VN Production Saloon

[VNracer34G]

A bit of a behind the times update.

Friday the 13th (gotta love that) January. Finals of the New Zealand Street Stock Championship so i was half expecting to be used as track sweepers for the night.
Main 1 Grid 20;

Happy to have a rear grid first up after so many suspension parts being replaced. Shouldna worried, carefully picked off a few cars keeping my nose very clean and showed a lot of restraint when blocked by a slower Pulsar for a couple of laps - normally i'd give that thing a 'comin' through' rub on the back bumper after a couple of blocking moves but we've been getting raked over the coals by the refferees lately. Finished 13th with zero damage, the car felt a bit looser in the turns but responsive to steering & throttle input or to put it another way LOTSA FUN

Main 2 Grid 10;

Track a bit greasier then before and i was pushing it and hanging the arse out with my boot up it chucking mud, weaved my way past three or four cars then started getting the odd tap on both sides of the rear, didn't look at the mirror as i was concentrating real hard on keeping my paint off what was in front of/beside me. 76G got by me cleanly eventually then last lap he got baulked by a slower car when he went high through 1&2 enabling me to duck down inside them well sideways and pumping. Afterwards i got called to the tower along with three other drivers. I had no idea why i was up there but knew it couldn't be good when i was the last one called - got pinged for getting hit in the rear by a car wanting to pass - penalty ~ relagated two positions in results - posted as 10th after penalty - reasoning and math do not compute with me at all and i cannot comment further.

[VNracer34G]

Friday 13th Jan.
Feature Grid 1;

Sitting n the dummy grid with 76G beside me to set the pace and the top fwd cars filling the next couple of rows was going to be interesting. Got through the gate onto the track and couldn't believe my eyes, the water truck had been around and it looked like the top got a sprinkle and the rest of the track got a dousing. There was a clearly defined dull line up top and the rest of the track was glistening under the lights , all i could hope for was to keep it clean and let cars go and with luck the track would come to me in a few laps, i got swamped going into turn one on the first lap and thoroughly rubbed both sides as i tried to guide my lumbering beast around, in turn two the 11G BMW whose driver always causes me problems went lurching past too hot, dived sideways in front of me so i lifted but to no avail as his violent oversteer was overcorrected as usual and his rear swung back into my left front corner - felt my right front tyre (my last good one left ) getting gouged by something that got bent into it as i went round and with the Production Saloon chaps on the following weekend i decided to pull the pin and save the tyre.
For his efforts 11G's driver was disqualified.

Next day when i lifted the bonnet i spotted the fan had come adrift from the radiator and was leaning back against the motor, good move retiring when i did. Turned out the crank pulley had worn through the wires where they go into the fan motor and caused a short that fried the fan circiut - that kept me busy for a while chasing the fault so i cauld keep the fan controlled by the '808.

[VNracer34G]

Time flies; I got the bumper cover & guard off, beat the battery box area bashed back into shape then hung a fresh guard on it then hooked the car up to the trusty gatepost to pull the bumper out (had the back of the car hooked up to the Rodeo to anchor it)

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The man came over during the week while i was at work and gave the paint job a bit of a tickle up and i chased electrical gremlins in the evenings - the fan wiring shorting out blew a 40a fuse (i'd forgotten i put some of those big buggers in slotted under my fuse/relay box) so that sorted out the computer turning the fan on and off. For the last couple of meetings the idle when hot had been really ragged and erratic and even cut out on a couple of occasions - that and a hot start problem meant sitting on the dummy grid keeping it tickled up to a fast idle - hot start turned out to be the battery finally dropping its guts - can't complain as it was a used freebie four years ago - hooked up the laptop and found the iac steps all over the place and high so i hooked it out and the end was about threaded off so i chucked in a spare one off another throttle body and idle sorted funny thing is this is the second time its had a IAC valve give me greif.

Once i'd got the car running sweet all by itself and able to start hot with the battery out of the Rodeo i sent our class rep a txt letting her know the car was available for a "celebrity race" at the end of the meeting, got informed that they had it covered depending what was still rolling at the end of the night. After a while i had a cheeky thought and asked what if i provided my own 'local celebrity' to drive. I put up a freind who cleans up at the annual beach horse races regularly and also does well competing at the Rodeo - i was stunned when we got given the O.K - She was more stunned when she got informed at 10.30 friday night she was racing the next night, her husband was pissing himself laughing. She drives miles of twisty rough gravel roads every day taking the kids to school and i figured she'd be sweet.

[Holden202T]

never a dull moment in your posts

[VNracer34G]

Right then i'm way behind sorry, had three meetings with no report. Mixed bag of results AND official rulings [-X . nothing spectacular and NO damage apart from the rear getting shortened a bit in a smack up the date AFTER a race finished and some of the usual paint swapping so i've been having a bit of a life.

Season winding down, Raced last night, got what was the last scheduled meeting next Saturday then off to Rotorua to have a go on a flat track at their Easter Champs and we're having an extra meeting here the week after Easter to make up for a couple of rainouts so that'll be four Saturdays in a row racing.

