KS's hillclimbing odyssey

[rhd racer]

Are you going orange with the lids or is it a secret?

[KS]

Pink, to match my eyes.

[911hillclimber]

So understand the ECU issues, but at least you are dealing with a UK company, think yourself luckier than i was.

[RobFrost]

Definitely worth being safe with the roll over protection. Especially now you're going so fast.

No idea if this is at play here but always disconnect the ecu for any electrical welding.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

[KS]

No idea if this is at play here but always disconnect the ecu for any electrical welding.

It was removed from the car during welding, but had been playing up for a while.

[KS]

OK, time for an update, so wake up at the back!

When I last posted in this thread, the car was still at Steve Kerti's with the front and rear lids off to be painted, and the car reluctant to start. Well, I'm pleased to say that the starting issue has been partly resolved – it starts but not always first time. However, I discovered the lead to the cylinder head temp sender had come adrift, which won't have helped. When I turn the key, it fires after a few turns, but will often die. Repeat and it will fire up and respond to the throttle. The secret is not to touch the throttle pedal at all, but as soon as it fires, let it warm for 10 or 15 seconds, and then it's fine. This implies a little tweak of the cold start fuelling is needed, but right now I'm just happy to have a car I can jump into and get started.

I decided to have the front and rear lids painted semi-matt black, per a few cars I've seen in the USA – I think it ties in with the black roof and bumpers.



However, everyone knows that stripes make a car faster, so I ordered up some orange vinyl which proved to be a good match for the rest of the bodywork and set to on the kitchen table with scalpel, tape measure and coffee. I'm pleased with the end result, the addition of a fine white strip finishing things off. While in a vinyl mood, I swapped around some of the sponsors' logos to keep things fresh. The Group 4 Wheels logo was a bitch to apply, being so thin and spidery!



I was asked to show the car at the VolksWorld Show at Sandown Park – it was a strange experience as I was on 'the other side of the fence', so to speak, having been responsible for helping organise these events from its earliest days in the 1990s. The car isn't really show-worthy, but seemed to interest people, so that's fine.



As soon as I was back home (a 500+-mile roundtrip – thank heavens for bluetooth headphones and Radio 4...), the next job was to install the Elephant Racing poly-bronze front suspension bushes, monoball strut mounts and Quaife quick-ratio rack, all of which had been sitting on the shelf gathering dust since the end of the last season. I booked into Williams-Crawford's workshop, and grabbed Josh, their everso enthusiastic technician who, having spent time with Tutthill, is used to working on rally 911s and such like. The job took a couple of days for the two of us to do – there's no way round taking out the fuel tank to swap the rack on the 914 – at the end of which it went on W-C's hi-tech laser alignment set-up for a full geo. Josh was meticulous in the extreme and I was amazed to see how closely he was able to match left and right sides of the car – 914s are notorious for being asymmetrical thanks to Karmann's rather slapdash assembly techniques, so I wasn't expecting great things, but I was wrong.





Out on the road, the difference is simply incredible. Josh hadn't driven many 914s and when he suggested I take it down the road for a quick road test, I told him to go ahead and drive it instead. 10 minutes later he came back raving about the car: 'It's handles like a go-kart!'. And so it does...

[BILLY BEAN]

Super!!!

[KS]

So, after a six-month lay-off, last weekend saw the start of the (or rather, my) season, kicking off with the hillclimb at Wiscombe Park (in Devon, not far from Sidmouth or Honiton). I'd only entered Sunday, while jwhillracer of this parish was entered for both Saturday and Sunday.

A quick word on the entry system as it's causing a few problems. A few weeks ahead of the events, we all get an e-mail telling us that entries open on a certain day at a certain time, say 7.00pm on a Tuesday evening. What's happened on more than one occasion is that the clubs' web servers have proved incapable of handling a lot of traffic in a short space of time as everyone rushed to log in and enter bang on 7.00pm, crashing and leaving people wondering if their entry had been accepted or not. On a couple of occasions, the process has had to be abandoned and a new date announced once the club had changed servers. Touch wood, it looks like more clubs have resolved this issue, but people are still unhappy as many events fill up with a few minutes of entries opening – it's a particular problem for people who work for a living and don't get home from work until later... Nobody wants to go back to the old days of paper entries (no post offices in many rural areas, poor delivery service, etc etc), so it's a matter of every man (or woman) for themselves, refreshing web pages until entries open and hope for the best.

Anyway, back to last weekend. You don't need me to tell you that this has been one of the wettest springs on record, and things weren't looking great for Wiscombe. When I arrived at the paddock, the grass was already chewed up and cars that had competed the day before all looked a little muddy. Scrutineering went fine, in its usual casual manner, the new roll bar and door bars not coming in for any comment. So, to the first run, hopefully of four: one practice and three timed event runs. It was inevitable that the startline would be greasy as cars carried mud down from the paddock, but the 914 was fine...for a few yards. Turning into Wis corner, the first 90 degree left about 100ft out from the start, saw the car understeer more than I'm used to, followed by hefty oversteer as I applied the throttle. Up through the Esses, the car was slip-sliding everywhere, a mixture of greasy surface and cold tyres making it a bit of a handful. I made it to the top of the hill but wasn't impressed by the time (57.62) but couldn't expect much all things considered, but I wasn't the only one who posted a disappointing time, thanks to the conditions.



The second run was better, but I felt I was on the ragged edge all the way up the hill and didn't feel comfortable. I'd tried changing down into first at the first hairpin (Sawbench) and despite the dogleg box, it slipped into gear easily – thanks Mr Bainbridge! It almost certainly wasted time, though, as first gear is so low that I ran out of revs almost immediately. The clocks stopped at 52.26 and I felt deflated as, after all the work I'd put into the car over winter (suspension bushes, quick-ratio rack and the shell-stiffening ROPS), I'd failed to get within two seconds of my previous best. It was only when I got home that I realised that I'd actually recorded the fifth best time ever in the 914 despite the slippery conditions, so there's hope for the future when the weather gods finally realise that we've had enough rain, thank you very much.



