Bob's FuryBusa Website

Getting ready for Cadwell

Having got the rear calipers sorted yesterday there were still a few little jobs I wanted to do before Cadwell.

The silencer is only supported by a single bracket at the rear end and this just suspends it. The silencer as a result has been able to swing in the breeze, so I wanted to add another bracket to firm it up a bit. As usual with these things it took me ages longer than I expected but after a load of hacksawing, welding and drilling I had an additional bracket there that triangulates nicely with the other to hold it nice and firmly.

The scrutineer at Brands had commented on two things. He wanted an additional spring on the throttle mechanism. I already had an additional spring at the pedal end and wasn’t sure how I was going to sort this. I had a quick look at Paul’s Contour and basically copied his arrangement although I found a convenient little bit to connect the spring to without having to attach it to the airbox.

He also commented on the play in the front wheel bearings. These can be a bit of a pain and its easy to overtighten them. So I just nipped them up a tiny bit.

I then headed off to ATS to get my new rear tyres fitted – there’s plenty left in the old ones, especially if I were to get them swapped over (the left always wears more then the right) but I decided that since I’ve already bought these tyres I might as well get some use out of them the rest of the season. Seeing as I spent a fortune there sticking new rubber on all four corners of the Cayman recently they swapped the tyres and balanced them for nothing which was nice. I also got 40 litres of fuel in the jerry cans. A note had come from the Post Office, someone had put insufficient postage on something for me, it was 10p short but there’s a £1 charge so I had to drive to the sorting office and pay my £1.10 to discover it was of course the HiSpec seal kits!

So I spent some of the afternoon rebuilding the HiSpec calipers to take them along as spares. This actually took less time than I’d expected as I know my way round them quite well by now. They actually look nice, are very nicely finished and everything fits very well. It’s just a pity the handbrake’s so awful, I can live with replacing the seals every season.

Once that was done I got the motorhome and trailer ready. Working overnight tonight so after a kip in the morning it’ll be straight off to Cadwell.

Rear calipers again

Well, having bodged a repair in the paddock at Brands the rear brakes had behaved impeccably during Sunday’s race. But I didn’t plan to turn up at Cadwell without a more definitive fix.

So, the cunning plan was to fix the HiSpec calipers by slapping new seals and o-rings in there but to investigate the Sierra calipers I originally got with the kit when I got it as we were waiting for ages for HiSpec to produce their handbrake caliper. So on Monday last week I ordered the HiSpec seal kits and went onto Ebay and ordered a set of EBC Yellowstuff pads for the Sierra calipers. I needed to make a decision which one to fit before Cadwell, the other set could then go along as backup.

As it was the decision was pretty easy as by Wednesday morning the parts hadn’t arrived from HiSpec, although they have finally taken some money off my card according to my online statement. So, Sierra calipers it is. The problem with these is that the way they’re mounted in the Fury means that the bleed nipple isn’t actually at the top of the caliper, so they need to be connected up and bled before they’re bolted into place.

So with less than 2 days to go to Cadwell I had to abandon progress on the BDN to get the Fury ready. This morning was spent on my driving course – compared to race tuition it was on the face of it good value at £80 for 4 hours but in reality it was all spent in a classroom and at an incredibly pedestrian pace. Anyway, I’m now fully speed aware and at the first sign of any lamposts at Cadwell am at risk of slowing to 30mph. At least it saved my licence getting 3 points.

First job of the afternoon was to get the rear undertray off. I’d been pleased that none of the screws had fallen out but that pleasure turned to frustration when the threadlock refused to let go and the button headed stainless screws rounded off nicely with the allen key So I had to get the drill to get the first 2 out then managed to shift the rest using the blowlamp to heat them. All a bit close to the fuel tank so I did have the fire extinguisher ready. Austen would have run a mile

With that off I could slacken off the handbrake cable and get going on the calipers. They needed packing away from the brackets a bit so I used a pair of washers on each side for this. With them connected up and wedged in place with the bleed nipple at the top I ran some fluid through then bolted them in position. I hopped in the car to find pretty much a total lack of brake pedal Not amused I ran some more fluid through and tried again – no better. After another go more air came out and at least after this I could pump the pedal up a bit which was an improvement. I then re-detached them and hung them up nice and high with the disk still in place and bled them again. This time was successful with a nice firm pedal. After reattaching the handbrake cable and adjusting it I was shocked to find that it worked! The HiSpecs wouldn’t even hold the car on the most gentle of slopes so it’ll be a bit of a novelty having a functioning handbrake. Of course it’s a year ago this weekend that I melted a piston through leaving the handbrake on, it was so ineffective that it wasn’t noticeable but effective enough to generate enough heat to wreck the brake.

