BlairM

A few pics from the weekend.

Still missing my drivers side skirt but not for longer, got one off ebay and in process of painting it up!

M K

iTrader: (9)

looks great mate

rsjonny

iTrader: (1)

looks really great fun - Can I ask what sum of money are you looking at for one weekend racing these i.e. entrance fee/tyres/brakes fuel e.t.c.?

BlairM

I bought two new front slicks last weekend - I didn't want to but the old ones were goosed (they were used ones from about 2 years ago!) so that cost me Ł165 per tyre.

That will last me to the end of the year I hope.

Apart from that on a normal weekend I'm Ł220 entry fee, Ł70 testing, roughly Ł40 in fuel, yet to see when the brake pads will last to. I like to budget Ł500 a weekend so all in all if you race 6 weekends in Scotland and maybe buy 6 slicks throughout the year it can be done pretty cheaply.

BlairM

Just been looking at some more pics from the event and saw this. Never mind the orange car up front, look at the white car in the background.



Waiting to hear back if the photographer managed to get any of me like that on my own, would make an awesome picture to hang on the wall!

It's weird cos it doesn't feel like you get that much air over the chicane but I must.

BlairM

Done some work to my car last Monday but just getting round to updating, had nightmares with my pc (ended up formatting it, luckily it sometimes worked in safe mode so backed up important files!)

This of course is in prep for next race next Saturday 21st.

The work was a general check over the car, make sure wheel bearings feel intact, also changed oil & filter. Fitted my sideskirt, cleaned the K&N filter and fitted two cold air feeds to the filter.

Also made up a new material type towing eye for the front. Looks much better than the metal ring I had on before.

For the filter, one air feed comes up from the lower corner of the large bumper grille:



The other comes from the passenger side foglight opening:



Hoping those mods help give the car a bit more power maybe! I need it as the other cars seem to pull away on the straight!

New sideskirt. Not bad for a rattle can from Halfords job. Just gave it 3-4 coats of white primer (was red before) and then same again top coat.







See my new towing eye. This is just the standard towing eye with the loop cut off it and the material secured behind it.



Just a random pic of the front.




Oh and nearly forgot the most exciting news - going to have my stripes (OTT and side) fitted on Tuesday.

They are carbon fibre effect with a border of orange up the side of both of stripes. Side stripes will simply be carbon.

Hope it turns out as nice as I think it will..

Brian

iTrader: (2)

Brian

M K

iTrader: (9)

think it will look great with the stripes

awesome car

BlairM

Stripe - tastic!

Phone pics so I apologise for quality. Will get some better pics soon!

BlairM

My races were yesterday and here are some pics...














Two 3rd's from two races, qualified 3rd, overall really pleased.

I think in qualifying 3rd I helped myself a lot, my time I set was a 62.802, nearly a tenth quicker than I've ever went in my car round Knockhill. Qualifying admittedly has always been my weak point till now with my faster laps tending to come during races.

In Race 1 I made a pretty crap start and was in 4th by the first corner. A few laps in I had a massive slide at Clark corner (which I held) but which also allowed a competitor by, I did get back by him within half a lap and set up chasing after the 3rd placed guy.

We had a mid race safety car, then on the re-start set about getting 3rd. I took a massive lunge (and gamble) down the inside at McIntyres to get it but ran wide through the gravel, however kept my place. On the next lap I went in too fast to the same corner and ran through the gravel falling back into 4th.

By this time we were catching up on XR2's and on the last corner chasing for 3rd the other car went to the inside to pass an XR2, however I stayed out wide to get a better exit, and on the drag to the chequered flag I grabbed 3rd by a tinyt 0.053 of a second.

I was ecstatic, punching the air inside the car as this was my first ever podium in racing and the feeling is great of getting directed to the podium post race, doing Knockhill Radio interviews then a TV interview for Motors TV - I think I managed OK and didn't sound like an idiot!

