Classic, Kit and Retro - Castle Combe 2015

Classic, Kit and Retro used to be just classic and retro, however with the declining number of car shows, kit cars were allowed to join and merged into the show. It has the usual static stands and market stalls/manufacturers but what caught my attention was the opportunity for track time. I've never had the chance to do a track day, money and timing being an issue and finding the confidence to do it. After a lot of thought I decided I would attend and decide on the day if I wanted to have a 15 minute slot on the track.

With my parents living in a small village in Wiltshire only 40 minutes from Castle Combe, it made perfect sense to make the journey down from Coventry and visit them, 2 birds one stone and all that. This was my only other kit car show appearance other than Stoneleigh so I was keen to meet a few other Rhocar members and maybe introduce the family to the world of kit cars I have become addicted to. In the end it was just me and my Dad that went to the show, my Brother with work commitments and Mum deciding a Father-Son day would be better as it wasn't quite a family day out in the end. (Secretly I don't think she was at all keen to go along....soon I'll change that!) So here I am, parked up with the Rhocar crew!

The worst thing about the day was all the passers by who kept asking my Dad what engine is was, how good it looked, did he build it....however the look on their face when he pointed them in my direction was priceless! Still can't get over the look I get when they realise a "youngster" built it!

 I had decided to take the plunge and have a go on the track. Having looked into track day insurance briefly I had been put off by the "prices starting at £69" which with being a young driver clearly would be higher. For a 15 minute blast on track (costing £35) I decided that over £100 for 15 minutes just wouldn't be worth it as an actual track day would be say £200 for the track time plus insurance costs but get many more sessions on track. However finding that the insurance was not compulsory and you were only responsible for your own car no matter what the circumstances, I took the risk.

For those who have ever been on a track day, here are the obligatory snaps from the track day photographer that captures your track action. First time on track, it would have been rude not to!

Despite being only 15 minutes, it felt just about right. I was rather nervous at first and with my Dad in the passenger seat (extra ballast) his last words before we started were "take it easy". So the first couple laps I used as sighters having never driven at Castle Combe nor even on a track before. However a few laps in I started to gain confidence and push the car a little bit further.

Overall with my Dad in the car I could not push the car to the limit (even on my own I don't think I'd have gone in search for it to be fair) however it was a very humbling experience. Having only ever driven on the road and not going out on a fast run with other kit car owners, I felt my car was pretty quick....I was so wrong. I would be flat out in the power band coming out of the corners and still have someone drive by me like I would do to an old 1 litre Corsa! Eitherway I still managed 2 overtakes so I wasn't the slowest person out there at least!

One thing I have also learnt about myself is my extraordinary ability to leave something to the last minute and still pull it out the bag. My dissertation, finding a job, even father day gifts. What you see here below is the result of realising Fathers Day is on the weekend of Classic, Kit and Retro but also the face of not having a present organised.

And here is why. My Dad helped me a lot during the build financially when I ended up spending my final year course fees and also postponing rent payments when cash flow was tough. I always managed to pay him back but without the loans/periods of credit, I would probably have been delayed in my build or even forced to sell up. So for fathers day I let him drive the Zero on track - he's never driven it before!!!


Luckily just after my track session there was a slow parade lap so he was able to at least begin to get a feel for the car before unleashing it in all its fury.....or at least that was the aim!

The parade lap was a few laps of the circuit at "30mph maximum" and built up his eagerness to drive the car a bit quicker. Plus it reassured me that he'd be able to cope with driving the car as he's never actually done more than pump the brake pedal for me before!

I hated sitting in this side of the car, however I did notice the cameraman and get a cheeky photogenic snap. Shame I'm not in the drivers seat, I would have loved that!

In our eagerness, we ended up being first to the pitlane...which meant first out on track....I'm not sure how the rolling roadblock went down with other users but track etiquette was complied with generally and I became less and less worried about being rear-ended. Dad's speed wasn't enough to reach the crash barriers if he came off!

Note: Those tyre tracks are not from Dad, however with a sneaky bit of photoshop...anything is possible!













We finally managed to get a shot of just Dad and the car. Not sure if everyone else had finished and gone home or we had found a space on the track. Eitherway as the lap count increased, so did Dad's confidence and soon he was working up to a reasonable speed. Still think he was anxious about pushing too hard, just in case....would it be possible to put your Dad up for adoption? Lol.

Anyway after his blast around the track he was determined to figure out how fast he'd gone. Unfortunately this was a complete oversight by both of us and he'd tried to use his running app....this seemed to give sporadic readings and not really ideal for a track attack.

Parked up safe again. We all survived!

Using the videos I estimated lap times around 1 minute 27 for me and around 2 minutes for Dad. Not bad considering the lap record for the similar class Caterhams (little less horsepower and better semi slick tyres, oh and minus the extra ballast of Dad  heavier total weight) is around 1 minute 21 seconds! Not bad considering they're clearly experienced racers! Best get practising, is it too late to get to F1?!? 

Track videos can be found below. All raw footage and unedited.

My Lap

Dad's Lap

Yet again, a blog forgotten...

Well here I am again, doing a catch up post. Some blogs have a constant stream of things...this one has random dumps of sporadic updates. Life has kinda taken over quite significantly with the new job at JLR (and not benig able to access this at work) and with other things on going too. The Zero had been parked up since December 2014 due to the insurance running out and plans for the future taking shape and put on hold.

As I still had access to the garage in Tamworth, I decided to strip an Mazda MX5 mk2 1.8 (approx 146bhp) and had planned to drop this into the car to up the power whilst fixing some minor niggles along the way...however talking to a few builders who were already building with the mk2 donor, it became apparent that the engine would not fit the chassis without a strengthening bar relocation. I queried this with GBS to confirm this was the case and told they had 3 going through with them for IVA no problem. I found this strange so asked for pictures and received 1 with individual throttle boddies, one with a custom intake for the supercharger and 1 without any intake manifold at all...clearly nothing with a standard intake.

So my plans changed. The MX5 was stripped and nearly every bit sold, including the shell, over October to January. Made a nice 50% profit overall from the purchase price....and winning a bet with the 2 guys at work, so not a bad little exercise really.

However I have now lost the garage in Tamworth due to the flat being rented out and I began my search for a unit to rent with my flatmate. During this time I had purchased the next donor vehicle for my Zero....a Mazda MX6! Well, 2 to be precise....

The original owner was planning to restore the red/silver one using parts from the black one. As I only wanted the engine, he said I could have an engine for about £250...or both cars for £600. And I would still have to bring the stuff to take the engine out myself. So easiest thing was to buy both, and sell one, recouping some costs and then selling bits off the 2nd as I broke it for parts. Well I have not begun anything due to the unit falling through and not having anywhere to work on the cars currently, so the cars are now in storage until I can find a place to do the work. Both cars are running the 2.5 litre Mazda KL-DE V6 engine. These put out around 164bhp and I was made aware of these thanks to crapengineering.weebly.com/
Following the same path of bike throttle bodies, and possibly and even more free-flowing exhaust, I should be able to comfortably see around the 200bhp mark, making any modifications to the chassis much more worthwhile (this is not just modifications to make it fit, but also to strengthen areas to ensure the chassis can handle the power/torque).