Once that was done I checked the diff, prop and drive shaft bolts which have all stayed tight for quite a few races now. I slapped some fuel in and stuck the bodywork back on and she’s pretty much good to go.

Panels done

After writing up the blog last night I realised I’d made a bit of a boo boo. I wasn’t supposed to drill the chassis till I’d done the fuel tank covers. Having said that the reason I’d ended up doing it was because the way the bulkhead panels fit together meant they only fitted in one place anyway. So I was hopeful it wouldn’t be a problem.

The fuel tank on the BDN is a bespoke item hand fabricated from aluminium and sits across the chassis floor immediately behind the bulkhead, so it’s across the bottom of the front of the engine bay, hence the covers. It’s a fairly complex arrangement, and I spent a while studying the 2D drawings as well as the 3D PDF which you can zoom and rotate. I started with the left hand tank cover, the photo to the right shows what it looks like to start with. First job was to do the main fold down the middle then work out the best way of tackling all the edges. SO far as I can see with my limited equipment and lack of ability it’s impossible to do this absolutely perfectly but after the best part of 2 hours I was pretty happy with the result.

The right hand tank cover was next and although this looked slightly simpler it was in fact technically a bit more difficult to get all the folds right. The trouble is as soon as you’ve made a fold you can’t get the pair of angle irons right across for the next fold and have to stop them short and use G cramps. Here’s a pic of this panel before I assaulted it. This took over 2 hours but I finally got there. I then had to fit some clinch nuts and trial fit the panels. This is where life got a bit difficult. My problem was that the fold in the little triangular piece that goes between the bulkhead panels is critical and mine was a mm or so out. This shifted the panels across slightly and even if I hadn’t drilled the chassis already I couldn’t really have corrected it. It wasn’t a major problem and I did get everything to fit although I had to elongate a few holes lightly. They’re behind the seat so really aren’t an issue.

After lunch I downed tools to go on a little shopping spree. First stop was Livermore’s for painty bits – some etch primer, paint for the chassis, RAL code 6018 for that (seems to be a rather bright lime green ), also satin black two-pack. Then on to Machine Mart for a new mask, new spray gun and a couple of other bits and pieces. After that it was Screwfix for a nice 4.5 litre tub of the orange Swarfega and a pump to go on it. I got home, unscrewed the pump to fit it to the lid, bits shot everywhere (large spring involved) then it took me the best part of an hour to solve the puzzle of getting it back together and clear up the resulting Swarfega spatter all over the kitchen!

I did make it back out to the garage to sort out the fuel tank covers. These actually fit together very pleasingly and I was able to mark the chassis for the remaining rivnuts, drill the holes and get them fitted. Getting everything lined up took a couple of remove, fettle panel and refit cycles but by the close of play all the holes were done, all the rivnuts fitted. Getting rivnuts lined up can be tricky and I’ve learned that you need to be patient and get the holes up to the correct size in 1mm increments, i.e. not go straight from a 4mm pilot hole to the final 7mm hole as they tend to drift slightly off centre if you aren’t careful. I also find a 6mm hole in the panel being screwed on works best for 5mm as the extra clearance gives you a bit of wriggle room. Here are a couple of shots of the result of my labours, I’m rather pleased with it. Once I had it all fitted I removed all the panels for final finishing ready for painting and fitting.

The fuel tank will run the full width of the chassis, the taller bit on the left houses the fuel filler neck and in the current race car the filler cap is welded into the large hole you can see in the top panel. Since I want mine to get through IVA this won’t do and we’ll need to route it up and out of the side of the bodywork, Ian’s working on a plan for this.

