Chase Racing Clio Build Blog (TinTops Entry)

[Hoofy]

So, we are entering TinTops this year and as such, here is the build blog from the beginning. All the background and stuff is in the following posts and in fact, this information will be replicated on our website, which we will be hoping to go live with as soon as possible.

Please read on...

[Hoofy]

Background

The story of Chase Racing began in the last few months of 2011, during a casual trip to a rolling road to see a friend's Civic TypeR, which was being prepared for the TinTops series. Ryan and I (Dave) were on the way back from the rolling road in my Clio 172, when Ryan said "What's stopping us doing the same thing?" I couldn't think of a reason not to….and so it began.

The next step was to recruit a third person to join us in this project; this is when I asked Rob if he would like to be a part of it. In his signature laid back way, he expressed his enthusiasm - "sounds terrific". This was the first meeting of Ryan and Rob, but I knew there wouldn't be any clashes of character here, both great guys and both very calm characters.

Ryan and I have known each other for a number of years when we met whilst on an industrial placement at Cummins Engines back in 2007 as part of our respective university courses and have been good friends ever since. Rob I have known since we both began the graduate scheme at Jaguar Land Rover and I knew he was the right guy to approach about this project and it seems the three of us are already showing we make quite a good team! Ryan also joined Jaguar Land Rover in 2011 and hence why we are all in close proximity now.

On to the team name; we had struggled to come up with a team name for a little while, but finally settled on Chase Racing. Rob's surname is Chase and we felt this was the best name we had. We had many inappropriate suggestions, but settled on this. Rob's not in charge though…… no one is, it's anarchy!

And so, in the new year of 2012, we began the project.

[Hoofy]

January 9^th 2012:

The car enters the garage for the first time for the initial weigh in before stripping anything out of it. We filled it with a full tank of fuel and stuck it on corner weights.



For a car that cost me just £1700 back in May of 2011, in good condition and with 90k on the clock….it's doing well. The weigh in reads out at 1114kg with a 64.7% front split.

[Hoofy]

January 17^th 2012:

Today is stripping day and boy did we gut that thing quickly! All seats and interior trim out in 3 hours by Rob and I.



We could have weighed everything we took out and give a nice break down of the change, but that's way too much effort. The seats and seatbelts were immediately sold and Rob took them down south to a guy who gave us £175 for the lot, already recuperating some of the costs!!

[Hoofy]

January 31^st 2012:

We've obtained some very vital parts. We did an order of electric components, mainly switches along with a number plate for the trailer and some gauges. The whole lot adding up to just over £100.



We have also got ourselves an OMP bolt-in cage at just £530 and some Cobra Monaco Pros (in date until 2014) for £225!! Lovely jubbly.

[Hoofy]

February 2^nd 2012:

Initial test fitment of the cage (Rob looks proud of it coming together), so we can figure out where all the mounting plates will need to be welded and so on.



He's me sitting in the seat (I'm the tallest of the 3 of us), mocking up where the seat mounts will go as well as steering rack position.

[Hoofy]

February 10^th,11^th & 12^th 2012

A weekend working on the car commences; Whilst Ryan is fabricating all the bracketry and welding things in place, Rob and I will crack on with other items on the car. So, out come the rear beam and the rest of the rear suspension components and brakes.



The doors comes off the car and out comes the glass, the inner skin will get chopped for that extra bit of weight saving!



I'm back in the warmth of the house as I mark out the polycarbonate, which will replace the windows.



Rob's been busy inside the car with the wire brush attachment on the grinder and a lot of petrol…. All the sound deadening is gone!



All the glass has now been removed as well. The doors were carefully extracted, but the rear was not!

[Hoofy]

February 25^th 2012

Some more thorough cleaning from Rob and all the brake components have been painted up.



An air compressor proved very useful in removing all the front suspension!



Rob starts on the unenviable task of sorting through the main loom (this won't be all done for a while)

[Hoofy]

February 28^th 2012

After a little delay with the welding as we had to get ourselves a big bottle of gas, Ryan is continuing the progress of fabricating all the base plates and so on.



Following on from Rob's efforts with cleaning up all the suspension components, I finished off painting them all a nice vibrant yellow!!



Even the rear beam (complete with strengthening plates) gets the same treatment!

[Hoofy]

Now we're cooking on gas. Photobucket links ftw

[keechy]

looking good, whens the first race?

[Fred@BTM]

they're possibly the most uncomfortable seats ever made, wish i had the time to do this

[Silent_Scone]

lol @ rear windscreen - you never heard of cheese wire?

Good progress!

[Hoofy]

looking good, whens the first race?

Good question.....we're aiming for Snetterton on April 15th, but likelihood is we'll be scraping to get to Brands on May 7th.

[Hoofy]

lol @ rear windscreen - you never heard of cheese wire?

Good progress!

We did it with the side windows and got bored, so SMASH!! A lot more satisfying.

[Tony Hunter]

So you are coming to join us then.

What thickness is the poly windows?, if it's not the right stuff then it will not pass scrutineering.

I'll be watching progress.

Get yourselves a 'Blue book' and get it right first time.

[Cup_Phil]

they're possibly the most uncomfortable seats ever made, wish i had the time to do this

They really are - I once did 6 hours in one driving to cornwall and was fully crippled for 3 days

[Hoofy]

So you are coming to join us then.

What thickness is the poly windows?, if it's not the right stuff then it will not pass scrutineering.

I'll be watching progress.

Get yourselves a 'Blue book' and get it right first time.

Yehh, that's the plan, don't think we'll be quite keeping up with you guys though. We're all up to speed on the rules, got a few copies of the bluebook knocking about now. The polycarb we've got is 3mm which is what the FIA rules say. The bluebook itself doesn't actually quote a number as far as we can find....

They really are - I once did 6 hours in one driving to cornwall and was fully crippled for 3 days

I'm a little sceptical on the seats too, they're not as snug as I'd hoped, but worst comes to the worst we'll sell them on and get something else. We've been doing well with budget, so replacing them won't be a massive expense.

[Tony Hunter]

Are they MSA/FIA Legal?

All our windows manufactured for use in the UK are made from 4mm thick plastics, which meet the vague rules in the Blue Book. These rules state that certain windows may be replaced by a plastic equivalent of at least 4mm thick. For use outside the UK it is advisable to check your own specific regulations as you may be allowed to use 3mm thick windows. We advise you to check your technical regulations, just to make sure.

[BIGASH]

Looks great and will be great to see the progress! Will look forward to seeing the car at Brands As Tony says P4P told us mine needed to be 4mm