[happy-kat]

Wow that was a lot of crud removed.

When are you puting the new tyres on?

[carrboy]

Fancy swapping wheels for some originals and cash? Ive been desperate for a set of speedlines!

[RESTELL]

IT PASSED!! and first attempt as well, the MOT guy I use is a 20 min cross country drive away and taking the car on this route was epic! What a machine, the noise, the power, the whole experience is just overwhelming. I love it. Think my seats might be just a touch too low though as you can't see much!
Can't wait to tax it on Tuesday and start using it. I'm already loving this car
Carrboy, sorry I don't want to change the wheels, they are just what I need for track use being nice and light. Sorry.

[RESTELL]

UPDATE -07-05-12

Well its been an interesting couple of weeks. P1 passed its MOT first time last weekend,and I've driven it for 200 miles since then. I LOVE this car, its justawesome!

The noise it makes is incredible, it certainly can be a bit deafening, but its a goodsound.
It feels much more powerful then my old FRP, youcan now really feel when the VCT kicks in, and the whole car feels more urgent.

The new gearbox is really sweet and the Quaife ismore more refined then the other ford fitted LSD, it doenst tug or torque steeras much, but the way it drags you around corners is just amazing. I honestly think its much better than the Ford unit.

So the idea was to run the car on the road for 200miles to iron out any bugs, and I certainly found one. There was a big problemwith the ABS, which was kicking in as sson as the car was driven over 35mph,even if you hadn't touched the brakes. After lots of searching we eventuallyfound the OSR ABS sensor pickup ring was slightly warped, probably as a resultof the wheel bearing change. So this was replaced and now the ABS is perfect.

I also took the car to work and put it on a Hunterwheel aligner to sort the geometry out. This is now set perfectly and the cardrives so wheel as a result. Whilst I was at work I also put the car on a setof corner scales to see how much it weighed. From looking around on theinternet I struggled to see the exact weight of a standard FRP, any one know?The figure I eventually came to was 1174kg, kerb weight (ie no passengers, fulltank of fuel)

Anyway, I weighed my car, and it came in at 1034kg,which im really chuffed with. It was also empty of passengers, and had the fueltank brimmed to the top.

Here is a picture of the scale machine to prove it!



This shows front left as 322kg, front right as 335kg,rear left as 191.5kg, rear right as 185.5kg. and total weight 1034kg.

So, with everything in the interior removed, but theroll cage and all fitted, its still a whopping140kg lighter then standard!



So, with the car suspension geometry aligned, the carweighed, and the new Yokohama Advan AD08 tyres fitted it is now finallycomplete!

I spent some time this weekend cleaning it. It looksjust about as shiny as its possible to get it!













So there you have it, its finished!

On Wednesday im taking it to Snetterton for a full dayon track, and at the end of may we are off to the Nurburgring for a week! Its gonnabe a tough time for P1 but im fairly certain she can take it!

In other news ive brought myself a GoPro Hero 2camcorder, so I will be filming a lot of track work and posting it on here.
Ive had a go at making my first film of P1, it's a bitrubbish! But if your interested them feel free to have a look

http://youtu.be/fNXxgF-6gjU

Thanks for all your support over the past few months,getting good feedback is always a moral booster in the tough times.

Big thanks to my dad as well, who spent many hours onthis one!

Cheers

Ross

This post has been edited by Turby: 09 May 2012 - 01:23 PM

[happy-kat]

Wow your car is mint what a project and what a finish.

You may also want to go to Germany for the weekend of the 15 of july for the big Puma meet seeing as it is so close to the Ring.
http://treffen.puma-...u/index_en.html

[Ian G]

Looking good mate

[melinamotor]

Nice one Ross, although it always helps if the car is timed correctly. As you have found out it makes quite a difference in pick up. Losing the extra weight is a bonus too. Im sure the track day will be awesome, excellent work.

[d170sam]

Where is it you work? Need my geometry checking/adjusting plus I've wanted it corner weighted ever since I got my coilovers car's awesome by the way!

[melinamotor]

d170sam, on 08 May 2012 - 07:55 PM, said:

Where is it you work? Need my geometry checking/adjusting plus I've wanted it corner weighted ever since I got my coilovers car's awesome by the way!

