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!

Here's how the rad looks from the front now, with the fan behind it.

Here's the new fan in position behind the rad.

Here's how it looks with the nose and bonnet back on, and the mesh grille fitted.

Today I fixed a leak from the oil pressure sensor location using some good old PTFE tape, and finally replaced the nosecone and bonnet. I then remembered how dissapointed I am with the fit of the bonnet.

I'll have a look at the brake light wiring tomorrow.

yesterday I installed the new cooling fan, this time behind the radiator to maximise airflow to the font to improve cooling. This meant I had to fabricate new top brackets for the rad to move it forwards, this time I made them from aluminium and they look really good.

I've rewired the fan switch circuit, correctly this time, but it still doesn't seem to want to work. I might add in a manual switch for it.

I also secured the connections for the brake light switch, and when testing it the fuse blew, not sure what I've done there...

fixed the indicators, found a couple of butt crimp connectors had let go in the loom where I had slightly stretched it in order to bind it to tidy it up a bit. I re-made the connections and it's all working properly again.

plan to get lots more done tomorrow.

Ok I've completed the oil and filter change, and have been going over the car in preparations for the track day.

I found the cooling fan wasn't operating, and traced the fault to a broken wire in the loom, and repaired it. However, I found that in operation, the wiring got very hot, I'm guessing that this is because the old BMW fan is a little stuck, so I've ordered a new fan.

I also found that the left indicator isn't working, I'm not sure why yet, but I'm hoping it's not the relay, as a replacement may be quite expensive.

I still need to find a permanent fix for the brake light switch, and sort the loose bonnet out.