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PollyMobiles Rebuild

It is a timed switch. You need them when using car PCs mainly. It's a 10amp relay so all you do is put it in line with the invertor 12v feed. You feed the unit with 12v ignition live. This way you start your car and it then counts down before switching the invertor on. That way you don't get the volt drop whilst starting.
 
It is a timed switch. You need them when using car PCs mainly. It's a 10amp relay so all you do is put it in line with the invertor 12v feed. You feed the unit with 12v ignition live. This way you start your car and it then counts down before switching the invertor on. That way you don't get the volt drop whilst starting.

I need the inverter & laptop always powered on throughout cranking cos the laptop is recording the consult data before & after cranking. if the inverter or laptop power is interfered, it corrupts the data link
 
heya everyone, just an update that me & kasandra are back home tday all perfectly intact, not a scratch after such an awsome eventful weekend journey to/from Nurburgring.
apart from her constant oil loss, mechanically she's never missed a beat at all on/off track, never overheated in the million mile traffic jam in sauna heat, she was just perfect :cool:

gonna take me days to process this much footage & write bout it but just so u know I'm safe and she's survived for more trackday fun :)
 
Looking forward to the write up! Is that inverter working for you apart from startup in terms of interference using the trackpad etc? Haven't found one yet that doesn't make mine go haywire.
 
Looking forward to the write up! Is that inverter working for you apart from startup in terms of interference using the trackpad etc? Haven't found one yet that doesn't make mine go haywire.

using the inverter for powering the cameras & laptop wasn't working stably for me at nurburg unfortunately.

when only the camera power pack was plugged in the inverter they record fine.

but when I have both the camera power pack & laptop charger plugged in, some reason the power pack wasn't being powered enough so quickly ran out power & ruined the footage (fortunately that was only when the track was red flag closed & had to return to parking) plus the laptop recording the ECU eventually froze too.
so gave up on trying the log the data with laptop.

since the camera power pack was empty, I had to connect the cameras directly to the inverter but I noticed on playback that it causes this faint audio buzz (power interference probably) whereas with the usb power pack the audio is fine.
 
You really need a pure sinewave inverter to be honest. Ive never really had any good results with the cheap square wave ones. Also they've always lied about the wattage output. They are more expensive though. The cheap ones are only really good for lights, tools, heaters, and anything else that doesn't require a smooth supply.
 
You really need a pure sinewave inverter to be honest. Ive never really had any good results with the cheap square wave ones. Also they've always lied about the wattage output. They are more expensive though. The cheap ones are only really good for lights, tools, heaters, and anything else that doesn't require a smooth supply.

yea I agree
 
You might consider a 12v optima leisure battery for your equipment in place of your floor weights. Then simply top it up with a trickle charger when needed.

You'd get a steady output.
 
Glad to hear you're back in one piece Paul and looking forward to the write-up and footage :)

For the nerd in you. A 195/50r15 R888R weights in at 9.6kgs.
 
You might consider a 12v optima leisure battery for your equipment in place of your floor weights. Then simply top it up with a trickle charger when needed.

You'd get a steady output.

that's a point, I could install 2x normal micra batteries by the passenger seat to recreate the 22-30kg LH ballast, one for the car and one for the ancillaries.
.although that would be another £50 spend and I'd have to figure a venting port since wet batteries create hydrogen during charge.
 
Glad to hear you're back in one piece Paul and looking forward to the write-up and footage :)

For the nerd in you. A 195/50r15 R888R weights in at 9.6kgs.

tis gonna be a long one but the footage (especially blasting through the twisty mountain roads) is all worth gold :cool::)

ahh thx for the info.
so according to my prev weighing:
13" nissan ronal alloy & yoko S-drive = 14.2kg
15" rota grid + T1R = 6kg + 7.6kg = 13.8kg
15" BBS + R888 = 5.5kg + 9.6kg = 15.1kg
 
tis gonna be a long one but the footage (especially blasting through the twisty mountain roads) is all worth gold :cool::)

ahh thx for the info.
so according to my prev weighing:
13" nissan ronal alloy & yoko S-drive = 14.2kg
15" rota grid + T1R = 6kg + 7.6kg = 13.8kg
15" BBS + R888 = 5.5kg + 9.6kg = 15.1kg

Yeah the OZ SL were 12.2kgs with a 195/45r15 T1R and 14.5kgs with the R888R. They're very stiff compared to the T1R but that's expected.