Race 2 I got off to a good start and as the first two were fighting this allowed me to catch up and by the time I got to the hairpin at the end of lap 1 I was in 2nd. The 3rd placed ST was fighting pretty hard with me and dived down my inside a few times at the hairpin however I kept the wide faster line to get by him on the main straight. Eventually the other driver made this stick but at that point the red flags came out as a car had dropped fluid and several XR2's were off, some heavily crashing at the first corner.



We lined up on the grid for a 5 lap race and I made a Race 1 style crap start falling back to 4th again. I got back into 3rd when my competitor missed a gear, then a saftey car came out for another stranded XR2. At the restart I couldn't keep pace with the front two and was not far, but comfortable enough ahead of 4th place to settle for 3rd.

Another podium was great, two in two races you can't complain. It was a shame Race 2 was red flagged as I may have been able to keep 2nd at that point.

Probably my most enjoyable race weekend ever and at least I have two silver shiny things to remind me of that.

CliffRS4

iTrader: (1)

Lovely car and a really big well done to you for the two trophies.

Keep at it

M K

iTrader: (9)

well done mate,

And stripes look great as i thought

COLEYST200

iTrader: (3)

well done mate keep it your doing well

Homer.

Well done mate, go faster stripes actually working then.

BlairM

Oh yes!

Here's the videos from weekend. Sorry if they look a bit blurry.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cOcfV6gl40



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AwzhMACtow



Couple of on track pics...

Love this one how we are all in line.




Oops..

BlairM

Haven't updated this recently even though I had a race on the 19th September. Week after that I was off to Anglesey to help with the National Fiesta ST's so haven't had a chance to sit still for long.

Needless to see my lack of urgency about updating this thread means I had a terrible weekend.

I didn't test on the Saturday to save wear and tear on the car.. and money.

Sunday was absolutely pelting down with rain. Going to the circuit I thought good, I'd rather have it fully wet than anywhere in between there and dry, as my previous experience at the April race meeting in the wet was good, with me being the 2nd fastest ST.

I won't bore you all with details why but I've found myself in a situation this year where I've ended up borrowing competitors old tyres.

Unfortunately this didn't work out too well for me. I just couldn't drive the car and had no confidence at all and could feel it sliding constantly at about every corner. For the first corner I was even braking way earlier than normal, just to make sure I was on the throttle when I turned in.

I qualified 6th, then stalled at the start! I was having to lean over to try and make out the flag dropping for our start in front of another ST, whilst trying to be gentle with the throttle.

Finished 5th in this race as another ST wasn't allowed to start as their rain light blew on the out lap, and it was much the same in Race 2 - 5th again.



I've cheered up a bit now but was on a downer for about a week, especially after my two podiums in August's races.

Now I've decided that if I do race in the future I can only do this with a proper budget behind me. I'm not doing myself any favours racing on crap old wet tyres. Therefore I am looking for a budget to do the Scottish and / or Competition Car Insurance Fiesta ST's in 2011, hopefully there's a few willing sponsors out there.

I am missing the final Scottish round's on 17th October purely for this reason, but the ST may be racing in a hire deal in someone else's hands.

M K

iTrader: (9)

Can you take some better pics of the door cards please mate? And can you tell me if they are a good fit?

Shame you see your having to hold back with the car mate, but hopefully you can find a sponor or 2 to get the ball rolling for 2011

Good luck

Many thanks
Marc

BlairM

Marc may be a while before I can get you pics but yeh they are a reasonably good fit, you need to trim the plastic panel below that the window mechanism fits on, also need to cut the door cards to fit the door handle & release handle, and window switches.

M K

iTrader: (9)

Hello mate,

Just wanted o pick your brain with regards to the door cards we have,

Is the inner door card really needed? im not using manual windows or electric windows, as mine will be fixed with sliders, so will the door handle pull be ok secured direct into the door card?

Also how have you fixed your door card to the door? screw, rivets, or original mountings etc?

