flow the head and bolt in some nice cams. This should improve the engine output some.
First outing of the car:
On the 3/4/02 I took the car to Zwartkops Raceway. It was a beautiful
warm day with no cloud in the sky. My expectations for the car at this
circuit are that I will be able to do around 1 min 32 sec. With the engine
not delivering full power it seemed to be a realistic time. Much to my
surprise I was able to comfortably get into the high 1 min 30 sec in the
first session. I found I had a bit of under steer and that the back
brake would lock up and unsettle the car. I had spun the car with the rear
locking up twice. I would have to have a look at the brake gap setting
on the rear.
Session 2: I dropped the rear tire
pressure by .2 bar. It felt a little better under braking, but the under
steer was a lot better. I managed to spin it again. After recovering I
got in a couple of nice clean laps. The time sheet showed it I had improved
by about a second.
Session 3: I decided that it was time for a full race distance
and I ran it for 10 laps. The best time in this session was a 1:29.48 that
was faster than session 2's best. I also had a lot of faster traffic and
had to kept a watchful eye on them. If I take this session and add together
the total time and compare it to the last race at this circuit I was a
second faster than them. Not that that means too much. But it’s nice to
know.
Session 4: I tried to put together as many consistent laps
as possible. I managed to put 4 laps down with a time range from 1:30.17
to 1:30.81. That was good enough for me seeing it the first time out on
this circuit. Now for the final preparation for the race on the 13/4/02
at Lichtenburg.
Lichtenburg Race:
The morning of the race came and it was raining. I still had a 250 km drive to get to the circuit. Fortunately I had done all the prep work the day before. I had installed the Water overflow bottle and the oil breather bottle. Wired the sump plug and clamped the Oil filter. Washed and polished the car and filled the tank with fuel. As I drove away from home thinking that I hope that I haven't forgotten anything, the engine started to misfire. It got worse very quickly, so I decided to turn around and head home. Home was only 1 km away. I didn't make it back home. The engine died. This felt like a loose HT lead or something. Or maybe a wet distributor. It was none of those. When I took of the air filter. Because the car was parked at an angleon the verge of the road the fuel ran out of the carbs into the air box. The problem with the fuel was that is wasn't fuel but water. So with water in the tank there was no way that I was going racing today. This was going to be a lot of work to fix. Next time I will test the car before parking it in the garage to make absolutely certain that all is OK.
Testing For Zwartkops Race:
After the water in fuel problems I decided that I will test the car on the circuit before the next race. I took the car the day before the race at Zwartkops for the official practice day. On the way to the circuit the fan belt decided it had had enough and broke. Luckily I was near enough to Glenwood motors to be able to drive there without over heating the engine. Once there I was able to replace the belt and be on my merry way. Thanks to Dawie jnr. for the help and lone of the tools needed to replace the belt. You see I was being optimistic that I wasn't going to have any problems and had no tools with me. Once at the track there were no more problems with the car. After having change the cam timing the car had more pulling power and I was able to put in a couple of lap in the high 1:28's. That was very encouraging. I was able to do the Documentation and scrutineering for the race the next day. This would give me some extra sleep the morning before the race. Nice! Can alway do with some extra sleep.
Morning arrived and it was a nice clear and sunny day. A good day
for racing. Air temp. was cool and there was no wind. At the track I meet
a friend and got the pit next to him. He races a Mini Cooper in class D
Historic, so I won't be racing against him. The practice session come and
I went out for 4 laps and qualified with a 1:30.54.. This is just perfect,
because this means that I will not be able to break my fastest allowed
lap time. In this racing they take your qualifying lap and add 2.5% and
that is your fastest lap allowed in the first heat. In the second heat
they take your fastest race lap and add 1.5% for your fastest allowed lap
in the second heat. Go faster than this and you get disqualified in the
heat that you broke your time.The first race and the first couple of laps
I made good time and passed a number of competitors in front of me. I then
got stuck behind the Ford Mustang. Ever time I try to out brake him he
moves over and closes the door. The faster cars are now getting past and
still I cannot get past the Mustang. Time for another approach. I let the
Lancia past and slip stream him past the Mustang. But its too late the
checkered flag is out and I end the race in 15 position. I lost a lot of
places behind the Mustang. Still not to bad for the first time out. The
Second race my friend tells me I must intimidate them. There are 3 of us
that start 25 seconds after the first car and I am the last of the three.
As we pull away I take the 2 cars in front of me into the first corner
and from there I pass the slower car regularly. Keeping a watchful eye
in my mirrors for the faster car but they just not catching me like
in the first race. The last lap arrives and still no faster car has past
me and there are only 2 cars that I have to pass before the checkered flag
to win. But here comes the Can-am., I was warned about him his wild and
tends to through his car away on the exit of corners. In the last corner
the Can-am dives passed the Mini behind me and forces his way past me.
Low and behold he is heading for the dirt and I have nowhere to go if he
looses it now. Luckily he holds on and we are able to finish the race in
that order. So a 4th for the last heat is not to bad for a first
timer. This gave me an 8th for the day. Oh and my friend in his Mini finish
2nd for the day congratulations to him.