The N/A SuperS wheels with a 185/55r13 Avon ZZR come in at a poltry 10.6kgs :eek:
 
2015 The Nurburgring Experience Roadtrip 31st July – 3rd August

2015-07-30 Drive down to Ashford

12:00pm
car all packed full of stuff, rear end squatting abit on the bumpstops.

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We set off for the long 6-7hr journey down to the travelodge hotel in Ashford.

06:00pm
the M20 near ashford was closed due to "Operation Stacking" so had to take a detour and hit some traffic, didn’t reach the hotel till 7pm. We checked in, paid the M25 toll bridge via phone, had dinner (good thing dad brought the rice cooker).

Cousin Lee & m8s arrived abit later on. Twas gonna be a reallll early 3am start so tried going to sleep (but obviously with any exciting events, we lads can’t sleep eh :p )
 
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2015-07-31 Cross Channel & Drive to Germany

04:00am
up real early, packed up, checked car n fluids, I was probably the only guy with satnav and all the routes plotted in so guess I’m the lead car.

Slowly made our way to the Stop24 services meetup point at jct11 M20 via the diverted side roads in the dark misty morning.

05:00am
arrive at the meetup point, met the organiser Dino in the red M3 & the rest of the group, handed out the radios.

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Police asking why the gather, Lee explaining this is a trip gathering.

We set off down the M20 towards the busy eurotunnel turn-off, roundabout traffic held me & the guys back away from the group ahead and a slow black van was hogging the mid-lane so I began to overtake em to catch up but looking in rear-view, one blink I saw a bright headlight coming fast, another blink and he storms right up my butt! I pulled in front of the van and jeez the blue maseratti is in a right old rush flying by lol

We queued at the entrance, guy pointing us to an open available booth to the left (with the cars-only sign remember) so I began pulling left out the queue when all of a sudden out of the friggin blue I heard a lorry horn then his massive corner narrowly missing my left wing! Dafuq! If he took my wing out that’d be game over ffs. That bay was also clearly marked “cars only” so gawd knows why he was rushing through.

We entered our booking number, selected boarding time & collected ticket.

All parked up in the service terminals inside, found that the blue maseratti guy was actually in our group and he thought he was late.

We began to stick on the GB sticker and the headlight deflectors, looking at the confusing instructions like an ikea leaflet.

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Look she has pupils looking so happy lol.

06:00am
made our way through the chaos of 2 passport check points, some of the lads went to one side to be checked out, me & lee carried on towards the lining up lanes, they eventually joined the lane further back.

06:50am
we went down the ramps and began to enter the lower section of the eurostar

radios going back forth wondering where the rest of them are, we looked out the window and ahh they’re at the other train! Our train began to move off, yikes goodbye lads, hope these two trains go the same route. As we zoom off, noticed loadsa police at the front end of their train surrounding what looked like an immigrant n prob delaying it, oops.

08:30am
clock goes ahead, we quickly arrived at calais in 30mins, verify me & dads phone works, yup phew.

Tomtom switched to euro map set for the karting centre in Kerpen, we exit the train and here we are driving in a sunny foreign place on the wrong side lol.



@0:00 Following Lee ahead onto the e40 motorway, foreign signs everywhere looking gibberish. Just try sticking close to lee & satnav route hopefully to the next service.

Initially not many of us tend to use the radios.
I remember upon leaving that the orange vauxhaul chevet was in front of lee, heard some crackling radio conversations and then began to break up a lot more.

After afew mins I then realised it was just me & lee cruising slowly down the e40 within the 110kmh limit.

I thought from earlier radio contact that lee was gonna back off to wait for his sons Shaun & Gary to catch up from the other train but actually the rest of the guys in the bmw/maseratti/vauxhaul/civic had shooted off way ahead, leaving us newcomers lost.

@03:10 Lee radio'd me, we had no idea where or when the next services are (I thought we passed a junction with loadsa parked lorries), tomtom only had the 4hr route straight to the karting place in Kerpen. So we just followed that route till 09:30 where the pdf schedule estimated we’d reach the services.

@05:50 After awhile we spotted the fuel signs and finally reached the esso station, what a relief.

10:31am
Since Dino & the guys left early again, I was the only one who knew the route so guess I’m the unofficial lead car. We carried on the tomtom route till we reached the next services.



12.48pm
Guys had a quick break and we set off but soon after leaving, howards white integra began to lose power randomly and struggled at 60mph with engine & ABS lights going off (this sounded like when my alternator recently had a bad connection & drained the battery).



@01:40 Eventually we had to stop on the shoulder and fix it.

