Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

[RallyMarshal]

I have now merged this build thread into a new thread at http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/forum...ing-adventures

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Saturday morning photo...



Sunday Evening photo...



Paul..

[DarrenH]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

good result there was it really a year ago since the last rocking' ? escort chasing videos and such?

loving the pictures, came out really well must have been from some distance too ? !

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Really like this shot....

Good to hear Novas are unstoppable! Looked well out there, how did you trap a brake flexi?

Novas are one of the best choices for the 1400 class due to the minimum weights allowed.. This Mk2 Astra is around 960kg (+ crew) with around 100bhp @ wheels (104bhp/ton) and most of the Novas are 860kg ish with those top 2 having something like 140bhp @ wheels so around 160bhp/ton and better on the brakes.

Thats why Im going to 1600cc class rather than 1400cc class in the new car. Cost of a 1400 16v and 1600 16v is essentially the same but the 1600 class has minimum weight of 920kg so the car can potentially be more competitive in there!

Trapping a brake flexy is all down to me. I guess I must have caught it when fitting the dampers before the last event - no wonder we had rear brake issues and it wouldnt pull up straight.. Sorted now and feels more stable.

Paul..

[iainel]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Good to hear Novas are unstoppable! Looked well out there, how did you trap a brake flexi?

[Harvey]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

A few pictures from Rockingham 2014 that the wife took, I hope you all enjoy them.

[Steve T]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Well done Paul and crew! I did have a look for live results? but there werent any. Great class and o/a finish.

Hope i can keep up the good work for mk2's in December.

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Rockingham Stages Update...

Saturday - Day 1 started OK, I was very rusty and we had way to high a pressure in the rear tyres on the first stage so didnt get any heat into them resulting in a shitty time and 2 spins on stage 1. Stage 2 was better, 3 was cancelled and stage 4 were fine. Lying in 4th in class at this point by around 15 seconds. Then 2 night stages and had an issue with the relay for the outer pod lights so they were coming on and going off randomly and I just couldnt make out the corner apexes at all.. Lost 30 seconds but was still 4th in class with 3rd place 45 seconds ahead and 5th place 12 seconds behind.

Sunday - Day 2. Wet, slippery and much more fun for us. Found a braking issue on the rear as the car was a little weird on Day 1 under braking with the back end wanting to step out - the drivers side caliper wasnt working at all as I had trapped the rear flexy - and that helped. We fitted a decent set of wet tyres to the car and appropriate pressures and took 34 seconds out of the car in front on the 1st stage and 37 seconds on the 2nd stage of the day taking us into 3rd in class and we increased our margin on 4th throughout the day to finish 55 seconds ahead of it.

The cars in 1st and 2nd in class were simply untouchable - Novas with highly tuned 1400 16v engines, the winning one has a sequential box and theyre also much lighter than the Astra with its 1400 8v engine too and they can both drive them well as well but we didnt have a chance of keeping up with them.

So 3rd in class (from 10 starters / 9 finishers), 29th overall (from 67 starters / 49 finishers) is the best we could have hoped for with "Old Faithful" the 1400 8v fitted and we managed that. I have the old 2.0 8v engine being rebuilt and may fit it for a little fun in the car but by the end of next year, this car should be running a 1600 16v smallblock engine on throttle bodies with some SBD cams so will hopefully be a little pocket rocket and hopefully competitive in the 1600 class as well.

Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Have Rockingham in 2 weeks time so thought it was time to check the car over and a small upgrade.

First thing was to swap the front springs - I had 250lb 9" springs fitted but as Rockingham is so smooth, I swapped to some 8" 275lb for slightly less roll and hopefully improved grip through the faster bits.



Then we fitted the new 285mm discs I had machined. They are Mintex Sierra Cosworth 2wd discs, redrilled to 4x100 pcd, rear area machined out for clearance and also had them grooved.



We use the Hispec 280mm caliper brackets and we use these discs as theyre deeper bell / offset than the std discs and now I have the same discs for this car and the Hispec 4 pot calipers on the new car so helps with spares. This photo shows the caliper bracket fitted and the reason the disks need to be deeper.



and a piccie of them fitted..



Just the rear to finish spanner checking and time to bed in those brakes.

Paul..

[1800turbogte]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

I like the plate Paul

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Just a small update.. Spot the difference..



Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Thanks but we have a lot more Astras than Saabs over here to pilfer parts from.

In terms of the tread, no real updates as decided to concentrate on the new car build rather than do many events...

Paul..

[Holms]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

Pssst! You can use the rear beam, front struts and a lot of parts from a Saab 900 92-98 cheap and easy to get

[Harvey]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

No photos

Boo hoo, shame on you

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Mk2 Astra Rallycar - from bare shell upwards

No photos but the front suspension on the rallycar was changed over at the weekend - now on 9" 250lb front springs and a loosely fitted antirollbar for its next event.

Paul..