Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

haha, so Mum weighs around the same as 1st place success ballast in the BTCC?

Plug 3/4 of a tank of fuel, so carrying roughly 80kg's more than usual.

I highly doubt we're at a level where the added weight of a passenger and some fuel would make too much difference.

Oddly enough, thinking about it, i almost NEVER go on track without a passenger, there's something about the whole experience that's just better when shared with someone else for me :)

of my 100 or so Nurburgring laps, I think I only ever did ONE on my own, and didn't enjoy it nearly as much.
 
yup, still happy to think we won't be going back any time soon :)

i think it's safe to say, on a closed trackday, running the slicks and aero it has now, it'd be comfortably sub 8 minutes BTG. I'm confident enough with that thought that I don't feel the need to go there to try it even.

perhaps one day, when funds are available, we'll do a trackday there, I'd really love to, more so if the pound recovers against the euro, but at 450 euros for a cheap trackday, it's not something i fancy wasting the cash on just now.
 
I agree. I went in 07 and it cost a fortune.plus it rained most the time and as you know its like driving on ice. Money down the drain if that happens. Abingdon is under 30 miles for me so i could do 5 days there for the price of a ring trip id think. Love the abingdon vid of you bullying the m3 and amg btw. Merc didnt wanna move did he hahaha
 
Those are exactly our thoughts mate!

we have castle Combe, Hullavington, Keevil, and Abingdon all within an hour of me, and could do 5 airfield days for the cost of 1 ring trip, which may or may not get you any decent laps, so for the cost vs risk, it's far more worth while doing repeated airfield days in the UK for us now, it's just as much fun, and nothing like the same pressure!
 
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Yeh definately. Ive read some real horror stories with fines and repair costs at the ring. At least if i bin my car here i can walk home lol
 
Looks awesome in those photos!

Should send off a few photos to Audi to show them what their beloved a3 has become, makes me wonder if you'd get a reply!
 
Great vids..... loving the first time on slicks... looks like you really enjoyed it... couldn't help notice you mention engine temp a couple of times... is it becoming an issue ???
 
well, perhaps not an issue, but certainly something I need to look at Mark yes.

In the early days as a track car, pre oil cooler, it regularly used to reach 110-112 degrees coolant temp on track.

With the oil cooler, and a new rad, even on the new power level I'd never seen it go above 99 degrees.

On full boost at Combe, with slicks, I saw a peak of 107 degrees. Still perfectly safe, but hotter than I'm used to, so I chose at that point to back off rather than push it further and see if it still went up.

I think enclosing the engine bay is the main cause for this, but there are plenty of things I can do to relieve it a little.

To help air in, I'll be drilling behind the plate and making the plate removable to allow more air in, as well as possible adding in some Naca ducts under the splitter, one for the sump and one for the gear box.

To allow more air out, I'll be having a play around with the front wings to try and open up the back edges to relieve wheel arch pressure, as all the air that gets IN to the engine bay now has to exit through the wheel arches, which become a very high pressure high temp area, coupled with the brakes running very hot, it's all very warm in there, so venting the arches some more should really help things there :)
 
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Prawn said:
haha, so Mum weighs around the same as 1st place success ballast in the BTCC?

Plug 3/4 of a tank of fuel, so carrying roughly 80kg's more than usual.

I highly doubt we're at a level where the added weight of a passenger and some fuel would make too much difference.

Oddly enough, thinking about it, i almost NEVER go on track without a passenger, there's something about the whole experience that's just better when shared with someone else for me :)

of my 100 or so Nurburgring laps, I think I only ever did ONE on my own, and didn't enjoy it nearly as much.
Click to expand...

I enjoy taking passengers out too Nick, the car feels more balanced side to side with a passenger in it! Plus you lost 5.5stone of ballast already! ;)
 
jojo said:
I enjoy taking passengers out too Nick, the car feels more balanced side to side with a passenger in it! Plus you lost 5.5stone of ballast already! ;)
Click to expand...

My one solo lap of the ring was at the time my fastest lap, but it was also more messy and possibly pushing a little too hard, passenger calms me down a bit :laugh:

A little clip I was sent by Dan Lister taken from the esses at Combe on Saturday



Prawn's Track A3, trackside at Castle Combe ADI'13 - YouTube

I don't THINK this is maximum attack mode, doesn't sound like it's revving high enough in 3rd on the exit, but still nice to see what it sounds like, I've not heard it before really!
 
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I hear what you guys are saying about a ring trip but your not paying all that money for the track. It's about meeting up at Dover, having a chat on the ferry, a great convoy road trip to Germany, the buzz as you enter Adenau, the vast amount of goodies in the carparks, the nightlife, great food, great beer, and great people.

Some of my favourite trips have been when we've done more off track then on it.
 
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Oh yea definitely Westy, as a holiday it's amazing and I'd gladly go back..

As far as track time goes, it's ****e and a waste of cash.

We got exactly the same buzz road tripping over to Spa, meeting up at Dover, the crossing, the convoy, and for £200 we had a guaranteed full days lapping on the F1 track.

I'd quite like to go back to Nurburg for one of the big events, maybe n24, drive over in the soot chucker, maybe even rent a swift, just never again for TF in my car.
 
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So, the time has come where I have to accept that being a pikey and using zip ties on CV boots is a BAD idea.

2 boots lost at Spa, and a further 2 failures at Castle Combe on saturday with CV boots coming off the joint as zip ties expanded with heat.

What options are there for metal CV banding?

A quick ebay search shows many bands of different types for a few quid each, and many different tools ranging from £5-£100.

Ideally I'd like to spend at the lower end of the scale, maybe £30 all in, is one type or another preferable?

Does anyone know of any 'kits' available that lnclude bands and a tool?
 
