Trav’s Race Build: from B6 to Big Bore BP-Z3

[bruce]

Gawd you must be keeping the postie busy. Govt must be happy with all the duties etc you are shelling out.

[Scoota]

Gawd you must be keeping the postie busy. Govt must be happy with all the duties etc you are shelling out.

Ooooooooooh yes. It’s an expensive exercise. And yeah, the local postie is getting hammered!!


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[Scoota]

Hi Folks. Life’s been pretty busy for me lately, but things are still happening.

For starters, I finally installed some new mounting points on my trailer to make tying the car down less of a chore...









One strap per side, and no more wrapping the-downs around the wishbones!!

Also... The roll cage is almost finished!!!









I’ll pick the car up this week, and the next week or so will be spent prepping and painting the interior and the roll cage. Then reassembly can finally begin!!

...except that my engine is not finished yet. That’s at least two weeks away. But I’ve got plenty of wiring to do, brakes to install, interior/seat/harness to install, digital dash to install, etc. Heaps of work!!!

An exciting step happened last night. It’s scary new territory for me, as I’ve never programmed an ECU before. Last night, I downloaded the Eugene software onto my laptop, plugged in my new Adaptronic M1200 Modular ECU, and started to configure my base map...



I didn’t get far, but it’s a start. Sadly, my 380cc Flow Force injectors aren’t in the drop-down list, so I think the details will have to be entered manually. No big deal.

I got stuck at the camshaft triggering configuration. I have sent a query to Adaptronic requesting guidance, but I’d like to ask you guys too...

What advice can you give me about the camshaft triggering on the BP-Z3 engine?
* How many flags/pulses per engine “cycle” (720 degrees) do you get from the standard cam angle sensor?
* What is the offset of these pulses from top-dead-centre?

As I said, this is all new territory for me, so any advice is welcome.

Regarding my ECU base map, I’m just getting a head start on some of the configuration. I will be taking the car to Addicted Performance for it’s first run and tune, so they will go over the base map in detail before we run the engine for the first time. I just want to save them some time by getting the sensor configuration sorted before I get the car into the workshop.

Thanks in advance!!


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[greenMachine]

Check that ATI damper, make sure it is not from the batch(es) that is misaligned. I think they were supposed to have been recalled, but ...

I had a tie-down setup like that, I found that it was easy to get good tension on the wheel closest to the ratchet, but the further away wheel could be quite slack due to friction at the tie-down points, and subsequently went to another system. I now run a strap across the back wheels (threaded through the spokes) tied off to the back, and a front one similarly pulling forward. I use sleeves to reduce fraying at the wheels.

[1600Dave]

Any more bars going into the roll cage ? No full width diagonal in main hoop or between rear legs ?

[bruce]

Ahem, what is that purple car in the background of your rollcage shot?

[greenMachine]

Any more bars going into the roll cage ? No full width diagonal in main hoop or between rear legs ?

Good spotto Dave.

I'd check that you will get that design accepted - my understanding is that a full (uncut) diagonal on the main hoop is required.

[1600Dave]

Check out pages 9-10 of CAMS Schedule J for the "standard" approved styles of diagonals. If you want to stay with what you've got, at least run it past the technical guys at CAMS (or check that your cage builder has done so, although personally I'd go direct to CAMS myself). When I designed and built the cage in my car (not an MX5), they were extremely prompt and helpful with the few questions I had, I spoke to someone on the phone, followed up with an email with sketches of what I was doing and had an answer within hours.

You can always go outside the "standard" stuff in schedule J, but then you enter a whole new ball game of having to submit the design to CAMS for certification, rather than just being able to say "it meets schedule J" and getting your logbook guy to confirm that it does.

[hmd]

You can always go outside the "standard" stuff in schedule J, but then you enter a whole new ball game of having to submit the design to CAMS for certification, rather than just being able to say "it meets schedule J" and getting your logbook guy to confirm that it does.

no such thing anymore they are a bit more thourough these day, to get cage certified they will ask lots of pics of your cage from all angles. I had just done one and I had about 10 emails back and forth sending pics to CAMS before they were satisfied abd approved the cage.

[Ross]

Ahem, what is that purple car in the background of your rollcage shot?

