Saturday, June 06, 2015 - 08:01 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
The undertray is bonded to the old fibreglass front bar. It is looking a little old and worn out, but will work until I get the moulds to make a new one.
Monday, June 08, 2015 - 08:34 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I spent the day at Wakefield Park. As already announced, I set a couple of new PBs today culminating in a 1:06.66 in the final session of the day.
The day was not without incident, and it got off to a poor start. The pit area has been resurfaced. Where I used to unload the car straight off the trailer is now a little steeper. This meant I drove the rear diffuser straight into the new bitumen. This in turn led to me starting the day in the pits with a mallet and a block of wood straightening out the diffuser. I have been thinking of remaking the diffuser, but I’ll come back to that thought.
I had an off at turn 2 in the morning. If I brake before the kink (T1) I end up accelerating through T2 because I have washed off too much speed. If I drive through the kink, then I drive off the end of the road and into the sand trap. I ended up lightly applying the brakes right at the entry to the kink and carrying them to the apex of T2. I still think this needs work. I also had a spin in the fish hook in the afternoon. This was simply due to overdriving the car.
In the last session, straight after the PB I was on another fast lap. There was an almighty bang and then the unmistakable noise of something dragging on the ground. Everything felt OK, except for the noise. I headed into the pits to have a look. Under the car I found my rear muffler dragging on the ground. Strangely nothing had broken; it had simply managed to unhook itself from the OEM hangers. Unfortunately, for the second event in a row 2km of Wakefield’s finest bitumen ground down part of my car. The exhaust section immediately before the muffler is paper thin.
So remember how I was thinking it is time to update the diffuser? Now that the exhaust needs some repairs, it might be time to investigate a side exit exhaust and full width diffuser, or some other fancy idea. I have 2 weeks holidays coming up…
Tuesday, June 09, 2015 - 02:08 pm, by: Clayton Carlyle(Clayton)
Crazy time Ben, what do you think has made the biggest gains in lap time? Shoulder? Weather? Splitter? Weight? This is now getting really quick, it's not going to be easy to beat.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Tuesday, June 09, 2015 - 02:55 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Hard to say Clayton. Looking back, the 1:07 lap was done with a seriously torn up shoulder and detached bicep (short head), old tyres but a nicely corner balanced car.
A year later, the shoulder is in good working order and the car is a couple of kilos lighter, but has not been corner weighted since. The new tyres did not give the immediate gain I had hoped for.
To be honest I am still not driving the car as well as I have done in the past, but my confidence is growing. I think a better driver would find more time quite quickly.
Over all I would say it is just a natural evolution of the car and the driver. The thing is, now I have run 1:06, that time is clearly achievable, and I now expect I should run some 1:06s at every event. It is a mental game. Interestingly, at least one other guy set a new PB in that last session, so maybe the track gripped up too.
Those last two sessions I was really wringing its neck. It got to the point I was throwing it into turn 2 and hitting the throttle before the apex to correct the understeer and slide the thing out to the ripple strips. I was pretty confident the tyres would find some grip and get me going in the right direction. I haven't felt that confident since driving Hidden Valley in the rain - I went from being 3rd or 4the fastest car in the dry to being 1st by a long margin in the rain. An external video might have been quite entertaining.
I am either going to head out to the circuit club day on the 11th of July, or the Rotary Nationals on the 12th. Both events are at Wakefield. I need to consolidate this 'training' before I lose it again.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Thursday, June 11, 2015 - 09:13 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Got a special delivery from Mick McKellar on Tuesday night. The original front bar moulds I made several years ago are back in my shed. It is like being reunited with an old friend.
Looking at the moulds, I am struck by both how bad they are (by my current standards), and how ambitious a project it was to start out making my own custom front bar.
I am doing some repairs and modifications to the moulds with a view to using them to make a fresh new carbon fibre front bar.
Using some plastic cups to extend the brake ducts.
I used some Styrofoam followed by ametalin ducting tape to clean up and block off the intercooler and radiator duct.
Finally adding some depth to the high beam recesses so the part will have some nicer edges.
I have a few other areas I want to clean up or improve before doing a wet carbon layup. The moulds are not suited to vacuum infusion, so I will be going old school. Progress pics will keep coming as I get organised.
Friday, June 12, 2015 - 09:11 pm, by: Tim Schroeter(790)
Love your dedication! Great result on the Wakefield May meet. If your willing, notify your meets ahead. As a soarer fanatic I'd love to combine a road trip with a modded soarer exhibition! I did stock cars (pre fun police). LJ Torana, loved it.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Saturday, June 13, 2015 - 09:30 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Thanks Tim. I am either going to hit Wakefield with Circuit Club on the 11 July, or with RENEW on Sunday 12th July for the Rotary Nationals event. Leaning towards the RENEW event because I know a lot of the Rotary guys from a past life and through mutual friends.
Prep work is continuing on the front bar moulds. I have decided I am not going to modify the bar moulds any further. They now have two coats of Meguiars No8 release wax on them. I reckon 5 or 6 coats of wax on these fellas just to be sure I get a release as I am not going to use any PVA.