The third run proved to be the last as the predicted rain arrived, bringing about an early end to the event. The run was dreadfully slow – a time of 60.49 was pitiful. However I did 'beat' fellow competitor David Merrick in his Millington-engined, sequential flat-shift transmissioned Escort Mk2 rally car who was about three seconds slower. That'll be the last time that ever happens!

So, that was it. The car behaved itself, but does have an annoying oil leak (possibly/probably from the fittings on the oil filter sandwich plate which is part of my Accusump system). Talking of which, video footage shows that the oil pressure stayed at 40-60psi throughout the run, a far cry from the old days of oil light flashing on through the Esses and round the two hairpins. Thank you Accusump.

Next weekend I'll be doing two days at Werrington, near Launceston. Last time I drove there it was at the wheel of Adrian Crawford's 911SC rally car, so it will be interesting to see how I get on as last year I ended the season quicker in the 914 than the 911 at Wiscombe.

[Winston Teague]

Brill, looking forward to another season diary. There is no slipperier tarmac on the planet than wet Wiscombe.....W

[jwhillracer]

Before the next Hillclimb weekend on 13/14th May there will be a complete new tarmac surface on the hill. The contractors have been in this week.
How Devon and Cornwall can have as much rain as they have in the last few months, and have reservoirs half full and a hose pipe ban still in force beats me.
Looking forward to a dry sunny 13/14th on wonderful new grippy tarmac!

JW

[Winston Teague]

Excellent, last VSCC meeting I did there, very wet, I tried changing up to third just through the gate in search of some low revs traction.......span up the wheels, which was alarming, but very funny! W

[jwhillracer]

The last time I was doing my WIMP duties at the VSCC meeting, you left your 2nd gear chain at the bridge just before Wis corner.
I think I’ve still got a bit of it somewhere!

JW

[Winston Teague]

Ah yes, that too! W

[KS]

Well, the weekend didn't exactly go as planned... Two days at Werrington in the 914 was the idea, but the oil leak had other ideas. Having driven about four miles from home on my way to the event, I stopped to wipe the windscreen. The car smelt a little oily, so, with the engine running, I peered underneath to see what was going on. It wasn't a pretty sight as the occasional 'marking its spot' oil drip was a positive drip, drip, drip forming a puddle under the back of the car. Bugger. Had no option but to turn round and head home, thankful that I had an Accusump installed in case things got too serious. Dumped the car and headed for the event in the trusty Golf where Adrian Crawford's first comment was to ask if I had my race suit and helmet with me so I could double drive that day. Needless to say, I didn't so spent the day watching others have fun in the dry weather.

The forecast for Sunday was awful, with thunderstorms and rain forecast all day. However, with the offer of a drive in Adrian's rally-spec 911 on the table, I returned to Werrington to join Adrian, his business partner Richard Williams in his 997 GT3 Cup tarmac rally car and Rob Kavanagh in his grey ex-Tutthill 911 rally car. The day had dawned very damp and foggy so the course was best described as 'slick'. Nobody could get their cars off the line without masses of wheelspin – even the Imprezas and the like were struggling. But it was good to be back behind the wheel of the 911 again, and so began a private battle to set the best launch time among the Porsches. I'm pleased to say I held the lead in that 'competition' until the last runs when Rob topped my time by 0.01sec and then Adrian by 0.07sec.



I couldn't really get in the groove – the slippery track was off-putting, but at least the weather improved dramatically, going totally against all published forecasts by turning out warm and sunny for most of the day. The first practice run was a slow and steady climb which proved only that an excess of horsepower wouldn't necessarily be an advantage unless some miracle happened. My second practice run was an improvement but still slow as I refamiliarised myself with the 911. However, everyone was off pace, so I didn't feel so bad. The first timed run after lunch was a cock-up on my part as I didn't think the lever had snicked into third, meaning I tried again only to discover it was indeed in third gear. Naturally that meant I lost all momentum and despite the rest of the run being pretty good, the damage was done. Oh well...

On the second (and final) timed run, I had brain fade as I slowed for the 90 degree left heading into the farm complex. I wanted to change down into second and blindly reached across to where third would be in my 914. Ah, of course, this wasn't a 914 with a dog-leg box, but a 911 with a 915. Coming to my senses, I grabbed the lever and whipped it down into second... The schoolboy error meant I'd missed my braking point and was presented with the tyre wall straight ahead. Hitting the brakes far harder than I wanted to, the front wheels locked up, but at leat the weight transfer meant there was enough grip to allow me to turn in, albeit rather late. Thinking back, the instant lock-up was probably partly due to the very low fuel level in the tank, meaning very little weight over the front wheels. Adrian commented about how he'd forgotten how much more fuel you get through when a car is double-driven! We managed to scrounge some fuel off Rob to allow Adrian to complete his last timed run. Here are the the tyres protesting at my stupidity...

https://youtu.be/HwSjOjoJVk4

It wasn't the best of weekends with my mind elsewhere most of the time, wondering where's the source of my oil leak. We'll get the car in the workshop this week and run it up on the lift. If it is down to the Accusump's oil lines, then I'll need to drop the heat exchanger on the right side to access them. If it proves to be oil cooler seals, then it's engine out time. Oh joy...

[911hillclimber]

Irritating on several counts.
I would feel the same with the oil leak in my mind.

Onwards though, these things will happen and I've had my share over the many years.

Hope it is something simple.