AmDMilltekRacing: BTCC Blog

Ready for Auto Sport.......

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

On Tuesday we had Alan from Visual Impact in the workshop to apply all the graphics and vinyl to the Golf ready for the Milltek stand at Auto Sport.

The completed steering wheel set up

And the finished article, which you can now see, since the car was revealed at 11.15 today. (please excuse the black wrapping around the tyres, this was put on to protect the tyres during transit and moving the car to the display stand at the Auto Sport show)

The Golf really does need to be seen in the flesh to appreciate how awesome it really is.

Don't forget to come and see us on the Milltek Sport stand at the Auto Sport International Show.

Shell back and going back together!

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Long time no update but there has been a very good reason for this. The shell has spent the last month away from home. It firstly went off to Eagle Auto's to have a new 1/4 panel, new sills and some other parts of the body work straightened out. Once this was complete the shell was stripped back to bare metal.

It then made the trip up to Derby to Milltek Sport for "some" fabrication work.

In total around 150 man hours of fabrication work was carried out to improve on the Golf's chassis and shell.

Here is the shell as it arrived at Milltek Sport, with a very naked interior and exterior.

(Fabrication pictures courtesy of Milltek Sport)

Here is just a small snippet and idea of some of the work carried out at Milltek.

cont......

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The front top mount mountings were totally re-designed and modified.

To help lessen the flex and twist of the chassis, we tied in the roll cage to the front turrets, both front turrets were linked together and the bulkhead was also welded in rather than being bolted as it was previously.

We have re-designed the steering column and the way it mounts. Previously we utilised a majority of the standard column.

We have also saved a fair bit of weight by changing the way the seat mounted last year.

After all the fabrication work was completed the car then went back to Eagle Auto's for a interior and exterior re-spray.

It was after this we got the car back to our workshop in Essex and this is how it was looking

A nice fresh coat of Black on the outside and rather than the grey we had last year we have gone for a lovely shade of Anthracite. This colour combo works very well together and is very striking.

cont........

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Some more detailed photo's of recent work.

While the car was at Milltek they also re-made and reinforced the air jack housings

It was now time to start putting the Golf back together as we only had 6 days until it had to leave for the AutoSport show.

Colour coded fuel tank housing in situ.

Underside of the tank coated in gold heat reflective tape.

Suspension, brakes and air jacks going back on the car, note the new colour of the brake bells (no more nasty gold) and they have also been lightened.

cont.......

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Due to the new steering column design we have had to change the way the Motec display mounts and we also no longer have steering column stalks for the lights, wipers, indicators etc. This meant changing the driver controls on the steering wheel.

Our show and set up wheels

We won't be running black wheels on the car when racing as one coming together with another car and they will look a mess, so we are sticking with silver.

And finally after months of being off the floor and in a thousand bits.......

(Please excuse the ratchet strap, it is holding the rear view mirror mounting away from the screen, while the sealant sets)

(6 degree's of camber)

The car has had so many little changes and improvements made to the car, it really does need to be seen. It is even better than it was last season.

More updates to come later today or tomorrow!

Off season rebuild and improvements.

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In the off season we are going to be making some more improvements. and changes to the Golf in preperation for the 2011 BTCC.

As we did when began prepping the car for the 2010 season we will be documenting the rebuild.

We started with stripping the car down to a bare shell.

Out with our underpowered N/A engine. Well not underpowered for an N/A engine but underpowered for a BTCC engine!

While the car was being stripped down our NGTC spec turbo was delivered.

External Wastegate

The turbo then left and headed for Lichtenstein along with a spare 2.0TFsi engine.

Just "some" parts of the car

Once we were down to a bare shell we began cutting out any excess brackets and reinforcement panels that are not needed. All in aid of saving weight. Even though we are the correct weight, doing this means we can put the weight back where we want it. This helps with the handling and balance of the car.