We bump started it and lee saw it’s sparking/smoking so there’s a short, one of the wires shook loose.
Warning triangle & hi vis vest on to be safe.
Tightened the bolt and it seems to charge & run ok, lets go.

@03:50 howards car fixed, I began radio check but it wasn’t working..blank screen. Restart it and the screen came back and could receive but once I transmit, it dies. Oh gr8 the batteries dead.

@04:31 I connected the radio charger to my inverter to charge on the way but then the radio simply beeps, it can’t transmit below a certain battery level ffs.

@05:20 ok I borrowed Lee’s radio as he follows behind.

@06:20 we try to join the busy motorway

@06:50 arrive at the Schumacher karting centre for abit of karting

@10:30 I spotted a red facelift K11 :)

03:15pm
we leave the kart centre towards the hotel but I need to refuel and there was a nearby station before exiting the town.



@2:00 I was so busy looking for the station I had no idea which roundabout lane to take to get to the station on the left.

I thought the inside middle lane was gonna have exiting oncoming traffic so took the right lane only to find that exits to the right away from town, Oh crap.

Theres no way to U-turn and it’s simply leading us to the motorway…begin swearing now.
I literally had no idea how to get back or where to go for fuel.

@06:00 Luckily there was a services further down the motorway.

Howard mentioned the torsen lsd in his integra now began to make an odd gear noise during turns after the long cruise (he usually only drives in towns with no prob) so his gearbox maybe going.

04:27pm
we left the services and follow the satnav to the hotel in Adenau



@01:30 we turn off the motorway through some lovely gorgeous mountain roads and found our playground, a mountain tunnel :)

c’mon we just had to rev our engines through it lol. Twas sooo shweet hearing the echoes of our turbos & vtec, brings a great smile to the kid in us

@03:10 we made it at the hotel up in the hills, parked up and faced with the best view of the nurburgring forest mountains.

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06:30pm
me & dad went sight seeing to find some weird steep forest road that leads up to Adenauer Forst corner nearby us. Its unreal to see the famous track up close and realise just how friggin steep and undulating the track really is :eek: (it’s like the waltzer fairground ride) fab views

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dino gave me the hotel garage keys, I unloaded all the stuff, don’t wanna go round the Ring with a ton of luggage.
 
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2015-08-01 Visit New & Old Nurburgring

08:30am
it was a sunny start to the day

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Dino takes us to the Nurburgring GP track for a tour.



@6:00 To get there is a hilly winding stretch of road, the beemers just blasted up the hill, ey I didn’t know you could go that fast on road so I followed on and wheeeey this is a way to wake up lol

good christ it’s nice to blast up some twisties, satnav barely hinting where the corners are.

@09:20 overshot a sharp hairpin :p

@14:40 nice rev of our engines in the underground carpark :p now that’s an alarm noise

we had a tour guide taking us round the old & new paddock and see whats going on during a live practice (looks like GT3 cars)

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visited the shopping mall n merchandise shop and you obviously have to get the obligatry nurburg sticker :p plus socks, shirts, cups, cookie cutter lol

11:43am
we leave the nurburgring to have a blast around the countryside for the Eifel tour rally then have lunch at some restaurant in the hills.



@03:40 I was keeping up with the beemer & maseratti in the mountains but lost the other guys behind so we stopped at a parking spot to wait for them

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12:39pm
we set off for the restaurant, turned on my suspension cams. I was behind Shauns twin turbo skyline and boy what a noise and what a cool drive up the twisty hills with a group of fast cars J



02:44pm
after lunch we blast back down the hill back towards the Ed fuel station near the nurburgring start/finish straights to fill up & admire some shiny cars.

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04:25pm
we drive back down the hill to the hotel

 
05:00pm
Dino briefs us before our first try of the Ring. Taking it real easy on the sight lap, keep on the right out the way, avoiding 5th gear (well I always preferred topgear teehee) but it’s the possible fines which really scared me.

Told a story that a guy was fined upto 140k for causing a biker to crash on his oil slick or thrown dirt, 10k for crashing into someone, 1k for damaging barriers, can even charge you for the delayed service of cleaning up ur oil spill, each ADAC truck recovery without membership is 300euro.

Basically don’t crash or spill anything :/
This is really off-putting on top of the scary highspeed track itself.
We had the entry card topped up with 4 laps.

