Race Car Taking Shape

[spookypt]

Bruce, to answer your questions Scotty and I do plan on building a rear difuser for the car but whether time permits prior to the Nats I'm not sure. I am not experienced enough to tell you how much diffence it makes but I am sure it does affect how the wind flows under the car thuis affecting performance....

Thanks for the compliments on the JPS thing. I have always liked the JPS look which is why I did my street car that way.. Just to break the mould and do something different. My street car is gloss however Scotty's and my race car is backyard semigloss... The stickers are slightly different colour too as the wheels are more bronzy gold...

As far as speed goes it is very very quick... Again, I am only learning but a turbo lexus with the slick manual/auto shift is very very fast..... I guess respecting the cars capabiities.... It's a WEAPON.

It is certainly a fast car.... It will take me some miles and a guiding hand to actually make me fast in it.. But that's the whole point of the exercise with this car... I also wanted to drive as quick as I could without damaging my existing vehicle and also have the added safety factor of a full cage, intrusion bars and fire bombs etc.... I certainly have a great deal of respect for those guys like Pete Hancock and Ash Bright who really race their cars and still win shows.... They are amazing!



SpookyPT

[Wazza]

Originally Posted by spookypt

"Extra gauze patches glued over various holes in the valley to keep any "bits" from going south if we break anything."

Wazza, without creating any doubts in your mind........... but what sort of glue did you use????????????????????????

O that's gunna hurt!

I'd never seen them before, but they look like they'd be a cheap bit of insurance to stop nasty crap from getting into delicate areas.
They come in a kit form,
Gauze patches, with some sort of epoxy looking glue ??!
Designed to do exactly what I wanted.

Regards,

AND

GOOD LUCK with your wedding this weekend.

And , just because you are now a racecar driver, it's not important that you finish first .

If it'll help...think of ME !!!

[spookypt]

Just an update...

- Cars a little wider...
- Cars a little lower....
- Cars a little more HP...
- Cars got a new aero package...
- Car has new susp....
- Car weighs...lots!
- Cars nearly ready to begin the Nats 09 assault!

But really, don't read much into the above... Scotty and I just like the "social" aspect and are happy simply pottering around stayng out of peoples way!

[Wazza]

A LITTLE wider !!?????

I hope there's enough room for you to get past me on the track.....

I'll move way over to one side.......i.e. slow traffic must keep to the left !!


Looks wicked !


Cheers,

Warren.

[spookypt]

Yes... tis a little wider... we are making a few weeny adjustments to my trailer to help it fit!

[Aussie Mike]

They say the Cobra has such an apealing shape because it's womanly. With it's rounded curves and the car's waist tapering down before flairing out into rounded hips.

You've just given yours a set of big boobs

Can't wait to perv at it on the track.

Cheers

[PCC]

Matt,

Its missing a Scotty spoiler on the front!

You certainly won't appear in any glossy mags with that JPS advertising

You should have gone with a Rothman's scheme

[spookypt]

Hey PCC, we have a spoiler...just not attached for pic....

JPS - Just PLaying Silly!

[Rob. Smith]

HA HA...Back in the old days when I was a boy I painted a spoiler and bits of the car for a mate..his initials were J.P. so the logo was the cool JPS symbols.
The car was a Gemini. Ha ha ha . Despite that it was very modified and had the biggest brakes any gemini ever had.

[Towmaster]

looks good boys, can't wait to see it tomorrow!

[spookypt]

Hey Ash... Yep, check out the beast tomoz... Scotty is proudly showing off the beast although I dunno whether he waill win the show and shine... Sadly, I have guests all weekend and as this was a lateish invite I couldn't re-arrange my guests to another date.... We plan on a few test days soon so it'll give me some seat warm time....

Hopefully my street car is going to be drivable again soon so it'll be smiles or round!

Enjoy tomoz...

[PCC]

Spook,

Checked out the Barry Sheene JPS smoking Carbon fibre wider than longer Cobra.

Very disappointed with the engine bay - very little polishing gone on there

Looks the part although track time was limited due to you not having a speedo to make a certain racer below 110 km/h or was that 220!!!

Shame you were'nt there - rare for me to say that.

Throughly enjoyed the day even though there was more exhibitors etc than joe public.

Catch up soon - maybe A1GP through your back yard!

[spookypt]

Hey Pete! Engine detailing is my "partners" area!!!!! I can't even work out what all the pipework does... Mate, your welcome to come and park in my garage this A1GP year!!!!!
SpookyPT!

[PCC]

I trust that means it stays in your Garage as you can't access your Garage during the event!

Or was that your old place?

I hope to catch up with Scotty this week for a few modifications - My paintwork is looking a bit shabby next to the Beast #2

[spookypt]

The old place was on the track but I live just off tedder now so all day access cause I'm a "Local". Locals only!
I'm just pegging to see what may happen this year.... Might fly to Bali for a few days R and R!

[spookypt]

Hi everyone, thought you might be interested to hear how we we've been going since the Nats 08. We recently took the car out to Morgan Park for what was basically our first shake down since last years Nats after all the suspension re-geomotry had been done...

The report card is as follows.....

I knew the day was going to be interesting when on arrival both Scott and I needed to pee. Well for those of you who have ever been to Morgan Park urinal it really is only 1 man wide! Well both Scott and I were so busting we just shoe horned ourselves in there. I think more came out than was supposed too as we literally squashed each other. We kept saying... You''ll fit, you'll fit and laughing and sighing.... Then we realised that they could here us in the pits and there was also a bloke on the loo so we either looked like a 2 very friendly blokes busting or 2 raving gay men from Brisbane who couldn't wait to get each other in public dunnies!!! For those unsure, we were BUSTING!

