The return of Bertie

All chat, general/off topic/banterish and questions relating to the BX16valve.
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Mike P
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Post by Mike P »

150KG is a lot to find out of a BX, which is hardly a heavy car to start with :!:

Could you drill big holes into a lot of the steel sections, but would this compromise the structural integrity or would the cage perform this function in a worse case scenario of crashing it :?:

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Gary C
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Post by Gary C »

We have started. 5 entered in our class. Qually yesterday was bedding in brake pads and a reasonably gentle run round brands with a best of 60.9seconds. Post qually weighbridge put us at 987kg, minimum weight is 820kg. So 167kgs of lightness to be added to the new car when it is completed.

Race 1> cracking start, spinners at Paddock, yellow flag, racing again, broke drop link, lost loads of places, teetered to the finish for 3rd in class.

Jack cut a bit, filed a bit, added a bit, took away a bit, crossed his fingers.

Race 2> cracking start, couple of good scraps, best lap 2 secs quicker than the morning, Jack crossing his fingers worked, Bertie took another 3rd in class.
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Post by Mungous »

Nice work! Got any pics?
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jayw
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Post by jayw »

Neighbour of mine was at Brands at the weekend and watched Bertie going round.

Cue a half hour yap about mine and the couple he'd owned in the past, all while i was desperately rushing to wire up the towing electrics!

I blame you Gary :wink: :lol:

Good show! :D
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Post by Gary C »

Mungous wrote:Nice work! Got any pics?
www.barcsoutheast.co.uk/galleries.php then Quaife Motorsport news added 18th April. There are a few of Bertie in the mix incl falling over at Druids after the droplink broke. Plus Rick May's Escort Cossie going up in flames.
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Post by Gary C »

jayw wrote:Neighbour of mine was at Brands at the weekend and watched Bertie going round.

Cue a half hour yap about mine and the couple he'd owned in the past, all while i was desperately rushing to wire up the towing electrics!

I blame you Gary :wink: :lol:

Good show! :D
"Cue a half hour ... between laps" certainly felt like it in race 1 when the droplink broke.
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Post by Mungous »

Wow - that's some very controlled body roll! And the shot with the broken drop link makes it clear how much work the front ARB is doing.
Image
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How thick are the ARBs on Bertie?
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Post by Gary C »

They are standard 16v. What may have helped is the broken link as we had to butcher it to fit so it ended up shorter.

It may also be our car is lighter than yours at 987kg incl driver. Certainly quite a bit of weight which was forward of the front axle line is now between the axle lines, such as battery, lhm reservoir etc.
Last edited by Gary C on Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gary C »

Some pics over at www.snappyracers.com/gallery.html

Nice shot from Jon of Bertie and an old skool Escort on 12th April gallery plus several on 13th April gallery.
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Post by Gary C »

We have replaced the drop links and also the track rod ends as they had bent probably due to the collapsing car on the corners. Lots of marks on the drive shaft and wishbone which look like the drop link flayed about and this caused the inevitable - a torn gaiter. When replacing this it was spotted that the strut return pipe had split. New one duly fitted.
The driver's side headlight has been replaced as it was found to have several "bullet" holes plus a bottom corner had completely broken away and was stopped from falling on track by the bottom line of tank tape. The near side headlight has a couple of "bullet" holes but will suffice for this weekend's meeting. And I'll be buggered if I'm changing the windscreen which looks like it has been machine gunned. Hopefully the scrutineers won't get uppity about the crack in it.
One of the water pipe to cam cover brackets was found to be broken and has been replaced with a P clip. Apart from that and re tracking only the usual spanner and level checks needed.
7 entries in the class this week so could be tough ask for class podium. Main thing is to get two finishes and add to the championship points.
Hope to have a camera (or two) in the car for this event.
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Post by Gary C »

Race 1 we grabbed another 3rd as other cars hit trouble. Could have been different story if first part of race had not been red flagged as Bertie and me had lost touched when we spun off on an oil slick (we were not the only ones). Race 2 reality check as we finished 5th. Despite the lack of a 2nd class podium we moved up to 2nd in class championship and 8th overall.
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Post by Gary C »

Gary C wrote:They are standard 16v. What may have helped is the broken link as we had to butcher it to fit so it ended up shorter.

It may also be our car is lighter than yours at 987kg incl driver. Certainly quite a bit of weight which was forward of the front axle line is now between the axle lines, such as battery, lhm reservoir etc.
Hugh, another thought came to mind about ARBs. What size diameter are yours?
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jayw
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Post by jayw »

I presume yours are the original Ph1 ARB's Gary? Whreas i believe the Ph2's are thicker (22/25mm respectively)... i think...
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Post by Gary C »

I'd had thoughts along those lines as I'd stated that we use standard 16v arb. The rear one is from a later car and is 21mm not 19mm of the earlier 16v.

Have thought about using the smaller front bar although there is only 0.5mm difference in diameter, it may help give the front a bit more bite..
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Post by Mungous »

Gary C wrote:Hugh, another thought came to mind about ARBs. What size diameter are yours?
Mine are standard Ph1 ARBs - 23mm at the front and 19mm at the back. The Ph2 rear is 21mm.
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