Friday, November 07, 2014 - 09:37 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
DO you want me to make a Soarer top ten table or something? Could put it in the lap time thread. Would be happy to include any laptimes from either official timing, data loggers, racechrono, own lap timers etc. There are only going to be a couple of us interested in it, and I reckon we are all trustworthy enough that we do not need a third party to verify the time.
Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 06:31 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I think you might be surprised. I ran that 1:10 with 150rwkw or whatever a stock 20yo 1J had at the wheels, but that was on semi slicks (stock brakes and a busted up set of coilovers).
Torque is very important at Wakefield. I have a video chasing a 6L V8 commodore IPRA car there. We run similar lap times, but watching him pull out of the fish hook and the last turn and just drive away from me was demoralising. I made much better corner speed, and was back on his tail by turn 3 and being held up.
To reinforce that, it has come to light that Damien's TTV8 'only' had 270rwkw when he ran his 1:07 in basically 'street trim' on full slicks. He would have had shedloads of torques though.
Harry up in QLD just reset the production lap time in his local hillclimb in an auto Soarer. Apparently it is quite a sight to see his barge on the track, but it gets the job done. Ray Goodluck is running the standard auto in his track car in SA (with a cooler I think). People have told me the A340 auto is a pretty good bit of kit. Hopefully it works for you too.
I would be surprised if you were not running well under 1:20 depending on the weather, and grip you can muster from the tyres etc. I think 1:15 might be achievable. Regardless, whatever time you get will give me a tenth name to throw on the table in the track times thread.
Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 05:32 pm, by: Aaron Casey(Blownminiturbo)
By the sound of it Manual, the biggest downfall for your laptimes will be the tyres! But as Ben said will be good to get some more out there there was a 1j out there a few weeks ago.. struggled with 1:28s. Was all driver though and uber stance so yeah. You should get 1:15s to 1:20
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - 07:05 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
YouTube has been prompting me to make a shorter video suitable for an advertisement etc.
I decided to give it a go, using the old Window Movie Maker loaded onto the windows 7 laptop. Not as easy or as simple as I remember. Must be those rose coloured glasses we always look back with.
Sunday, November 30, 2014 - 05:25 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I took my sling off yesterday. To celebrate my new found freedom, I decided to finish the steering column I started two months ago. I centred the rack, set up string lines and centred the steering wheel etc. I did a couple of runs up and down the drive way to check it was centred and then I got to welding the 'boss' to the column to make it permanent.
A quick spray of primer to prevent the mild steel from rusting, and when that was dry I gave it a coat of satin black.
That was about the limits of my endurance. After that little session, the shoulder was aching pretty badly, so I called it a day. At least I got to cross something off the list.
Today I pulled up very sore and just had an easy day. I did manage to figure out why my shift lights were not working on the Racepak dash. I pulled the configuration of the dash and discovered the dash was looking for a signal from the "engine RPM x200" channel. I am using the data stream from the Haltech ECU for RPM input. All I simply had to do was find this channel "EFI RPM x750" and tell the dash to read this signal for the shift lights. Works a treat now. For the time being I have the shift lights set at 300rpm steps to redline at 6500rpm. After the next trip to the track I'll figure out exactly what step interval works best for me.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Tuesday, December 09, 2014 - 08:10 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Work has started on new carbon fibre doors. Unfortunately there are hundreds of hours of boring work before I get to the exciting carbony stuff. This week has been devoted to sanding and filling dents in what appeared to be a reasonably straight drivers door.
PS: Is anyone reading this? It feels like I am talking to myself.
Tuesday, December 09, 2014 - 08:15 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Well hello everybody!
More wet sanding this afternoon and the first two coats of clear polyurethane out of a rattle can. I read about using polyurethane 'laquer' in a book; the author suggesting it is useful as it does not interact with resins. Seeing as I had a can of gloss left over from some other project I decided to give it a shot. All the other paints I have are enamel, and I have learnt the hard way about using that under resin.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - 04:51 pm, by: Aaron Casey(Blownminiturbo)
Ill get this other window out when this rain clears... if not will have to be tomorrow haha car is on stands infront of the garden shed door haha. Pain this weather..
Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 06:53 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
OK, so I am not talking to myself. I have the page on facebook, but rather like the idea of there being a permanent, searchable, record somewhere. I just wish I had of given it a more imaginable thread title.
This week has been a lot of sanding and clear coating of the drivers door. It also saw much cutting and polishing of the last (4th) coat of clear to get a decent surface. The first two of about half a dozen coats of mould release wax have gone on and been buffed off. I do not have enough room to set up and work on two doors at once unfortunately. Last night I added the flanges to the outside of the door, and today I am driving up to Aaron's to get some door glass and trims that will allow the completion of the prep work.
When I get back this afternoon, The glass and trims will get fitted, and then it is time to go around the whole job with plasticine etc and fill all the little cracks and recesses where the gel coat could flow and lock the mould.
My physio is happy with the recovery of the shoulder. Lucky for me, sanding and polishing the door is exactly the 'light' exercise my shoulder is capable of. The 2 hour round trip to Aaron's will test me, as it will be the third time I have driven since surgery. I am a long way off getting in the race car, as I can not hold my arm out in front of me and have absolutely no strength with my arms extended away from my body.
Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 06:34 pm, by: Andrew McKellar(Toymax)
Ben Lipman wrote on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 06:53 am:
I am a long way off getting in the race car, as I can not hold my arm out in front of me and have absolutely no strength with my arms extended away from my body
Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 09:30 pm, by: James Johnson(Jimbo)
I like to be in the corner watching too
This is the inspiration I get for my Soarer and getting back on the track. Current goal is to make the last meet of the NZ Super Lap street class in May.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 01:02 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Andrew McKellar wrote on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 06:34 pm:
Move the steering wheel closer?
Wouldn't help. According to my physio, I no longer own a bicep, tricep, or deltoid on my right side. Much painful rehab ahead. By next physio session my aim is to be able to put my hands behind my head, and be arm curling 5kg.
James- I am actually heading over to Hamilton for Christmas with my Sister and her hubby at the end of the week. My aim is to try and get to NSW Time Attack, whatever the date is.
Update time:
Yesterday I applied PVA mould release to the flanged and prepped driver side door. Unfortunately the PVA orange peeled extremely badly, something I have never seen before. It was some PVA I inherited, so I am unsure of the brand or application. It may have just been too old. It was too late in the day to try and find a shop that sells it in Canberra, and my local supply shop is not open weekends or Mondays. I was not giving up three days. I decided to just run with mould release wax. Six coats of it in fact. Nervous times ahead.
This morning I got up and applied the tooling gel coat. I had bought a purpose designed gel coat ‘cup gun’ for this. It worked well for a couple of minutes and then clogged badly and became useless. I ended up just brushing on the gel coat like normal.
Around lunch time I commenced the layup of 200gsm matt, 600gsm matt, followed by some woven cloth. I am well out of practice at hand laying fibreglass. Two very stressful hours later, I am sitting here hoping it all turns out OK. I have a screaming headache as at some stage the mask came off and never went back on. I don’t remember taking it off. I also forgot to turn the camera on, until the very end. I do now remember swearing I was never going to use that heavy woven cloth again. It is a pain in the arse to wet out and consolidate. Every time you roll it down, it simply pops back up again when you aren’t looking.