Eh? Why arent you using the metal clips that come supplied with new cv boot kits?
 
666markyboy said:
I use jubilee clips 4 or 5 small ones linked together..... they are nice and tight and you can reuse them
Click to expand...

Do you use them on the A3 mark? I didn't think there was enough room with how close then A3 CV's run to the top face of the hub carrier.


Jason.s said:
Eh? Why arent you using the metal clips that come supplied with new cv boot kits?
Click to expand...

Various reasons mate, but basically, mixing and matching various old and new parts to make good out of a bad lot, metal clips cut off when swapping joints over, no replacements to hand. Plus lack of tool to tighten the metal bands, last ones I did I used side cutters to crimp up.

I think I'll buy the back kev linked to and tool and do them all properly.
 
Pretty sure I've done it on the A3.... lack of space was why I used a few smaller ones linked together.... the actual screw part was smaller on them but if you've bought the proper jobs then it's irrelevant :)
 
just found an awesome pic from Spa on the 116photography page :)

1403203_602082019837412_753525484_o.jpg


https://www.facebook.com/116photography
 
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Nick next time your down i will give you a pack of metal clips ive got, they are awesome, and i get given them by a local supplier, so atleast they will get good use bro
 
What a week, what a weekend and WHAT A CAR.!!!:beerchug:
 
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Aero inspiration.

1383978_749370521743389_1009632108_n.jpg


The most badass car ever photographed?
 
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That is rather epic.

In the dry on slicks do you think you could run full power now Prawn?
 
Jason.s said:
That is rather epic.

In the dry on slicks do you think you could run full power now Prawn?
Click to expand...

Oh yes mate, Spa clips are all low boost, the above clips from Combe (apart from the wet one and Dads clip) are on full power > on slicks, there's absolutely no issue with traction what so ever, with the tyres up to temp even second hooked up fine, not that I was using second on Combe at all with the new box.

it was really quite a strange feeling actually, when I went out for fuel at Lunch, with the hot direzzas on, the way it hooked up and gripped in second was unlike anything I've felt in it before, more of a 4wd type feeling as there was so much more grip than on the usual road tyres. I can certainly see the attraction to having that kind of grip always, but so long as I've got it where and when I need it I'm happy :)

You can see on existing Bobbies (second chicane) once or twice behind Bill I could gain massively as the small punchy turbo and insane traction just rocket the car out of the chicane, then the badgerWagon spools up, hooks up, and fecks off into the distance again :laugh:

Been a very fun week :racer:
 
Prawn said:
Oh yes mate, Spa clips are all low boost, the above clips from Combe (apart from the wet one and Dads clip) are on full power > on slicks, there's absolutely no issue with traction what so ever, with the tyres up to temp even second hooked up fine, not that I was using second on Combe at all with the new box.

it was really quite a strange feeling actually, when I went out for fuel at Lunch, with the hot direzzas on, the way it hooked up and gripped in second was unlike anything I've felt in it before, more of a 4wd type feeling as there was so much more grip than on the usual road tyres. I can certainly see the attraction to having that kind of grip always, but so long as I've got it where and when I need it I'm happy :)

You can see on existing Bobbies (second chicane) once or twice behind Bill I could gain massively as the small punchy turbo and insane traction just rocket the car out of the chicane, then the badgerWagon spools up, hooks up, and fecks off into the distance again :laugh:

Been a very fun week :racer:
Click to expand...

Good! Glad you can finally use it all. Bit of a waste having it all there and could never use it.

Its a sign! ;) full time 100% usable grip FTW

Yeah i did notice you werent disappearing from bills rear end until 5 minutes had past and he`d finally spooled up and left you lol.
 
Boxed in skirts and arches would make SUCH a difference to your car. Both visually and aerodynamically.

I am almost certain something could be made to replace the black strip along the door bottoms, so it could be removable.

Removing the sill trims isn't hard, why not whip one off and CAD it up.
 
16Klappe said:
Boxed in skirts and arches would make SUCH a difference to your car. Both visually and aerodynamically.
Click to expand...

There are no arches to box in, because our wheels fit inside the body work :laugh:

Side profile will be addressed this winter, it's all planned and designed, and materials decided upon, it's just a case of getting the gear, then putting in the time to make it all :)

And yes, it will look properly bad-*** when finished :racer:
 
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All input is good man :)

the Original plan was for something similar to the skirts shown on that E30 (?), but further thinking has changed plans a little.

By adding a large front splitter, and THEN a deep vertical side skirt, you're almost totally sealing off air from getting in under the car on the move.

This would almost certainly create a pretty epic ground effect, like Nige has, and give incredible handling on a perfect track, but it also narrows the margin for error if you were to lose that ground effect for any reason at speed.

if you ran a skirt that was 20mm off the ground, then went over a 20mm bump and the car lifted, your 20mm gap would double to 40mm, 100% extra, so the amount of air able to come in would in theory double momentarily and you'd potentially lose a lot of your down force.

if you ran at 100mm, the same 20mm bump would only give you a 20% increase in the gap, not nearly so drastic.

i've noticed from a few clips that Nige has had fairly 'interesting moments' when he's hit bumps at speed, such as around churches at Thruxton at 120mph trying a new line, it let go in a pretty big way and he stopped about 200m down the track and 50m into the infield - rather lucky.

For that reason, I think what will happen, is that the flat underside I create will continue outwards, stopping air on the side of the car from curling round under the car, but probably no physical vertical skirt due to the potential risks.
 
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audi upgrades
Prawn had this discussion earlier on another forum.

And concluded that when he has to take the car to the track on a trailer he will regard it as utterly ruined haha.

I am trying to imagine the under floor aero, and will do some googling to further my knowledge. My gasp on aerodynamics is minimal, which goes for 97% of people.
 
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