985cc Turbocharged Nova Sprint Car

[Mike]

there's nearly half a kilo out of that door, and the same to follow from the drivers door.

Blimey.

I totally forgot how light your panels are when shutting the drivers door at National Day

[SimonTW]

Thats insane! There isn't a lot of door left though. Why do they allow metal removal like that but dont allow removal or modification of metal around the seal areas on the rear windows or modifications to the bulkhead / battery area firewall?

[novarally]

Thats insane! There isn't a lot of door left though. Why do they allow metal removal like that but dont allow removal or modification of metal around the seal areas on the rear windows or modifications to the bulkhead / battery area firewall?

It's all to do with what is classified as the 'monocoque'......i.e. the main structure of the car which is made in one piece.

Because the doors and front wings are not permanently attached to that main structure, you are free to do as you wish with them.

The overriding rule is that you are not allowed to lighten the monocoque between the centres of the wheels. Hence my bulkhead remains completely standard, and part of the spare wheel well is still there at the back.

[C612DNM]

Colin,
I've looked at the pics of your "spin", and I'm thinking that it's probably due to your wheel on the grass - and your new fierce plate diff. It probably "snatched" and that led to what happened. When I put new plates/springs in my diff, it always got snatchy, and the only answer is to be brave and keep your foot in!! If you lift, it bites you in the bum!

I also note that your ride height is tail low. I always found that that made any of my cars tail happy, far from balanced/neutral. After having mine set up professionally back in 1991 (eek!), it was always tail up, only a bit, numbers in my little black book (and my head).

Back to the weight of the car - what's it down to now?

[novarally]

Colin,
I've looked at the pics of your "spin", and I'm thinking that it's probably due to your wheel on the grass - and your new fierce plate diff. It probably "snatched" and that led to what happened. When I put new plates/springs in my diff, it always got snatchy, and the only answer is to be brave and keep your foot in!! If you lift, it bites you in the bum!

I also note that your ride height is tail low. I always found that that made any of my cars tail happy, far from balanced/neutral. After having mine set up professionally back in 1991 (eek!), it was always tail up, only a bit, numbers in my little black book (and my head).

Back to the weight of the car - what's it down to now?

Yes, it wasn't until I got the photographs through that the reason for the spins became clear! The new diff is so twitchy it was pulling me way over to the right hand side of the track, and onto the grass. I'm sure it's just a question of me learning to drive the diff, and I'm equally sure that ultimately it will be faster, but having been used to the Quaife ATB it's a bit of a shock! But everyone says the same that plated LSD's are evil to drive with, so I certainly expected it.

The ramp angles are 55/90, and I may look at changing those later on, although I am far from an expert here, so will be taking advice from others.

As for weight, it's currently 541kg, but is set to gain a couple of kg soon, as I'm going to fit an alternator as I am fed up with the battery issues.

[Balley]

Is the door Steel Colin?

[novarally]

Is the door Steel Colin?

What's left of the frame is steel, the skin itself is aluminium;

[novarally]

Time for a bit of an update.

The exhaust system is now off the car, and is with a local exhaust fabricators who are going to make it in aluminium for me, which will hopefully save a Kg or two, and it'll be slightly larger to hopefully allow it to breathe a little better. It's a bit of an experiment, as aluminium exhausts aren't commonly used, but my research suggests it should be ok.

As mentioned, I have decided to fit an alternator, after successive problems with lightweight batteries. So I've acquired this alternator;



And this lower pulley, which looks like it should be a direct replacement for my current one (I hope!);





I've had a bit of a leak from the gearbox, which seems to be from the diff cover, so I've removed the cover to check it's all true, and got a new gasket set to go on. I'm taking the opportunity to swap the old diff cover for one which has a drain plug in it, to make future maintenance easier. Note the Straight Cut crownwheel in the gearbox;





Just as a precaution I got Magnecor to make me up a new set of HT leads, which look rather nice;



And I've picked up a few sheets of 3mm carbon fibre, which I reckon can be fashioned into rather lovely front and rear towing eyes;



And finally I found a Corsa VXR engine with exhaust manifold and turbo, so I can work out what's feasible in terms of future engine developments. Might be a long while before I can afford to do that though;

[mowgli]

will you get that past the scrutineers, isn't the rule that the block must be from the original model?

if yes, then it will be a truly awesome device.

[novarally]

will you get that past the scrutineers, isn't the rule that the block must be from the original model?

if yes, then it will be a truly awesome device.

The scrutineers would only notice if it's protested by another competitor.......and that's bound to happen, so wouldn't be worth the risk/expense.

The exact wording of the regulations is;

12.6.1 The engine block must be externally identifiable as that fitted to the original model or specified option.....

So, if I am going to progress this plan it would be dependent on being able to use the VXR head on a 1600cc 8v Nova block.

I was hoping that the VXR block would look the same as a Nova one, but it's totally different.