Taith Eryri Tour 2016

A massive thank you to the Caernarvonshire and Anglesey Motor Club for organising a fabulous 90 mile drive around the Llyn Peninsula.  Whilst it started out a bit misty it cleared up nicely. Great to see the club raise £1400 for the Air Ambulance aswel.

Yorkshire Again

We decided to have a weekend away and found a fabulous hotel in Scalby nr Scarborough.  On the Friday we stopped at Fountains Abbey before heading to Scalby.  On the Saturday we visited Castle Howard and the motor museum / auction house in Thorton Dale.  On Sunday we drove up to Whitby and Sands End for a quick peak before travelling back to Pickering and Helmsley via the A169 and A170.  We had a quick final stop for coffee and cake in Skipton before heading home.  I am currently camera less and so only have the phone for pictures.

Love Yorkshire.

Rammy to Clapham and then the..... M6!

Had a nice run through Slaidburn, up to Clapham back down to Bentham and then just as I am thinking I should be seeing signs for Slaidburn again, I saw the M6 motorway and a sign for Lancaster.  I'll take the sat nav next time.

LADS day out at RAF Cosford

The LADS organised a day out to RAF Cosford.  As the day approached the weather shifted from torrential rain to 'we might just get away with a light shower'.  On the day it was a dry run there with various groups getting a little wet on the way back.  Thanks to RAF Cosford for accomodating us.

Dare I say it but Yorkshire have some cracking roads.

I set off at 6am this morning and got back at 10am after 160 miles of pure Caterham fun.  My blat took me to Thruscross, Gouthwaite and Grimwith reservoirs.  From Grimwith I then headed to Long Preston before heading home via Gisburn and Barnoldswick.  I found a few dead ends and closed roads but not to worry it was a fabulous drive.

Thruscross Reservoir

Thruscross Reservoir

Thruscross Reservoir

Thruscross Reservoir

Grimwith Reservoir

Grimwith Reservoir

Grimwith Reservoir

Grimwith Reservoir

Curborough Sprint Course - LADS Day Out

One of the LADS members organised a day out at the Curborough Sprint Course and so without any sprint type mods to my Roadsport or indeed any previous experience I set off with a mix of excitement and nerves.

An early start in Glossop took us on a pleasant drive through Buxton and Ashbourne before a sneaky bacon butty before arriving at Curborough.

The day was spot on and perfect for learning more about the car which you just cannot learn on the road.  I have no plans to go mad lowering the car or changing the suspension etc.  but I will sort out some better tyres.  The Uniroyal Rainsport's have been great on the road as they are very sticky and so they suit the lightweight car, but the somewhat over heated on the track and probably had 30% less rubber on the track compared to the other tyres on show.

An early start at Tesco in Glossop.

Curborough Sprint Course

Good Friday Blat

With the weather not promising much for Saturday onwards I decided to head out early on Good Friday.  I had installed a battery master switch a few months earlier and the car had been stationary for some 6 weeks so I was very pleased when the car fired up in the morning.

I headed out on a 60 mile Clitheroe / Dunsop / Longbridge route but a landslide cause a diversion and from there on I was freestyling :)

A lovely drive, the car was spot on as always.  I do wonder what it would be like if it was tuned by the Steve's.  Maybe one I will do that.

When I got home I gave all the bolts a tighten and washed the car ready for a sprint day coming up.

Battery Master Switch Install

Having forgotten to trickle charge my car a few times and found the battery completely flat I decided to install a battery master switch.  It also gives a good excuse to tinker with the car.  The complete list of winter jobs included :

1. Redo the back brakes following the blatchat method to see if that loosens the rear wheels.
2. Change the oil (Fuchs Titan Race Pro S 5w30).  5520 miles on the speedo.
3. Put a 3 pin euro plug onto my spare speedo sensor and add to my bag of spares in the car.
4. Install the BMS.

Items 1 to 3 caused no headaches but item 4 had me confused for a while with the wiring.  I used the lotus 7 club 'how to guide' regarding installing a BMS but some of it just didn't stack up for my car.  Therefore for those who wiring is similar to mine I have included some instructions below.

Does your existing wiring match the statements below :

• You have connected a large red cable from the battery +'ve to the right hand pin on the solenoid.
• Connected to the same pin are two brown cables.
• You have an old style ignition switch (metro I think).
• You have no white cables going to your ignition switch.
• You want to install the BMS in the scuttle near to the fusebox.
• You have a BMS which has 2 large connectors and 4 spade type connectors identified as 1 & 2.

