Rolling Road Results

I decided after the Mallory Park sprint that I should get the car on a rolling road and checked out to make sure that it is running as well as it could do. So yesterday I took it to South West In Car Tech at Dodington near Bristol.

Well the results from 3 power runs can only be described as disappointing. I was expecting somewhere between 140 and 150 bhp, but the car could only manage 115 bhp. Big disappointment and then the question of WHY? The chap at SWICT seemed to think that the engine was fuelling correctly but was losing compression, so either 1 or 2 cylinders are not as they should be or the dreaded head gasket was beginning to fail.

Took a trip to see mark at MJN motors in Brislington to book it in for a compression check. Mark has seen the car a few times now and was confident it wasn't the head gasket but unfortunately couldn't get my car in for a couple of weeks to check the full compression. With the next sprint at Curborough only a week away, this wasn't good but maybe i would have better luck with the MOT which was booked for later in the afternoon!

Mallory Park Sprint, MGF

Mallory Park Sprint 11th March 2012

Waiting to go out on practice run.



Extra guests at lunchtime



Team Chequers pit crew hard at work!



An audience with Lawrie Brown



Darren's MGF Trophy, looks good and went very well



More MG's in paddock



Team Chequers still working hard



Helen and DC enjoying the sunshine

First of all the welding on Saturday all went to plan and I'll post pictures of how we got round the problem of fitting the race harness as soon as I can.

First bit of luck was pulling into Mallory on Sunday morning at 7.30 and arriving right next to DC and Helen. Singing on was fine but scrutineering was very slow and the bit that I had been dreading! The harnesses which I was worried about turned out to be all OK but there was a problem with the passenger door not opening from the outside that I was told to fix, thanks to DC who came back after getting his car scruteneered, to make sure I was OK.


Didn't have time to walk the course but did the convoy run and before I had time to think it was out for the first practice run. Didn't get a great time but hopefully now knew more about the track and gear changes, braking points etc


After a crafty pick of DC's brains regarding tyre pressures, I realised I was running way too low, so a quick round of the foot pump before the next practice run, which took 1.5 seconds off my time.


Lunch came and went and then the real timed runs, first run was disappointing with a slower time than the previous practice run by 0.5 seconds, this followed the final timed run being slower again by only one hundredths of a second.


As DC said when we were packing up, 'that's the worst day, when your times get slower', and yes he was right.


By the time we got home, the results had already been emailed through, and I found that I was the slowest MG in the class but had beaten the only MX5 in our class!


Looks like this is going to be harder than I had thought it would be, but can already see the addiction in trying to go quicker and beat your time.


Best of all though is that it seems like a very friendly championship and look forward to meeting more competitors as the season progresses during the year.


The next meeting at Curborough is on 1st April can't come soon enough!!

Seat Belt Harness

After consultation with Dan from CMC Motorsport and thanks to DC for getting me in touch with him, the way I was going to fit or rather the way I had fitted the 4 point harness wasn't correct. So I've now gone for a full harness bar which will be fitted in place where the original seat belts would have been fitted on top of the engine bay cover, in addition to plates welded into the sides of the car behind the seats for the lap sections.
Only slight problem is that the chap I was going to use to get everything welded in place is away and not back until Saturday 10th March, which all being well should be OK because the first meeting at Mallory Park is on Sunday 11th, just hope I've got it all correct because I've left no time for errors!

On a positive note I've now sent off entry forms for both Wiscombe on 19th May and Gurston Down on 24th June, so the season is starting to come together.

Sponsorship graphics added to MGF

The Chequers Driving School graphics were added this weekend, the car is looking more like a racing MGF now!
Took a good few hours to do and still needs a little tidying up here and there but I'm pleased with it.

Wheels are back!

Got the wheels back from lepsons in Swindon on Friday, they look great, it's difficult to remember how bad they were, wish I'd taken and couple of before photos so you could really see the difference. Corrected the tyre pressures to the right settings, fingers crossed now that they don't lose any pressure during the week.

Wheels gone?

No need to worry, they haven't been stolen!

Two of the alloys kept losing their pressure, one in particular was losing about 20psi a week, so I decided to get them refurbished at Lepsons in Swindon, as they was curbing damage on all four wheels from previous owners.

Dropped off the wheels yesterday and should be back on the car by next weekend.

So while the car is in the air I thought it would be a good chance to redo the harness belts, much better fit now!