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Chris
11-05-05, 09:47 AM
I have made it back from Germany and Belgium, only just though, the car took a real hammering over there, it has only been built for a month and it is nearly scrap! First problem, after about 6laps of the ring I was running low on fuel so off I pulled and started to drive to the fuel station, put the brakes on and there was a grinding noise from the brakes, I had chacked all the brakes just before I left and there was plenty of life left in them. So the car got took back to the hotel and I stripped a caliper, the pads were fine, I then stripped the N/S caliper and the carbon part of the pad had been ripped from the pad backing plate completly, I think this might of been due to the heat lol. So the next morning I went to a local OPEL garage and got some pads at a cost of EUR105 :!: Fitted them, but by this point the track was closed due to the 24hr race which was on this weekend.
Second, just after fitting the pads checked oil and water, a nice milkshake mixture in the header tank, but the car had been running ok so I was happy. Two days later we now have the same mixture in the oil cap, gutted.
Third, after having a flat out spell down the autobahn (was very happy with the GPS speed I got :wink: ) the car gets stuck in 5th gear. Ring the AA and the 'Touring' (AA equivilant) turns up and the car drops straight out of gear, DAMN. So I followed him to an OPEL garage and for a safety measure we put in a litre of fluid. Nice steady driving it should get me home, then on our way to a campsite we stopped at some traffic lights in Munchengladbach (Dutch/German border) and we could hear something rattling in the bottom of the box, ggrrrrrrr. So I pulls over, thinking of what to do, rings Stu (cheers mate) and decides fuck it I'll just drive. It got me to a campsite, where I stripped of the selector box from the top, the selector bar for 5th gear was jammed but I couldnt see the state of 5th gear itself. I had loads of little metal filings on my hand so something got chewed up somewhere. Put the box back together and the rattling stopped. I was happy at that.
Lastly, We went to a show at Circuit Zolder in Belgium last sunday, it started raining, so I put the wipers on and the linkage failed, so after a bit of bodging I managed to have a single wiper (sort of) lol. Stayed at the show and I decided to do some sprints, I dont know how long they were but I got 13secs @ 139km/h.

Other than all the stuff above I had an awsome time and am looking at booking to go again :lol:

Chris

J4MES
11-05-05, 09:55 AM
sounds like an absolute adventure!!!!! but definately worth the extra hassle!!!???? good effort, got any pics/videos??

Chris
11-05-05, 09:56 AM
got a video of a lap of the ring, but it is on a mates camera, he needs to put it on a video for me then I need to get it uploaded somehow. I have a few pics too but they are on other peoples cameras

Chris

NovaloadedAgain
11-05-05, 09:57 AM
:o And hes still alive everybody!

You had one hell of a trip, Really bad luck there mate.

Dar
11-05-05, 09:58 AM
Good stuff! I had the same thing with one of my break pads. Its just crumbled under heavy breaking. Scary :o

Sounds like you had a great time despite the car being a PITA. Im off to the ring on Friday, but not in the Nova.

kevster
11-05-05, 10:53 AM
:o thats getting the discs hot to do that :o

:wink: you lot are a nuters :wink: hope you had fun

Stuart
11-05-05, 11:41 AM
yeah i was trying to eat a BBQ and then watch TV when you called you git :p

id love to know what got munched in the gearbox lol

Chris
11-05-05, 11:42 AM
you can have it if you want and have a look lol

Stuart
11-05-05, 11:47 AM
sweet. ill have that!

i love broken mechanical parts as ornaments round the flat :)

-Bruce-
11-05-05, 12:23 PM
Does sound like you hade a great time Chris. Shame about all the mech trouble but thats life and im sure it was good fun fixing things.

What happened to the wiper linkage?? Was it a design error? lol

Bruce

burgo
11-05-05, 12:49 PM
:o all good fun then lol. does sound like you were lucky to get back though mate

SRlew
11-05-05, 12:54 PM
yer sounds like you had a good time, was your wiper a standard nova set up?
if so then thats funny cus when my car was my brothers he was out on the motorway when it started raining so he put the wipers on and they stopped half way up the wind screen! :lol:

Philsutton
11-05-05, 02:01 PM
someone with the same luck as me, glad you managed to get back as it would have been a long way back on a truck

ANDYRACER
11-05-05, 03:55 PM
Sounds like it was a good trip shame about the bad luck.

karl Rowntree
11-05-05, 05:20 PM
Nice to hear from you earlyer Chris and glad you made it back safe mate, the car can be fixed :wink: How did matt get on?

I am just packing now ready for a 5.30 depart :( Just hope we have a little more luck than you with the cars.

Karl

Chris
11-05-05, 05:25 PM
Everyone else got on fine, apart from Paul with the 200sx who spun but luckily escaped the armco, beware guys if you are running standard brakes, mine are V6 ones with mintex pads, car is stripped and I got mine too hot that they failed, or was that me pushing the car too much? The fault on Matt's EVO looks to have cleared itself, we think the AYC will need purging. I am just wondering now if the car will be in a presentable state for PV, it has stone chips everywhere, the rear wheels took a real beating lol

Have fun guys and try to remember to keep you 'sensible' heads on, I'm glad I did

Chris

Adam
11-05-05, 06:31 PM
Everyone else got on fine, apart from Paul with the 200sx who spun but luckily escaped the armco, beware guys if you are running standard brakes, mine are V6 ones with mintex pads, car is stripped and I got mine too hot that they failed, or was that me pushing the car too much? The fault on Matt's EVO looks to have cleared itself, we think the AYC will need purging. I am just wondering now if the car will be in a presentable state for PV, it has stone chips everywhere, the rear wheels took a real beating lol

Have fun guys and try to remember to keep you 'sensible' heads on, I'm glad I did

Chris
It shows how much the track takes its toll then.

At least you had a good time tho 8)

mikey14sr
11-05-05, 07:24 PM
if you had luck like this, imagine kieths bill for getting back!!!!

srs1
11-05-05, 08:38 PM
as said on the phone the other day fella, glad you had fun. lets get the car sorted now for pv.
the strip is awaiting some toyota startlets 1.1 to be thrashed.

Riggy
11-05-05, 08:54 PM
lol nice one chris sounds like you had a top time though

:cry: i can see you avatar changing now with trying to find time to fix my car lol :lol: :lol:

Jim
12-05-05, 12:40 AM
Wahoo, hes back :)

Glad you enjoyed it mate, I'll have to catch you on MSN and have a chat.

Jim

Matt EvoVI
12-05-05, 09:06 AM
What a hoilday everyone i have never had so much of a laugh in my life.

The ring is a brilliant place and i can't wait to get back down there for some more track fun, i was very tempeted to give you a ring Karl and pop back out there with you this weekend :twisted: .

As for chris's car it was just bad luck that you had so many problems, over the next few weeks it will be all hands on deck to get it ready to go for PV :wink: .

scott.parker
15-05-05, 05:29 PM
Hey big lad,glad your still alive :D

sounds as if you had a nice few glithces though mate,never nice hey,also sounds like you had a great time glad you enjoyed it mate,shame the car didnt stay mint though :lol:

Scott