Craig's Xe track Nova (pb fixed to page 10)

[8valve-craig]

Very nice indeed! Are those wheels staying on?

Thanks, yes wheels are staying. They have new tyres on.

[Iain]

Don't pretend you can read Lain.

I'm here for the pretty pictures of your banger racer.

It's looking good now. Can't wait to see some more race footage.

[Benn]

Loving the beam mods, like the fuel pump and pot dropped thru the floor. Any reason for it?
Glad you've done the round front wings too.

[carls nova sri]

Love them arches never seen saloon ones on a hatch before

[8valve-craig]

Loving the beam mods, like the fuel pump and pot dropped thru the floor, any reason?

Its a heavy unit when full of fuel. I wanted it as low in the car as possible. Also needed to be fire walled anyway, which it is when the box inside the car is fitted.

[novarally]

Looking good Craig, nice to seen it's ready again.

[brainsnova]

Looks good and the sides reminds me of the mk1 astra

[8valve-craig]

Thanks for the kind comments, I like it. It's great for swapping wheels quickly, and can get trailer straps on no problem.

I had the car out at Combe today for a little test. Treacherous conditions, but actually quite enjoyable. It had good pace on the little Toyo R1R's so happy with that. Sadly it never dried enough to fit the proper wheels, but that time will come.

Housey was there too. He's actually alright.

[Iain]

Shame about the weather. Looking like a proper race car now. And yours looks fresh Craig.

[8valve-craig]

I booked another track day there two weeks ago but unfortunately the gearbox expired early in the day. It needed to be quickly repaired, which it was.

Monday 17th was the first Castle Combe Hot Hatch meeting, it went well. After a restless night I got up at 6:30am and started stripping the diff out of the car, paranoid I had assembled it incorrectly. 2hr later it was back together and all was well. Qualifying was dry and I had an idea where I needed to be so stayed out for nearly the full session. A 1:16.5 put me on the front row in P2 which I was more than happy with.


The rain held off and I got a blinding start, leading the race for around half a lap before Gary Prebble went up the inside at Tower in his Peugeot 205. He had the better line into bobbies so had the place. I stayed with him whilst defending from the Astra of Mark Wyatt before he also went through.


As the race progressed they extended their lead so I sat in 3rd place with no other cars around feeling relatively relaxed. Towards the end of the shortened 18min race I slowed a little to investigate what turned out to be play in the steering rack, only to very quickly get caught by the 4th place Focus of Mike Webb. With just a lap to go I held him off and finished in 3rd place overall.

Brief video below, some tough competition but I'm confident I can give those front runners more of a race as I learn the circuit more.










Very happy with that, minor work required to the car but nothing major so will be back out soon.