05:40pm

Drove to the track, was a heavy queue and went straight on with the limited time before closing, no time or place to grab my helmet in the back. Being in a micra obviously got afew funny laughs in the crowd but meh



First sighting lap I was super super too cautious. A track I barely know with supercars whizzing by, I just stayed right, in 4th gear out the way and just judging how the car feels on this wild track.

Even going slowly around, the tarmac undulates with so much g-force, sections as scary fast with unknown varying grip levels and some corners much tighter than I thought.

The crowds are really intimidating, you know they’re watching for any action for ytube. Some drivers r tempted to wanna show off, I’m too busy trying not to crash or soil myself.

@06:30 Kallenhard corner in the shade is super slippery, the rear was abit nervous.

Well we survived the 1st lap.
dad criticising I was too courteous staying too far right off the racing line even without traffic and wasting 1 of 4 available laps.
Urm slightly irritated, sorry this ain’t about racing or getting my moneys worth, it’s a sighting lap.

My 1st priority is staying safe for my 1st lap when trying to relearn the track, whilst keeping out the way of 150mph+ racers and avoid crashing and paying big for it.
This is my car, I drive at my own pace my way, there’s still 3 laps left.

If he wants me to drive fast on an unknown track for his thrill, holding up traffic or risk a smash or wants to drive it himself through ignorance, tough shiyht drive ur own car at ur own risk. Absolutely nobody tells me what to do or how to drive.

08:00pm
I was busy sorting out my footages, having shower, chillaxing, I was not in mood for the social BBQ at 8. me n dad arrived abit later, tables were all full of strangers, our groups table was full, twas loud talking. I really hate social gatherings with strangers in crowded areas and we’d have to sit inside the empty breakfast lounge, sod that crap.

Instead me n dad grabbed a plate of nice meat & potatoes, went to our rooms got the rice cooker with eggs, beans n sauce going and had a real relaxing quiet meal on the balcony with the awesome sunset view. Now that’s chillaxing :)
 
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2015-08-02 Drive on & around the Nordschleife

09:00am
A perfect sunny start to the day.

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swapped to my 595RSR track wheels, checked all fluids, was about to connect laptop for datalog but will do that at the track. Meanwhile I lead Lee & the guys over to the track. They go straight on whilst I do my pre-flight checks :p

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10:00am
laptop & cameras connected & recording, drove towards the entrance only to find the marshall has road blocked the closed track due to an accident so had to return to the car park. Met a nice bloke Vincent with his ford fusion, had a nice chat bout the car, borrowed him me digital pressure gauge.

11:04am
The track has been constantly closed & traffic jam utter ridiculous, wasting my time so instead I fancied having a blast round the lush country roads all around the place. Imho I had wayyy more fun blasting around public roads with no speed limits and no worries than the track.



12.00pm

Returning back towards the track it was near lunch time,
the entrance road was still congested so will take ages to get to the guys in the car park,
and we we’re scheduled to goto a restaurant 1hr away (wasting 2-3hrs away from track and I’ve not been on once, meh not worth going),
so radiod the guys I’ll meet em at the nurburgring GP info center for café/subway.

Had lunch and returned straight back to try get on track (otherwise that’d be an expensive bad roadtrip to never go on track).

I wondered around the track paddock and waited for the marshalls to reopen the gates, quickly went back to the car and began queueing up.

02:00pm
My 1st proper lap of the Ring and could be the only one considering the jams so let’s make it count.



Taking it easy through the corners cos I dunno how fast she can handle the corners and don’t fancy going beyond the limit.

Track is so bumpy and so much vertical g-force, when the car gets heavily loaded at the bottom of the hills the suspension really squats & sensitive to any driver input.

Kallenhard corner still slippery.

@05:00 for some reason I’m getting loads of brake judder under light braking but ok when braking heavy. It was abit worrying and distracting (are the wheel nuts or bearings loose? I always hear this faint loose wheel nut noise once per rev during RH turns, always heard this on every trackday. the nuts are all tight and the wheel bearings are snug when I checked afterwards)

so my first cautious busy lap of the ring was bout 11:30s
although it was a nice experience, had 2 more go and it’s still open, but that’s enough risk for me.
I’ve had a go of the Ring and got the sticker but I couldn’t fully enjoy it due to the consequences of all the financial & personal risks.

The way I see it, going on the ring is like a brand statement that you’ve been on such a notorious historic race track, here’s a gold star.
like shopping therapy, returning home with a Gucci/Prada/Armani bag seeking ppls approval.
It was a privilege to have a chance to drive there, a tick in our lifes to-do list, but I could only unleash a tiny amount of her potential and enjoy some of it.