TNT’s website informed me during the day that my engine had arrived at Brian’s and I had a confirmatory email from Brian so I gave him a ring in the evening. He reports that the engine is looking pristine with no external damage at all. Ian has it set up ready to take all the measurements to do the mounts for it. Brian also thinks there should be sufficient clearance to remove the clutch cover without fitting a removable chassis rail (as they’ve had to do for the ZX12 engine).

Ian has emailed me with a schedule for delivery of the remaining kit, unfortunately Bob at Concept Racing is going on hols so this will put the delivery date for the next batch of parts to mid August. This includes the front and rear sub-frames, wishbones etc. Brian uses Concept Racing for the welding of these parts as they’re designed to quite fine tolerances and the strength and evenness of the welds is critical. He also does the welding of the fabricated aluminium parts like the fuel tank and swirl pot. His welding is really top notch, Brian pointed me at his website to see some examples of his work, including a fuel tank for a Maserati, the parts for which are entirely hand shaped and it’s all riveted with no welding at all! It’s no surprise that he’s a busy bee and has quite a lead time.

Panelling progress

Following Tim’s helpful comment about the powder coat (i.e. 70 microns thick rather than 0.5mm) I’m re-evaluating that. Seems total weight on the panels would be less than 1 kg. Painting them myself with two-pack would be significantly cheaper but a bit less scuff resistant.

It didn’t take long to finish off the left hand side panel and the right hand panel was easy enough. This took me on to the tricky bits, the rear bulkheads and fuel tank covers. Once I’d spent a bit of time studying the 3D PDF I started to get my head around what goes where and how. The 2 bulkhead panels both needed a bit of fettling to clear welds but the nibbler made short work of it. The side panels fix to the outside of the chassis and all the welds have been flattened off making life very easy whereas the internal ones impinge on the panels in places which is what I’d expected in the first place. The folds in the panels are all critical to make sure they fit OK so I took my time with them.

My hardware bags contained a load of M4 and M5 stainless buttonhead screws, M4 and M5 rivnuts and some little beasties called clinch nuts that I hadn’t met before. I decided to give Brian a quick ring to get some advice on how to use them. They act as a sort of blind nut and have a knurled rim that gets drawn into the hole you’re fitting them to. Brian suggested making a little piece in the lathe to use with an M5 bolt to pull them into place. So that’s what I did with a small piece of alloy bar, you can see it in the photo to the right along with a loose clinch nut. To the left of the picture you can see one I did earlier as they say. This worked very well and I’m quite impressed with them.

Once I’d got the clinch nuts and rivnuts fitted to the triangular panel that fits in the centre I could position it with the bulkheads in place and get the holes drilled. The bulkheads are removable for access to the front of the engine so they’re secured via M4 screws into rivnuts. I got a lot of the holes drilled and rivnuts fitted but ran out of time as I was playing golf in the afternoon. So, quite a bit of progress today. Tomorrow I can get these finished off and tidy up the edges of the panels where I’ve had to trim them then I can make a start on the fuel tank covers.

Making a start

The panels are all accurately cut to shape and size, I think they’re done with a water jet, the edges are amazingly smooth with no sharp edges or burrs. The grade of aluminium used is also quite a bit harder than I’m used to and the sheets are quite thin – some are 1.0mm but the floor’s thicker at 1.6mm. Some of them need bending, Brian uses a pair of heavy duty angle irons bolted together, one of which has a 3.5mm radius on its corner – he warned me that because of the grade they’ve used there was a risk of cracking the aluminium without the radius and that bending it wasn’t trivial and would take quite a bit of force. He kindly lent me his angle irons which is one less thing to have to source.

I’d had a look at the panels last night and the arrangement with the rear bulkhead panels and the fuel tank cover is quite complex and how they go together wasn’t clear to me. The panels are all beautifully done with lovely smooth edges, nicely radiused corners and no burrs so require absolutely no work whatsoever. The rivet/screw holes are all done too and are needless to say all perfectly aligned and spaced – when I built the Ultima it took hours trimming the panels to size and shape, filing the edges, marking and drilling holes etc. I checked my email this morning to find an email from Ian with a PDF attached showing how the panels go together. It’s one of his 3D CAD PDFs which is animated so when you click on the ‘Implode’ link the panels all fly into place one by one, brilliant. You can also just select single panels too.

