Update 50 - Trailer lift, Rolling Road and Power!!Over the last few weeks there has been a lot going on - over Christmas we dropped our new trailer back at PRG to have a second deck system installed - we had spec'd our trailer so we can fit both cars in and we've been designing over and over different systems to enable us to put both cars in.
We wanted something simple yet effective.... having looked at just about all the options we could come up with - in the end we have decided to go with the PRG option of a custom fitted electric hydraulic lift. Easy to use and effective in its operation.
You can also see for the first time the way the trailer colour coding works with the car.
The system uses a wheel spectacle on hydraulic rams each side. You can see it on the floor in the picture below.. the trailer has been fitted with small low angle approach ramps at the rear to allow the car to articulate up without the rear of the car digging into the floor.
So you need to reverse the first car in.
The front wheels then rest in the spectacle ready for lifting.
We have made straps for the front wheels to hold them into the spectacle for safety.
The ability to raise the car just by pressing the lift button is going to be such a relief at the end of the race day. We would have settled for a hand pump and we are somewhat spoilt by the fact this uses an electric pump.
This ramp and lift system also gives us a bush workshop which gives us a way to work on the car effectively if we need to.
Engine set-upNorthampton Motorsport our engine build partner got in touch to say they had a cancelled slot only a couple of days after we let them know we were ready. Troy's been looking forward to setting this engine up for a while......
First up is checking all the sensors, their operation and the ECU operation.... a few small minor electrical gremlins were all sorted and it was all set for first start.
Troy fired the engine up with a generic map and started the running in procedure... several hrs on the rolling road with initial set-up happening whilst taking the engine through a pre-determined rev pattern proving the internal loadings to run in the cam and all the bearings.
At half time the oil was dropped out and the filter changed - inspected.
With that sorted the main tuning activity kicked off in earnest with the revs rising as the hrs went on.
So the power!! - its all about the power??? isnt itThe graphs below are not the final run (a couple of hp less) but the tables are from the final run....
The headline is:
265 bhp @ 8200rpm182 lb-ft @ 7200rpmGood news is this is the most powerful Zetec-E engine Northampton Motorsport have built or tuned. Downside is this means that it moves me from Class 9 to Class 10 in the Sprint series which is going to be tough!! - Oh well.....
The power curve is more of a line which is great to see which means the engine is very efficient.
Below is a comparison of the power curves from the 2013 race engine Northampton Motorsport produced for us which was on twin 45's.
Last weekend I had a chance to drive the Blue and White car a bit - lets just describe the engine as Angry... its a kicking, spitting angry engine with a short fuse... its the sort of engine that revs up quick and dies just as fast... it would climb out of the engine bay and beat your face in and then run off with your girl if it could...... perfect!!
