Forge Summer Performance Car Action Day
Saturday, Sept. 10th 2011
At Castle Combe.
I decided at the last minute to take part in this event as it will probably be the last trackday I do this year and probably the last time for the Track Sprint in it's current guise.
I had to take the wheels for PUS to the sprayers so used the Track Sprint to deliver them (as they won't fit in the S2000), just as well I did as on the way the engine got quite hot. When I got there I opened the bonnet & let it cool down whilst I was waiting for the wheels to have new tyres fitted. Once it had cooled down sufficiently I refilled with water & leaving the brass filler nut off, switched on the ignition expecting the coolant to flow out of the thermostat housing (leccy waterpump), but nothing happened. After a bit of fiddling I found it was just a corroded connector stopping the pump from working.
When I got back home I decided to remove the wp controller (this has nothing to do with the above problem, just something I've been meaning to try out). This controls how fast the pump rotates depending on the water temp.. So now the pump runs at it's max. revs whenever the ignition is on. So obviously the engine now takes longer to warm up but on track the temp never went above 85 degs. which is great as it used to hit 90-95. (and I've added some lightness
)Anyway, although it was windy and we had a few showers, all three of my sessions were dry, which was a bonus. The Sprint went really well but I keep spinning up the rear wheels through Quarry (the tight right hander just after the long start/finish straight), you can hear the revs scream before I flick the o/d switch.
There was a fair amount of interest in the Sprint, you know the usual "I used to have one of those..." One guy came over & said similar and that he was driving the green with yellow striped MX5 that I had passed at an earlier event. "What have you got under the bonnet" he asked, a Sprint engine I replied. "Get away" he says. So I opened the bonnet. "Bloody hell, it is." He was expecting some sort of modern transplant. I also got talking with a youngster who had a 1.8 Fiesta. He asked if he could come round with me so I obliged. He was suitably impressed.
Anyway, enough of me rabbiting, here are the vids...
Session 1
Session 2
My son didn't think a Dolomite could drive that fast 
I have not driven it despite repairing it.