Pulled the Six marble at drivers breifing
Main1: Grid 6.
Setting the "pace" on grid two was the white skyline24G mobile chicane and between us was 10G a rather quick Integra, got out there and the track was wet and greasy as anything so i figured i didn't have a shit show but was hell bent on sticking to the back of the Integra if possible, coming through turn four we wen't green and 10G ducked inside 24G and i went with it as the Skyline started moving down on me - it got a wee slap from my rear as i gassed it for its troubles. This was one ridiculously slow race as i stayed real close to that Integra for eight laps expecting to get eaten up by the FWD brigade - got a couple of taps in the rear from the FTO out there but managed to hold onto second spot till the white flag came down and i figured last chance to have a go so started getting further up the throttle only to lose ground but still hung on for second over the line

[VNracer34G]

Main2: grid 14,
Off the back and a greasy track again, i had a feeling it was gonna get ugly - hate that feeling. Scrabbling to try and stay with 9G Integra coming out of four on the second lap midtrack 7G CRX had a big lose up by the wall (found out later his left front tube popped) and shot down in front of9G who went into him HARD - happenned so damned fast i was barely starting to lift my right foot before i went straight up the back of 9g who popped out towards the infeild, i'd managed to keep it running and got away from the carnage as the lights went orange, the car felt o.k but something was hanging off by the sound of it and i got waved down by one of the flaggies who ripped something off when i stopped then waved me on to continue so i went and got my position back for the restart - on 9G's back bumper again~one tough Honda that.
When 9G got past my mate in his VL 13G i had a real good battle with him for a number of laps till i could get beside him off the corner and i had the rear bite for the mighty Buick to motor past the Nissan =D> only to just about lose it overcooking it into the corner and sledging way high expecting to have him come through inside me but it didn't happen. Last couple of laps i notices a bit of a cackle from the exhaust, when it was over i had my front bumper cover fed through the window opening as i made my way off the track. Back in the pits when i saw the state of the bumper iron i went and tapped the shoulder of the head vehicle checker and got him to look at it and got a thumbs up to leave the cover off and go out for the Feature.

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Feature: Grid 4.
76G the quickest little Integra out there this year on pole and 9G setting the pace in front of me, a gap beside me then 13G and 44G Prelude behind. Pace lap 9G slowed it down on the back straight and didn't hit it till half way through 3 & 4 - worst place for me to jump on the loud pedal but hanging it out i didn't lose too much ground, the car was sledging wickedly turning into the corners pushing for the wall so i started using it to diamond the track, kicking the arse around with the throttle and pointing it at the straight, one #@%$*ng hairy ride. Managed to finish fourth. My mate in the VL's trailer fell through so i lent him mine to drop his car off at the track early. We dropped my car off at home - closer to the track - picked up supplies went and loaded his car and took him home and had a long and messy debreifing/shit talking session

[Holden202T]

that chassis rail looks a bit bent ??

[VNracer34G]

Pictures can be decieving my freind, it's a lot bent all ahead of the K-member though. I reckon a big dose of RSB method in the next few days should get it near enough

[Holden202T]

thats the good thing with speedway cars, you can just bash them out and make them loose respectable and its all good

[VNracer34G]

Yup you know it

After the hit in Main2 the car started developing a bit of a cackle from the exhaust for the rest of the race, During the Feature it progressively got worse and after about five laps let go and got seriously loud, half way down the straights it even started misfiring but s stayed up it figuring if i was gonna get pinged for noise i may as well do it properly.

Before heading to the track i stuck some slightly heavier springs in the rear for some traction and got it, however i now believe it contributed to the push in the corners - i'm hoping to get my hands on a smaller OD/lighter rear sway bar this week to counteract this - failing that i might even disconnectt the bar i have.

After work yesterday i hooked the car up to the old gatepost to give it a bit of a pull - did diddley squat so i sent the man a txt, within half an hour help was here ( and the guys had a 15min drive ) we rigged it up a bit better and acheived stuff all, i mentioned i had another front behind the shed but the decision was made to take it out to the orchard and hook it to the tractor so after cooking the Barbie i put it back in the shed and dropped the exhaust off. turned out theres a couple of nice dents in the right pipe from the motor moving forward a bit on the mounts (factory ones) and smaacking the pinion housing on the rack, the left side flange was broken off completly at the swage line where it seals to the manifold, now i only have about two inches of original pipe and the rest if fabricated so i cut the end out, attached another end to the manifold flange, hung the exhaust system back up in place and welded up the pipe - job done - i still need to get it off again to get around a couple of spots round the top but its quiet again. Took it out to the orchard after work tonight and stropped to a big tree pulled the rail with the tractor then beat the bumper iron back inti shape ---ish. right front guard came off for beating which came up really well and went back on, bashed out another couple of bits and peices and chucked it back on the trailer in time for a drink and game of darts. Its home again for a few welds and new headlight covers. I am very lucky to have the help i get when i need it, awesome guys - no fucking around, have a laugh doing the job and quality work done fast