I decided to make a start on the floor panel first. This is obviously the biggest piece of aluminium as it’s all one piece. Fortunately the chassis is light enough that I can manage to manhandle it alone so I turned iy upside down. At each end of the floor panel are 2 tabs that need to be bent 90° to butt against the inside faces of the bulkheads. At first I thought the panel to the base of the tabs looked a bit short but I knew immediately that this couldn’t be the case so spent a bit of time measuring, looking and thinking. The key was the 3.5mm radius on the bend and I worked out that if that radius started exactly at the base of the tabs the outside faces would give me the requisite 2110mm overall length.

The angle iron bending tool was too short to go all the way across the panel so I took one bolt out and used a G-cramp on that end. After lots of checking I finally plucked up courage to take the rubber hammer to it. Brian was of course right and this panel being 1.6mm was indeed quite reluctant to bend but taking my time and working my way along I ended up with a pair of nicely formed tabs. I did the same at the other end of the panel and lo and behold the panel fitted perfectly. You can see the ednd folds tucking in along the edge on the right of this pic.

I then just had to line it up laterally which was easy enough as all the reference points (chassis end plates and bolts) are super accurately placed and provide reliable datum points. With the sheet clamped in place I drilled a couple of holes and fitted the skin pins to keep it accurately located. Then drilled the remaining 180 holes …

With the chassis back the right side up I turned my attention to the footrest panel next. This again was ready cut to size with the notches cut out of it and holes drilled. Unfortunately the notch out of the corner for a chassis tube wasn’t big enough as Brian has reinforced the acute angle with a fillet of steel tube that presumably wasn’t in the original plans. 10 minutes with the air nibbler followed by a little file and it was in place. Clamp, drill, skin pins then more drilling. I needed the air drill for some of these holes as the diagonal bracing tube restricted space somewhat.

I had a look at a side panel next. These are quite large and need a gentle crease to go round the angle in the cockpit, there’s also a tab to bend to locate onto the front bulkhead in the same way as the floor panel. This was easier as it fitted easily into the angle iron. Near the front of the panel there’s a 10mm hole that lines up with a small bracket on the chassis so I used a 10mm bolt fix this in position giving me an accurate location for the panel. I could then mark it for the fold which was again easy with the angle irons. The panel was then a perfect fit onto the chassis tubes, it really is quite remarkable to just offer these panels up and find that they just fit and need nothing doing to them. I was partway through drilling when I had to abandon for the day to go to work.

So, the build’s under way. It seems almost too good to be true – the chassis is actually built to accurate dimensions, it’s absolutely fully symmetrical, every joint is perfectly aligned with no steps and the welds are all perfect. The panels require very little fettling and again simply fit perfectly. If the car ends up anything less than perfect it’s down to me then!

As it happens I’m off work for the following week too. I need to get the Fury prepped for next weekend’s racing at Cadwell but that won’t take long. With any luck I’ll have the chassis ready for all the panels within a day or two and can get on with the paint.

The BDN arrives

While waiting for Saturday to come round I did a bit of clearing up in the garage, it’s going to be a bit tight until the Ferrari’s sold. I also popped round to see Phil and measure up his Transit to check the chassis would fit in there.

I’ve also been doing some thinking about the chassis. I’ve been undecided whether to spray the chassis or get it powder coated. Spraying it is cheaper and I can do it myself, it also means I don’t need to lug the chassis off somewhere to get it done. On the other hand powder coat gives a good finish and is more durable. The trouble with it though is that it does chip from stones hitting it and as Brian pointed out you’re always wielding spanners around a race car and it gets damaged by this. Once it does get damaged it tends to flake off and rust spreads underneath it. It’s also difficult to touch up whereas normal paint is pretty easy. So at the moment spraying has its nose in front. I still need to decide on a colour though.

