Build diary for my first kit car: an Aries Locoblade (http://www.ariesmotorsport.com/) that I will be building in Portugal for the next months (or years).
Probably I should have talked about this earlier but I wanted to have proper contact with Phil first... Who is Phil? Back in 2015, as I was dealing with Steve about my IVA, he told me he was selling Aries to another person. He would still be lightly involved, doing electrical looms and some odd job, but he was passing the business. He also said the new owner was a very nice and committed bloke. I didn't have the need to talk with the new owner, Phil, so I just followed the company on Facebook.
Phil and his wife race cars on the UK. Phil keeps a more active presence online. He has also shown interest in technologically evolving the car. Early 2016 he also bought from Andy Bates, from AB Performance, the production rights for Sabre G2. So now Aries offers the Locoblade seven-style and the Sabre radical-style cars. Aries and AB Performance, that now has only the Arion S2, have been working closely benefiting customers from both with evolution of their products. All in all, it seems things will be good with Phil.
What made me write about this now was that I needed the fuel filter. I also had one of the rear corners lower than the other, seems like a failed suspension. Talked with Phil and he was real nice helping me out. In the end I made an order for a difusor, rear shocks and the fuel filter. Phil also printed and mailed in the box a technical document I need on my third attempt to import the car to have portuguese plates. Now that I have an opinion on Phil, I feel I can write about the change. Photo of the box below, that neatly packed all my goodies.
The difusor is just for the looks. It's one of the new additions Phil made and placed on the catalogue. It will look really nice!
With the document Phil sent I now have, as far as I understood, all the papers that I need to import the car. Sent a scan to the person at the Portuguese Auto Club and he said it was excellent. I just need now to fill loads of forms (manually), prepare a binder with all the documents and take it to the Club to start the process... Will it be "third time's a charm"?
The weather was glorious! It was almost a summer day and I regretted not wearing shorts and not having sunscreen. My regular tow truck driver from S. Bica e Almeida picked me up punctually and drove us to the track. The kid rides in the back!
We arrived pretty early. Mr. Almeida had two other cars to pick up and bring to the track.
As before, had RaceChrono Pro running on the phone to capture speed and GPS positioning and the SJ4000 cam on my rollbar. When, as usual, I got home and was going to mix the video and track data I noticed the data was really bad. Seems that storing the phone on my trousers' pocket, that go under the dash, broke the GPS precision. The data was unusable. The videos will have no data this time and next time I'll have a different solution to ensure this does not happen again.
1st leg - 9h00 to 9h20
Opening the track, I felt really well. I had been practising at home with my wheel and peddles on the rFactor2 simulator. Tried to apply a bit of that on the real thing. Did 5 full laps plus the warm-up and the coold-down (incomplete) laps. The most important thing is that the car now revs correctly and goes to the limit!!! So I was able to go to the 174km/h (phone GPS metrics, Digidash says 168km/h)! And on the first leg I was able to beat my best lap time! It was previously 2m52s and I did 2m39s! This was wonderful!
After the leg I met friends on the paddock and hanged out with them the rest of the day. They had a box and invited me over. They were running on a different group so we were not on the track simultaneously. Their first leg was red-flagged and shortened because of an accident where a Caterham collided with a spun Porsche.
2nd leg - 11h05 to 11h25
Another great session! I was feeling really well! Sometimes I would over-do it and make a mistake (failed brake, mostly) but after a couple of cooling corners I was going at it again! Made my best lap of the day on this leg: 2m36s! Unfortunately, when I was looking for my best lap I missed that one and considered this one the best lap, at 2m37s, making the video for it. I don't feel like redoing it all now.
Besides doing the best lap, this leg allowed me to do 6 full laps. The best lap is the first full one, from 2m59s to 5m35s on the full leg video.
Comes lunch break, I put my SJ4000 cam charging to be sure I had enough juice for the rest of the day.
