Before I start, just like to say it was nice to catch up with Andrew, Eric, Jonathon (Congratulations), others and those that were a bit busy during the day I left alone.
at the AGM last sunday. Car went absolutely fine there and back and gave me some miles to get used to a some-what more balanced handling car, which i'm very pleased with.
Llandow
An eventful day unfortunately. Car ran perfect there, perfect back but only for 2 hours while at Llandow. From 12 til 4 I ended up chasing an electrical gremlin. Car was running fine, perfect even, for the sighting laps, session 1, 2 and 2 laps of the 3rd session then this happened...
This is getting a too regular sight on tracks around the west
It seemed to be exactly the same problem I had at Combe. As I came out of the corner, engine just cut out and I drifted onto the outside of the circuit. Tried re-starting and it was really struggling to turn over, giving signs of a flat battery, even though the battery was fine. Thanks go to the llandow marshalls that quickly towed me back into the paddock.
After the initial check, that both belts were still attached to relevant pulleys (they were!) I checked the fuel pump was pumping and pressure was getting to the injectors; it was. So attention went straight onto “spark” or the lack of it. Turned it over and no spark, there was no output from the coil even though there was a supply to the coil which was very hot may I add at this point. After hours of changing relevant parts, coil, amplifier and distributor still no luck.
As soon as the ignition was turned on the coil (which ever fitted) would start to get hot suggesting there was a short of some nature in the wiring which explained the poor turning over speed of the starter and I later noticed the voltage gauge was reading well below than where it normally does before you start cranking.
I started tracing and checking connections and wiring, pulled a connector apart which is the complete opposite side of the coil in the engine bay, put it back together and suddenly the voltage gauge on the dash read where it should. Connected all the original parts and wiring back together, and it sparked, everything back together, fired up 1st time! I can only presume either the wires lost connection or were corroded in some way causing either a short or a large amount of resistance. Luckily the connector in question is not one i’ve replaced yet so wasn’t down to anything i’ve done, but I will certainly be giving that connector a chop, investigation and replacing with a fresh locking one. Maybe it’s only coincidence but both times it’s happened while on track, after a while, so whether the coil is being able to cope with consistent high revs is still a ‘dno’.
Of course by the time I had it fixed and running, i’d replaced the wheels/tyres for the road one’s and packed everything away into the car so it was pointless going out onto the wet track. Did I mention it tipped down with rain from 1pm till we left?! Left the circuit forgetting I hadn’t softened the spax dampers and realised after the first bump in the road! Pulled over in the nearest layby, softened them all within a minute and drove perfectly all the way home with my back still in one piece.
Enough of talking about what went wrong, and onto what went right. What a circuit!!!! Only roughly a mile in length and it has all you want, two straights long enough to get your foot down, I managed 93mph in fourth i’m told. A chicane which people were extremely surprised how quickly I was going through (about 60/65mph) a long sweeping right and some very slow 2nd gear twisty left and rights leading to the back straight, looks simple on a track layout picture, and slightly different behind the wheel. It’s a fantastic circuit for testing brakes and suspension as power is almost irrelevant if you cant stop or get round the twisty bits.
After the sighting laps, I went out for the 1st session getting used to the car and track, and it only got better, came in, checked tyre pressures and the nearside front and rear had rocketed up 7 psi each in 10 laps! Let the pressure back down to equal all round and then 4psi lower for the nearside’s to compensate which seemed to do the job.
Session 2, especially towards the end I was at the limit of the cars and my ability I would say. I passed an AC Cobra replica and was slowly catching a 1.9 205 GTI given another lap or two I would have been looking for an overtake.
Session 3 I went out by myself, very much the same as session 2 but slightly lighter this time without a passenger which could only help, unfortunately I then had the problem which ended my track time, but while I was out there I was having great fun and had more people admiring and asking questions about the car and what was under the bonnet, than didn’t these just rust away which was nice.
Me and a Zetec Turbo’d Morris traveller!....
I think I can quite comfortably say it’s the best handling HPE in the UK at the moment, it was such great fun, predictable and very grippy in the sweeping bends; it was a joy! What impressed me the most was how it coped with the single car wide slight off centre of the chicane. Slight right, left and very right, with the steering wheel! While at pushing 65mph it just gripped and held on for dear life, this is where I was gaining the most on others and keeping up with faster stuff in the bends. The 205 I was chasing for example was using some of the run off to widen the angle of the sweeping right hander while I didn’t need to. I did miss having an LSD round the very tight twisty corners (2nd gear), understeery and full throttle in 3rd leaving the corner was basically a drift of understeer across the track, but we cant have everything.
After 3 sessions I have officially shredded one of the front track tyres, the others on the limit and the backs will last a couple more events yet. I’ve turned all my discs a nice shade of blue and funnily found the brakes a bit fadey on the journey back once they were stone cold, once I started using them (when I got off the M4) they came back to life.
Like everything, you can always improve something or everything! But she still lives on as a working progress and did me proud for the time I was on track. Now I just need a LSD, bigger brakes and more uprated springs!
Some video’s to recover from the mass of writing...
Llandow Charity Track Day 21/7/10 Lancia Beta HPE Track CarLlandow Charity Track Day 21/7/10 Lancia Beta HPE Track Car 2Llandow Charity Track Day 21/7/10 Morris TravellerSee you guys in a couple of weeks at BETA MEETA 10 (Kilver Court) and Retro Rides! Still ummin and rrrin whether to take to the twisty sparkford track.