I believe he works for Lotus Cars in Norfolk.Apologies if thats changed Ross.

[Dogsbody]

Cracking project
Have you raised the seats yet? or not bothering ?

[RESTELL]

Thanks guys. Yes i work at Lotus cars so I'm lucky enough to have access to a full workshop (out of hours of course!)

Dogsbody, yeah i raised the drivers seat by about 15mm, which made a big difference, i left the passenger seat where it was!

Ive just had the car at snetterton on a full track, open pit lane, track day. It is absolutely amazing this car, it took a proper pasting all day and didn't miss a beat. I'm making some videos at the moment so will share once they are done.

cheers

ross

[Turby]

Just need to shed at least 100 Kgs now

Pleased to hear it didn't miss a beat at Snet - big relief I bet! How did the tyres stand up ?

[eldoodarino]

Turby, on 10 May 2012 - 01:06 PM, said:

Just need to shed at least 100 Kgs now

seriously.. how? remove the engine..??

[RESTELL]

Shed 100 kgs! haha. well to be honest the most effective way of doing that is for me to go on a diet!

No there is more weight to come out, the glass can be polycarbed, and the door skins can be cut out, boot skin out etc etc. i reckon thats about 50kg give or take?

Well here is a video from yesterdays very wet Snetterton session. For the best laps skip on a few minutes as the first lap i was trying to get some heat in the tyres.



All set now for the Nurburgring in two weeks

[Turby]

eldoodarino, on 10 May 2012 - 07:26 PM, said:

seriously.. how? remove the engine..??

Our road legal puma race car is nearly 200 Kg lighter at 845 Kg (with 10 litres of fuel), and we still run full glass, dash, and all steel panels...

I'd start at stripping doors of everything not essential, ditto the dash, heating adn ventilation system, tailgate, bonnet, front and rear bumpers. Also remove all sound deadening and underseal.

17" wheels / tyres are heavy, as are FRP brake discs, calipers and FRP inlet manifold

Vid looks good - plenty of grip. Don't you love the way Coram seems to go on forever, before slinging it immediately into Murrays...

[Ian G]

Mine is 860 with the doors cut out and plastic windows. Still need to get behind the dash.

[Guy5]

A few pics of Ross on track at Snetterton, awesome experience in proberbly the ultimate Puma track weapon , Will be on track at Snetterton in my Puma Monday if anyone's about.

This post has been edited by Guy5: 12 May 2012 - 09:27 PM

[carrboy]

See your wheels are too heavy u need to sell me them!

[RESTELL]

UPDATE03-06-12 – The Nurburgring!

Hi all. Well its been awhile since I last wrote on here and lot has happened. Ive been back from my week long holidayto the Nurburgring for a few days now, and im still buzzing from it! So here isa full report of the car and the place!



So, Thursday24^th May, I finally finished the longest day at work ever, timeseemed to stand still for the whole day, but once 5:15 arrived I literally ranout of the door like a child finishing school for the 6 weeks holidays!



First job for that night, load the caronto the trailer.





Friday 25^th, was an EARLY start! Up at 4am anddriving to Dover for a morning ferry.





A fairly flawless crossing with P&Obut then an absolute nightmare of traffic through Belgium meant a 9 hour tripto our hotel.

We stayed in our usual hotel, a placeweve been to for the past 4 years, the good old hotel wilhelmshoehe.



http://www.hotel-wilhelmshoehe.de/



Meeting up with the other two ‘RingWarriors, Rob (Burfyboy) and Adam (AWX85)





a few beers and off to bed, inanticipation of tomorrows track time.



Saturday 26^th– Time to hit the track!





After a short and sunny drive from thehotel to the track we arrived, brought our laps, and after I collected myselffrom the floor after passing out at the cost of lapping this place, got myhelmet on and jumped in the car.



I had forgotten just how made this placeis on a public day. It was completely packed, and even though I had drivenabout 30 laps of this place over the previous 3 years I felt like I waslearning it for the first time all over again. I spend more time looking behindme then in front, and after about 11 minutes the first lap of the year was overand I could breath again!

