Blog Post

At last we can start the 2020 season.

Dean Halsey • 16 June 2020

Hi Everyone, this is our first report for 2020.

Well, now we are slowly getting out of lockdown and things are settling down to a new normal, I thought I would bring you all up to speed on what has been happening during the winter to the race car or “240-Sporty” as she is affectionally known.

Firstly, due to all of the faults we were getting with the wiring due to the job only ever being temporary, I decided to have a new full Autosport wiring loom thanks to Ian Baxter, this is now complete all but the final touches. I also decided that I wanted to control the ignition with greater precision, so I have changed totally how the spark is controlled to very fine limits. I have also included active knock control to keep the pistons safe from melting as you may be aware from previous posts this happened twice last year.

Brands Hatch Indy Testing May 2019.

We carried out some circuit testing a couple of weeks ago as the dyno was only to get our starting and safeguard parameters. The results at Brands hatch Indy were awesome and plain to see and hear. I had a video and data analysis carried out by Scott Gillam “my race coach” from a lap of his in my car at the same circuit last year showing the proof, I will post it on You Tube and the shortcut from my website for you to look over. You must realise the track had not been used for 3 months, so the times would be slower but as it turns out only 0.14 of a second, but from the analysis you can see the increase in power.

If You are interested in an analysis of my driving verses a professional both in my car then click the link below but please be warned its only for the petrol heads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIdMRzGQXg&t

It was clear from the results that we needed a new air box as we were losing BHP when the car was hot under the bonnet, also the fuel system could not flow enough fuel for the new settings. This could be seen from the air fuel ration meters and the plug colours especially on plug no 6, the last in line for fuel. At 5.8 PSI we could only pump 58 litres per hour and we were, in 2019 using 60 litres per hour and we have since increased the main jets by 13%. So, I dropped the pressure to 4.5 PSI which is what it should be really be for the Webber carburettors, and the flow rate is now in excess of 80 Litres per hour with plenty of bypass going back to the tank. I also heard some pipework noises and on investigation I saw a nearly flattened fuel pipe, not sure yet if it is flow or return but it will be fixed next week, now to fix our 60 Litre tank that only holds 45 litres. When we built the car, we made the box for the tank the right size not allowing for the growth due to expansion from the fuel soak. This had led to the tank imploding somewhat and this needed to be addressed as we were often marginal on fuel and with the improvement we will definitely run out on some circuits. We have fitted an 80 litre tank so that now we can enter 60 minuet races as well as often in Europe when we race with other foreign clubs they have 1 hour races.

Now for the Air Box.

I have designed with some help from Ian Baxter & Carl Gannon a new air box that only lets ambient air from the front of the car to be used by the carburettors this is worth not loosing 30 BHP when things get hot under the bonnet.

Future projects.

We need to reduce the under-bonnet pressure so we are looking at ways that this can be achieved without changing the cars appearance “silhouette” as the CSCC describe it.
Recording the real time gauge data to the Vee Box so on circuit we can see the gauges in graph form, time synced with the video.

Why all this work you may ask.

Well as some of you that follow me know that I can win my class but a race podium, meaning in the first 3, well that is a different issue. With a few cars at 5000 CC to 7500 CC out there in a different class of course but racing against me, that is very difficult. However, the gap is not massive and with our lost BHP we have found and my driving improving all the time with my experience and the help of Scott Gillam, it just may be possible. So, if any of you are reading this watch out in your rear-view mirror, I will be coming for you, I hope.

One of the few times I was able to try and compete for a podium but still ended 20 seconds behind after 40 minuets.

This was mainly due to a fade in the power from the 2019 levels and from the piston failure I pushed on with.

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CSCC Swinging Sixties Season Win for the second year

by Dean Halsey • 12 February 2023

My lovely god daughter holds the cup for Swinging Sixties G2 over all winner for the second year running.

First Race for me in 2020

by Dean Halsey • 8 October 2020

Well a great weekend racing at long last but it was not without its issues as usual. The data collection went great every sensor was being logged by the ECU and fed via CAN buss to the V-Box. We arrived Saturday afternoon and I had booked 2 motor homes to stay in to save the COVID-19 risk at hotels. They arrived on time and were a great idea, we moved into the garage late afternoon and got everything ready for our Sunday qualification. Come Sunday morning the qualification went well as this was my first race of the season, I qualified 12 th on the grid with a 1:23:68 , and I felt there was a second at least in my time for the afternoon race. We lined up and followed the pace car round for a rolling start and after the first lap I was eighth. I started to look how I could pass some of the faster cars and it appeared my best chance was at the chicane. So I decided to break 50 yards later something I know is possible but this time the brakes faded and I ended up being too fast to turn in so I pointed the car through the gravel trap straight onto the start and finish straight. I only lost 2 places but this made me conscious of the brakes and when I tried it again I barley made it through the chicane broad siding left then right to slow down. I decided to come in when the pit lane opened so as I could report the brake issue and we had 2 minutes to check the car out. During this pit stop I dropped 19 places. I came out passing cars as quick as I could, but the Mustangs were wide and difficult to pass when I eventually did the safety car came out. The clever teams out there already decided to wait for a safety car, and it worked most of them lost only 6 places as the safety car was very slow. It was then difficult to pass with my suspect brakes, but I managed to claw back to 13 th place. I stopped outside the garage and when I re started to enter the garage it needed a lot of revs to move the car, and when we put the car away the brakes were seized on and we had to winch it on. When you look at the pictures below, I do not know how I managed to stay on the black stiff but I am glad I did, it was the automatic cadence breaking my brain must of decided upon as it would have done for most drivers “on and off braking” for those who don’t understand, that kept me out of the barriers and in one piece.

Bad Luck testing for the first race this season.

by Dean Halsey • 6 September 2020

We started the Truxton Friday testing with very promising lap times that would have put us on pole position for the race on Sunday. Scott my race coach took the car out for 3 laps to set a fast lap for me to use as a V-Box reference to improve my race driving. He was just due to finish a 1:29:00 second lap when we had what has now been diagnosed as oil serge, this meant that no 3 big end bearing shell spun and seized, consequently the conrod broke and came out of both sides of the block, so there was no Sunday race for us.