Well, here we are, a long list of work to be completed and not that long before the start of the season. This year we kick off on 1 April with a race on the National circuit at Silverstone. Last year was fairly disasterous, the worst I can remember...... unreliability mixed with poor performance meant that I didn't win a race and slipped out of the top 10. Having rebuilt the car over the winter to improve reliability it wasn't a great result..... and, worse still, the car was slow on the rare occasions that it was reliable.
I finally worked out what (I think) was responsible for the poor performance - naturally, it was one of the mods I'd made to improve performance..... ho hum. I didn't work that out until it was too late and then didn't have time to address the situation. So, that is now sorted out (I hope) as are the gearbox selection issues I had for most of the year - well, gear selection, jumping out of gear, you name it, my gearbox managed it - apart from behaving itself, it didn't manage that.
So, coming into the winter I had a maintenance and improvement list as long as a very long thing and I'm gradually working my way through it. I've already abandoned many of the performance jobs such as weight reduction in order to get done in time for the first race. We have a well spaced calendar this season, so I'm hoping to get some of those jobs done during the season.
So, the engine has been out, had the sump off to try and fix the oil leaks and it is now back on and the engine refitted. The gearbox has been rebuilt and we should have addressed the gearchange problems. The new rear wing support has been fitted and a new rear wing will be attached before too long and finally, the engine bay floor is back on and I've fitted a diffuser for the first time. We've got a new exhaust being prepared and that should go on some time early in February and then we will be ready to prepare for a test at Silverstone some time in March... well, that's the plan assuming that work/life/my dad's health don't intervene.
Keep your fingers crossed!