The shell is going off to the bodyshop on Tuesday to have a new side panel fitted due to damage picked up at Rockingham and Brands Indy.

After this and paint, underseal, filler etc will be removed from the shell. Then onto Milltek, where they will carry out some fabrication work on the shell, chassis and rollcage to help improve the stiffness, which in turn will help with handling.

Then back to us at AmD for more work.

Brands - The Finale..

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Firstly sorry for this very late report but better late than never!

Brands - The Finale (yes I know it is a little late)

The last round of the BTCC saw us take the short journey over to Brands, our home circuit and we were in high spirits due to making it to the end of the season! No easy task when entering the BTCC for the first time.

Practice one and two was all about trying to find the best set up for the car as the car has come a long way since it made it's debut here back in March.

Practice one saw us sitting 21st while we tried to find the best set up for the car.

We made several changes to the car, which shaved a further half second off the car but Shaun was still not overly happy with the car.

We planned to make more changes during the session but Shaun ran wide into Paddock hill bend, which meant the session was red flagged while the car was recovered.

By the time we got the car back to the pits and de-gravelled it, it was too late to try to improve the car further.

We used the time between Practice and Qualifying to further clear the gravel from the car and also try a few more set up changes.

On to Qualifying and Shaun improved his time further and managed to get us in to 21st place.

On to Sunday and we started the morning off with setting up the car and a change of discs and pads.

Brands - The Finale.....

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

While the car was being set up Shaun was presented with the BTCC Fans Trophy! This was a huge triumph for the team and we were extremely pleased to have been the fans favourite.

Shaun was presented the trophy by Johnny Young who also made this awesome RC replica of our BTCC racer.

Race 1 Shaun was having a great battle running in 18th with the Forster BMW's, George's Integra and Johnson's Astra, this was until an error at Paddock Hill, which left him running off through the gravel. This gave a chance for the pack to pull away, with Shaun finishing in 21st place.

Race 2 and we changed the pads for a set of Mintex as Shaun was not happy with the feel of the pedal.

Shaun was much happier with the car and finished 17th out of 22.

The Mintex pads made a huge difference to the braking system and Shaun felt a lot more confident under braking, which showed in his times and performance against the other cars.

Starting from 17th for Race 3 we were optimistic and hoping this race would bring us our first points of the year.

In the first 2 corners Shaun had managed to get the Golf right into the middle of the pack and was knocking on the door of the top ten. Unfortunately Lea Wood dropped oil and water onto the circuit after an engine failure, which Shaun spun off on. Shaun got the Golf back on track and was gaining on the pack but only two laps later we suffered a bottom arm failure and that was the end of our race.

It was a real disappointment for the team as Shaun had commented on the radio that the car was performing the best it had all weekend and felt he could have got a good result but it wasn't meant to be.

We came away from Brands with 2 finishes and the Fans trophy, so all was not lost.

We have had an amazing first year in the BTCC and with an un-proven car built in the back of our workshop in Essex we really haven't done too badly!

Roll on next year and Turbo power!

Keep an eye out for updates coming this week.

Round 9 - Donington Park

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Round 9 of the BTCC saw us make our way up to Derby, home of Milltek Sport, our biggest sponsor and one half of AmD Milltek Racing.

Donington Park saw us sporting some new sponsors that will be with us for Brands Hatch too.

Saturday began with our usual set up work, as we every other circuit we have no previous data, so we start of with a base setting.

Golf having its final preparations ready for FP1.

FP1 saw us running 19th out of 22, with Shaun getting used to the circuit and collecting valuable data to help us improve the set up further.

Height and Weight check at the end of FP1

Before FP2 we evaluated the data from FP1 and made a few changes to set up and rear spring rate.

Only 6 laps into FP2 Shaun complained of the engine making a strange noise and that it was feeling flat. Upon inspection back in the pits it was clear the exhaust manifold gasket had let go.

