torque's easy to explain isn't it :wonder: :lol1: something like the turning force exerted on a given object by another, which is measured in newton metres (nm) or pounds per foot (lbflt). i did know the equations for how to work out the basics at one point. Long time since a level physics though lol.

Saves answering.. 'what's the top speed meester?' questions too :D

Torque = Force over a given distance
Power = Work done in a given time

;)

You have power and work the wrong way round. Power can be descirbed as the rate at which work is done (amoung other things), and work can be described as the sum of power in a finite time.

Force and distance are both base units.
Torque is the product of force and distance (leverage).
Power is the integral of torque WRT rate (rpm).
Work is the integral of power WRT time.
0-60 is the product of bollocks and journalists.

:thumb:

Surely thats exactly what i wrote Paul?

I wasnt about to go into a huge explanation of power and torque, just the basic outline.

;)

Following on from the recent Snetterton test it was obvious that more stopping power would be needed with the increased speed from tuition and handling advances. After that event I set about finding a good solution that was also good value.

After a conversation with Paul and Liz at Zen, I managed to persuade them to let go of the excellent KSport calipers, discs and Performance Friction pads from their race car for me to run on mine.

Today was the day to take off my old brembos and to fit the new brakes.

The kits consisted of:

* 8 pot front calipers with 356mm discs and Performance Friction 01 Race pads
* 6 pot rear calipers with 330mm discs and Performance Friction 01 Race Pads

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...09/brakes1.jpg

A superb day at day at Zen fitting them myself but with adult supervision on shimming the calipers to match the disc offsets and the end result is pretty amazing. Very impressed with just how sharp they are even on cold brakes, I can't wait to get some heat in them on track :D

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...09/brakes2.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...09/brakes3.jpg

I seem to remember recommending you that exact combination (excluding the pads) to you a while back :p
They are great :thumb:
That combination of front and rear sizes make the car brake much flatter and you can carry so much more speed into a corner. You are going to love them on track!

I think you are right :thumb:

looks like i've got some work to do under the arches :lol1:

brake setup looks awesome :thumb:

As Snetterton showed the need for additional oil surge protection - Mark @ Lateral Performance came to the rescue with a properly baffled and superbly built twin scroll baffled sump to replace the std item fitted to my car.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ffledsump2.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ffledsump3.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ffledsump5.jpg
Looks a proper piece of kit !!

I am going to fit this along with the Cosworth Baffle plate that I already have fitted to give added protection from surge and blow by.

Cheers Mark

No, you said "Power = Work done in a given time".

Which makes no sense at all.

It's like saying speed = distance travelled in a given time, which is also nonesense.

Power, work done in a given time?
Power, rate at which work is done?

Doesn't matter Paul, you've made your point.

Right, engine mounts done .. god that is a horrid job on your back with the engine still in. Next time (if there is a next time) it will be out for it.

Headers, up-pipe, turbo and downpipe all off and ready for re-wrapping and preventative maintenance.

Now for double helpings of pain and fitting the sump... old sump is off. The cosworth baffle plate needs cleaning and this and the new baffled sump will be fitted shortly.

so...

Baffled sump is fully in place, I had to make some minor modification to the oil pick up pipe rear stay to enable it to fit with the sump baffle without fouling but a good excuse to use the dremel to do it. It is also a lot easier to refit the baffle plate with this mod so I didnt need 3 hands this time. Sump went back on and dropped the engine down to bolt the mounts in place. This should be an improvement.

Headers and up-pipe were removed as part of this job and also to rewrap them. Lucky I did this as it showed that the 3 bolt up-pipe gasket had split into 3 parts and was not sealing the exhaust. Looks like it has been like this for ages so it would have been costing spool up and power.

I got some fresh new exhaust wrap and a new gasket from Lateral and re-wrapped the headers/up-pipe as the old stuff was hanging off.

https://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g...9/DSC00261.jpg

Also done:

- re-routed the MAP sensor take off to a central position to give smoother boost control. It was taking off from the FPR vacuum take off.