Anyway, to report -

The Bad. Well we had a few problems straight out of the gate. For some reason we are having problems with the auto. Its going from 1st then when we change to 2nd/3rd it runs as 2nd/3rd in overdrive. We managed to circumvent this "sort of" by disengaging the overdrive unit but still had an intermittent problem all day so it did affect our driving quite a bit. We also found that on the change down from 3rd to 2nd, it was going to a neutral zone then 2nd so we had no engine compression braking... This happened alot and eventually Scotty fell victim as he headed into the flip flop at warp speed and he speared off the track, breaking a bolt in the rear and bending a rear shock. We managed to fix this in the pits with a large hammer to get us back just as a temporary for the day. We also had the steering rack work loose and “nearly” fall out!!! Made the concrete straight wall and Scotty become almost too familiar!!!!! Phew.
We also STILL have a significant and constant engine misfire at about 5500rpm which means once we get there, after that we have nothing... Considering it should pull to 8000+ its a problem. Scotty is doing an assessment of the MOTEC to see what he can find. We also have a little too much camber in the rears so we will adjust to get more traction etc. We also think the brakes are still way too woody and unresponsive and have no feel so we may need to adjust as well. Of course there are a few other tech probs but they are the majors....

The Good. The car tracks and turns so much better now. Its way more controllable and feels steady under foot. Anything would be better than what we had. We have a dab of understeer but not much and we managed to dial most of that out by adjusting shock return valving so the car now feels so much more drivable. Obviously some major things need looking at with brakes, engine and gearbox but we have a good starting point now as the car is running at about a 6.5 out of 10 of its real potential.

So based on those issues we ran pretty well. Scotty managed a 1.13 - 7 ish (sorry Scotty if I got that wrong) and I a 1.14 – 4 (or so) so we are pretty close and with fairly significant issues to drive around and all working against us.... a pretty respectable time. I know the seasoned boys are running 1.09’s but if you factor in the probs we had and this being only the cars 3rd time the car has run in anger I reckon our times are OK and not bad out of the box!.

For me, I’m just happy developing the car and learning! Oh what a learning curve!

The biggest things I noticed outside that were when your car racing with non cobra guys they race on the track for sheep stations... Madness. It was practise yet they wouldn't let you pass even though we were quite a bit quicker and just did some silly things.. Lesson 1, let em fade ahead and just focus on your own thing....

Much more development to come but all in all we are progressing very well and when it all comes together it will be an amazing race car for a BUDGET price! If only all motor racing was that way!

SpookyPT

[Rebel1]

Originally Posted by spookypt

Then we realised that they could hear us in the pits and there was also a bloke on the loo so we either looked like a 2 very friendly blokes busting or 2 raving gay men from Brisbane who couldn't wait to get each other in public dunnies!!! SpookyPT

Hmmmmmm, didn't think Scotty or you were that way inclined.

Matt, You'll get there ... Scotty is a wizard in setting a car up properly. It's good that you are enjoying the whole exercise with the race car.

I believe if some-one would produce a cheap to build cobra track kit. Cheap light body/chassis. No Lights except blinkers and stops, no doors, inexpensive engine/trans/diff, it would be a winner.

[spookypt]

Hey Les, mate we so aren't that way inclined... But if ya can laugh at that situation sharing and enjoying racing cars is easy...

I have learnt so much really even in this time. Somethings you learn because you ask, other things you learn through ozmosis, and other things you learn by default.

I know for a fact I'm no race car driver... I know that I couldn't do it every weekend or every fortnight for that matter. It's really fun in small doses but based on my work and where I live and my other passions (my wife and my surfing) it really only gets a certain percentage of my time as that's all I am willing to afford.

That said, when I do get to go out and have a run I really enjoy it! ALOT. Ole Scotty and I are very different characters but at teh same time what we do works and I reckon he enjoys teaching me stuff... One day, I hope that at the end of a track day when we look at our times I might get to edge out the master.... One Day.... One Day! It will be a long while before that happens...if it ever does!

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by Rebel1

I believe if some-one would produce a cheap to build cobra track kit. Cheap light body/chassis. No Lights except blinkers and stops, no doors, inexpensive engine/trans/diff, it would be a winner.

I think the emphasis should be more on safe. When you think about most Cobras out there they probably aren't the safest track day cars. Roll and side impact protection is pretty ordinary.

A chassis with a decent integrated chrome molly cage would be the go.

Good to see you guy's hare having fun Spook.

Cheers

[spookypt]

Argh, with a new project looming, my share of this awesome car has come to an end and I have decided to resign my 1/2 ownership of this weapon back to Scotty! I learnt much and enjoyed our comradeship immensley. We are still great mates and still plan on enjoying the Cobra thing but my plans have changed a little and a new project awaits....
Scotty has been a great teacher and has taught me much about racecraft and the art of enjoying racing and I really appreciate everything he has done for me.... He plans to compaign this car even larger in the coming years with Bigger TURBO and more HP. SCARY! The car still has some considerable development ahead of it and if its growth in the last 2 years is anything to go buy Wazza B is in trouble at the 2010 NATS!

I'm not sure whether he plans to run solo or start a "Race Car Internship/Scholarship Program" but whatever he chooses it is a weapon and a very SAFE and reliable car.

Thanks Scotty for all the fun!

SpookypT