I also need to decide what I’m doing with the aluminium panels. On the Fury they’re powder coated black and really do look much better than bare aluminium. Brian was concerned about the weight of powder coating which is of course a factor in a race car. I tried to work out what weight it might add and assuming the powder coat to be 0.5mm think and to weigh about 50% more than water volume for volume I’m estimating it at about 9kg!

Having left the house at 8 we were at Brian’s house well before 10 and the chassis was waiting outside to greet us. First impression is how tiny it is, of course it doesn’t currently have the front and rear sub-frames on there which shortens it somewhat. The bodywork alongside it is the new bodywork which is about 150mm longer than the bodywork that was on the car when Derek was driving it last season.

Not long after we arrived Ian turned up which was nice as I wanted to have a chat with him about IVA issues. His main concern was sorting out a new arrangement for the fuel filler which currently resides in the engine bay, OK on a race car but a no no for IVA. There will of course be lots of other issues including edges within the cockpit, switchgear etc. but they’re relatively minor and shouldn’t be too challenging. He reckons the light height will be OK as they can be mounted quite high up on the front wheel arch. We’re all pretty keen to get the car road legal, for me it’s so I can take it out for shake downs whenever I’ve done any tinkering, for the Baldwins it clearly makes the car more marketable.

One we’d loaded the chassis and aluminium panels into the Transit we headed back and I did a bit of rearranging in the garage to fit the chassis in behind the Fury. And here it is on the trusty old trestles ready to get started on the panels. Initial impressions of the chassis apart from its size are how well triangulated it all looks and how well it’s put together. The welding’s very neat and tidy and it’s clear that only minimal use of the angle grinder’s been required to flatten off the welds.

One of the key features of the chassis design is the front and rear bulkheads. These will be machined aluminium but while fabricating the chassis Brian uses machined MDF which stays in place until the chassis is painted or powder coated. These are bolted onto captive nuts welded into the chassis tubes, they’re what I think are called Philidas nuts which are a form of self-locking nut which have a couple of slots which de-pitch the last couple of threads. They’re very similar to the Binx nuts that were used on the Westfield prop bolts. This photo is of the front corner showing how neatly the tube has been closed off.

I did have a quick look at the aluminium panels and while the side and floor panels are pretty self-explanatory the bulkhead panels fit together with the various fuel tank cover panels which have some quite complex bends in them. Ian gave me a folder with some instructions and drawings in them but I need the main PDF from him which will show me how they all fit together.

The plan starts to come together

With only 4 days to go till I’m due to collect the chassis I’m getting pretty excited about getting going on the new car.

I rang Mal Curnin of Yorkshire Engines on Tuesday. He has a 2007 ZX10 motor that he reckons is in excellent nick with no casing damage etc. Although it’s more expensive than the ones on Ebay it comes complete with loom, ECU, airbox etc. and it’s probably reasonable to have more confidence in it than one of the Ebay engines. And it’s still over £2,000 cheaper than the Hayabusa engine that’s sitting in the Fury cost. Having agreed a deal I stuck a cheque in the post and Mal reckons he’ll get the engine out on Friday.

I called Andy Bates to talk about a billet sump. He got the one machined for Tony Gaunt’s ZX10 engine, sadly the company who did it are no longer around but he can get another one made. He also has an adapter plate to replace the oil/water cooler to provide a take off for an oil cooler.

I also called into Hastie Coatings in Swansea. I’d heard there had been an explosion there a couple of years ago and had assumed they wouldn’t be there any more but it must not have been a terribly big explosion as the place looked unchanged from when I had the Fury panels coated back in January 2006. I had a chat with the boss there who reckoned about £150 for a chassis which sounds reasonable enough. I then asked about colours – I don’t really want it in black as that won’t go too well with the colour scheme I have in mind and I’m mindful of Tim Hoverd’s light grey chassis to make spotting any cracks easy, I was thinking white but then it turned out they have a tub of Kawasaki green powder. Hmmm, tempting, but will that be a bit OTT ….