- re-routed the cylinder head breather pipes

- regreased ARB bushes

- properly fitted the towing eye

- tidied the induction kit pipework to reduce pushing out of wheel arch liner. This has reduced but i still need to make some proper wheel arch liners that fit with the new wider wings.

=========================================

Update from last night..

Car is all back together and running :luxhello:

Off down to GW Autoserve in Ipswich today to get the geometry done as this has not been set since i 'did' it with a huge plank of wood after the ball joints were changed pre TA snetterton last year so I expect it to be miles out and give a lot of room of improvement.

And that is all the things that "need" to be done :thumb:

The list of things that would be nice to do can then be looked at perhaps, or I could sleep, watch TV, talk to my wife.... :D :D

Incorrect

Correct

Point?

Geometry set up done thanks to Jon at GW in Ipswich. (and some other bits)

Managed to get some good settings for camber on the front and a reasonable amount on the rear too :D Main bit is that all wheels now point in the same direction and there is a consistency of settings - they were way out :lol:

Gearbox oil and diff oil changed too along with fixing a split coolant hose that caused a bit of an issue.

All finished and ready on the main list :thumb: there are still a few things that will be done for round 1 and I will be fettling with the map to give it the best chance but happy that I have a week to go to let things settle down to see any show stopping issues.

..... and relax :D

was you testing on a14 yesterday then dunc

I may have been :norty:

A few maps tweaks to get the fuel economy up ;)

lol spotted you mate on way back from zen/pod with new purchase:thumb:

Me too !

:D

Congrats on your result in TA yesterday. Nice to see all that hard work and effort pay off.


Dave

Had an absolutely awesome weekend.

Just back home.

I am writing a full thank you list - it is taking a while as it is very long :lol1:


Some in car video from the qualifying session.

Duncan Graham, Time Attack 2009 Round 1 Qualifying lap on Vimeo

Champagne Celebrations on the Podium for 3rd in Club Challenge and First Subaru. :D :D

Duncan takes 3rd Place in TimeAttack Round 1 2009 on Vimeo

Congrats again on the win :top:

Nice footage. :lol1: at the champagne celebration.

... 1 week to go

Having spent most of the previous weekend under the car, I was relieved to have finished the need to do list on the friday so could look at some tidying up work and double checking of the work done to make sure there would be no show stoppers on the day. This, i felt, would be time well spent as the events come thick and fast to start with.

The week started with a great offer of a Jeep Cheroke tow vehicle from one of my sponsors CJS Norwich. This was an absolute god send and meant that towing up to Oulton Park was going to happen and I could push harder on the day for a result along with taking the family and all the spares I could need with me. There was even room for the odd luxury with my a proper beans to cup coffee machine making its way into the truck so that caffeine fixes could be had at any time !! LOL

... 2 days to go:

Toyo 888's arrived in time from Toyo and a quick trip to Ely Tyre Services to fit them to the rims and chat to the guys about what I was going to do with them. I was surprised and delighted that they had heard of Time Attack and they quickly got the job done so that I could come back and watch whilst Matt Neame of 2 clear buckets put yet another coat of wax on the car and wheels. He said it would make me faster LOL. The car looked gorgeous when finished and with 2 sets of absolutely glistening Hyper Zero Wheels, i felt proud to see what the vision and discussions with Paul of Zen Performance at the end of last season had materialised into on my drive.

Lower, Wider, Faster were the key words of that discussion on the Sofa in Wellingborough and now that the check list of 'need to do' things had all been done for this round (further developments are following soon) I was excited about the prospects of doing well. The car was certainly lower than last year, definitely wider and I know from the testing at Snetterton that it is faster too (along with me).

... 1 day to go:

Nerves didnt have time to hit as I spent the day running around collecting the trailer and loading the truck and trailer and we headed off for our good friends Nigel & Lou Pinder to spend the night before at their house (more local than ours) and go for a curry. A great meal and a good relaxing evening and it was early to bed for the 5am rise and trip to the circuit for signing on, and leisurely run up to the warm up. Last year's accident at Oulton was definitely in my mind and the mixed weather forecast looked all too familiar.