3rd leg - 14h00 to 14h20
During lunch a friend asked me if I minded taking him along for the ride. Sure, hop in! First time I had someone with me on the car! It felt a bit different on the corners, can't say it was slower. This leg netted 5 more full laps.
My wife came for a bit between 3rd and 4th sessions. She brought with her the jerrycan. Digidash was saying my deposit was at 0%!!! So we dumped in 10 more litres... It seems the car spent a bit over 20 litres per 100Km... I'll be more precise with the numbers when I dump the tank again, check the odometer and do the math... Two good photos to represent the day below.
4th leg - 16h55 to 17h15
There was a huge crash with a Ferrari on the end of the straight having the brakes fail and hitting the tire barrier at 200Km/h. Seems the car is trash now. People were not hurt, fortunately.
This meant that that session was red-flagged and the following one started a bit later. It was a special leg just for a club and they gave them near full time. So people from our leg went later to the track and knowing it would be 15m instead of 20m and there was a yellow flag for the last third of the straight until after 1st corner. The organisation was taking 5m from each remaining leg of the day to compensate the time it took to rebuild the barrier and clean after the crash.
The problem was that I staid on a queue, with the engine idling, for over 10m. When I got to the track, the car felt a bit odd. After doing my first full lap, the leg was red-flagged because of a car spinning and throwing lots of gravel on the track. As I was on the queue, still not knowing if we would be allowed back in or not, started thinking about all the crashes of the day. About the Mercedes that almost crashed on my rear on this last leg. That my day had been great, why keep pushing? So I waved, went out and onto the tow truck heading home. Don't know if the leg was still allowed back in or not. I did what felt right and I'm happy with the decision.
The video for the last session
All in all, it was a wonderful day for me. Its a pity I didn't have the RaceChrono software running perfectly. Next time it will be different! Yes, next time! I bought insurance at DuoSeg for the 3 scheduled sessions (8 April, 2 July and 10 September) and now I can't miss them! The organisation opened up for registrations on the 12th and I signed up straight away! So...
Objective:
(post written on the 14th April, encompasses 4 sessions of around 2 hours each)
As written before, the car had issues on high revs and did not reach it's maximum speed. The most probable reasons where old gas (95 octane with almost 2 years mixed with new one half/half), clogged fuel filter and/or dirty carburetors.
Throughout 4 sessions I took care of draining the fuel system and cleaning the carburetors. The fuel filter was not changed as I didn't get a replacement timely. Started by pulling the carburetors out of the car, repeating what I did to remove the vacuum pipes, but this time also taking out the throttle cable and the gas pipes. Took it to my work bench, covered with an old towel. The idea was that if any small part was to fall, it would stay on the bench instead of ricocheting and rolling away.
Following step-by-step the instructions on the Haynes manual for the Fireblade bike, I took away the plastic cover from one side of the first carburetor. Pulled the diaphragm out and disassembled it also.
Then turned the carburetors around, took the metal cover on the other side, exposing the floating bowl and the needles. Removed everything.
Using the carburetor and injector cleaner from Wurth, and following the instructions on the can and scrubbing with a toothbrush and using compressed air to blow dirt around, got it all cleaned up.
Then it was just a matter of reassembling and moving to the next carburetor. The book clearly recommended doing one at a time to avoid mixing parts. Each one took around 1h30m to do... I did this without buying a new rubber kit to replace existing rubbers, o-rings and seals. I should be able to reuse them, no? I was... But carburetors 3 and 4 missed a specific o-ring on the idle needle. Well... If it was working without them there, it should keep working, no?
When all were clean, reassembled the carburetors on the engine. Before connecting the pipes, used the fuel pump to drain most of the deposit, throwing the gas on the deposit of the tintop. All connected, more gas on the deposit, this time 98octane quality fuel, started the car... It works! But the choke now floods the carbs; can't use them. Seems those missing o-rings are needed and all worked before because the clogging prevented the flooding... Did a couple of other odd jobs and added a second jerrycan of fuel on the tank. Put gas until the Digidash said it was 100%. Don't know how "full" that actually is but I didn't want fuel spilt on the floor... The tank should take 23 litres and I dropped there 22 litres. I was ready for the next track day. And it was just in time!
