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Everything running to schedule!

So Xmas is round the corner and there’s lots to do, but I’m happy to say that everything is going to plan with both the car & van moving forwards. Hopefully that wasn’t the kiss of death, but with so many plates spinning it’s the van that I’m most keen to see completed, so here’s a quick rundown – but first the car!
Quick preview of the new colours!
The vinyl wrap was completed on the car on Wednseday so I’m going over to MGR next week to get some proper photos of it and put the first set of logos on from sponsors & companies who are helping me out with products and services. I put a promotional PDF together last week and started mailing it out to people who I think might benefit from working with me – I’ve had an encouraging initial response so it’s a good start. 
To be honest I just can’t wait to see the car all finished, the guys from Signs & Graphics UK were mid way through the job last time I was there and it looked gorgeous, the metallic blue looks lush and will really stand out in the sunlight. 
I’m also going to fit the new DV4 HD camera system supplied by 4Kam, which uses a solid state on board recorder with LCD screen and a remote for simple operation in the cockpit. It’s real simple to use and I’m hoping it will pick up the intake noise from the  carbon fibre air box like the FR in this video (Bryan Germain is one of the chaps I’ll be competing with next year). I’ve popped their logo on my helmet so hopefully it will show up in all the videos!
 
I’m due to have a training day with one of the MGR technicians in the next few weeks so I know my way round the car and feel confident working on it and trouble shooting. I’m quite handy with a spanner and it will be great having someone show me exactly what to do and what to check – will make lots of notes and probably shoot some video on my phone too for quick future reference. 
I’m also downloading the data logging software from AIM (I have to buy a PC based laptop annoyingly as it won’t run on a MAC) so I can get up to speed with it before we go out and do some testing, which is looking increasingly likely to be in the new year now. As keen as I am to get behind the wheel I’d rather do this once I’ve completed the training day and everything else as this way I can transpose everything I learn into how the car is ran and performs out on the circuit and will have a much more involved understanding of the setup & preparation required. This way I can then go and test the car on my own with a thorough idea of what I’m doing rather than trying to learn everything in reverse order – makes sense? I think so! I’m dying to get behind the wheel but will just have to be patient, Christmas will come late for me this year ;-)
Imagining gazing up at the French stars through the rooflight :)
A few weeks ago I collected the petit camion from Leicester Coachbuilders who chopped the roof down to a ferry friendly 3m and extended the Luton part of the cab so I now have room for an enormous bed up there :D They turned the whole job round in a week and did the work for a good price, considering the quality of the work they’ve done I’m really happy – it’s a proper job! They even managed to use the original dome on the front by cutting the corners, bending the top down and then blending it all in so it looks original.

There’s no way I could have done it as neatly (if at all) and I just don’t have the room or proper tools to do a job like this so it was definitely a good idea to bite the bullet and get them involved. They were super helpful and I may well need to go back down there at some point down the line, I told them not to worry about painting it to keep the cost down as I will have to do some tidying up at the end and will just do everything in one go.
 
I need a bigger house, neighbours can’t get their bins past!
The ramps are currently being built and as they will be taller than the roofline when folded up (car is 3.5m long without the nose cone) there will have to be a hinged section or some way of detaching the end piece. The fabricator suggested using a box section that slides out and secures with a lock pin so this seemed like a good solution, they should be much lighter than the original tail lift too which will make the whole setup easier for the tail lift to pick up. I’ve made them asymmetrical so that the car loads over to one side and should then leave around 400mm down the other side, enough to get a little pit bike and some other bits in – its a little bit like building a giant jigsaw puzzle backwards!
Everything is moving forwards and running on schedule, and I’m hoping to be measuring up for the chocks and tie down points with the car inside by early December. I’ve abandoned the caravan idea as there is so little that I will actually use out of one and I have neither the time nor the space to put one in while I start stripping it out. As my RS4 went a few weeks ago I no longer have a tow car so it’s much easier to just buy the bits 2nd hand online from a caravan breaker – simples. I just got a new road car which I absolutely love – a VW Scirocco TFSi with a manual box. It’s pretty quick and now I’ve managed to change the language over from German I’m enjoying it, love the fact that the number plate says ‘GO’ too!

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  1. Don't buy a PC, use Bootcamp or Parallels or CrossOver for Mac and run the software on your Mac. It will be cheaper and there will be less stuff to pack/lose!

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