And lastly can you take a picture for me of the top of the door card where it would meet the glass as it seems to me like there should be a bit of trim or something there not just the edge of the door card but i maybe wrong?

thanks mate,

Your post came in very useful the other day as i referred back to it when i was removing my side impact bars and after drilling the spot welds i could not move them for the life of me so a quick look on the iphone and your thread to see they needed cutting in the middle and hey presto done 5 mins later

although them poxy spotwelds ruined 2 new Ł15 spot weld drills and 3 small pilot drill bits

thanks
Marc

BlairM

Marc, if your windows are fixed I'd say there's no need for the internal door card, as the main job of that seems to be to hold the window mechanism in place.

As for the door handle pull, do you mean to open the door or the one you pull to shut it ? One to open it would be ok (it's only fixed in with one screw anyway) but I'd be a bit nervous about the one to shut it.

I just fixed my door cards on with selt tapping screws, for me personally to make it easy to remove to kick out any dents in the door Edit to say - assume you want yours to be more permanent so I'd go for rivets plenty of them to hold the door card in.

You're right about the gap along the top though, it does seem large to be fair.

Re the spotweld drills you need to be patient!! I also used some engine oil to keep everything flowing nicely when drilling.

M K

iTrader: (9)

Hello mate, cheers for the reply, it didnt come up in my thread topic thing so i have only just seen you've answered me lol,

The gap bit at the top of the door card on the original has a small separate strip that closes the gap between it and the window so next time i am at the breakers i will see if this comes off easily so i can fit it to the fg doorcards so they look a bit better,

As for the handles i could always bond them in place for good as long as the door card didnt flex too much or failing that i will just rivet on some straps.

Rivets on the door card will be a pain if i did ever need to remove it so think il try and find a suitable riv nut or anchor type fitting so they are removable etc as i think a self tapper would lose its bite after one or two times

BlairM

Thought I would do a little review of the season, just some of my favourite videos from this year and pictures too.

Season Review is on Motors TV this Wednesday 29th @ 9.15pm. It will review the 2010 season of Scottish XR2's and ST's. (Going on past reviews it'll likely just be a few of the best races!)



First video is from Race 2 of the first meeting of the season back on April 18th. This was my first weekend with the ST and I was delighted to be racing with the two people I did in this video.



I certainly wasn't expecting to be that competitive straight away and a few people did seem surprised by my pace.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGhfwebskU8



Second & Third Video's are from the August 21st meeting. The driving isn't perfect by any means but I battled through to get two podiums in this meeting. This to me was the time I finally realised that I am good enough to be getting results and I should do all I can in the future to make sure I have the best chance of winning.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cOcfV6gl40



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AwzhMACtow





Pictures:

This was the car, the Thursday before the first race weekend!


The ST's very first race @ a wet Knockhill








After making it through the weekend




At the British GT support race in early May:



In July, in the background trying to see if the ST will fly..





On the way to one of my podiums, August 21st:






Shiny Trophies



Hopefully this time next year I'll be sitting here doing the same with more to celebrate!

COLEYST200

iTrader: (3)

well done car looks nice all so keep it up . wots the plan for next year

BlairM

Cheers.


Plans for next year are still very much up in the air. I know I can do well and compete at the front all I need is to find a good budget before the season starts so I can push that bit more, buy new tyres etc, maybe make sure the car is tinkered to the max that is allowed.

Ideally I'd like to do the National ST's but that requires a mega budget which I don't think I can find.

My main aim for 2011 would be to compete in the Scottish ST Cup as I did this year, have a crack at it and see how well I can do, then maybe progress up to Nationals the year after.

If I can't find a budget (I think Ł5k is the minimum I'd get away with) I'd probably be more inclined to do a one off National Fiesta Race. Get the ST to a couple of new tracks, personally I'd really like to do Brands Hatch, maybe Silverstone, Donington.

BlairM

Here is the calendar for the 2011 Scottish Fiesta ST Cup. (Still provisional at moment but not likely to change much!)

Knockhill - April 10
Knockhill - April 30 / May 1 (2 day meeting)
Knockhill - July 3
Croft, North Yorkshire - July 23 / 24
Knockhill - August 14
Knockhill - September 10 (Saturday) and
Knockhill - October 9

Any sponsors looking give me a shout. I know I can do well this year!