And there we went! Raining a lot when I left the garage waiting for the tow truck. Funny to see the rain evaporating when it touched the exhaust pipe. The trip to the track was uneventful, the credentials office almost empty and, after unloading, off I went for the briefing (without which I wouldn't be allowed on track). As we got to the track the rain stopped. And that was wonderful!
As before, had RaceChrono Pro running on the phone to capture speed and GPS positioning and the SJ4000 cam on my rollbar. At home I then copied the videos to the phone, tried to synch them with the data and produced the videos below.
1st leg - 9h00 to 9h20 a.m.
The track was very wet. I was very afraid of having an accident and even more of having someone crash into me. It was my first time driving a rear-wheel drive car on a wet surface. Drove very carefully and let everyone pass me. Very slow times. Did 4 laps, being the fastest 3:49:32 and getting to 133,8Km/h as top speed. Still had one trip outside the track and a small slide (fortunately was going slow).
Noticed that the electrical gremlins continue. So, I still can't see the gear I'm on, it jumps as crazy. Also, forgot to move the dash from miles to kilometers so was getting "odd" speed readings.
Don't watch the video, it's boring :)
Before 2nd leg went around with friends and gave a small drive to a young boy, son of one of them.
2nd leg - 11h30 to 11h50 a.m.
Track was getting dry, the weather continued to be good and I got a bit more confident. As that happens I accelerate more and notice that the car is not going over around 150km/h. Is starts to stutter and will not go further. This happens as it reaches higher revs, but not yet in the red. I think it happened on all gears but on the lower ones I would up-shift and "problem solved" but nothing I could do in 6th...
Anyway, still afraid, still letting everyone pass. Don't want to ruin anyone's fun and, specially, don't want anyone crashing on me! 5 laps with a best time of 3:12:73 and top speed of 151,7Km/h.
A bit after the 2nd leg my wife, kids and mother-in-law arrived to have lunch with me. After that I gave a drive to each one of the kids.
They staid to see my 3rd leg.
3rd leg - 14h20 to 14h40
Well... As I was about to start I noticed the SJ4000 battery was out of juice. Even with wi-fi turned off, the battery only lasts for 1h. So I left it charging from a USB powerbank and went on track without video. As the family was watching, I have a fly-by on the straight.
I did 3 laps before the session was red-flagged due to a car that got trapped and broke an upright on a sand trap. Best lap was 3:11:35 and max speed was 151,1Km/h.
4th leg - 16h50 to 17h10
Last leg and I felt a lot more confident. Maybe it was because if something broke I wouldn't lose other legs. Maybe it was because of what I had already driven. Although the car was stuck around 150km/h, I was happier.
5 laps with a best time of 2:55:40 and max speed of 155,2Km/h. Even on the best lap I got out of correct trajectory to let others pass.
Aftermatch
Got rain on the way home. Dried the car and disconnected the battery. I have work to do on it. Try to see about the electrical gremlins: besides the gears, my indicators are not working (but the emergency 4-blinking does!). The limit at 150Km/h may be because the fuel I used was bought in the UK in May 2015... Almost 2 years old! Probably also have the carbs a bit clogged with dirt. So I need to drain whatever is left of fuel on the tank (I added 10L of 95 octane fuel) and clean the carbs. I was told to use always 98 octane not only for performance but also because it doesn't decay, so no carbs issues... So, these two things are my objectives to achieve before the next track day. Specially the carbs cleaning.
Talking of next track day... Two days after the track day, on Tuesday, they opened up the enrolment for the next one, on the 8th April. I signed up on Friday for a full-day. They already had some half-day options full!