... the day itself

The trip to the track was simple and the Jeep performed its duties superbly with plenty of grunt to cope with the hills - they have hills around there :o - and yet return 29pmg towing the trailer !

Unloaded and set about preparing the car for the warm up, signing on (LOL) and chatting about the plans for the day.

A good short briefing this time and we were ready to start the car and head out onto the track. Nige was going to sit with me for the warm up session to help settle my nerves. It did in a way but he could tell my head wasnt right as my lines in the first session were quite frankly embarassing and I was not right. The car performed great though on wastegate duty apart from a huge misfire that was solved as soon as I got back to the pits with the help of Pat. The Solaris ecu's immense datalogging abilities providing the exact millisecond when this happened and we were able to identify the issue and sort it there and then with Pat on the phone. Simply download the rolling log file when I come into the pits and thousands of data points are there able to be analysed and improved upon in time for the next session.

Then, just before practice the heavens opened. De Ja Vu and my already messed up head with going haywire. I did not want a repeat of last year's daftness so optimistic, well definite that the weather would improve, I was going to go out and do one lap in the wet and come back in. No prizes for practice times and it would not be of any use to the dry track experience later.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark10.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark11.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark12.jpg


Tom Ferrier was helping me get my head together during the lead up to going out and he definitely helped (as he did all day) with words of encouragement as well as wisdom. I think everyone around me could sense my mood and most gave me a wide berth so that I could do what I needed to do to feel

The track was patchy - some parts were very grippy even in the wet but others most definitely weren't. I guess the Deisel guzzling Trucks on the track did not help and unfortunately it bit a few competitors and the session was stopped. Thank god :)

The time for qualifying to happen took ages to come around, luckily the gang from Zen arrived so that was a great distraction and great to see as the experience of Paul in the pits is a nerve settler for sure. The car was looking superb and even though not 100% finished it would still be very very quick on track.

The rain clouds had gone and it was turning out to be a fantastic day.

Qualifying was going to be the first session run at full boost. Time to extract every bhp out of the Lateral MD321V and find the confidence to drive the track as hard as I needed to....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark14.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark15.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark16.jpg

The pre practice checks were done by the gang, more fuel added and away I went with the instructions that Paul had given me. We had a plan and it was time to apply it.

It seemed to go well, I was gaining in confidence and speed but I guess others were on the same journey. Into the pits for a check up after a very sideways moment, I think it must have been on the oil that Neil Wrenn was chucking onto track as it was unexpected and nearly took me into the gravel at Druids. I told Paul that i must have a puncture as it felt very weird.. Paul assured me all was well and instructed me to head out again and get another hot lap in. This was the time to make it count as there were points on offer for qualifying position.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark25.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark27.jpg

back into the pits and Steve Darley (I think) informed me that I was 4th - superb !

Mark from Lateral Performance was as excited as I was, as was Julian, Nige and all of Team Zen. Rachel and Annabelle headed back from viewing and they were ecstatic too.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark29.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark30.jpg

The car felt great with the first full session on full boost, the braking was immense from the KSports and Performance Friction Pads, the handling sublime and far greater than I could use at that stage. It was confidence inspiring - just what I needed. A few checks on the car, download the data logs, check the oil, water and all was good. Nothing to do for the final except change tyres and put a splash of fuel in. I knew I could go lots faster. As Tom said to me - "time to be brave".

In car footage from Qualifying: Duncan Graham, Time Attack 2009 Round 1 Qualifying lap on Vimeo

The final and I lined up behind Shane. We chatted and he explained to me what his intentions were so that we could work with each other to make sure we had space on track to make our times count. This was great and shows the comradery of the competitors and the TA spirit. Time to go and when the safety car pulled in Shane had dropped back from the car in front so as to give himself space to make his first lap count. I did the same and on fresh rubber for the final tried to warm them up on the first full hot lap ready for a banzai number 2 lap. This didnt quite work to plan and I came to the pits for a chat with Paul and he sent me back out with a plan, one fast then one balls out lap after he made an adjustment. The first part worked and into the last flying lap of the final - about a minute to go and I was on it, faster than I had been, deeper into braking, quicker onto the power, harder through the chicane and flat out for the tree before druids and I catch the silver civic on a cool down lap overtaking two other cars on a cool down lap ... grrrrrrrrrr. I had to come right out of the power through the apex of druids and this cost me right down the straight to lodge, around there to a proper brave line this time and nailed it to the finish. It was a fast one - must have been my quickest - it had to be.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark33.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ltonpark36.jpg

