Bubble Trouble!

Pretty well ready for Sunday.

Got the window net in, “free flowed” the rear muffler (it is hilariously quiet still), fitted a new safety harness, and a catch can.

Window nets are getting easier as I do more of them. Still one of the less enjoyable parts of building a race car.

Picked up the new tyres. Spending nearly $800 on tyres for a $600 car pretty much summarises “Spac’s poor life decisions”... It is a point to remember when I am next wondering why I am so broke...

Been an interesting few weeks because of reasons that I won’t go into now...

But Round 2 beckons, so I pulled my finger out.

Main thing was fitting some brake ducts. No idea how they are going to work, but worth a try.

They are as classy and high budget as they appear. ?

I also made a basic cold air intake - not expecting miracles, but the stock intake snorkel is about 40mm in diameter for about 500mm which did seem a bit restrictive.

It is now 75mm ID and about 350mm long, as well as picking up from the gap between the radiator and headlight, rather than directly behind the headlight.

No photo of the CAI, but here’s what the original looked like:

Rules say that the driver’s name has to be on the top of the windscreen. This rule was widely ignored last time, but they have promised/threatened a crack down on the rules this time, so I decided to make sure I didn’t paint a target on myself... Hand written in Barbie pink is just another touch of class.

Also cameras. These are cheap crap ones my dad bought and then gave to the kids once he realised that they were unsuitable (too crappy) for what he wanted to use them for.

After the bit of biff and barge at Round One and the reasons I won’t go into now, I decided that having an onboard camera was probably a good idea - and that having two of them is probably a better idea.

Surprisingly difficult job to mount them where they give the view you want and are out of the way and are secure. The back one cops a mad reflection of the holes in the rear parcel shelf - I have stuck some foam tape (because it is matt black) over the holes but do not have high expectations.

I gutted the cat converter. Seems like a waste of time so far, TBH. Does have a raspier note on the free rev, which is not a positive. Need to spend the money on a proper exhaust.

Oh, and I also changed the spark plugs and cleaned out the distributor trying to chase a slight misfire at idle. Didn’t fix it. Spark plugs came with another car I bought, so I have literally not spent a cent on it for this round!

(I did get a roll cage bent up for it, but ran out of time/motivation to fit it. So the $400 it owes me doesn’t get counted yet!).

Qualified 5th.

Finished the first race in 5th.

Finished the second race in 5th.

Finished the third race in... you guessed it... 5th.

Good part is that I was 1st in Class A every race too, which makes me happy. Andy in the KC TX3 was much closer today - and if I'm honest, he's only a set of better tyres away from giving me a very hard time.

Also had contact with another car early in the 45 minute reverse grid race. From my point of view, I was tight on the inside at the exit of a corner partially alongside his car, and he moved away from the fast line to block me and we contacted. From his point of view, I wasn't alongside his A-pillar and therefore he had right-of-way.

We both gave each other the "WTF?!" look immediately after it happened and I figured that was the end of it.

After the race he gave me a serve as soon as I got out of the car, and I returned fire. Not the finest moment for either of us - I regret engaging with him before we'd both cooled down. Unfortunately the shitty Chinabay GoPro went flat a few laps before the contact so there's no evidence there, but it does show that he'd been taking a radically different line on previous laps.

I had a great day regardless. :)

Prepped this bad boy yesterday, in between running around sorting CAMS paperwork for the second BMW.

By “prepped”, I mean that I changed the oil and the front brake pads... ?

All my intentions to remove the AC, fit a new exhaust and strip the tar off the floors have been swamped by everything else, so it will go into the final round on Sunday in the same old spec.

Anyway, here’s a photo taken after I sprayed cheap mag wheel cleaner onto the wheels - they came up surprisingly well!

Overdue update on this...

I missed the last round of the inaugural Small Car Cup due to gall bladder issues that lead to cholangitis and nearly a week in hospital... This is not something that I can recommend to anyone. Gall bladder attacks hurt like crazy, but when you have them while also feeling like you’re dying from the flu, they’re even less fun.

Then I sold the Bubble.

Literally the day the 121 was picked up, it was replaced by this 121. I bought this 15 or 16 years ago, and it has been living at a mate’s place for that time as our shared spare shell for various RX5 rally cars. Neither of us own any RX5s, so when he made noises about moving it on, I claimed it back.

But it is another story for another time.