The plan is to do a traditional wet layup using carbon twill and Kevlar in an epoxy resin. Because the mould has lots of imperfections I plan to lay down a coat of epoxy and let that start to go off, then lay down a second coat of epoxy and start the lay up. This should give me a little bit of resin to sand back to get a better finish.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Saturday, June 13, 2015 - 09:00 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Gave the moulds their five coats of wax today. Seeing as NSW Time Attack is on at Wakefield this weekend, and I am heading up for a look tomorrow, I either had to wait for next weekend to do the layup or push ahead and do it tonight.
Somewhat predictably I decided to do it tonight. I must say carbon is a pain in the arse when it comes to wet layups. So there are three layers of carbon and about 2kg of resin in the mould. I switched to the 205 fast hardener, but the working time is still very long, even with a little heater in the shed.
I'll let this lot sit for a couple of days to cure. I might even manage to let it go until next week end, but I can't promise anything.
Saturday, June 13, 2015 - 09:34 pm, by: Michael McKellar(Mickmini)
Re your exhaust, a lot of guys use chain on the OEM hanger mounts rather than rubber as it is a lot less likely to break, but still gives a bit of flex when the engine twists.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - 08:09 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
CHeers Mick. I have another solution I want to try - drilling the exhaust hanger and putting an "R" clip through it. The rubber mounts did not break, they simply seem to have allowed the hanger to fall out.
Seriously considering the side exhaust though.
Because I find TV uninteresting I have worked every night since you dropped off the moulds. I reinforced the mounting points with pieces of aluminium and three layers of Kevlar. The top lip behind the lights and radiator panel also got reinforced with Kevlar.
Tonight I decided I could wait no longer and went ahead and pulled the bumper from the mould. I am absolutely a fan of this Meguiars Number 8 mould release wax. Not a drop of PVA mould release, just wax. The bar popped out with the help of a screwdriver and piece of scrap wood.
Pretty happy with what was a spur of the moment decision to make a new bar. Oh, and the best bit - it weighs 4.2kg. The fibreglass bar (with an undertray) weighs 16.3kg, so by the time I add an undertray and reinforce the splitter it will probably weigh around 8kg, so a decent savings of about 8kg from the critical front end mass.
Wednesday, July 01, 2015 - 08:17 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I am entered in the RENEW Rotary Nationals on Sunday 12 July. Reading the regulations, I discovered I need a 5/6 point harness. I managed to find one for a good price (someone else's error is my gain) and it arrived this morning.
I welded in two new mounts under the seat, and after several attempts to get the crutch strap length correct bolted everything back in.
In other news my Kevlar finally arrived and I got the undertray constructed. This time I used 10mm polyurethane foam laminated in the Kevlar and 'glass to make the splitter. I reckon next time I will buy 15mm foam as the 10mm makes for a much thinner splitter. Seems strong enough though. To put that in perspective: the fibreglass splitter is 40mm thick and was filled by hardware shop 'space invader' style PU foam from a can. This means the ride height of the front splitter is now 25mm higher. I'll find out how this goes next week.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Wednesday, July 01, 2015 - 08:28 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I have also been messing with oval exhaust tubing in preparation for switching to a side exit exhaust. After being told I can't simply squash 4" tubing down to an oval shape by the first shop I tried to buy some from I went home and tested the theory on some old 3" tubing. Worked exactly like I had planned.
SO I found another exhaust shop and purchased a metre of 4" tubing for $45 and went to work.
Just tacked together at this stage, but that is about 2.5 hours work in that piece. Much less than the time it would take to cut 1.5 inch tube in half and weld in a 90mm wide top and bottom sheet to form the oval like the exhaust shop wanted to do. Also in my pic is the 3" to 4" oval transition I was told wont work. The only thing I would do differently is make the wedge section longer, probably 50mm from the oval section as that bit deformed a little (too much metal to form the shape I wanted).
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Thursday, July 02, 2015 - 08:30 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
My shirts and hoodies are done!
Seeing as motorsports on TV is now only for the rich (ie not on free TV) I have decided not to support them by buying their merchandise. I put the money I usually spend at the track into making my own gear. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Cheaper than the other stuff too!
Friday, July 03, 2015 - 06:05 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Roland Elliott wrote on Friday, July 03, 2015 - 03:56 pm:
Ben are you selling the shirts ? If so I would like a few.
I hadn't planned on it. The guy is 5 minutes down the road though and has it all on file. If you are serious I could get some more Polo/T-shirts printed. (I supplied him the Hoodies which turned out to be the expensive way to do it - who knew it would be hard to find plain black hoodies?)
Polo shirts were just under $30 supplied and printed. I think plain T shirts would be cheaper.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Saturday, July 04, 2015 - 09:22 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Side exit exhaust is done. Had to wait for a 3" straight through muffler to be ordered in. Called around 5 shops in Canberra area and no one had one in stock???
The car is significantly quieter at idle, but still comes on song when the revs rise. Looking forwards to hearing it on the track next week.
Also visible in the second pic is the new throat I made for the rear diffuser. The original diffuser entry was compromised by the original dual exhaust and the corners were cut out. This throat is 100mm wider and 200mm longer giving a lot more surface area for the low pressure zone to act upon. The leading edge of the diffuser wraps around the axles forming a gentler entry too.
Peter Nitschke Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31