For proper 100% fun unleashing all of her potential, I’d prefer to blast her around the UK race circuits with loads run off, technical fast corners and heavy braking. I can then really push the tyres & brakes till they scream, then I scream lol.

03:00pm
drove dad over to Adenauer Forst corner to watch some trackside action.

04:00pm
I parked on a grassy incline n noticed the front right appears abit flat (puncture or low cold pressure?) so drove back to the guys in car park to grab the garage key to swap back to T1R but now the tyre looks fine, prob just the incline was squishing the tyre.

Back at the track, vincent saw me and handed back my digital gauge, top man J

05:30pm
howard & mike only had one go on the track due to his gearbox issue and huge traffic and didn’t get to do anything else, so I offered why not watch trackside.

They’d luv to but didn’t know how to get there, but I do :p so I led them back through the hills and over to Adenauer Forst corner.

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Twas only 5min away from the hotel and if they’d known that before, they’d be there all day. Well I’m glad they got more out the valuable day or they’d be whining.
we got to see loadsa track action.



07:00pm
track closes, went back to the hotel, I swapped back to my road wheels, pack up equipment.

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Guys were gonna get ready for the taxi to the scheduled night restaurant at 8pm but tbh I don’t fancy it.

We already have food in room and I want early night for the very long trip home tomorrow.
(lesson learnt from trip is don’t be rushed & stressed around by their tight schedules, it’s all optional. We do what we want at our own pace, it’s our holiday that we paid for at the end of the day)
 
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2015-08-03 Going Home

09:00am
checked out only to find everyone’s charged the compulsary £56 on top for the bbq & drinks the other night that’s not included in our trips cost, that’s an £££ bbq, we only had 2 slices of meat and no drinks ffs, so we’re taking the 2 plates home with us :p



@00:00 left the hotel to refuel

@01:20 we re-enter that tunnel and had a blast of luvely notes J

@03:10 I was gently cruising along the E40 motorway at a safe 70-80mph when suddenly the guys all shot past, ey? Was this allowed? Is this the autobahn? Think the yrs of driving on the nursed british motorways conditioned us to stay within road signed limits but I totally forgot the autobahn is mostly unlimited.

So since they’re going fast I’ll join in lol

@03:40 Foot down in 5th, boost, speedo creeping higher, getting louder faster scarier, this feels so naughty lol.

Was conscious of that front left wheel hub noise, could it fall off? meh

I could only dare upto the max 120mph till that silver civic kept pulling out in front of me. Geez that was exciting & scary fast. Then followed Shauns skyline before lifting off at 120.

@07:40 pulled over for services but howard had passed it during speed runs so we went back out to catch him up before our next turn off.

@11:30 we hit huge jam through brussels

@12:15 some twat white golf not letting me in

@13:50 stopped at services for a break. We were gonna be late for the check in and was told we had a 1-2hr window before they had to charge extra so time was running out fast and we had to go straight away.

Spotted another K11 nearby

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01:00pm
went back out but hit another huge jam near france in the silly heat.



03:00pm
Stopped by the next service to quickly fill up before getting to euro tunnel asap cos we’re running late but the stupid place uses pre-pay pumps.

I was soo aggrovated by all the hassle whilst stressed by the lateness, cba with this so gonna see if I can make 60miles with under ¼ tank.



Fuel light soon appeared but the lads have a fuel can incase it runs out enroute.

Just barely made it to the station for the later 5:20pm train then topped my tank with their 10L reserve can.

04:53pm
boarded the eurostar



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06:21pm
arrived at folkstone,



joined back at the original Stop24 meetup point to say our byes and began our loooong trip home till 2am.

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Yay me & kasandra did it, we both survived the huge trip safely :)
 
Wow Paul what a fantastic European adventure! Kasandra looks at home at the track, amazing photo shots! Glad your both home safe.
I'm so chuffed for you both!
 
Hahaha, love it. "Fuel on the right......cup of tea!"

Glad you had a good trip Paul and made it there and back without a hitch. Looked like a well run group, which is always a blessing when you're on the wrong side of the road in a RHD vehicle.

Reminds me of the run me and my dad made in an E-type to Le-Mans and back where I also copped a bollocking from the lead driver for not using "all the cylinders I had at my disposal" :p

Will watch all the vids over the weekend :)
 
Wow Paul what a fantastic European adventure! Kasandra looks at home at the track, amazing photo shots! Glad your both home safe.
I'm so chuffed for you both!

thanks tom :cool: twas an epic place to experience. she may have looked ok at the track but I was simply terrified of the cost of making any mistake. tbh she more at home on the twisty mountains or driven flat out around UK circuits.
she looked amazing in the warm sunny country scenary, hence my FB cover page pic.
so happy we both completed the trip safely & reliably with zero issues and had such a blast.
 
