Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

anyway, we're well off topic, enough about rally cars

Builder has been booked, and I've just ordered all the remaining blocks, sand, and cement to get the garage built!

Construction starts next Saturday

Door arrived last night too.

The delivery driver looked surprisingly happy too, considering he was about 3 hours late

That's the one!

A few more pics from the Pub Club meet last week, Thanks to Harry for these: https://www.facebook.com/HarryElliottPhotography

Thanks Paul

Wheels it's on currently are Rota Force

Probably going onto the OZs tomorrow with A048's as I'm going along to spectate at Goodwood on Saturday and want to be on something suitable should an opportunity arise to steal my way on track for a session or two

Lavis89 said:

I came here to feed prawns ego because he's sad nobody has paid attention to his meet photos

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Thanks dude, You are my new hero

scotty_24 said:

I thought they were, I've been looking at them.
Whats the spec of the wheels? Width and offset etc?

Your cars my inspiration ha ha

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Thanks Paul

They're good wheels, we have 2 sets and love them! I love how it looks on the white ones, but it's not all that subtle, and a nightmare to keep clean.

They're 17x8 ET35, and weigh 7.8kg per rim I believe.

oh, also, you'll love the NS2R's, good choice!

Prawn said:

Probably going onto the OZs tomorrow with A048's

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As intended, a trip to the garage was made yesterday for a quick pit stop:



Cut out height on the skirts appears to be just right with the lower profile tyres fitted:



A048's Fitted:



In a rare break from the usual, I had some french Tat over the pit last night sorting out an exhaust:



I also found this little dude in the pit, so helped him escape and set him free!



Someone must have moved the pit boards at some point to create a gap big enough for anything to get through, I've always been so careful, so I'm not entirely sure how that happened!

He is.

Pit still not covered due to lack of walls, much rain water in there!

Walls up soon and roof on then I can start to dry it out at last!

Whilst it is apparent that KW V3's are not a helpful ingredient in the making of a well focused image, I think we can all at least agree to be happy that it's Friday!



Blocks arrive this morning.

Builder starts tomorrow.

Hugely excited!

Friday / Saturday morning:

Friday came, I took the track car to work. It was good.

I seem to be fitting in well at the new place, I came back the office mid afternoon to this:



BGW looked particularly B and G when viewed from above too:



Parked up with Andys S4:



I took one of the directors out for a spin - he loved it. Great success

Mid morning I got a phone call, to say the blocks were en route:



Finally, things were coming together for the garage!





Dan arrived at 8am Saturday morning to start building the walls, he spent most of the morning bumping out blocks, agreeing positions for doors / windows / peers, and getting the first course spot on and checking all the measurements to make sure it's exactly what I want. The weather was also stupidly hot here on Saturday, so he didn't get as far as he planned to, but what he did was very neat and I'm really pleased with how it's taking shape









That's it on the garage front, next update - Goodwood

On friday night I took Tori out for dinner, new job is going well, garage build was starting, I was off to Goodwood for a bit of a social the next day, why not ey?

For what ever reason, be it fluke, or food poisoning, I woke up at midnight, and spent the rest of the night throwing up, feeling VERY ill.

8am came, Dan the builder arrived and I got him started, but I'd still not slept a wink, so I text Jamie who was going to come to Goodwood, and told him it was off.

I then sat around feeling very ill, tired, and hugely sorry for myself until 11am.

Nope, that was enough. I couldn't do it any more - Everyone else was at Goodwood having fun, I couldn't bring myself to miss it, so I text Jamie, told him to meet me at work where I'd quickly clean the car, and I'd have a go.

Pretending I felt slightly better, I drove over to work, and gave the car a clean whilst waiting for Jamie. Whatever feelings of improvement I'd felt at home were clearly false, as after 20 mins with a sponge I was dying again. Still, the car looked fantastic, and that's more important, right?



So we set off, with me thinking I was going to throw up at every bump .......

We arrived at Goodwood, and if I'm honest, I was feeling properly rough. We met up with Rich and Kelly, and made our way around the paddock trying to say hello to everyone there. It's awesome going to a trackday where you know just about everyone, because even if you're not driving, it's a great social.

It was pretty apparent to everyone that I wasn't feeling 100%, and it became a bit of a joke how many people assumed it was self (alcohol) inflicted I'm starting to wonder if I've got a bit of a reputation I didn't know about I had to explain it was most probably food poisoning, and declined several offers of passenger laps on the grounds that I didn't have my cleaning gear with me to clean anyone elses interior afterwards.



