The Saxo first impressions

I took the Saxo down to Kames for a test on Sunday. The journey was eventful as my towcar developed an alarming vibration under acceleration which subsequently turned out to be a broken CV joint.

It was nice to see the old racingPug at Kames in the hand of the new owner, Cammy who seemed to be having a great time.

Anyway, the first impressions of the Saxo are favourable. It accelerates very quickly, has plenty of grip and pulls through the corners thanks to the Quaife ATB differential. You can really feel it working its magic on the paddock bend at Kames and coming out of the hairpin.

It needs a bit of adjustment for my driving - the rear brakes seem to lock a bit too easily which could be a problem if I trail into the corner. There is a valve to adjust rear pressure but I couldn't get it just right on Sunday.

The seat needs moved forward a bit - I found myself struggling to get the clutch in without a real effort. On that subject, the clutch is a bit noisy - maybe the release bearing is on the way out. Works fine though.

The alternator is completely goosed so I ran all day sunday with no belt - the car started fine with just the solar trickle charger topping it up and a quick blast on the jump leads at lunchtime. I suspect I might just strip the alternator off completely to save a wee bit weight.

Last wee niggle is a slight coolant leak from the expansion tank - the coolant has a bit of gunk in it so I hope its not the HG on the way out.

Anyway, it's a blaster of a wee car - I just hope I can do it justice and get some decent times. We'll see in a couple of weeks when I take it to the Wigtom AutoSolo at Penrith.

The new car arrives

I knew it wouldn't take long for me to replace the racingPug and tonight I picked up a cracking wee Citroen Saxo to finish off this season and campaign next year.

It's a roadgoing car so I'll be back in class R2 in the Wigton championship, the class I won in 2009.

t's a quick we thing - in the hands of it's previous owner, it did some remarkable times including 95secs at Kames clockwise - faster than I ever went in the VX220.

It needs a few we jobs done and there is still some scope for more development so I'm quite excited by the prospect.

I'm taking it down to Kames on Sunday for a test session - full report after that....

The racingPug moves on

Things move quickly and I find myself in the same position as last year - mid August and I've gone and sold my competition car. Yep - the racingPug is moving on to a good home and will hopefully be seen gracing the sprints and hills in the hands of its new owner.

So, I have to decide whether to plough the funds raised straight into the racingMetro to get it back to a roadworthy conition or bide my time and find something else interesting.

In the meantime, I have a caravan to fix.......

Kames 31 July 2011

Photo: Stephen Hynds

I haven't given up on this blog, honest! - its just that I have been quite busy with family and work recently to do the updating.

Anyway, my last event was at Kames on 31 July where I was out in the racingPug against the usual tough competition in the small modified saloon class. Realistically, I was aiming to beat my PPB (Personal Peugeot Best) time of 102.64sec.

Conditions were relatively good - only a short shower in the morning which had no real effect on the track conditions.

In the end, I managed to shave a few hundredths off my time to get 102.60 secs.

I have to say that the racingPug never missed a beat all day and whilst I'm growing a wee bit weary of always coming last, it is still giving me loads of fun.

Having said that, it is time to start thinking about selling it. I do feel a degree of responsibility to try to ensure it stays in the sprint/hillclimb fraternity because I know how much effort Adam and his dad (the previous owners) put into the build.

So, I'll be hoping it goes to a novice driver as a great wee starter car (it ticks all the boxes - no need to MOT, tax or insure it, more grip than power and all the proper safety gear).

If you know anyone who might be interested, point them in my direction please.....