Hahaha, love it. "Fuel on the right......cup of tea!"

Glad you had a good trip Paul and made it there and back without a hitch. Looked like a well run group, which is always a blessing when you're on the wrong side of the road in a RHD vehicle.

Reminds me of the run me and my dad made in an E-type to Le-Mans and back where I also copped a bollocking from the lead driver for not using "all the cylinders I had at my disposal" :p

Will watch all the vids over the weekend :)

lol comedy moment from dad there :p

well none of us had any experience with the radio protocols & convoy stuff but when the main tour guy leaves u and no one except me has done any homework and no one has gps, guess I had to step up and become the convoy leader and surprised I managed to do it.

cos we had a tight schedule, I wanted to keep the convoy going along at a steady fast safe pace but a minor annoyance as a lead car is when the cars behind (that are much faster than me) ain't staying up close behind me in my micra (especially during heavy traffic or town junctions) and this allows other traffic to cut inbetween so we loose visuals and I have to back off waiting for them which again looses more time.

thinking if only we could simply tether each others cars like a train to avoid these issues :p

actually the real solution would be for EVERYONE in the convoy to actually have a working satnav with all the destinations pre-programmed into it so it'll be less of a nursing convoy and we all make our own way there independantl with less stress.
 
A good write up and sounds like you had good fun :)

can u believe it's taken me the same 4 days after the trip to edit, upload all the media & write bout the trip?
video editing is such a ballache.
I may as well have reported it all in realtime lol.

it was a grand day out :D
 
You need one of EE's new 4g live streaming Go Pro type cameras, then you could do live on event streaming!

or some way to combine all 6 cam angles into one in realtime (would save me from tediously sync/joining em in editor).
would luv to hook up a bunch of 360deg cameras onboard viewed with the oculus rift.

dunno bout live streaming cos ppl prob get bored of my preflight checks or the slow motorway cruises lol...although I've heard ppl even watch cruise liner onboard videos (in their cruise liner rooms!) or something called big brother? geez live streaming on mobile abroad, think of the roaming charges lol.

multi angle realtime footage, that'd prob be a red button feature here eh :p
whatever the tech or format, it all costs
 
tday checked the car over

after 1,412miles to / from germany, the catch can caught 378ml of vapour and the engine has burnt 5L of castrol oil

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plugs and compression look ok

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ordered 8 new inlet stem seals at the dealers cos she smokes after coasting and few secs after cold idling and maybe one cause of the oil loss.

also ordered pair of inner gearbox driveshaft oil seals cos the inner RH seal leaks badly and inner RH hub has abit of loose play rocking in the diff hole which may have caused the leaking diff seal and the wheel hub knocking noise?
all the wheel bearings & wheel nuts are tight n don't have any play so the knocking noise ain't that.
 
changed the oil

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hmm I think I found the source of the odd rocking/knocking wheel noise during fast RH turns ever since I began trackdays.
this RH inner driveshaft spline fits quite loosely into the LSD diff hole with abit of play so I can rock the joint up/down in & out slightly. and imagine this spinning at speed, the oil seal obviously leaked abit of gear oil all over the underside.

maybe the shaft is worn or the diff hole is worn sloppy?
next time the shafts are out, I'll need to check the clearances.

checked the gear oil level and it's still full, so it's just a tiny trickle

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gave her a wash
and now had the excuse to award her the Nurburgring badge :D
not too obvious eh :p

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for the past few weeks my makibox A6 printer had been out of order cos the poor plastic casing construction had eventually cracked and fallen apart all over. tried repairing the cracked base with cardboard without success.

so I redesigned the whole frame out of 16mm tube steel to guarantee it'll stay stiff & intact :p

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got some tube from b&q.
this really tested my fabrication accuracy cos each cut/hole/weld required very tight tolerances for the sliders to move smoothly so measure & check 3 times, cut once followed by alot of slow filing/checking.

after few days made the frame

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all reassembled and amazed it still works. still fair bit of fine tuning required but initially it seems to move alot more accurately, straighter, consistant :cool:

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k was gonna plan askin a lass if she fancied going to trackday at the local tesside autodrome since she prev mentioned she'd like to try it one day but got the sense she'd rather go with her bf or not interested, k step away, danger zone lol...
meh fookitall stop beating myself stupid brain :p

well I'm going anyway irregardless of whatever happens.
so if anyone round north east fancy a meetup or ride shotgun, I'll be at Teesside Autodrome from 4pm, evening trackday 5-8pm £35, think tis £5-10 to hire a helmet.
 
