Back out and the car feels amazing. Lap times moving in the right direction too (our collective "ideal" time would put us at the very front of an SMRC Mini race, and our individual times were all faster).
But it very nearly didn't happen.
The more observant amongst you might've noticed I've been up to my eyes in property refurbishment recently, so inevitably final prep got left to the last minute. On tuesday, I started doing the final fit on the rear trailing arms and discovered *every* bolt is an annoying bitch - the thicker arm means that either the lengths were slightly wrong or the threads were just slightly in the wrong place. Cue a whole afternoon of cutting and tapping to make a suitable set of bolts. With it all done and one side fully bolted up, I stupidly make the assumption that the other side would be child's play and that I'd have loads to time to do it, along the a new ABS sensor and a bit of wiring, before set-up and loading the whole thing into the trailer.
But no, it was not to be. One of the old bolts in one of the control arms had welded itself inside the bush. Attempts at lubing it and rocking back and forth saw the bolt sheer. But it still wouldn't drift out. So I took the upright and control arm off and started attacking it on the bench with increasing force.Big, big blows with the heavy hammer on a punch, but it still wasn't moving. Then a mis-aimed blow from my helper saw the punch fly out and rip a somewhat uncomfortable hole in my face
We drilled the bolt through, til there was virtually nothing left, but it still wasn't shifting. After using heat, more drilling, and more violence, we had to admit that we'd ruined the bush in the arm. This was 1.30pm.
The next three hours were spent in a mad panic, sourcing, collecting and fitting a new arm (as well as sourcing and collecting a new bolt to go through it), doing a basic set-up, and loading up.
We made it, only about 10 minutes late. I was bit nervous, as all the rear suspension was new, had been bolted up in a rush, and hadn't been tested in any way. So I've very pleased to report that, apart from having to shave a couple of mm off the bottom of the arm to stop it fouling it all rim under heavy cornering, everything stayed together and worked like a dream (as did the rest of the car!).
The trackday itself was a bit meh - couple of big accidents and long stoppages limited out running time, and what we had was fairly trafficy.
So, all things considered, to get out there, put in some solid times and know that we're making genuine progress is definitely a win.
Face is a bit sore this morning though...
)
Refreshing the handbrake is textbook if it looks right it probably is, and reliability doesn't happen by accident.
