31st January 2009

The assembly of the LR1a is going well. The doors and boot lid are still to be painted and the fuel and brake lines need to be assembled and fitted. The engine and gearbox are being assembled at Lunar Race Engineering (see the Engineering link for an explanation) who are working with Cheadle High School. The front brakes are on and the rear brakes are being made as an engineering project at Bedford College. Its good to walk into Bedford College's the workshop with the car steadily taking shape.

16th January 2009

The students of Bedford College have been working a little too quickly for my camera. Whenever I pop into the workshop, more work has been done to the car and I've missed all the action! As aresult of their hard work, the LR1a is now ready for re-assembly. The car will have a new fuel system (retaining the ATL 100 litre fuel tank), braking system (retaining the front brakes), and a new wiring loom. The dampers and front upper wishbones are already in position, thanks to the level 2 vehicle maintenance students, and the wiring loom is on position.

New Year 2009

The 2009 season is fast approaching and the first week of term is already behind us.

Painting has started on the LR1a with the Bedford College Level 3 refinishing students painting the interior as one of their qualification tasks. The roll cage makes it a really awkward task so it’s a good challenge for beginners. The outside of the car will be painted by the level 2 students next week, again as a part of their qualification. The double adjustable GAZ dampers arrived during the week and so it was a bit of a second Christmas!

The next two months are going to be very busy. On top of vehicle assembly and with racing damage in mind, we’re working with 3M to make glass fibre spare body panels. We’re also making new pit equipment to make life a bit easier, the tyre trolley needs wheels and paint and the tool trolley needs starting!

We’re also really looking forward to working with Cheadle High School and Middleton Technology School for 2009. On the school front, I did an afternoon’s consultancy for the Thomas Deacon Academy in Peterborough. They’re now looking at making biodiesel as part of their IB Chemistry. I’ve given them the contact details of our sponsor Greenfuels Ltd with the strong advice to buy a fuelpod 2. They are also interested in working with us in Britcar with data analysis as a part of their IB Physics course (the regulations require the car to be fitted with a GPS data logger so we can provide them with as much data as they need).

So, recession related funding issues aside, it looks like we are on for a very good 2009.

December 2008

It’s a strange thing time. Its great to have a Christmas break, but it would also be nice to have more time. 2009 is fast approaching and the tools are down. Following a good deal of cutting and welding, the LR1a is ready for painting. The rear suspension arms will be strengthened before refitting, and the new springs are sat under my desk. The upgraded dampers will make up the final parts of the suspension. The front brakes will remain unchanged, but the rear discs are being increased to 280mm and the callipers changed to twin piston ones.

Also, the upgraded Rover V6 needs assembling in time for its appearance at the Autosport Show (8th-11th January).

However, I started this update just before starting to paint my daughter's dolls house, its now late so I'll get straight to the point. Have a Merry Christmas!

19th November 2008

I suppose that this is where the LR1 ends and the LR1a starts. The roll cage modifications are complete and the car’s weight loss has begun. The aim is a lighter and stiffer shell. The dampers have been sent off to GAZ to be upgraded to double adjustable and when matched to the new Eibach springs should greatly improve the already excellent handling of the car. On the engine front, we’ve been designing a new inlet system which when matched to the new piper cams will easily allow the engine to produce 250bhp. As soon as the engine specification is finalised, we’ll be able to start work on the gearbox. We are planning to develop a sequential mechanism to allow for faster gear changing. The engine and gearbox developments will also fit in perfectly with the new engineering diploma so we are excited on all fronts.

15th October 2008

The LR1 has been stripped to a rolling shell. This will be the basis of the LR1a. The updated car will have a stiffer and lighter shell, more powerfull engine, improved gear ratios with a Gripper differential and improved suspension thanks to our technical partner Eibach.

8th October 2008

We'll be using the winter break to make the LR1 as competitive as possible for the 2009 Britcar Production S1 Championship. One of the key systems to reducing lap times is the suspension. With the last race of the season less than 5 days ago, we were on the phone to our technical partners Eibach who are always willing to offer sound advice. We needed to remove the springs and dampers to take some measurements and Bedford College student Daniel was at hand; following and outstanding light vehicle maintenance lesson by myself!