I should have written this post earlier as now my memory became a bit fuzzy. But as a bullet list, here is what I can recall was done on the car to ensure it would pass IVA.
My mistakes:
Tighten correctly the front hub bolts: the lower ones were not fully tight. Seems I may have been luck on the track;
Fix a bad electrical connection that could explain why my battery was not charging properly;
Fix the issue with the Digidash being unable to properly state the gear the engine was in: it was a bad earth;
Tighten and tidy wiring inside the engine bay and on the rear;
Make a proper aluminium cover for the hole I opened on the tunnel wall near the peddles.
Other Things:
Fix the rear light that would not turn on (turns out it was a wire disconnected on the loom);
Add an immobiliser (legal requirement);
Add a rear light and a connection to the reverse-box to light it up when reverse is engaged (new legal requirement);
Add the brake fluid reservoir lids with warning switches and wire them to the loom;
Move horn from steering wheel to dash to not have wires on the driving column;
Add labels to all indicators and knobs on the panel and put Digidash in "Road Mode";
The vacuum pipes on the engine block and making the mixture poor when idle;
Remove the driver seat's slider (to avoid issues with seat height against seat belts' hooking height):
Tank tape on tunnel top and on the side near the exhaust, to hide the edges of the aluminium panels (on the tunnel is part of my "mods list" to make a "fake leather interior" that will cover this);
Add gaiters to the reverse box and gear knobs;
Remove the extinguisher and bracket from the top of the tunnel to avoid "projections";
Scuff the airbox to make it rounder because of projections;
Add covers to exposed bolts (specially on the front hubs and lights) because of projections;
Add some height between chassis and lights to avoid the wheel arches bumping the lights;
All in all, I didn't make many mistakes. But I also did not have the car ready for IVA without going through Steve first...
The last touches were done. Bought some gas on a jerrycan and filled the tank. Put back the "gopro" (actually SJ4000) fittings on the rollbar so that I can film this.
Then cut two arrows from pieces of paper and taped them on the car pointing to the tow hooks on the front and rear. It was a suggestion from the organisation that made all sense!
Finally, used my air pump to fill in the tires. I think the "correct" pressure, the one I used 2 years ago, was 1,7bar. I filled them all to that pressure and then left the battery to charge back.
On the non-technical side of things, I went around looking for track-day insurance. Last track day of 2016 there was a collision between 2 participants. I always think it will not happen to me as I don't fight overtakes, but you never know... Turns out there is an insurance company that resells from an English broker for sports teams and track days. Unfortunately this being the start of the sports seasons both here and in the UK has them overloaded with quotes. I'm waiting for a reply for over 3 weeks. Lets see if I can still get an insurance on time. Anyway, and on this topic, the guy explained that insurance covers only damages to the owner's car. Each one should have their own insurance: there are no "guilty parties" on a track and I'm not liable for damage to other cars (but I may be for damage to the track).
I've also scheduled the tow truck in advance. So, my first outing on the track is at 9h00, the tow picks me up at 7h00, enough time to get there (about one hour) and still watch the driver's briefing.
I just hope it doesn't rain. Forecast has been changing and the latest one says it will rain...
For IVA, and to avoid any complaints about the exposed vertices, Steve removed the extinguisher and it's holding bracket from the top of the tunnel cover. Spent some time putting that back in.
Another thing was more on the "proud" field. Maybe I worry too much about what others think, but I really wanted to show this: I may not be able to drive it on the road in Portugal, but in the UK I could. So I put the British plates on the car. The back one was a no-brainer since it had to go under the light. On the front, mounted it on the nose, attached to the grid, covering 5cm of the nose hole. Both front and back plates are held in place by cable ties. It is temporary (I hope).
Good I registered during the week on the Track Day. If buying just the afternoon sessions it was full. I bought a full day: 4 sessions of 20 minutes each. Seems it will be completely full pretty soon.
