A new look for the 2013 Season

The car returned from the paint shop with the damaged panels repaired and resprayed.  We also opted to paint the bonnet, roof and boot white.  Inverse blue stripes were added too, giving the car a overall more professional look for this year.  

 

 The final pre-race checks have been done, refitting the fire extinguisher, checking the operation of cut-of switches, lights and adjusting safety belts.

The ride height was re-checked and adjusted (using the adjustable spring perches on the dampers) giving us a couple of mm over the regulation minimum at the front, with around 10mm higher at the rear.  Some height had been lost due to wear on the tyres and one spring perch coming loose and dropping slightly.  We also rechecked the wheel alignment and are going stick with dead straight at the rear and 1mm of tow-out at the front.

Finally some of the mandatory championship decals have been fitted and the car given a good clean and polish

The 2013 BRSCC Porsche Championship starts at Rockingham near Corby in the midlands.

More Winter Work

Brake Service
After the last track day, we noticed the front brake discs starting to develop tiny cracks between the drilled holes.  This is a common occurrence when the standard discs are put under the extreme heat generated by the race brake pads under race conditions. 

If we don't change the discs there is a chance they could disintegrate on hard braking.  OEM discs only cost £50 each so it is better to be safe and change them frequently along with the brake pads and a change of Castrol SRF brake fluid. 


Drop Links
The uprated anti-roll bars will cause extra stress on the standard drop links.  As our suspension is considerably lowered these are also really too short now.

We have decided to replace them with uprated and adjustable drop-links which RND Motorsport have developed for us.  

The adjustment will allow the weight distribution to be evenly set ensuring a better handling car. 






Light Weight Heater

Since we use the car for both racing and track days during the winter months we wanted to keep some decent heating.  There is nothing worse than a steamed up windscreen or a freezing cold car.  
We have fitted a mini water based heater from T7 Design which connects to the original water pipes via an electronic valve to control the production of heat.

The result is a fan not far short of the original power and the ability to control hot or cold air to both the windscreen and the centre dashboard vents.  The heater and pipework weighs less than 1.5KG vs the 7KG's plus of the old unit.

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Paint Shop
With the dashboard refitted, minus the lower console and a lot of eexcess wiring which we didn't remove last time; the car will be off to the paint shop for the danaged panels to be resprayed  and a slight twist on our color scheme!

Winter Work Progress

Progress has been a little slow with the bad weather recently, but with the 2013 season looming  fast the main service work has been completed.

The coil packs were removed and replaced along with new spark plug tubes, spark plugs and o-rings. The old coil packs were very badly cracked and corroded with bits of their casings missing and oil was leaking from the o-ring seals around the plastic tubes.  

Next the oil was drained and a new genuine filter fitted.  Finally a the engine was given a good clean around the valve covers and the underside of the engine, where oil is weeping (not dripping yet!) from the rear main seal area.

The engine runs noticeably smoother now.  




In the mean time our H&R anti-roll bars arrived. 

Whilst these are heavier than the originals (being solid rather than hollow) they will reduce the amount of body roll when cornering.

These were fitted with new rubber bushes and stainless bolts.  Adjustable drop-links are being made up for us and these will enable the car to be correctly corner weighted.

The next piece of work was to remove the seats and dashboard (again!) in order to pull out the main air-con and heater matrix unit.  

This is the work we should have done the first time around when getting the roll-cage installed having now realised we still need to reduce the weight of the car by around 20kg's. 

A basic lightweight heater will be installed to ensure we can still clear the windscreen in the rain and have some cool air flow in the hot summer.

A significant amount of wiring can also be removed which fed the roof mechanism, interior lighting, heater control, air-bag control and PCM sat-nav units. Every little helps.

2013 Race Calendar

The BRSCC and PDA have released the 2013 BRSCC Porsche Championship Race Calendar.

The coming season will feature races at all of the top UK circuits.  The inclusion of a European round at Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands is also major coupe.

We will be looking to enter four (possibly five) of the rounds, although I suspect the extra travel cost and time needed for Zandvoort will mean we have to miss that one.

Winter Work

The car has taken everything we've thrown at it over the last six months without any mechanical, engine or electrical failures. The forces and stresses placed on the car are far greater than road or even track day driving.  It shows how well engineered the Porsche is from the factory.

After over 6hrs of track time we'll be treating it to a major service;

•   Replace spark plugs / coil packs / spark plug tubes and o-rings
•   Change Engine Oil / Filter (Mobil 1 15/50 Motorsport)
•   Clean Performance Air-Filter
•   Bleed brakes with some more (Castrol SRF)

There are also some outstanding upgrades to bring the car up to the same standard as the other Class-A Boxsters and fully take advantage of the regulations.

•  Goodridge stainless steel brake lines
•  H&R Anti-roll bar Kit
•  Adjustable drop links
•  Short shift kit

Oh...and there is some minor bodywork to attend to;

• Repair and repaint the rear bumper (hit up the back more than once)
• Repair and repaint the front wing and door scrape (failed overtake at Brands Hatch)

Rockingham Races on YouTube

Coverage of the two races from Rockingham are now on youtube.