I called Brian in the evening to confirm the chassis is ready and had quite a lengthy chat. He gave me the overall dimensions of the chassis – my rallying friend Phil has offered to pick it up with me in his Transit and I want to check it’ll fit OK. We’ll need to get some engine mounts fabricated for the ZX10 motor and Brian and Ian aren’t fans of the method of propping the engine in the engine bay on bits of wood and constructing a cradle around it. Instead they take precise measurements of the engine, Ian sticks it all in his CAD program, designs the mounts, produces drawings and a cutting list from which Brian constructs them. And it all just fits perfectly. Sounds good but of course requires that the engine measurements are spot on and I don’t trust myself to do this. So Brian and I decided the best bet is to have the engine delivered to them rather than here then Ian can sort that out and I’ll collect the engine from them later. A quick text to Mal with their address and that was arranged.

Three more sleeps …

Going green

It’s been make your mind up time here. Deciding on what engine to put in the BDN has been very difficult. I was initially tempted to stick with Hayabusa but fairly soon decided against this – they’re relatively expensive, need a dry sump, are much heavier but only put out the same power as the litre engines although with more torque. On track the torque doesn’t count for very much apart from the start and very slow first gear hairpins perhaps. Ditto ZX12 really, to compound things there they’re becoming harder to find and are quite old.

So, a litre engine it will be. Brian at BDN is strongly in favour of dry sump and I can see his arguments regarding maintaining safety margins. However most people in the paddock disagree and would rather stick with a billet wet sump if possible – cheaper, lighter and less to go wrong.

Then we need to decide what flavour engine. I was initially inclined to go Suzuki – their GSXR1000 has been regarded as the gruntier of the crop for a few years and has been reliable in the bike. Over here they have a reputation for blowing up in race car installs although the DSR racers in the US seem to be successfully using them with billet gated sumps at up to 3G with their slick and wings. However they are allowed to swap the engine internals and as I understand it they replace the rods with stronger items which may make all the difference and we can’t do that in RGB.

Most of our Class B cars in RGB are running CBR1000 Fireblade motors. These seem pretty reliable although Tim Hoverd’s had to swap an engine and Matt Green managed to blow up 2 of them in one rather expensive Snetterton weekend. Adrian’s also broken a couple of them although possibly down to cooling issues. They are generally reckoned to be slightly lower powered compared to the opposition although Tim H’s car put out almost the same peak bhp as my Hayabusa on PDQ’s rollers.

Yamaha’s R1 is powerful and a couple have gone quite well but there isn’t much experience of the newer engines in race cars. The newer ones are generally reckoned to be quite peaky. I had a 2007 R1 bike myself and it was a brilliant motor with good torque (although I can vouch that it wasn’t as torquey as my friend’s ’05 GSXR1000) and really liked its revs.

Kawasaki’s ZX10 has a bit of a reputation as a bit of a monster, indeed it’s quoted that it’s the superbike with the worst record for insurance losses. The engines are regarded as strong too. Tony Gaunt has been running his 2006 ZX10R engined Wolfe in RGB for 2 years now on a billet sump designed by himself and Andy Bates without any problems and seems to be making good power although he isn’t using a Power Commander and has never rolling roaded it. For some reason ZX10 motors are also cheaper than the others and there seem to be plenty of them about so at the moment that’s top of the lsit. Still not sure to go with a 2006/7 engine or the newer, less proven but more powerful 2008.

I’ve been discussing other bits and pieces with Brian. I’ll be collecting the chassis and panels next weekend so I can get them all trimmed up and the chassis drilled then decide whether to powder coat it or paint it. Brian will then get on with getting the parts together for the front and rear modules which he hopes I should have around the end of July although that might slip as he’s relying on an external contractor for the more critical welding (wishbones etc.).

I’ll need to order some hubs, the BDN uses Vauxhall Astra hubs which come as a sealed unit and have proven to work well. I also need to decide what dampers to use – it’s probably time for me to switch to 2 way dampers with independently adjustable bump and rebound. I don’t want to spend a fortune as frankly I don’t think I’m a good enough driver yet to appreciate the difference but I do need some better ones than the Avo’s I’ve got on the Fury. I’ve heard good reports of Procomp who get dampers from Pro-Tech and set them up on their shock dyno to ensure matched pairs. Interestingly while I was writing this post Tim Hoverd’s just got a set from Procomp for his J15 so I think that’s probably enough of an endorsement to push me in that direction.