M K

iTrader: (9)

Blair do you have any close up pics of your boot pin mounting, where its mounted inside the boot, as Andrew has put a weld in boss in mine for the pin but its at almost a 45degree angle and trying to mount the pin slide part on the boot and it just wont line up, a few pics off yours could help me out lol

Should be a 5 min job and it would be of the bosses were welded in horizontal to the bootlid, heres a pic of mine showing the angle of the boss

Thanks
Marc

BlairM

Marc, had a quick look through the pics on my PC and not found any that would help you.

Mine was mounted in the same position but just with a larger hole drilled through the skin and washers each side. I had to file a lot away from the pin part but the beauty of putting it through just one bit of metal is you could bend it slightly to finally line up.

Is that bit threaded what AG has put on? Good idea but maybe over engineered?

M K

iTrader: (9)

so you pins are not at such an angle?

Yeah Andrew welded in the boss but the angle of the pin compare to the tailgate slide pin is too much and i think i am gonna have to bend the pins down

BlairM

Yeh I would say they are maybe even 30 degrees as opposed to 45.

M K

iTrader: (9)

That would be enough to work so looks like i will have to bend them down but that means i have to guess the length the pin needs to be first time as once it is bent it probably wont screw in further, annoying thing is i done some other mods to the tailgate for the jwrc spoiler and now after fooking about cutting and ilongating the pin holes its fooked as they will be miles out when i bend them down so need to chuck that tailgate, i have a spare but still fooking annoying

BlairM

I have to say my tailgate pins were probably one of the harder jobs on the car. Tricky!

BlairM

OK everyone doesn't time fly. Season starts this Sunday and I can't wait!

I've spent a couple of days on the car this week preparing it for racing.

I had to get my repaired bumpers put back on, that took me a few hours what with putting all the grilles back in place, applying stickers etc and then bolting them on to the car.

Mechanically I gave the car a quick check over, for example checking for any wheel bearing noise, and then changed the oil & filter. Was happy to see the oil I took out was still a nice goldy brown colour - that was with 4 weekends of hard use!

There was a couple of mandatory regulation items that I had to fit.

First was the fuel tank guard as manufactured by M Sport the Ford World Rally Team. To me this is more designed for rally cars where they will be more likely to throw stones up and pierce the fuel tank. Rules are rules though.

The standard fuel tank is held on by 3 bolts, 2 at the rear above the axle and 1 at the front of the tank. I originally thought I'd have to man handle the whole thing whilst the bolts were out. However the standard bolts can't be reused as the tank guard doesn't go all the way up the side of the tank. So an ingenious idea is to put a jack under the fuel tank to support the weight, remove the bolts and replace them with threaded rod and run a nut up them to secure fuel tank. I had to removed the centre and rear exhaust sections to give myself room to get the guard in. You can then slot the guard in place securing using the same threaded rod. Job done.

The second main job was removing the steering lock. That is a bit tricky to say the least, steering column had to come out the car (easy part) but then I had to do some work to be able to get into the column to removed the lock part. Needless to say, Ford make this hard to do to prevent thefts...

Lastly, I had really wanted to polish my car. Faced with high winds I washed the car, then parked it behind a Transit for some shade! I know it's not advisable in that sort of weather but I gave it a quick going over with a clay bar, then Autoglym SRP and Extra Gloss Protection. The car was all stained with water marks so I really wanted it to be clean ish looking for this weekend. Some point in the future I want to give it the snow foam treatment!

I have also got my wets here, but not my slick wheels due to a cock up from Team Dynamics!

All pics from iphone as I forgot my camera.




Stickers !





Spot the transit!

The Youth.

iTrader: (1)

nice one m8, good luck for the new season, we share the same dates in july at knockhill and croft, will deffo pop over and say hello, not sure if I wlll be at knockhill but deffo going to croft

steve

BlairM

Is your championship coming up on 2nd/3rd July? Looks like that's gonna be a big weekend - the MX5 champs are coming too and they have 100 registered drivers!

Plan right now is for me to come do the Croft rounds in late July.. really enjoy that track! Not sure what they do for testing now, might be a case of straight out into qualifying!