A few hours passed, and I still felt crap. Oakie (one of the organisers) came over to me and said someone had told him I wanted to drive, and offered me a good price for a few sessions.

''No chance Nick, I feel ill enough stood still, but thanks for he offer''

Another half an hour passed, and we watched others lapping away:



I bumped into Oakie again. He asked again if I wanted to drive, I declined, again.

''What's the worst that could happen?''

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

A deal was done, and I decided I'd bumble round for a lap or two just to stretch the cars legs, at least I'd feel I'd tried.

I sat through a very quick briefing, and got my wrist band, whilst Jamie set tyre pressures and sound tested the car for me (90dB, very happy with that)

Queing up to go on track I was still feeling crap, and I wasn't able to do the lap belts up too tight as it made me feel worse. It was also pretty hot in the car, which didn't help....

And then the light went green, and suddenly, somehow, all of that disappeared, it was just me, on track, having fun, and it felt great!

It usually takes a good 3-4 sessions on a trackday before you really start feeling properly up to speed, so heading out on track at 16:15 for the first time, on a day that ended at 17:00, I wasn't expecting miracles, but it was a fantastic chance to see how the changes I'd made to the car this year have worked, and get a feel for the new aero additions, and it really did not disappoint at all!

In previous years, I've felt very skeptical about Goodwood, despite having always loved the social side of the ACE days, I've never previously gel'd with the track at all, and considered it to be one I'd never get on with, yet yesterday, even in that first session, after 9 months away from the track, it all felt pretty good. I was very happy.

My lines still need a good bit of work around Goodwood, and an onboard from someone else's car shows that my line through St. Marys was fairly laughable on at least one occasion, but regardless of pace or laptimes, I felt far more comfortable with the track, and the car on it than I have done in previous years at Goodwood.

After the first session with Jamie, @Rich196 jumped in for the second session. Having known Rich for near on 5 years now I feel pretty guilty to say that this was the first time things had aligned and he was able to come out in the car. I hope I didn't disappoint too much It was good to get opinions and suggestions on lines from someone else who's done a fair few different tracks and passengered in all sorts of interesting things too. I'm really glad I was finally able to take you out in the car Rich! Thanks for being patient!

This is about the only picture I have of the car on track, as I was so late in the day I think everyone had given up on photos!



So, all in all, a fabulous day in the end. Despite feeling utterly rotten both before, and immediately after driving, all that vanished when it mattered, and I was able to get my fix. We turned up without a single tool in the car or spare part, dressed in chinos and shirts, not expecting to get anywhere near the track, and ended up having 2 brilliant sessions during which the car was 100% flawless.

The new aero stuff feels fantastic, approaching a speedo indicated 140 down the Lavant straight it felt more stable than ever, and on the fast entry into St Marys where I'd felt very unsure before, it felt solid as a rock. Top speed down the lavant straight was marginally down in last year, but that is as likely to be down to the horrific 10.2:1 AFR as it is the added drag of the new wing, who knows? I was also pleasantly surprised at how much grip the A048's had to offer, having gotten used to the grip of slicks over the last 2 years, the Semis still felt really good.

With garage works taking up my parking options, the car has gone away to live indoors somewhere else for a while:



I still feel absolutely rotten now, but I've had an amazing afternoon at Goodwood, and my garage has taken a big step forward, an entire year after it was started, so all in all, things are pretty good

I like Rich, Rich says nice things.

Rich can come again - thanks mate. Was a pleasure to take you out

Very pleased with the aero additions thus far. Really looking forward to running on a track with some known data like Combe to see how the pace stacks up this year.

Rich196 said:

You have known data for Donny too, 26th of Oct. Be there!! Ill be in the silver mobile chicane!

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I wouldn't mind that actually. We LOVE donington, it's one of our favourites.

Having only driven 2 sessions in the last hour at Goodwood, I wasn't expecting to see any pictures of me on track, thinking everyone had given up on pictures by that point.

So I was very pleasantly surprised to find these on FlickR by Darren Underhill:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133646862@N02/

Hmmmmmmmmmm....



What's all this about

Ok, new guessing game, seeing as you lot were crap at the last one

What's this:

Nope

Some more clues: