Clive's 400 BHP Super GT RX-8 Race Car

clive · April 18, 2016, 09:34:46 PM

Here we go, this weekends Race Program - See attachment

Huge grid of 27 Nippon Racers plus French and German cars but sadly no other Rotarys on the list,

re japi · April 23, 2016, 07:00:44 AM

Umm, so what class/series you at?

Beautiful morning here in Bath. So hopefully there is good weather too. We are trying to get quite fast to see you race. But 2 and half hours drive, whit that car so...

Good luck to race! Woop some 4 bangers but

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boosted · April 23, 2016, 09:56:00 AM

Its the 2 races with nippon in them download the pdf to your phone mate....

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boosted · April 23, 2016, 09:59:38 AM

13.20 and 15 .25 race 1 n 2....no way gonna make race 1 but should be there for race 2.

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Grant Monkhouse · May 01, 2016, 06:24:21 PM

How did the last weekend go? Gutted I couldn't make it!

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clive · May 02, 2016, 10:11:56 PM

How did it go ? "not too good"!

Here we go , the race report/ saga!

As said never been around Siverstone before which proved to be interesting as one corner produced violent snap oversteer so whereas the car is normally on a 50 50 split on damper to get the car through the Club corner S bend after a spin I found it needed a 90 10 split with the back that soft to compensate for the oversteer.

With that sorted and only 9 psi of boost a lowly 10th on the grid out of 32 cars was all that was achieved on the last lap of qualifying.

Come the race I mistakenly flipped the boost switch to the higher setting of 15 psi of boost which promptly detonated the engine off the line !

This explained why I lit the tyres up with 8K on the rev counter till I lifted my foot back!

Turns out one Apex seal stuck in leaving me with a slight miss costing 2 seconds a lap.

4 laps in the car lost power so I decided to limp back to the pits, BUT, "Christine" paid a visit.

Noticing a lick of flame out the bonnet I turned off the track at the first marshall's post I spotted, straight into a gravel trap !

After passing the Civic burning for three laps pictured below it was the right thing to do, next problem was the recovery truck which I now know could have done a lift and tow from the front, instead they pulled me out from the back and the gravel promptly ripped the nose straight off the car !!

Even the scrutineers were livid, exclaiming "they know this happens and yet they still drag them out this way !"

Now the engine is in bits it turns out one of my main mods over the winter has been a disaster, I constructed a baffled sump with trap doors and then a baffle plate over the top.

I now know the engine suffered oil starvation which led to engine block heat which melted a piece of plastic which as you will see promptly caught alight.

So where do we go from here.

Plus sides are although on low boost this is the first time the car has run cleanly in 3 years and now know the car has some potential.

As for the race, it turns out according to the timing sheets, that even at 2 seconds a lap slower than qualifying I had the car up to fifth leading the Super GT class after people falling off etc.

Eccentric shaft and stationary bearings a totally dead but only one Apex seal had stuck so it means no running in and I can get it mapped with some boost as soon as its back together,

Engine loom was also toast , literally.

Modded sump is going in the bin with a stock sump going back on with the baffle plate and my modified breather system that means the engine now breaths via the front cover and the rear turbo drain.

The car actually looked so bad with its torn off front, fire extinguisher foam and burnt bits I actually took the car all the way back home then drove back to Silverstone as I could not bear to have the car seen at Japfest.

To top it all, I felt real real sorry for Jarno and Jon who came along to finally see the car actually race.

Onwards and upwards as they say !!

re japi · May 03, 2016, 05:18:31 AM

Oh crap...

So there was a lot of destruction... Sorry...

I did see her race for a few laps, and actually first few looked quite good, car does have potential. Cornering looked good. And when engine came to power area...

Ofcourse it would be awesome to see that car race without problems. But thats racing as they say... But IÂ´m happy just because I saw her race for a few laps at least...

Oh and what I saw at Silverstone over the weekend, marshalls there needs some teaching! MR2 that smoked alot, they just leaved it straight to that area where race cars go in to pits. And that Subaru retaired from race too, he couldnt get past him, cause MR2 was on the way...

Few days ago I started to think what kind of laps times yours, JonÂ´s, ChrisÂ´s and EssexRotaryÂ´s cars can do in my home track. It would be awesome to see them race here some day...

C J R · May 03, 2016, 08:18:56 AM

Wow, what a saga. Firstly Clive, well done - not many people would openly admit to getting something wrong. Your experience helps us all along the way.
Glad to hear you and the car survived with minor damage, bit of copper wire, some plastic and fibreglass is all that's needed

Although it may seem misplaced, but this does show significant progress from where you were 2 years ago. Being adventurous by marrying an engine and various ecu's which do not naturally live together.
So, get on with it,

rebuild the engine (at least you know that part pretty well)

and get it back on track.

clive · May 12, 2016, 07:22:56 PM

So so lucky I did not lose the whole car, as you can see below the fire damage was much worse than I thought

The primary injectors literally burnt themselves into the fuel rail.

Does anyone have a spare primary fuel rail they can sell me like in the picture below , don't need injectors just the fuel rail, cap and the screws please .

boosted · May 13, 2016, 02:33:42 AM

Ebay Clive. Seller : martj Â£28...
Soz cant post link on my phone...

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re japi · May 13, 2016, 05:00:25 AM

Wow...

Seems like things could have been worse, so you actually are lucky (kind of)... Im just clad that damages were "minor"...

Btw, do you have in car fire extinguisher system?
I dont understand why people wont use them. Costs around 200Â£ and it can save car...

boosted · May 13, 2016, 12:32:33 PM

primary fuel rail.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172185994145?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

clive · May 13, 2016, 12:43:28 PM

Yep , full on-board extinguisher , decided to bail out and get the bonnet up, something you wouldn't normally do but as I have the big vent in the bonnet this was not an issue.

As I had dumped it in the gravel at a marshal post, literally the was there ready to whoof it out so there was no need to pull the extinguisher from the out side which I was about to do but the guy was already at it

.

clive · May 13, 2016, 12:44:21 PM

Quote from: boosted on May 13, 2016, 12:32:33 PM
primary fuel rail.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172185994145?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Thanks Jon, ordered.

re japi · May 13, 2016, 06:23:08 PM

Quote from: clive on May 13, 2016, 12:43:28 PM
Yep , full on-board extinguisher , decided to bail out and get the bonnet up, something you wouldn't normally do but as I have the big vent in the bonnet this was not an issue.

As I had dumped it in the gravel at a marshal post, literally the was there ready to whoof it out so there was no need to pull the extinguisher from the out side which I was about to do but the guy was already at it .

Ok, good. Those really dont cost much and they can save you from big bill...

Yes, think hard and check what is going on before you use it

cause it will shoot that bottle empty and then it will be a big mess...

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