The Youth.

iTrader: (1)

croft doesn't have much testing due to the noise issue.
so your deffo in at the deep end in qually, me too in 2 weeks with my new engine only tested it in 2nd gear round my unit, qually will be my first propper drive of it!

steve

BlairM

Yeh not ideal. I see there is a trackday the week before hand but for road cars obviously. Maybe see if I can down in a road going ST depending on cash at that time!

Thankfully I have driven the track before so I know where it goes!

The Youth.

iTrader: (1)

depending on your cars db you can use race cars on track days at croft you just have to have a quiet car!

steve

BlairM

Ah right thats good to know. Keeping that in mind for when it comes around.

It should be fine as it's a standard engine with a milltek exhaust.

BlairM

Hi everyone, first chance I've had to be able to update this thread.


Well, the weekend went very well for me.. from taking pole position in qualifying, then 2nd in Race 1 to my FIRST EVER win in Race 2, and coming away from it all with the championship lead - who can complain? I only need to tick off those kind of results another 6 times and there's a big shiny trophy at the end of the year as well.. but anyway, one step at a time.


The weekend was very warm at Knockhill as it no doubt was with most of you all around the country. The car had been checked over earlier in the week, all I did on Saturday morning was strip the brakes off, clean them up a bit, copper grease them and fit them back together.

I got 2 x 25 minute test sessions in the afternoon and didn't have any issues with the car thankfully, and my driving seemed OK too lol!

Sunday morning qualifying was at 9.30am, and although cut short by the session being red flagged I still got 6 laps in, and the 6th lap was a 1:02.976, giving me pole position over 2nd place by 0.018 - too close for comfort!! It was nice to have several people shouting "Well done Blair!" on the way into scrutineering.

Again there were no complaints of the car.. all I had to do was fuel up, and changed the tyre pressures a bit to cope with the longer, harder race distance.


Although not admitting it to my competitors on the day, the start off the line has always been my weak point and I was concerned. I went over in my mind several times how many revs I would use, use of the clutch etc..

Come the start I got away nicely, pretty evenly with everybody else. There had been a crash at the first corner from the XR2's so I backed off as there were waved yellows - 2 other ST's proceeded to pass me! I couldn't believe it! I was actually fuming for the rest of the race, however after battling ford 3rd place for several laps with 2 different drivers, when the race was red-flagged to be restarted, I saw my opportunity.

On the re-start I got an absolute stormer of a start, leading into the first corner from 4th on the grid!! The race was only for 3 laps - and when I got passed on the final corner I was gutted!! But still, 2nd was my best ever result and it said something I was dissapointed.

For race two 2nd was a good place to start, however for some reason the 4th place car managed to get up by me by first corner, and that led to another 2 cars getting by before the end of the lap. So I was down to 5th. However that then led to some frantic racing and I eventually managed to get back to 3rd. But just after that one of the ST's hit Knockhills new high kerbs at the chicane and was somersaulted into a 5 times over roll! His car wasn't pretty, but he was OK and whilst clearing the crash up the race was red-flagged to be restarted.

Once again I got a good start and kept the pressure up on the leader, when he made a mistake at McIntyres I was straight up his inside! He kept side by side with me which led me into taking a shortcut across the chicane!!

I kept the lead despite a few challenges and can honestly say I've never used my mirrors as much! On the penultimate lap some of the cars behind had a tangle at the hairpin and that allowed me to take the chequered flag with a 4.5 second lead - and that was with a relaxed last lap!



What can I say! Absolutely delighted, my first ever win in racing and against some very talented drivers.

All I can do is keep the right foot planted and hope for more wins at the next meeting on the 1st May @ Knockhill!

Cheers all! Thanks for your support.


A few pics and a couple of videos!



Photo courtesy Alan Crawford @ WWW.ASCPHOTO.COM



All other pics by me:














Race 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f88WHc7NyU



Race 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5qusDgmViU

The Youth.

iTrader: (1)

huge huge well done m8 on your first win

can imagine how delighted you are, winning a race is something I ain't going to see but taking part is enough for now lol.

keep focused and the championship is your target now..

steve