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Partyvan's 270bhp N/A track slut

Cadwell yesterday was amazing!

After the forecast saying thunderstorms it was sunny and dry until a very light mist of rain mid afternoon.

The car was on form, and felt perfectly balanced although fighting a gripper diff all day was like a gym workout! I managed to shave 2 seconds off my FWD lap time and 1 second off my outright time and was only overtaken by two "cars" all day - a V8 powered twin seater and a Radical which I can live with, neither of which were significantly faster.

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One amusing incident though, I've recently removed all my exhaust heatshields on my TypeR, meaning the floor gets quite hot after a long session on track.

Not normally a problem, except a previous owner of the car has stashed some weed somewhere, which is getting BAKED and stinking the car out! I could smell it, the TDO could smell it and I had to volunteer for a drugs test to prove I wasn't high!
 
I've been making progress on the engine bay!

Big thanks to Spooner restorations for the cam cover
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All fitted, along with matching strut brace and a carbon fibre plug cover
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Just a couple of little bits this evening

New spoiler end plates cut from 4mm aluminium
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I'll get these powdercoated black

And a new sunstrip. Might keep the smaller text, not sure yet
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The problem I now have is the sides of the car are much more "naked" than the front and rear, which are dominated by sunstrips, splitters and canards/diffuser etc

I'm thinking of some large graphics for the side
 
Looks awesome mate, we've booked a day at Cadwell for next month. It'll be our first time there so not expecting to be the quickest!
 
Well, time for a pretty major update! I'm back from the Ring with a real mixed bag of results and emotions.


Where do I start?


Two days before I was due to leave I made a spontaneous trip out in the Type-R, which decided to **** it's auxillary belt idler!


Bearings failed
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This really spooked me. And had me frantically putting together a spares package before we left!


Here I am all packed up and ready to go. Our convoy consisted of my Type-R, a Golf V6 4-motion, a 888 Astra, an Astra 2.2, a 3.0 V6 Cavalier and a 1.2 Corsa!
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Here's some pics taken on a hike around the track...
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I then went out on the Thursday evening session
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The car was going really well, my fastest full lap was a 8min 31 with roadworks, a yellow flag and traffic, which beats my outright and FWD lap records! I was on course for around an 8min 10 according to my sector times. Then this happened...
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On one of the fastest sections of the track I lost control at the exit of a bend at 108mph, spun and hit the barrier.


After the Nurburgring track officials had come down to inspect the damage, I was taken back to the office and billed for the damage. They allege 40 metres of armco damage, 6 posts and various fees for staff attendance. 3600 euros.


The car was taken to the local recovery depot "Bongard" at Adenau
I wasn't the only casualty it seems...
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It was here I first saw the side of the car, panel damage mainly
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Back at my hotel we put it into our garage and began a stripdown
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Damage that we could see initially
- Wishbone buckled
- Wheel alignment seriously out
- Wing creased
- Headlight


Cosmetic damage to
- Wheels
- Wheel studs
- Rear quarters
- Bumpers


Managed to bodge the wishbone a little straighter (thanks to Phillip @ Rent4Ring) and crab it all the way back to England
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Dunno where to go from here. Yes I'm fully aware it's probably mechanically an easy fix - but I've lost a lot of love for it. Not sure what to do next.


Stay tuned for some videos of the crash shortly.
 
Normally a serial stalker on this forum but its a real shame to see this, saw you at cadwell last time, looked really good.

Onwards and upwards.

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Sorry to hear this. She is a beauty.

Was it at the Stefan Belloff Essess? Its real tricky to go flat from Pflatzgerten 1 all the way down to Schwalbenschwanz and I had a couple of 'moments' there.

If it was, you done well to minimise the damage.
 
I've heard the stories of the monster charges that come with an off at the Ring. €3600? That's A lot of money! Did you have track insurance?

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Thanks guys

Yes it was at Stefan Bellof, the first right hander. I was trying to go almost flat, modulating the throttle to slow a little rather than braking or lifting off fully. There's some factors at play including the fact the first marshall before I joined the track said my wing was OK. The second (at the barrier) made me remove it. I'm sure you can imagine the difference that made at 108mph. The angle of attack was very aggressive, so I lost a lot of rear end grip.

There's no insurance available on TF sessions, and no meaningful 3rd party insurance available on trackdays either. The financial / legal side of this is looking complicated to say the least.
 
Gutted for you mate but the main thing is that you're ok! It's only a car and money at the end of the day. Chin up


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Jeez, that's a ***** series of events.

You could argue the 2nd marshal contributed to the end result.

Fix it and smash it round a track here, you'll get the love back, then go back over at the back end of the season.
 
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