Into the pits and Steve Darley held up 3 fingers ! - fantastic and I punched the air with delight, even though the lap had been compromised it had been enough to get my first ever podium. Steve asked whether I had seen the pit board he had been holding out showing that I was 5th at that time and basically saying get a wiggle on - unfortunately I had just been focusing on picking the right braking point for that final banzai lap so had forgotten to look. Thanks for trying to help Steven - I will remember next time LOL.

Out of the car and immediately on the phone to Rachel to ask whether she liked champagne - I was going to celebrate this one. My target pre event was top 5 and I had done it.

Looking at the sector times afterwards showed where I was quick and where I wasnt, understandably my slow sector was the final corner of the lap where I had the accident last year. i was getting the confidence but a few more laps would have been great.

Everyone was so happy around me and lots of other drivers came up to the pit garage to say well done, even Steve Linton that I had pipped to the 3rd place spot - I have a feeling it will be a close battle all year with him.

Party time !

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2..._podium1-1.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...rk_podium2.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...rk_podium4.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...rk_podium5.jpg


Duncan takes 3rd Place in TimeAttack Round 1 2009 on Vimeo


To everyone else that was competing and writing their own stories, it was great to see you all. Getting there through all of our work, sweat, tears and money was a huge achievement.

So many thank yous, so little space...

Mark at Lateral Performance. So much help over the last few months on getting the performance and the reliability in order. That MD321V turbo is mentally ballistic - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT ! but when's that 600bhp bolt on turbo ready ;) ?

Pat & Charlie - Solaris ECU - What a piece of kit that is. SUPERB! The improvements to the driving characteristics of the car are huge, it is so much easier and smoother to drive on the limit now and the ALS adds a bit of sparkle to the final cool down lap to celebrate.

Paul and Team Zen from Zen Performance - as usual the calming influence of infinite set up knowledge is so easy to work with. The extra time gained through making the car handle predictably and smoothly pays dividends in inspiring confidence to put the boundaries. I can't wait to see the improvements on the other tracks too.

Julian at CJS - your help and loan of the tow truck made the weekend possible.

Nige/Lou - for trillions of photos, videos, help setting up, getting there, entertaining, feeding, distracting me, entertaining me and generally being a great mate.

Daren at ABW - for making the prettiest car on the grid. Wide is the way forward :D

Gary at Keith Michaels - for sorting out insurance for me at the last minute.

Matt at 2ClearBuckets - it was the wax that did it I am sure !!

Alyn at ASP - I will just say thanks for everything, hopefully you can make it up to Scotland for round 2.

GW Autoserve Ipswich - thanks for sorting the tyres / geometry out for me last week. It really helps when all the wheels point in the direction that you want them to.

and most importantly to Rachel and Annabelle for losing me to the car for a few weeks and putting up with my general grumpiness over the past week. It is great to have highs and lows - it makes you feel alive.

I would also like to say thank you for all the words of encouragement and support from friends and aquaintances whether actual or cyber. They mean a lot to me.

and now, time to prepare for Round 2 - Knockhill 17th May

Excellent write up Duncan , great result mate and very deserved for all the effort , good luck for knockhill :thumb:

Well done Duncan. Excellent result! :thumb:

good times :)

Well done Duncan :thumb:

Been pretty quiet since Oulton Park as to be honest I could have left it on the trailer and taken it straight to Knockhil, there was nothing that 'had' to be done.

But... never been one to leave things alone for too long ;)

Progress is being made for Knockhill - there are two higher steps on the podium I want. Update coming v soon :D