I've sneaked in some garage time this week.

I've fitted a new circlip to the gear selector mechanism to stop it separating again, hopefully.

I looked at the cooling system and found that the rad bottom hose was leaking as the hose clip simply wasn't done up tight enough - doh! The thermostat housing was indeed cracked and has been removed. I've ordered a replacement housing and am awaiting it's arrival in the post.

Apart from the repairs, I've been making new camera mounts. I did use my on board video camera last week but unfortunately it's location meant it couldn't see much and the videos were crap. So my small camera is now mounted on the steering rack extension just inside the drivers side front wheel. It should have a great view from down there. I've also made a roll bar mount for my ordinary camcorder.

Will do some more work on it tomorrow.

Should have mentioned that the pics below were taken by Ian Stent of Complete Kit Car magazine, many thanks Ian!

Ok here's a couple of pics from the track day:

The rear squats down low under hard acceleration!


Being chased down by a Westfield ZEi

Well yesterday it went out on track for the very first time!

I had a track day at Llandow circuit, arranged by Complete Kit Car magazine and in the morning the 40 cars were split into 4 groups, according to driver ability - I was in the begginers group.

The experts group went out first, and withing about 5 laps, there was an accident! One car span out following the slow section of the track, the car following didn't see the yellow flags and drove into him. Both cars retired for the day with front suspension and chassis damage. The rest of the day was incident free.

My group went out at around 11am, the first few laps taken at low speed to get to know the track and get the feel of the car. It all felt ok so after 3 laps the yellow flags are lifted and we can start going for it at full speed. The car was VERY quick, but the brakes are quite weak - I had to press the pedal very hard to slow it down, and use lots of engine braking - so much so that I was getting small lock-ups when dropping to 2nd gear for the "bus stop" chicane.

After 10 laps or so, coming around "devils elbow" I heard a bang! I decided immediately to return to the pits. When I went for a gearchange, I found the gearstick was floppy and not responding - the car was stuck in 4th gear. I drove it back to the pits and found the selector linkage had lost a retaining clip and separated at the earbox end. With some help from my passenger and some bits and bobs from fellow drivers, we cobbled together a repair in time to get back out for the next session.

The second session was incident free, and I got more confident with the car and was pushing it hard. I nearly span when entering the bus stop in 3rd gear after overtaking somebody and missing my gearchange, and had a good fishtailing session round devils elbow after getting on the power too early too - great fun! We did the whole session with the repaired selector!

On returning to the pits - disaster! My Dad pointed to the nose, and a lot of water pouring out of the car! The bottom radiator hose was leaking badly, and on removing the bonnet, I also found the thermostat housing had cracked and was leaking water badly. That was the end of that.

I let the car cool down over lunch break, and John helped me load it back on the trailer. After lunch I got offered a ride in a Westfield ZEi which was great, and showed me just how far I have to go with my car, the grip was much better and his brakes were a lot stronger.

So now I have a bunch of work to do before the next track day:

Repair the cooling system.
Repair the gear selector properly.
Upgrade the brakes (somehow?)
Fit better tyres - slicks maybe?

I'll put some pics up as soon as I get them from the people who took them!

Wow getting behind on here again.

It tuned out the problem with the brake lights was with the mechanical switch I had fitted under the pedal was fouling and shorting out, blowing the fuse. I have now replaced this with a hydraulic switch in the front brake line.

I have now at last sorted out my cooling woes, I connected the top hose of the header tank back into the radiator top hose by using a take-off, this eliminated the airlock there and sealed the system, i also plumbed the overflow to an expansion tank which will catch any overflowing water. I tested the system yesterday and it all works as it should, no bubbling, and the cooling fan kicking in and out automatically.

I've also fitted a warning light to the low coolant sensor (part of the BMW donor) to give me early warning if the system is getting low in use.

I've fitted a few nice new decals i picked up at a recent car show to tart it up a bit.

I've made and fitted a mount for the on-board video camera.

Been polishing some of the oxidised aluminium panels.

Basically it's pretty much ready for it's first outing on track, which is next Saturday - can't wait!