985cc Turbocharged Nova Sprint Car

[boss]

nice wheels mate you picked a colour for it yet nd have you got any videos of it racing

[Connor]

Oh my those wheels are sexy

[novarally]

Did you manage to speak to him. I'm interested in the answers.

Still not spoken to John Sutton, the boss of the company. He seems to be very poor at returning phone calls.

I'll try again tomorrow.

[novarally]

Did you manage to speak to him. I'm interested in the answers.

I've now caught up with him, and the Nova is booked in for paint stripping in a couple of weeks time. John reckons that the powdercoat will actually be lighter than wet spraying paint, but he is also a chemist by profession, so he's going to do the calculations to be 100% sure. He also says powdercoat is perfect for finishing the underside, wheel arches and engine bay, so I may as well get all those done whilst it's with them.

That will just leave an outer top coat to apply once all the carbon fibre/fibreglass panels are fitted into place.

What I still haven't decided on is the colour!

So, with a deadline to work to, I've started getting all the bits removed from it, and I've got cracking with all the structural metalwork which needs doing before it can be primed.

Photos to follow soon!

[novarally]

Carbon fibre front end removed (not very tricky!);





Intercooler and radiator removed, along with the front slam panel;



Bit of messing about with a slightly smaller width radiator, which would allow me to get a more direct airflow into the turbocharger;

[novarally]

Unfortunately the alternative radiator is slightly taller than the old one, and there's not enough room under the slam panel for it, with the intercooler on top as well. The only way I'm going to be able to accommodate it will be to slant the radiator forward to get some clearance.

I've chopped the rest of the front inner wings out to save a bit more weight (about 1.5kg);





The gaps will be filled in with carbon fibre sheet eventually.

I'm also carrying out major metalwork at the back end, removing all the metal I can get away with in accordance with the Regulations;











The pile of rear metalwork so far (nearly 4kg);

[novarally]

I shall take expert advice before I do it, but I plan to also remove the rearmost sections of chassis rail behind the mountings for the anti roll bar, along with the outer sections of the wheel arches;





I've also acquired a rather nice carbon fibre brake pedal, which previously did service in a 1992 Formula 1 Arrows Footwork car;





I have serious doubts about whether it can be made to fit my pedal box, but it looks nice.........

And my existing alloy oil catch tank is too heavy, so I'm going to make my own out of carbon fibre, using some of this tubing I got hold of;

[MK999]

Getting rather happy with the grinder there Colin

As for the rear sections since you've cut out all they attach to you'll lose nothing by trimming them down, in fact trimming them down and then capping them off may well be stiffer if anything, at the moment though they're just flapping in free air so not doing anything at all. I would leave your wheelarches as is as they're actually probably the strongest thing on a nova, and your ARB attaches to them.

Edit: although anything behind the ARB or the outer part of the arches or actually 'inner arch' as you'd call them if doing bodywork like an arch repair if that makes sense?... could go, as they're only .5mm stuff and not really structural.

[novarally]

I would leave your wheelarches as is as they're actually probably the strongest thing on a nova, and your ARB attaches to them.

Edit: although anything behind the ARB or the outer part of the arches or actually 'inner arch' as you'd call them if doing bodywork like an arch repair if that makes sense?... could go, as they're only .5mm stuff and not really structural.

I'd only be removing the outer bits of the wheel arch, not the sections where the roll cage/ARB mounts attach to.

[fearless]

Not sure if its already been discused in the previous 152 pages - but a weight saving trick the Nova rallycross challenge cars used to do is trim down all the door/window apperutures where the rubber seals sit - you could probably lose about 6/7 mm round each door/window etc before you refit the rubbers (You've probably done away with the rubbers already )

It's not something the scrutineers used to pick up on !! - and every bit counts