If you have this wiring then it matches what I have and the below may be of some use.

Step 1 

Drill a 20mm hole in the vertical black panel between the engine bay and passenger area.  Open up the hole slighty with a dremmel.  Apply some chalk to the fixing hole face and push the BMS up against the vertical black panel to identify where the fixing holes need drilling.  Fix the BMS using the 2 hex set screws, washers and nylock nuts.

Hole drilled in vertical panel above the passengers knees and next to the fuse box.  The fixing holes have been covered in chalk and pushed up against the panel to make where to drill.

Step 2

Disconnect the large red cable from the battery and connect it to the bottom connection of the BMS.  In addition to connecting the large red cable to the bottom connection of the BMS, also make up a 3 inch green cable (round lug on one side and spade type connector on the other) and connect it to the bottom connection of the BMS and one of the pins labelled No. 1.

Step 3

Make another 3 inch long green cable (a spade type connector on one end and a through connector on the other), connect the spade to the other No. 1 pin on the BMS and the through connector to one side of the large white resister.  Use some heatshrink sleeving to keep everything isolated and looking tidy.  Make a 12 inch long green cable (a through connector on one end and a lug on the other).  Connect the through connector to the other side of the large white resistor.  Connect the lug to an earthing point on the car.  There is a spare threaded link in the chassis by the ECU on my car.

Step 4
Mount the white resistor inside the metal bracket which comes with the CC kit.  Then use one of the fixings of the BMS to fix the bracket close to the BMS.  You may need to open up the bracket with pliers and fold it around the white resistor.

N.B.  There are four pins, 2 labelled No. 1 and 2 labelled No. 2.  The number 1 pins are normally closed when the BMS key is off or has been removed  This means that the resister connected will take any energy from the solenoid to earth when you switch the BMS off and remove the key.

Step 5

Take the back off the ignition and identify the pin which has two cables into one spade connector.  The original instructions says these are white cables but I found they were black on my wiring loom.  They were also connected to connector number 30 on the ignition.  See below.

The cables I needed to disconnect from the back of the ignition were the two black ones on the lower right, connection number 30.  Keep the black cables together in the white plastic connector.

Step 6

Make two lengths of cable which can reach from the ignition to the BMS pins labelled no. 2.  The first cable is connected to the two cables which are in the white plastic connector and to one of the pins labelled no. 2 on the BMS.  The second cable connects to the ignition where the two black cables used to be (connection number 30), the other end connects to the other pin labelled no. 2 on the BMS.

N.B.  There are four pins on the BMS, 2 labelled No. 1 and 2 labelled No. 2.  The number 2 pins are normally closed when the BMS key is in and switched on.  This means that the power gets to the ignition switch  when the BMS is on.

I imagine the above is a little confusing due to the connection names I have adopted and so hopefully the photograph below helps.

Cable A : Large Red Cable : From top BMS connector to battery +'ve.

Cable B : Large Red Cable : From Solenoid to bottom BMS connector.

Cable C : Small Green Cable : From bottom BMS connector to No. 1 pin on BMS.

Cable D : Small Green Cable : From No. 1 pin on BMS to one side of white resistor.

Cable E : Small Green Cable : From other side of white resistor to car earthing point.

Cable F : Small Black Cable : From two black cables disconected from the ignition to one of the No. 2 pins on BMS.

Cable G : Small White Cable : From other No. 2 pin on BMS to ignition connection No. 30.

The finished switch installed with the key in the off position.   

France

Had a great two week blat in France.  The roads as others have said are so enjoyable to drive on.  We will definitely be going back despite all the messing about with the chunnel and finding the right Gite.

On the way to France.  The picture coming home looks about the same so I haven't bothered with it.  The tunnel journey gave me time to take the hood off, pack a few things away and set up the sat-nav. 

Quiet roads all the way from Calais.  The journey back from Quimper was 452 miles. 

 

A slight mishap on the way there was me running out of petrol.  I think the increased speed with 188 miles on the clock saw the engine cut out.

France won the who has the best bridges competition.

A couple of very wet days but the hood and SBFS cover kept the cab perfectly dry.

Happier times in the dry.  My job was the morning croissant run which I did using the Caterham.