If it wasn't soooooo far north I would have joined you. Good value at that price.

And if you don't ask you don't get.....

aye cheapas chips, tis why I'm goin

and in terms of askin girls, I dunno why I even bother cos it never works n just leads to hurt. tried asking if she wanna come to trackday but she had a long day & when she mention she was gonna go with her lad, thats an obvious alarm bell and unconcious way of saying no basically. I always knew asking a taken lass will never work but meh I tried, was inevitable.
we may as well hang out with vegetables at this rate lol.

gawd I wish my brain had a turn off switch cos all this imaginery anxiety stuff serves no point cos in the end it never works out, I'm sure I suffer from anxiety of some sort.
whilst imaginations gr8 for design engineering stuff, it sucks for everything else in life n holds us back.

I need to forget about women which has made me unhappy and get on with life n stuff that makes me happy like cars, 3d printers, engineering, making stuff, fixing stuff.
 
Simple rule - avoid married or taken women. Makes life much easier, trust me on that one.

yup I ran by the social rule of avoiding engaging women who r married, already have bf, have gf & work collegues to prevent awquid issues (like u see in drama & films) but since I don't easily socialise with strangers especially if they're pretty (kinda like Raj off big bang theory :p although I don't drink) and since no one ever has an obvious Sims status marker (although FB with augmented reality may change that soon), that realistically leaves me with prospect zero lol
 
with the 3d printer mostly working ok, decided to try make the catchcan top in 1-piece so redesigned it with the screw threads integrated in

1.jpg
2.jpg


the internal plumbing flowing smoothly like this

3.jpg


after multiple attempts, each over 4hrs long I managed to print a good one

IMAG2459.jpg
IMAG2461.jpg
IMAG2462.jpg


trimmed the supports off with dremel

IMAG2463.jpg


after mins of acetone vapour smoothing & joining the surfaces

IMAG2464.jpg
IMAG2465.jpg


but when I test fitted the threads before smoothing, it created a fine split which failed to join during acetone treatment creating a weak spot, bah need another refinement & printing.

IMAG2466.jpg


plus there was difficulty prying the piece off the printer bed afterward and may have tried too hard cos the stainless bed is now slightly convex by 0.5mm :rolleyes:
so will need to consider making a flat glass bed...so tons of refinements needed then.
 
Hmm just had a flash thought.
cos the acetone vapour can only get as high as the glass bowl container, which ain't enough to cover the whole item so I had to do it in sections and it can't easily reach deep inside the threaded bits,
what if I pour some acetone into my portable steam cleaner, it boils it into vapour which I can then direct the jet into every nook cranny of the printed piece.
 
Take care with that, any sparks of any kind and it will all go in a flash! Also make sure you have good ventilation when doing it...
 
Am working my way through reading this blog from the start as I missed a lot of the early stuff.

Couple of questions...

Why did you ditch the oil catch tank made from a oil filter?
How do you merge more than one video into one i.e. the smaller insert video of say your feet?
 
Take care with that, any sparks of any kind and it will all go in a flash! Also make sure you have good ventilation when doing it...

tried the steamer with no issues and it was useless :p the small jet simply breezes over the surface with no time to melt it.
seems the acetone vapours has to hang around the plastic for awhile to slowly dissolve..
 
Am working my way through reading this blog from the start as I missed a lot of the early stuff.

Couple of questions...

Why did you ditch the oil catch tank made from a oil filter?
How do you merge more than one video into one i.e. the smaller insert video of say your feet?

ditched the puny oil filter catch cos it didn't seem to catch much, the bodyfilled hose fittings also leaked and when the filter did catch some vapours over time, it'd clog & restrict the plumbing alot.
so I then tested free flowing designs after getting the 3d printer

I used a normal video editing prog like Corel Videostudio pro x4 to sync, merge, layer & position all the separate videos together as pic-in pic
 
it's been awhile since me last update. just the struggle of pullin myself together, stop worrying bout life from being an introvert, trying to find some motivation to finish my CV & find work outside.

