Tim Smith

Thanks Trevor, I presume CR500s have a similar construction to 048s so I'll try those pressures at the next trackday along with the rear ARB adjustment. What effect does stiffening the rear ARB usually have? I'm currently using the medium front ARB, front end grip doesn't seem to be an issue, I only get understeer at high speed or when I turn in too hard. Tim

I did a trackday at Brands on Friday and had a few handling problems that I've not encountered before. Although I've just had the car Supersport R'd and it therefore has more power than previously, it felt lacking in rear grip, particularly through Clearways After each session there was considerably more heat in the left rear tyre than in the right rear and the left rear was getting seriously chewed up. The tyres are CR500s which I run at 18psi cold. I suspect the left rear was overheating as by the end of a session there appeared to be very little grip. So over to the track and race setup experts: 1) If I want to reduce the tyre temperature do I need to raise or lower the tyre pressure? 2) I am currently running with the rear anti rollbar on its miniumum setting as I found this makes for a slightly less choppy ride and better traction on the road where there tend to be lots of bumps. What effect on rear grip does the anti roll bar have? Any ideas on what sort of setting works best? 3) Anyone got any other ideas on how to get a more balanced setup with the car. Front end grip seemed good with even tyre wear through the day. Tim

Franky, Still interested! Tim

I managed to get most of the oil out of the apollo by taking off the air return tube back to the head and using a bicycle pump to pressurise the apollo and force the oil in it into the sump. I am measuring the oil level with the engine hot and running and it would appear to be massively over full. I still can't beleive this is true given that I've put 6.8l in. I took the car for a gentle drive today to get it really hot in the hope that this would give me a decent reading but it still appears to read very high. I think I'll drop 0.5l out of it tomorrow and see if I can get a better idea of how much oil's in there from the dipstick. Tim

I have always struggled with reading the dipstick on my 1.8k with Apollo tank. It always seems to read over full with no clear oil level, even when its had a factory service. When I changed the oil today I measured the quantity I got out, 6.3l and put 6.3l of fresh oil back in. Having started the engine and got everything up to temp I measured the oil level again and couldn't see any oil on the dipstick. I then put in 0.5l more oil and the level appeared to be too high. I'm confused, the engine should take 7l of oil, I've put 6.8l in and may have over filled it. Does anyone have any hints and tips on how to get a decent reading off the dipstick and if I have overfilled it will there be any obvious signs. Will it damage the engine if there's maybe 0.5l too much oil in it? Tim

Thanks all for the interest, the car is now sold. Tim

Mk 1 Nissan Micra 1.0l 1991 J Plate Red, 78k miles Taxed Until end of May, MOT until October My wife has finally bought a new car so the trusty Micra must go. It has got rust and may struggle at its next MOT but it is reliable, everything works and does perform as basic motoring. It's even got a full service history! The car is in Wokingham and she's prepared to let it go for a minimum donation of £30 to NTL! I've just been told it has to go to a good home too. Anyone interested mail me through my profile. Tim

I think the silver and black one around the back of Windsor and Ascot was me. Were you in the blue one going the other way? If so that little bit of road is rather good, never been down there before but its got some good corners. Tim

Franky, I'm very interested but with the obvious proviso that we do need someone to trial fit one to a car, preferably a standard chassis on roller barrels in my case. If there's enough interest I'm willing to offer my car to try it out, I'm in Wokingham. Tim

Sounds like the same one I spotted at 7.45 on the A329M heading for the M4 this morning! Tim

I paid £3295.00 to convert my 1.6SS to Supersport R but it depends on what other bits if any you need. eg lightened flywheel.

I had my 1.6SS converted to Supersport R and a six speed box fitted in November. It has totally transformed the car. I had the lighter flywheel before but now it revs like crazy. I'd agree that it may only be an extra 25hp but they are rather special horses. I think as they car now goes and sounds like a proper race car. I had the separate immobiliser fitted and have had no problem with that. However the standard map doesn't have a cold start map and the car can be a bit of a sod to start. The mapping is quite good, I've certainly not had any kangarooing but you can feel that it could do with a go on the rolling road to fine tune it. As far as I can see there is no compromise with loss of midrange, it might feel weak there but this is because the car now has a proper powerband and is now much stronger at the top end. Overall thoroughly recommended! My car has a Caterham Competition exhaust and is now rather loud. Does anyone have any recommendations for quieter silencers and/or a way to reduce the induction noise? I don't want one of those huge silencers on the side of the car that look as if someone has strapped a dustbin to it!I love the noise but am not sure how well it will go down on trackdays. Tim

I'm in the process of upgrading my engine to a Supersport R spec and was thinking about getting a set of shift lights. I gather Caterham do some but they're about £300, does anyone have some pictures of the Caterham ones or comments on how good/bad they are? Alternatively does anyone have any experience andor recommendations for other makes? Tim

Spotted yesterday at about 8pm driving through Twyford, green and red with aeroscreen. Tim

We could do a group trip but not for a while for me. The karting was part of my stag do, I'm getting married next month and feeling very poor indeed at the moment! Tim

I was there in the morning with some mates as part of my stag do. The drizzle held off for us and there were no major incidents. I find that the competition aren't necesarily badly behaved, just clueless when it comes to racing. My tactic is just to pressurise them into making a big mistake rather than to go for the overtake, it's usually safer that way. The track is really good with some horribly technical corners, I want to go back soon too. Tim

Dark blue in the carpark at Daytona on Saturday afternoon. My first time there, a most excellent karting circuit! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Tim

Trevor, sorry the MOT place is Cresswell's in Wokingham, Berkshire, not too near Essex I'm afraid! I was rather surprised when he told me it had passed but thought it wise not to ask too many questions.

I MOT'd my 1999 1.6k SS last weekend and was told it needed the full emissions test. It hasn't got a cat as it runs a competition exhaust. It passed without a problem despite this, the MOT examiner said it was running very well with low emissions. Give it a try with the standard setup, if it's running ok it should pass despite not having a cat. Tim

Thanks for the advice, I had another look last night and cleaned it up with brake cleaner. It's definitely grease leaking out. It looks as if its the grease in the UJ, it hasn't got a split gaiter but I gather it can get past the O ring in the can where the driveshaft goes into the diff. It looks as if it's been doing it for a while and there's definitely more play in that UJ than in the one on the opposite side. I think I'll risk the track day and then get the driveshaft out and see if the O ring can be replaced. Tim

Bloody windows! Kept telling me it hadn't accepted the posting!

While grovelling around under my car last night I noticed a small amount of grease/oil leaking from the nearside drive shaft where it joins the diff. It looks as if it has been doing it for a while as it has collected a fair amount of dirt. Is a slight leak normal or is it a sign of impending diff doom? Advice would be appreciated as I've got a track day next week and don't want a terminal failure on the track! Tim

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My car has an anti cavitation tank, I thought that was supposed to sort out the oil supply problems on track? The low pressure appears down the straights as well so I assume that feed is not a problem. Tim

I did a trackday at Brands last week in my 1.6k SS, which given the weather, was rather hot. During my sessions on track I noticed that my oil pressure was getting low even at full throttle, dropping to just below 2 bar. The problem seemed to only appear when the engine got very hot towards the end of each session and went away when it had cooled down again. I know the gauges are notoriously inaccurate but I get rather nervous when my oil pressure drops below 2 bar! Is it really a cause for concern? Will the engine be ok as long as there is some oil pressure or am I risking a big bang at high rpm? It doesn't seem to happen on the road, mainly I suppose because the engine doesn't get that hot. Tim