Now that after 4 years of misery, my M3W is finally working properly, I am driving it with a bit more enthusiasm, no longer expecting a wheel to fall off or the engine to land in my lap. I have noticed my left knee was becoming increasingly sore and bruised and I am certain it is from contact with the chassis tube to the left and below the steering wheel, where your knee sits when driving in an LHD car. As there is nowhere to rest your left foot (on LHD cars - I don't know about RHD cars) your leg is flapping about in the breeze, when you are not depressing the clutch. I try to keep my foot off the pedal to save the clutch release bearing from wear. I noticed my left knee was continually smacking into a chassis tube, the upper left main longitudinal member.
I have come up with what I hope will be a cure. I bought a length of foam pipe insulation for 28mm pipes and have cut and trimmed with a Stanley knife a semi-circular section of this about 35cm long. I have glued this with neoprene cement onto the chassis tube. Hopefully this will be enough padding to cushion the blows on the side of my already arthritic and now tender knee. Once the glue is set, I may spray it satin black but I am not sure if the thinner in the aerosol paint would attack the foam.
I used to have to do this with my Ralt-Judd single seat hill climb car, which with ground effect and wings plus very large and sticky Yokohama or Hoosier slicks (10" front 14" rear) could generate around 3½G sideways loads on hot tyres. You had to pad any metal surfaces like the mid chassis bulkhead that parts of your body might come into contact with, otherwise you would find at the end of the day, you would have huge bruises, though you did not notice them at the time.
Wilson