This is not a quick fix and meant we would have to sit out the rest of FP2. All though this is something we could fix it really hampered our progression with improving the car.

The free practice sessions are the only time we get to see how the car the car is performing, collect data and learn where we can improve, so this really was a setback for us.

We cracked on with changing the manifold gasket and also used the extra time to change a couple of gears as we could see from the data what we were running was not the ideal set up for the circuit.

Set up, repair, and ratio change complete.

cont............

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

And the Golf ready for Qualifying.

Shaun improved on his FP1 time by over a 1/4 of a second but could only manage 19th out of 22 due to not having enough track time earlier on to improve not only the car but himself too.

After qualifying we cracked on with getting the car ready for Sunday's First Race.

As a pre-caution we changed the driveshaft�s over to our race set.

Then set the car up on the Smart Strings

Then that evening we had the task of fitting the Your Racing Car.com roof sticker. The sticker is made up of 1000 members supplied photo's, which range from pictures of themselves, company logo's, charities to pictures of Slimer from Ghostbusters! A real variation!

cont..........

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

All done!

On to Race Day and all that was needed were a few final checks, run through the gears and warm the engine up.

Shaun on one of his many meet, greets and chats with our guests and Milltek employee's.

It was then onto the grid for Race 1.

We then headed of the grid and back to the garage. As we were waiting for the cars to head off on the warm up lap we saw the yellow flags go up around the Golf, which was a sign that all was not well.

The marshals let the rest of the grid go and then began to push the Golf of the grid towards the pit lane entrance. We all rushed up to push the Golf back to the pits as quick as possible to find the problem.

For some reason the Golf would just not turn over, even with the battery jump pack plugged in. With a quick look around the engine bay, nothing obvious could be found. Chris then turned off the battery (the battery has its own brain as it is far removed from a normal battery) turned it back on again, hit the start button and the Golf fired into life!

Shaun quickly got to the end of the pit lane just in time for the lights to go out and joined onto the back of the field. The tyres had cooled but after he got some heat in them he began to catch the battle ahead of him.

Due to O�Neil�s off the safety car was deployed, which gave Shaun the chance to get right back on the pack.

On the restart Shaun got right on the back of Forsters BMW and the pressure must have been too much as he locked the brakes and ran wide into Redgate, which gave Shaun the chance to get past.

Shaun powered on and managed to miss all the carnage of cars going off in the last chicane. After the re-start there were two laps to go and Shaun had 3 BMW's and the Integra of Lea Wood behind him. Wood managed to power past Shaun on the straight due to our lack of straight line power and Rob Collard got by too.

Collard then had a moment and Shaun gained the position back. He then got the Golf to the chequered flag in 14th! A good finish and even managed to keep faster cars than ours behind him.

With the race over it was time to get the car ready for Race 2.

For Race 2 we fitted new front discs and pads, along with a change of spring rate for the front end.

The car was then set up and checked over.

cont.........

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

On to Race 2 and Shaun was starting from 14th place on the grid with a few front runners behind him due to the carnage of Race 1

The quicker guys who should be up the front worked their way past Shaun and he continued to battle it out with the mid field pack.

Lea Wood ran wide letting Shaun and a group of cars through.

Shaun was running a good position with two Integra�s and two BMW's chasing him down. He then had Civic join in the chase.

Shaun held his own and kept them all behind him for a number laps, constantly checking his mirrors down the straight's knowing that their straight line power advantage could get them past at any time. He pushed on keeping them at bay and going defensive into the first corner to keep them behind as this was where they were really gaining an advantage.

The Golf then started to pull away a little while the group of cars behind were fighting amongst themselves but then Shaun ran wide into Redgate and they all came steaming past.

Shaun finished the race 19th (still not last!), although not that high up the field and certainly not our highest finish, we were all still in good spirits.

Reason being that Shaun was actually able to race other cars and keep them behind him, they weren�t just able to easily get by him. This really showed how far we have come, even with the lack of power on the rest of the field.

