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For the best in drag racing news for the UK and Europe you can’t find a better site than
Eurodragster
Specific news about Big Mouse Racing will appear here as and when anything newsworthy happens.
4th July 2008 - ENGINE REPORT
The engine has been checked over by Pete Knight at KNIGHT RACING SERVICES - 01327 871177 He reports that we had a little damage to #1 piston and some molten ally had got caught up in the valves hence the lack of compression. He also found a head gasket leak between #5 & #7 cylinders. A quick head skim, a change of piston (fortunately Pete always orders a spare or two) regrind one of the valve seats, some new rings on order from the states and we'll be ready for the Bug Jam.
Its been a long war of attrition finding the right tune up for the engine with a combination of timing retard, fuel pressure and nitrous/fuel jets in the fogger to finally get close to a consistent 8 second tune; hopefully the Bug Jam weekend will see it happen at last.
17th June 2008 - SUMMER NATIONALS REPORT
Well, at least we got one run in at the Summer Nationals before we packed up again and went home!
The car seemed to be running well right upto the point when we turned the nitrous on and hit the loud pedal. The track was good, the wind was OK, tyre pressue was a bit on the low side due to a small error by Ian (checked the tyres with the wrong gauge) but otherwise the car was up and ready. The tune up was the same as we had put in for the PTM show where it ran a 9.1 on a fairly poor track so I was expecting an equally low 9 or a high 8 from the same tune up. From the off the car didn't seem right but it also wasn't complaining; it was accelerating OK until the 1000ft when it gave an almost imperceptible shudder, I got off the gas straightaway and drove back to the pits. A mid 9 was the result but a quick look at the figures showed it was holding back from the 1/8th mile. While Ian pulled the plugs I checked the timing ticket onto the database to compare it with the previous runs. All the plugs looked OK until we got to #1 which had no electrode left and most of the ceramic missing. A quick compression test showed zero compression in #1 bore so the decision was made to end the weekend right there and fight another day. The engine will go over to Pete Knight for a once over but I suspect a bit of damage to #1 cylinder and piston although I don't think it can be too bad as the engine still runs enough to get it onto the support lorry.
11th June 2008 - SUMMER NATIONALS PREVIEW Its just 3 days to go to the Summer Nationals at Santa Pod and the car is warmed up and ready to go. I've been busy finishing off the fitting out of the support truck in time for the King of Europe trip on the 19th June to make it more comfortable for the 4 days we'll be in Belgium.
I'm looking forward to the competition this weekend, mainly to see if I can better my personal best now that we seem to have a grip on the tuning, and secondly, to have a good look at the other classes to see where I might fit in in the future.
Street Eliminator is fast losing its appeal for me now that the bar has been drastically raised re the cost of being competitive. Following Splinters example of what can be achieved with what is effectively a Pro Mod car (and a great looking car it is too) in a sportsman street class, its going to take more than a back halved car to make the grade and people are quick to see the advantages of a pro built car. Hopefully the cost won't mean the end of the class although it has to be said that numbers are already down since last season.
16th May 2008 - PTM SHOW REPORT
You know those days when its not good but its also not bad? The PTM show was one of those days. I got to Santa Pod on Saturday afternoon following the RWYB in terrific sunshine with all the promise of a great weekends worth of weather. I got set up, carried out the maintenance required on the camaro before running her and settled back for a quiet evening in the lorry with a book and a plate of Pukka Pie and chips. Then the idiots in their hot hatches came out to play.
Despite the best intentions of the on site security and a ban on driving on site after late o'clock they were still out there - driving everywhere flat out, every minute turn of the wheel accompanied by the sounds of squealing rubber and the high pitched laughter of their 14 year old girlfriends. So no sleep....again
In the morning I propped my eyelids open with a couple of used plugs and finished prepping the car and even giving it a look at the polish bottle and the Autosol. Warmed the bottles up, topped up the fuel and rechecked the nitrous setup I was glad of the company of Jon and Jeanette Webster on the Sunday; Jon to help me with the tune up of the car and Jeanette to point out all the best areas for sunbathing - it really was a hot day.Following the results at Springspeed the week before I had already decided on a tune for the fogger; stepping up two ranges of jet to double the amout of gas used; I estimated - spot on actually - that this would put the car into the 9.2s. Jon suggested a slight change to the timing setup and launch via the Edelbrock controller then it was off to give it a go
The car felt and sounded strong as it pulled into, and out of, the water; the new burnout strategy is working well so far. The car hooked up pretty well and ran arrow straight into the 9.2s but still felt sluggish off the line and a bit flat at the top of the track. Back at the pits Jon thought the car would probably hold the full 320hp shot straight off the line as the track was so sticky. I felt that it was a bit early in the day for such bravado so we settled for an 80% shot with a 1.5sec build time The car hooked fine but started to spin the tyres about 50ft out but a quick slap bought it back into line and resulted in a 9.40! Next run we reduced the amount of launch and brought the plate kit back into play giving us about 550hp in total. That bought us a 9.09 - so close!!.Thats when we started seeing the bad part of the day. During the show the track was open for a RWYB; the track started going off quite quickly and despite the efforts of the track crew initially to rectify this the situation got worse with the track starting to marble* at the 100ft mark. The next run was aborted as the car took a sudden turn to the left wall at 100ft out and I had to get off of it; to save gas I drove up the track. The next run was exactly the same with me spinning the tyres at 60ft; trying to egt back on it in frustration and blowing them again and finally trying it again in anger at 150ft - this time bring both the front wheels up in the air. Lesson learned? putting on demos is fine when the track is being used by pro racers in between; when its used for a RWYB its a no go. Still, the car has a 9.0 tune in it on a marginal track so hopefully the next outing will see it back into the 8's.