Brands again

Well, here we are back at Brands again. Not complaining, it’s a fab circuit and the paddock’s good – plenty of room and lots of electrical hook ups. Pity about the M25 on the way here but hey ho.

Following exchanges of texts and a phone call with Austen on Thursday I ordered 3 rear tyres from Ears Motorsport, 2 for me and one for Austen. They duly arrived Friday morning while I was catching up on some sleep after an overnight shift. I’d already ordered a pair of fronts from Polley.

Saturday morning was cloudy, breezy and cool but stayed dry. Qualifying was good fun, my main goal was to try to go into Clearways a bit faster and let the car run out towards the outside kerb more, hopefully thereby gaining a bit more speed onto the straight. The car was again hopping round a bit over the ripples in the early part of Clearways but it was otherwise OK. FL was 54.21 which is slower than I’ve been before and I was very aware that I could easily go faster by concentrating on the Paddock Hill entry. I was 17th on the grid for race one with Phi Alcock and Adrian within 2 tenths ahead of me so I should have a good race against them. Neil in the BDN and Geoff Mason in his Busa engined Spire were just behind me although I’d passed both of them during qualy. After qualy the car needed nothing much doing at all which was nice

Brian and Rob Baldwin turned up, Rob had been hoping to race the BDN S3 in the Bikesports race but they hadn’t managed to get it ready in time. Ian and Brian have redesigned the bodywork to improve the aero and the new rear was fouling the exhaust. Pretty disappointing for all concerned. However they’d decided that I could have the chassis that’s almost completed and originally intended for Rob to take to Australia. So I can go and collect the chassis and aluminium panels in a couple of weeks time to make a start on my BDN.

As we left assembly it started to rain and just like at Snetterton it rained harder while we were all getting onto the grid. The lights went out and I promptly stalled I hit the starter button and got going pretty quickly having only lost one or two places but as I arrived at Paddock Hill the bonnet started to lift up. I’d clearly simply forgotten to do up all the latches. Cursing myself I raised my hand and coasted round while the rest of them streamed past me. 52mph was the magic number above which the bonnet lifted up. I dawdled round to pit lane and waved someone over to do up the latches for me then I was held at pit exit while a marshal went round and checked them all. Off I went again and on the way down towards Graham Hill I could see the leaders coming round Paddock Hill, thee was nobody in sight in front of me. Resigned to a lonely race I watched my mirrors and made sure I stayed out of the way of the leaders as they came round. I did eventually start to reel someone in and gradually caught up the battle between Judi, Ben and Neil. I went past Neil on the brakes into Druids then on the way out of Graham Hill Ben made his move on Judi, I wet right over to the left and went past both of them and was ahead by the time we got to Surtees. Towards the end I was reeling in Geoff Mason but didn’t quite get to him before the chequered flag.

As I went down the tunnel I noticed smoke coming off the right rear brake and by the time I got back into the paddock the car was grinding to a halt. Austen had a brief panic attack as my brake was on fire as I pulled up next to his bottle of barbeque gas As it is steel disks and asbestos pads don’t burn too well so it was a brief drama. We jacked the car up and got the wheel off to work out why it was seizing on. Releasing either bleed nipple released the brake but loosening the banjo holding the flexible hose on the caliper didn’t so we deduced something was going on within the caliper that was allowing it to pressurise. Ken (Austen’s dad) and I decided the handbrake mechanism was the likely culprit so we set about dissembling it. Adrian had previously told me Hi-Spec had told him that taking the handbrake bit apart was a bad move but we had no choice. It turned out the handbrake mechanism is an incredibly complex affair and apart from the lever operated cam isn’t mechanical at all but in fact operates a small hydraulic piston within the caliper. We spent several hours sussing out how it worked and what had gone wrong. As the handbrake is operated the piston pressurises the caliper and closes off the tiny passageway back out of the caliper.Eventually we decided a knackered O-ring was preventing the piston going back far enough to uncover this passageway and release the fluid back.