last weekend 22nd I drove down to london with family. stayed at travellodge overnight room with uncle who snored and I'm usually last to sleep..oh gawd never again will I share a room with another snorer. got so bad I even resorted to trying to sleep in the freezing car at 3-5am. safe to say I didn't get much zz

while they pop on tube to london to do tourist stuff, which bores me, I decided I'd rather drive over to Reading to see sirchris :)

typed what I thought was chris's street but it definately didn't look right cos it was some very tight closed back alley in some wierd area of reading. rang chris for his postcode and um I was 30min wayy off course :p

went to postcode in the countryside and yeah this looked much closer to pics of his place :)
spotted his white turbo. just outside was another green k11 with doors wide open.
parked up. emm this is oddly quiet, no one around?

knocked on door, saw beth. we both went out looking for chris who was oddly missing, his phone and keys were still left in the green micra.
whilst talking to beth and she made brekky (thx beth) chris eventually turned up, was talking to a neighbour who was selling their house.

chatted for awhile and since I had to shortly pop back out in few hours to pickup family in london to drive home, chris took me out in the white beast.
since it had no starter, we had to push start it with help from neighbours passing.
we push it down the road for several metres but it wouldn't start and we're exhausted.
twas only half down the road that chris realised the pump was off, now I hear it buzz :confused:, oh gawd. so we push start it again and it eventually started, jeez I'm outa breath lol.

we went for a blast, well she's alot more civilised & refined than his grey k11, the R888 gripping nicely and a lovely squirelly boost surge noise, straight cut dog gearbox was nice. quite a fizzy car :)

thx chris. had to return to london to pickup family and drive 6 long boring hours in her 307 back home.
trackday next day
 
Teesside Autodrome - Evening trackday 17/08/2015

found my local track did evening trackdays 5-8pm for £35 :)

turned up abit early at 3:30 to unpack, look at track, sign in

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but walking back to the car I spotted this white K11 on a trailer, eyy am I seeing things?

eey I was jolly to see another K11 to track with. this one looks familiar and specially specced out. met the guy Neil Jackson (he's in FB K11 fan club) who brought it recently and this is the first few times he's driven it.
says its a nismo developed imported March, 150hp NA yummy

this'll be interesting running a soft comfy road legal daily 163hp turbo K11 along a dedicated stripped out race spec 150hp NA K11 :p

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I believe it used to be this one



17:00 Sight lap

went out for a 3lap sight lap to warm up the tyres & brakes. Neil didn't go cos he was familiar with the track.



17:16 Run 1
15/30 f/r damper
50/50 bias
75% fuel
2.0/2.4bar f/r warm pressure



was lining up for me first run, felt a big bump, dafuq did I stalled?
for some odd reason some guy in a silver/green decal Clio bumped into me, intentionally or not, WTF?

rear pressure was abit too cold so often understeered in the slow corners. testing various gears through some corners, often hitting the limiter down the straights in 3rd so had to use 4th.
@5:30 I accidentally pressed the brake as the clutch mid corner, woops
@10:17 I began to catchup with neil.

on this tiny track we had roughly pretty equal performance. his lower weight obviously has a much better exit acceleration, speed down the straights are pretty equal, neil brakes slightly early whereas I gain abit from braking later at end of straights but always felt I could brake abit harder later if I dared.

Times:
60 traffic
57
58
57
59 missed pedal
58 traffic
57 traffic
57 traffic
56 traffic

55 behind neil
56 behind neil

18:07 Run 2
15/30 damper
60/40 bias
50% fuel
2.2/2.4bar hot



rear tyres still cold, move bias abit forward to stop rears locking.
felt ok, still understeers and had some traffic.

Times:
60 traffic
57
60 traffic
64 traffic
60 traffic
59 traffic

55.05
54.24
57
60 traffic
56
58 traffic
57

19:22 Run 3
15/30 damper
60/40 bias
25% fuel
2.2/2.6bar hot



with hot tyres, had to pump the rears up to 2.7bars
it felt better but forgot I had to fill up.

Times:
58 traffic
56
58 traffic

went back out @5:30 with 75% fuel, finding it's better faster to go through first corner staying in 3rd and go down straights in 4th without hitting limiter.

Times:
63 traffic
57 traffic

56
57
60 traffic
56
56
58 traffic
57
55.18
57
62 traffic
59 traffic

55.08

it's been a grand day, such a warm thirsty night. me being ppl shy I just concentrated on my car (gawd i'm so socially anxious) :p
made it home, she's abit tired n dripping oil out the turbo return & gearbox. these federal tyres r awsome, hardly worn out, still half life left.
 
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