B20 16v engine - observations on rally cars
7/7/2017
George took his 16v B20 on the Baltic rally recently, which was its first long distance outing (second competitive outing).
The photo illustrates just how right this engine looks.
George reports that the cooling is still an issue, as the temperature climbs when high speed cruising, he and Gunnar are working on this, and I can't help feeling it's a simple problem...
The photo illustrates just how right this engine looks.
George reports that the cooling is still an issue, as the temperature climbs when high speed cruising, he and Gunnar are working on this, and I can't help feeling it's a simple problem...
We handed over a PV midweek to David, his email on returning home with it was fairly succinct: "Wow - superb, Thank you"
We're just checking over a new (to us) PV544 before it ships out to Africa for the Safari rally at the end of the month.
Mike, a man used to competing in a PV544 delivered it with the comment "it doesn't drive as well as your PV's" - this is simply a question of spending the time to get the caster angles right.
It had been converted to disc brake rear axle, now here's my thoughts on that...
Mike, a man used to competing in a PV544 delivered it with the comment "it doesn't drive as well as your PV's" - this is simply a question of spending the time to get the caster angles right.
It had been converted to disc brake rear axle, now here's my thoughts on that...
- On the race track, or regularly descending the Stelvio pass, it is possible that this could give an advantage, although I really don't think either situations will cook up the rear brakes in practice
- The calipers foul the rear roadsprings, you have to rotate them to get the caliper boss between two coils, and hope it doesn't touch out (with the ultimate fatigue failure of the spring)
- You cannot do handbrake turns, since it only has a parking brake, rather than the full power of the drums
- The caliper carriers are mounted using nuts and bolts, meaning any field work takes a lot longer, and requires the handbrake mechanism to be completely dismantled first
- I took the halfshaft out, in order to identify which to hold in spares for this car, and you can see the state of the splines in the second photo
- This would not have survived another event, probably wouldn't even have managed a brisk roadrun to CARS 40miles away to be honest.
Simply speaking, it's the wrong idea - a solution (sic?) looking for a problem.
And another thing: an uprated antiroll bar had been fitted.
Once again, whoever spec'd this car failed to understand what the ARB does! This is a rally car, expected to perform well on rough surfaces.
An ARB is designed to keep both front wheels on the ground on smooth and dry surfaces; an uprated ARB is designed for the track or the Eiffel region (Nurburgring) in the dry.
So, we have deleted the ARB entirely, we can be sure that performance on the unsealed surfaces of Africa is more significant than the sealed surfaces that they may see...
Once again, whoever spec'd this car failed to understand what the ARB does! This is a rally car, expected to perform well on rough surfaces.
An ARB is designed to keep both front wheels on the ground on smooth and dry surfaces; an uprated ARB is designed for the track or the Eiffel region (Nurburgring) in the dry.
So, we have deleted the ARB entirely, we can be sure that performance on the unsealed surfaces of Africa is more significant than the sealed surfaces that they may see...
Oh, and a D-Type overdrive in a competition car? Don't get me started!
I've just corrected some grammar above, reminding me of a sign outside a local windmill: "BEWARE DOG'S"
Which bit of the dog are we to beware of, the dog's bark, the dog's lick, I'm dying to learn the answer...
Which bit of the dog are we to beware of, the dog's bark, the dog's lick, I'm dying to learn the answer...
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