Clearly I needed more practice.



This year my dad also returned to thetrack with me, and after his ‘eventful’ year in 2011 (see my FRP 441 thread fordetails!), he had some demons to face. He did very well, I was really proud ofhim, and the first time he drove around the corner that he became a bit over familiarwith last year I could feel a sigh of relief from him, and that we were gonnabe ok this year!



So Saturday was a day of driving, we did8 laps that day, with no issues. They were not fast ones. I had a GoPro in thecar of most laps, and in the evening we reviewed our progress. We were gettingmore confident throughout the day and out times were improving, from about10mins 30 down to 9:45’s in the first day. I was happy.

Back to the hotel, and time for a few ofthese





Sunday 27^th– Back to the Track

This place is still rammed with people!Lots of crashes and closures, and only small opportunities to get on trackbefore closures, and even when on track it was really hard to get a clean lap,lots of yellow flags and marshal’s. But we were getting more confident, notpanicking when cars came to overtake, and managing to actually do comeovertaking as well!



The worst thing was the car parking, wewere forced on the fields at the back of the track, which was just full ofdust. The weather was roasting (28 degrees) and the dust was unbearable. Thecars soon were covered in it!













but we had time for some lunch in ouramazing back up vehicle!







That day we managed 10 more laps, my daddid 2 and I did 8. My times were hovering about the 9min 30s which was okconsidering the conditions.



Back to the hotel















Monday 28^th– The last day on track!



This was the day I wanted that one clearlap, when everything could come together, I could flow through the 12 milemadness with full commitment, to hold the throttle flat through the blindcorners with complete confidence and have no hold ups!



The traffic on track was lighter, lots ofpeople had gone home the day before, and there were less closures.



We were doing well, I went out a coupleof times without a passenger, and had two ‘ok’ laps, both suffered with yellowflags, but I was now setting 9 min 10s and 9 min 12s. Things were looking up!



My dad had his final couple of laps, andmanaged his target of a sub 10 minute lap. Again he did so well and was happywith his performance.



So, the time came, it was my last lap ofthe trip, and the last lap for the next couple of years (getting married nextyear means no ring trip!)

This was my last chance. My fastest everlap of the ring was in 2010 in my old Focus ST 260, which was a 9 minute 2seconds.



Could a little Puma, with only about165bhp do a lap on a public day of the nurburgring, in less then 9 minutes?



Well have a look here to find out!



http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7zYk5mY2xdU



Yep that’s right, my last lap of thistrip was 8 minutes, 55 seconds! Iwas so happy. It was a pretty faultless lap, but there was traffic (scope for afew more seconds off the time?!) but I loved it.















I know it should not be encouraged totime your laps at the nurburgring. Im not encouraging it here, and it’s apersonal choice if you want to do that. I was not ‘live timing’ my laps, I justhad a GoPro attached to the car and watched them back in the evenings to seehow I did and what the times were. If you time your laps, be careful, don’tdrive beyond your limits to chase those last few seconds.



So, we went home, with huge smiles. Backto the hotel









Tuesday 29^th– A Day Off!



After the hangover, we went for a driveabout the area, and first headed to the town of Nurburg, to see the castle.















The castle was closed!



So we went to try and find the out ‘southloop’. The Nurburgring used to be a 17 mile long track, with a large southloop.This part of the track was decommissioned and closed in 1927. Some of it is thenew GP circuit, some is now the normal roads around the track, and some of itis just left to return to nature.



We had a look on google earth, and foundwhat we thought might be a bit of track. So we drove off to try and find it.



And we did. Here are some pics of the oldsouth track as it stands today.



















it was really cool walking on the oldforgotten track. Some sections were so steep, its amazing anything from the1920’s could even drive up them!



We also went for a long walk along themain track and stopped at various places. Some of my pics:



























So, after a good day, it was back to thehotel.







and on the next day we had a 11 hourdrive home L



what an awesome trip, and an awesome car.All the efforts of the last 8 months have been worth it. The car was perfect,it performed amazingly well and im so happy with it.



Thanks for reading.



Ross

[AndyReact]

Sounds like you had fun!! Nice write up and pics!