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Story so
far...
December 31st 2008 -
Received some safety parts
The Lifeline Zero2000
Club Fire Marshall FIA extinguisher system, FIA electric cut off
switch and some silicone coolant hoses have arrived within a couple
of days of ordering - not bad for this time of year!
Unfortunately it all adds about 5kg to the car.
December 1st 2008 -
ordered Rollcage
Apart from hugely
expensive custom built and installed cages, there is little choice
of 'off the shelf' cages for the Mk4/5 Fiesta. We have
therefore ordered an OMP 10point bolt in cage, even this will need
some adjustment to make it fit as the doorbars need to be welded on
and the cage seems to a one size fits all for several Fiesta marks.
September 26th 2008
- suspension fitted
After a rapid
delivery from
www.burton-power.co.uk the coilover units have now been fitted
and setup roughly for road use at the moment.
August 16th 2008 -
Ordered suspension
Ordered Gaz Coilover
kit with 8" 300lb springs at the front and 9" 400lb springs for the
rear. We've arrived at these spring rates after much research
with other race Fiesta drivers and our own experience and
calculations. As the suspension is the most critical item on
our car in achieving quick lap times it is important to get the
right specification as quickly as possible. Unfortunately they
will take about 4 weeks to arrive as they are custom built to order.
June 7th 2008 -
Installed FRP handling kit
One of the cheapest
and easiest upgrades to the handling is to fit the genuine Ford
Racing Puma rear axle handing kit. This widens the rear track
by 20mm with a couple of alloy spacers installed between the rear
beam and hub.
May 3rd 2008 -
Upgraded air intake
Removed the inner
wheel arch to completely remove the massive and restrictive ducting
for the factory air box which stretches all the way back to the door
and weighs quite a bit. Some fire resistant ducting was then
run from the fog light hole in the bumper up to the K&N filter to
provide a clean and cool air supply to the engine.
March 29th 2008 -
Prepared for road
The Fiesta is now roadworthy! a new crossmember was welded in
place and the passenger wing pulled back into place after it emerged
that it had pushed into the A pillar causing the windscreen to pop out
and the door to leak.It's received a new bonnet, bumper and grille
and some paintwork as well as other bits and pieces like lights etc.
As the airbox was smashed up somewhat we replaced it with a K&N
filterkit and will use some ducting from the fog light holes to feed it
with fresh air for a tad more power.
It passed the MOT first time and is now on it's road trials to make
sure there's no hidden problems.
Sadly as Dominic has changed jobs and is trying to develop a new
business, the car will be confined to the road for the time being until
funds permit. With great sadness we've also had to say goodbye to
our tow car the Audi S8 as part of the fundraising exercise.
Hopefully we'll be back in action in a years time and maybe even
ready for the new season in time!
January 21st 2008 -
Road preparation
We've started stripping down the front end to get the car roadworthy
ASAP. Once the car's bank on the road we will then start race
preparation.Unfortunately the damage is slightly worse than expected
and we were not able to pull out the bent crossmember as we had first
hoped. Also the bumper is too mangled to be repaired. The
bonnet could also do with replacing but it's not essential.
List of parts required:
- Bumper
- Both headlights
- Radiator grille (all 3 parts of it)
- Radiator
- Radiator Fan
- Crossmember
- Gear knob
- Drivers wing mirror adjuster
- Steering wheel
The old crossmember did not want to be pulled back into shape so all
the spot welds have had to be drilled out and the beam manhandled away
from the car. The backing plate left behind, along with part of
the passenger side wing needs pulling sideways so that the front inch of
the chassis leg can be bent back into shape. Once the metalwork is
back in alignment we will then spot weld the new crossmember and then
everything else is just bolt on.
January 12th 2008 -
Bought Fiesta Zetec S
We've found our new project! It's a 2001 Fiesta Zetec S with the
revised 1.6 Zetec SE engine which is stronger and puts out a bit more
power than the earlier engine. Sadly it's an insurance write off
after having a small prang with it's last owner but that made it cheap
enough to buy. It only really needs a new bumper, a couple of
headlights, and a radiator in addition to the race preparation.
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