^
This is the question that needs answering..........

[RS2000]

Any more bars going into the roll cage ? No full width diagonal in main hoop or between rear legs ?

Good spotto Dave.

I'd check that you will get that design accepted - my understanding is that a full (uncut) diagonal on the main hoop is required.

A full diagonal is required on the main hoop or back stays for a racing log book, but the OP may just be doing speed events (like Bathurst Challenge he is getting ready for).
Note that speed events, at State level or above, would require the cage to be built to Schedule J, & thus require the diagonal.

[RS2000]

Well, I just checked the supp regs from the 2016 & 2017 Challenge Bathurst's I did, & they were State level speed events.

[Scoota]

Hi Folks.

I’m happy to report that the cage is finished and the car returned home with me last night...



Thanks for the feedback, but your concerns about the compliance of this cage were a bit premature... It wasn’t finished in that last series of photos (I did say that, but never mind). Rest assured, this cage meets the CAMS requirements of Schedule J, and then some. Here’s the finished product...









TrackArt are very professional, and had some innovative ways of achieving compliance and optimising the design. They know the CAMS rules inside out, and I was impressed with how they were able to tweak the design while sticking to the rules. Very clever. They also gave me the virtually complete ROPS application form for this new cage. They did it all for me. All I have to do is sign it and submit it to CAMS (and provide photos, I think). I ticked lots of options for the cage design, including the A-pillar bars and a few others, which should enable the car to do anything right up to National Rally events and the like (I think).

Regarding Challenge Bathurst, you don’t need a roll cage (as far as I know). If you have a cage, it must comply to Schedule J, but only if the car is log-booked with the cage.

For most speed events you have three options...

1. Race with no cage. Most people do.
2. Race with a “safe” cage (not log-booked, and therefore not requiring compliance to Schedule J). I have one for sale if you’re interested.
3. Race with a log-booked Schedule J compliant cage, as per my new rig.

The same rules apply for all speed events that I’ve attended. A lot of people are scared of installing a non-compliant cage. You shouldn’t be. It makes your car safer, and won’t exclude you from events that require Schedule J compliance, unless the scrutineers deem it be unsafe for some reason. If that happens, thank the scrutineer!! They want you to be safe, and you want the same thing.

I’m also happy to report that the new tie-down system works a treat. I made slippery sleeves to go over the wheels, as I had predicted friction issues. $20 of lay-flat fire hose, $10 worth of tea towels from Spotlight, half an hour on the hot glue gun, and hey presto!!! Protective sleeves with slippery lining!!!



Okay, now the answer that you’ve all been waiting for... The mystery pink car...

It’s an SP9R!!











I can’t tell you much about them, except that they are rare, and very custom. A handful of these were built (in Australia?) and there were plans to create a one-make racing series, but it never quite got off the ground. Perhaps there was one round, a few got crashed, and it all just fizzled out, but I’m paraphrasing and speculating. This one belongs to a guy that owned one, raced it (presumably?), crashed it, bought another one for parts, and is in the throes of getting it fixed by the guys at TrackArt. Rare, and pretty awesome.

...but not as rare as this beastie...



It’s one of a kind, built by Andrew at TrackArt (the man behind the name, and a really nice guy). Apparently his girlfriend went away for a week, so he went into the shed and decided to build a car, from scratch. Talk about ambitious!!! I reckon it looks like a Lamborghini / Lotus lovechild... The Loturghini, perhaps?


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[bruce]

Thanks for that info. Don't think I've ever seen one of those before.

[RS2000]

That's a very comprehensive & strong looking cage. Nice.

Trav wrote "Regarding Challenge Bathurst, you don’t need a roll cage (as far as I know). If you have a cage, it must comply to Schedule J, but only if the car is log-booked with the cage."

For Challenge Bathurst the car has to be road registered OR log booked. Road registered cars don't require a cage, but being a State level event, all log booked cars would require a cage to Schedule J.
However, I guess it depends on how thorough the scrutineers are. In 2016 the scrutineering was fairly thorough & the log books were collected & held for the whole weekend. In 2017 my scrutineer only had a quick glance over the car & log books weren't collected.