Hi, I am back ...
Contrary to some rumors I am still alive and the car is intact , un-crashed and undamaged !
The Zubry rally went fine , even though there were a few problems.
Problem # 1 ; The driver
I have never driven a car that strong with LSD and a diff with 6:15 gear ratio. I was totally unprepared for competition driving The car was just far too capable and I had just 4.5 km behind the wheel of this car (driving from a one garage to another). So I took it as a training exercise ...
Problem # 2 : The Wheel
The bolts mounting rear right hub to the struts were not as tight as they should be. At the time we put it together we did not have strong enough bolts , nuts and washers so when the rear right hit a major pot hole the hub went up bu few centimeters and the rear right wheel went well of alignment. Not only did it tilt into full negative, but its front went inside so the wheel looked like this :
- wheel problem .jpg (21.05 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
Review of the situation and consultation with chief team mechanic over the phone resulted in the following command : You can go ahead and drive , but take it easy on the curbs , avoid pot holes and remember the car will tend to slide of the rear to the right.
Despite this we started off and ended the rally in respectable 7th position among cars of the same class ( driving "full out").
The car drew a lot of attention , especially Guy Croft engine ...
- zubry 1 .jpg (85.35 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
- zubry 2 .jpg (59.49 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
- zubry 3 .jpg (89.29 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
- zubry 4.jpg (61.79 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
The car handled itself almost perfectly ( despite miss aligned wheel problem).
- zubry 5.jpg (83.25 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
- zubry 6.jpg (78.57 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
- zubry 7.jpg (78.42 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
- zubry 8.jpg (76.24 KiB) Viewed 17990 times
General technical impressions :
Engine : A this event was not run "full out" I have not exceeded 6000 RPM , even though the car has max power at 7500. The engine performed beautifully.
It reved up easily under full load , the torque was tremendous. \
Previously when we drove the car to brake it in ( on a 3.9 diff) the max speed we could easily reach was well over 200 km/h , but I have restrained myself and drove it only up to 5000 RPM. Acceleration was far better than expected. With both diffs the car drove very well which means it will be great on both the race track , flat rally and up hill stages
With the quick diff i was able to shift it up to 5th where cars with regular diff setup shifted up to 3rd gear max. The car went up hill as if it was downhill. The gear box ( 31 standard with 5th ratio of 0.87) proved fantastic . The overdrive allowed me to drive the car at higher speed still keeping the engine revs below 6000. This was a great advantage. I think I will give up thoughts of a close ratio gearbox with the 5th gear ratio of 1:1
The independent rear suspension and very stiff struts proved no problem , though the springs proved a bit to short. Lack of sway bar in rear ( we did not have time to install it before the rally) was a minor problem and it looks like we need to work on the rear suspension adjustments. ( The rear is a bit jumpy when driven over a cross running diagonal bumps.)
All the elements we installed ( especially the rear spherical top mounts I have constructed myself lacking the Gr5 which came too late to install worked perfectly.
Guy ,
I want to thank you , thank you, and thank you again !
The engine proved far better than you promised and by far exceeded my expectations. The coolant temperature never exceeded 85 deg. The oil temperature was mostly around 65-70 deg. ( Previous engine developed 110 coolant temperature and 130 oil temp) People who looked at it and heard its sound as well as seen it perform congratulated me on it . I accepted these congratulations on your behalf as it is you whom these congratulations are due.
I will never ever make my engines anywhere else but at GCRE! You are a true master.
Miro
PS : here is a link to few short scenes from the rally. My driving leaves a lot to be desired , but give me 6 months of the driving season...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50K4FrhISLw
M