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23 April 2010
Up at 0630, and out of the house by 0700, arriving at the Circuit for 0830 after filling up the tow car, Project Moff and a couple of Jerry cans with Shell V-Power.
We signed on, got briefed, given our wrist bands, then headed out for some siting laps. To keep the mileage down on the Race engine, we took the Stagea out for a few laps to learn the lines. It was the first time Alex or I had driven the track. Today was the Full circuit, although Round 1 tomorrow would be a slightly different course, using the Island circuit.
At lunchtime we unloaded Project Moff from the trailer, checked all the fluids, and headed over to the Noise Test. 111db at ¾ Revs. Oh No ! Somehow, we had read the 2009 regs, which stated the noise test was static at 2/3 revs, where Project Moff was 104 db. No problem, we'll put the bung in, all will be ok. Well, no, still 108db with the bung in.
Back to base, for some head scratching, and ideas on what we could do. The exhaust from the Stagea wouldn't fit.
It was now 1400, as it stood, if we were unable to pass the noise test, we were not going to be able to run tomorrow. Disaster.
However, lady luck was on our side, little did we know, that the team next to us was a company called SPD, who sold Nissan Skyline parts, so we bought a sports cat and full exhaust system. It was delivered to us at the track at 1530. By 1610 the car was back together and off for a sound check. 108 DB with new exhaust. We were gutted. After putting the bung in, we measured 101 DB and managed to get on the track by 1640 for the last 20 mins of the day. With the bung in, the car wasn't boosting properly, the wastgate didn't seem to open fully, and we were hugely down on power. We couldn't run like that on the day ! We also ordered some 20mm spacers for the front wheels which were fitted, as the clearance to the front vertical arm was close, so just to be on the safe side.
We called Marc Herridge, who is the Time Attack scrutineer over to check everything else was ok with the car, which it was, apart from one small item. As we now have an additional fuel pump, which has been mounted in the boot. The bulkhead into the cabin of the car from the boot is not completely sealed. There are holes where the speakers used to be, where cables run through, and various others. For this round we were able to use a short term measure of gaffa tape to fill the holes, but we had to have a more permanent covering with Carbon, Chequer plate, Fibreglass or something similar for the next round.
After a good old chat with Marc, were were handed our sticker showing we had passed scrutineering, only the noise issue to solve.
As the stickers for the series arrived Wednesday afternoon, we hadn't yet fitted them on the car, so 3 of us stayed after others had gone home to put the race series livery on. This toook around 2 hours to do.
We arrived back to Nicks about 2000 for a Chinese takeaway, then early to bed ready for the big day tomorrow, still unsure what to do about noise !
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