After a couple of failed attempts to come up with a fix we left out the tiny plunger and spring controlling the flow of fluid back and left the handbrake cable disconnected. By the time we were happy it was OK it was getting on for 10pm by which time I was well ready for a beer and some food.

Sunday was again breezy and cloudy but the forecast was OK. I got the car prepped and had a fairly leisurely morning since we weren’t racing till 12.45. Having been deeply ashamed of my performance off the line on Saturday I was determined to get a better start. I was in 16th place today on the left side of the grid which I preferred, not keen on being boxed in alongside the pit wall and on the inside at Paddock Hill. I got a great start this time and as is often the case gained a few places on the way to the first corner. I stayed round the outside round Druids allowing Austen and Colin to get past me then I tucked in behind Colin on the run down to Graham Hill. I jinked right to avoid a spinning Tim Hoverd on the left and chased Austen and Colin round the rest of the lap. I lost a bit of ground to them round Clearways and had Phil Alcock in my mirrors. Austen and Colin slowly edged away from me and for a few laps I had Phil hassling me from behind – he’s very experienced and a wily racer and he got past me round Druids after about 6 laps. I then had James Walker in the Westfield up my chuff but I knew he was almost a second a lap quicker than me so expected him to get past me which he duly did into Paddock Hill next time round. I know from previous battles that there are bits where Phil’s faster than me but other bits where I’m quicker. I confidently expected James to get past Phil but he didn’t and I was behind their battle for the rest of the race. Neil in the BDN was a little way back in my mirrors but never really threatened me. I finished in 13th place which I think is about my best result yet having started 16th in a grid of 23. I was really pleased to find I’d also improved my lap time with a new personal best of 53.87. I also wasn’t lapped which is another new experience, especially on a short circuit like Brands.

Here’s race 2:

So, yet again I was bringing home an intact Fury All I need to do before Cadwell in 3 weeks is sort out the rear brakes – either get new O-rings and seals for the Hi-Spec calipers or change them altogether. I still have the Sierra calipers I was originally supplied before the Hi-Spec handbrake calipers were available. They’re a bit heavier but they’re reliable and I’d have a functioning handbrake then!

Thoughts are now turning also to the BDN. I’ve been seeking plenty of advice from my fellow racers, Brian, also Andy Bates. I’m pretty much decided on sticking to 1000cc as I don’t think there’s enough benefit from the bigger engines to justify the extra weight and cost. Opinions vary unsurprisingly, Andy of course favours Honda but the 2005/6 Fireblade motors don’t produce as much power as the others and I’m not happy being a guinea pig with the 2008 motor. I like the Suzuki motor but there are some question marks over its strength, particularly with respect to rods and rod bolts. The Kawasaki ZX10 seems a reasonable option – good output, quite strong and relatively cheap. Andy can also supply a billet wet sump which is proven (Tony Gaunt’s been using his for a couple of years now). I’ll need to make my mind up soon.

The binding brake

I got the right rear caliper off to find the pads pretty worn and looking badly incinerated. I popped the pistons out and the only thing I could see on inspection was a rim of baked on crud around each of the pistons. The pistons and caliper bores were looking fairly pristine otherwise. After a lot of brake cleaner, metal polish and elbow grease I got it all looking ship-shape again. I still had a pair of new pads left so I reassembled it all and refitted it.

I bled the whole brake system and stuck the wheels on. Then both Adrian and Tim posted messages in the forum warning me to change the cross caliper link tube o-rings as the heat was likely to have damaged them and they have a propensity to suddenly fail. Brian Baldwin also sent me an email with a similar message. So I rang Hi Spec and ordered a set of seals (and some spares) for both the o-rings and the main piston seals.

Andy had wondered if this was the same corner that had been flopping round at Snett and indeed it is, although since then I had weekends at Mallory and Brands without brake issues. A check of Dan Bromilow’s blog (he doesn’t like it being called a blog but that alone is enough reason to continue calling it a blog ) confirmed that his brake binding issue at Brands was because of a caliper not sitting square on an upright so I wondered if the bracket holding the caliper onto the upright might have got a bit bent when the suspension failed.