It was then on to the last race of the day and there was not much to do to the Golf other than set up the geometry and give the Golf a good check over.

On to the Grid and Shaun was starting from 19th.

Shaun got a good start and managed to get up the inside of a couple of cars into the first corner. Unfortunately he had a slight coming together with James Kaye and a couple of laps later we suffered wheel bearing failure, this meant it was the end of the race for us.

Donington was a real up and down round for us. We didn't finish all three races and we didn't even finish one of them very high up the field but what we did do is prove the little Golf with its under powered engine can now get in the mix of it and have a battle!

And to finish the blog report on a real high....there is one round to go and we have made it!

(All on track shots courtesy of Bob and Steve Knightley, rest by myself)

Round 8 - A Dry and Sunny Knockhill

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Last weekend saw us make the long trek up to a very sunny Knockhill in Scotland!

After the dissapointment of Silverstone we really did believe things can only get better and fortunately for us they did.

With a freshly rebuilt engine, we prepared the car for FP1, due to us having no previous set up data, we go out with a base set up and work from there.

During the first session the car was very tail happy, after a helper spring change this helped to a degree but was still oversteering too much.

For FP2 we carried out quite afew number of changes to help improve the cars handling and Shaun's confidence in the car.

Golf in the pits ready go out on track for FP2.

The changes made before practice had helped hugely with with oversteering problem, which helped bring the times down but Shaun could feel a slight knocking through the car, which was coming from the rear gearbox mount. This caused smooth braking and gear changes to be an issue, due the the movement of the box.

Tyre change and check over during FP2.

A problem we did run into during FP1 and 2 was losing wing mirrors at the chincane. The whole field was having the same issue. Up untill now we have not damaged any wing mirror glasses and in one morning we had destroyed two. This meant we have used up all of our spares. Fortunately one of our guests owned a Golf ED30 and loaned us the use of it for qualifying (thanks Scott). We did manage to find a factors in Edinburgh with two in stock. So a member of the team took the drive over there to pick them up so we had enough spares for race day.

cont.

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

On to qualifying and further changes were made to the set up, which really helped bring our times closer to the leaders.

Qualifying saw us 1.7 seconds of P1, which is the closest we have been to the pole position time all season.

After qualifying we began to prepare the car for race day with a gear ratio change and general check over, nut and bolt check.

On to Sunday morning and as the fog began to lift it was looking good for a dry, sunny day.

As always we started of with a check of the geometry and afew small changes.

Shaun chatting to some of our hospitality guests while the car is prepared.

One BTCC Golf ready for Race 1

On it's way through to the pits and round to the grid.

Shaun got a good start and jumped past Smith in the 888 Vectra. He then managed to avoid the fist corner carnage and get through with just some scuffing from a Dunlop boarding that made it's way on to the circuit.

cont..

info@amdessex.com (AmDEssex.com) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In Race 1 Shaun got the car to the finish line in a very respectable 13th place and also got our best team points for the season so far.

On the slowing down lap with only 100m till the pit lane the Golf lost electrics and the clutch would no longer engage.

This meant a new clutch and alternator needed to be fitted in the short break before race two. We also fitted a new pair of drive shafts purely as a precaution.

(picture courtesy of Bob/Steve Knightley)

More set up work carried out, with a further spring change as Shaun wasn't overly happy with the way the rear of the car was behaving.

On to Race 2 and Shaun was starting from 13th place but in his own words "made a dreadful start" This meant the cars behind were all over him into the first corner and Shaun's first priority was making sure he made it through unscathed.

The handling was better than Race 1 but was still not quite as good as in qualifying. We finished in 16th, with no drama's or issues. Another finish under our belt, which after Silverstone we were more than happy with.

After Race 2 there were no repairs to make, just changes to the set up, to try and get the car to peform how it did in qualifying.

One abused and repaired wing mirror cover,