Unfortunately due to the lack of work space, the project has been left until winter....not to miss out on the summer though, the Zero was retaxed and insured to use over the summer. Especially as I discovered that the law regarding MOT is 3 years from registration, and despite being an age related number plate, the car was registered in March 2014, meaning no MOT is legally required until March 2017! Result! On the road it went!
I had already begun looking at putting it through an MOT so had addressed a couple of issues, however the major ones still remain:

• Leaky fuel tank - solved by using chemical metal to fully seal the sender into the tank (potentially getting a new one when I rebuild anyway so happy to be a temp fix)
• Speedo doesn't work - MX5 speedo cable is still snapped, the mk2 was electric so was hoping this would solve that...plans have changed though. New digidash bought early to fit and will work for both the current engine and new engine.
• Cycle wings were not attached - these would have been needed for MOT so were refitted and now fit over the wider wheels.
• I also found out from the GBS forum that the rear wishbones had notches in to signify which way round they were meant to go. You can just about see the notch on the cross bracing. This is meant to face to the front of the car....mine face backwards...still no answer to what difference it will make other than the rear geometry is probably out but no major issues yet so this can wait until the rebuild.
• Windscreen Wipers - still not on, was going to remove the windscreen for MOT so wasn't an issue, however that has gone back on now. I have decided that I will sort these in the rebuild as well, my wiring is....well shocking and I have no desire to tear it apart to figure out what goes where.

View of one of my wishbones with the notch.

 Another discovery having the rear wheels off; remember how they say at IVA not to have the bodywork rubbing on cables etc in case it rubs through? Well here is my handbrake cable that has slipped it's grommet and begun rubbing through the aluminium rear panel at the back under the wheel arch. The other side is much worse...I'm just glad its out of sight. The cable however is perfectly fine.

So now we move onto some of the other things I have done whilst bored. I have bought an Mazda MX5 to use as a daily again. The Punto I had has now gone to my brother who needed a car and as I am working, I was in a better position to buy a new car...instead I bought a £750 MX5. LOL. 

 This was before the Zero went on the road so my theory was having a "sensible" car that I could still enjoy through the summer. Plus I know the car quite well and kinda wanted it to be another project.....but that died a death when the Zero came on the road and my plans changed again! - Seeing a common theme here?

Boredom, a project car and a job providing disposable income...

I have come to the decision where the Zero is a very conspicuous car...why not make it even more so. Boredom at work and a cheap eBay offer and viola! I have now bought a rear wing. I firstly received some stick about the placement and actual effectiveness of the wing at this position, however I pointed out I knew the aerodynamic effect is minimal to non-existent, firstly due to the standard positioning and secondly due to the fact that at the speeds I drive, not producing any meaningful downforce. Add that to the fact that these cars are incredibly un-aerodynamic due to the front end design, the airflow at the rear is all over the place! This was a bit of fun, purely decorative and actually....I quite like it! I have designed some brackets that should raise it up a bit higher, size wise I think it works reasonable well....maybe one day I'll go even bigger! Also considering designing my own end plates too one day....

This also goes for the white tyre writing, bit of boredom and a paint pen from eBay. Again, one of those, try it and find out moments that actually I quite like.

I took the car to work one day, bit of travelling to suppliers and meant to be glorious sunshine when I was travelling. When I got to Gaydon, the carpark and overflow was full. Only space I could find was the edge where people regularly park too...but in their Discovery or Range Rover, not a low sports car. Eitherway, it handled it beautifully and the picture does not do it justice!

Another valuable lesson learnt. Always carry ratchet straps. You never know when the rear diffuser you rushed back on may fall off on the M6 slip road! Thankfully I managed to retrieve it and stopped off at the next services to strap to the back and return home, tail between my legs.
Note to self, never rush a job again - secure things properly! The cause was hitting a bump and the rivnuts in the GRP coming out. New method coming up.

 I also took the car to Coventry Motofest to join the Rhocar stand. As I live only a 10 minute walk from this place, I didn't have much of an excuse not to go. It was a very enjoyable day and lots of great cars to see. Wished for a bit more ring road live action and an opportunity to drive the ring road too but I can wait until 10pm and go for a blast round any time I like!

 Anyway, that draws to the conclusion of this catch up post. I shall upload the video taken shortly after this photo was taken. My girlfriend and I were on the way down to my parents for a weekend, bag strapped to the back, never miss the opportunity for a photo. I will be returning to this spot without the doors and bag for another photo too, feels like it needs a deep, philosophical quote adding...