*Marbling. This is when the top layers of the track start lifting apart and it gains a crazed appearance; keeping traction on treaded tyres on this sort of surface is almost impossible especially with high horse[power applications; it doesn't seem to bother slicks too much though.
4th May 2008 - SPRINGSPEED UPDATE
The Springspped meet at Shakespeare County this weekend was a great success for BMR; no great numbers on the board but we put in some very consistent runs with increases across the board at every point on the timing ticket.
The weather was typical Bank Holiday weather; balmy sunshine followed by long bouts of rain. The track crew worked hard....well, some of them did.... to get the track dry again for eliminations on Monday following 24 hours of rain on Sunday.
When we did get on the track I was keen to make sure that I didn't lean on the engine to much, only making small changes at a time and noting the results each time. We ran a best of 9.6 at 144 although MPH is up due to the change of rear gearing; not the best we've ever run but a good solid basis for building on over the next few meets. I've decided to limit the nitrous to the fogger system only at the moment as I have more control over that; the fogger will flow upto 550-600hp (or so I was told) which is more than enough for the time being.
Learning to use the nitrous controller in conjunction with the MSD ignition timing software and the range of fuel and NO2 jets available is an art rather than a science without any form of data logger so it takes time and laps to get it right; I'm hopeful that the car will be back into the 8's in short time.
I was pleasantly suprised to see that I qualified in 3rd place behind splinter and Jon Webster who were both into the mid 8's; followed up by Jeff Meads who is also an 8 second runner usually. With no qualifiers on the Sunday it was straight into eliminations on Monday once the rain had cleared. Steve Pateman had been troubled with fuelling problems all day on Saturday and qualified in 8th place pairing him with me in the first round. Steve has run into the 7's with this setup so I guessed that my best chance was to go for a holeshot and try to make the best time I could. We both went into our burnouts without problem leaving me thinking to myself "Hello, it looks like he's fixed" Then he had a few problems coming into stage. I waited as long as I could without getting bulbed myself when he pulled forward. We both went into stage at the same time.
I puled a relatively slow (for me) .09 R/T to tree Steve, who pulled a .277 By the 60ft I was ahead and pulled away for the rest of the quartermile confirming that his problems weren't fixed. Thats drag racing.
In the next round I was up against mate Jason Weir. Jason runs a beautiful Procharged 1952 Plymouth Suburban that looks way to nice to be a race car. He's run as quick as 8.4 but has been having problems with boost control so has been back in the 9's. A 9.22 against my 9.6 put me on the trailer and gave Jason a bye straight in the final against the winner of the other semi final pairing of Webster/Nash. While Splinter has run deep into the 7's he was also having problems over the weekend and was running around the 8.6 mark while Jon had been running consistent 8.4's.
Bizarrely the race organisers then decided to call a halt to racing at that point as they had overrun their curfew time - this despite running a demo class a few minutes before which would seem to indicate that thay were happy to continue for another 45 minutes to see it through. Sadly the decision stood, which I suspect, will greatly increases their post bag volume this week as racers will write in to voice their disgust at calling a National Championship event to an early end after spending valuable track time on demo vehichles.Again, thats racing.
30th April 2008 - SPRINGSPEED FESTIVAL
The physio and the consultant both think the shoulder has recoved enough for me to resume normal life so we're off to the Springspeed Festival for the may bank holiday meet; hopefully we'll be able to pick up where we left off last season and get the car settled into some regular perfomance figures. The plan is to try and back up the 8 we ran at the last meet of the year in 2007 against Mark Perkins - only this time leave the 'stang trailing behind :-) The new rear gearing ratio should help us off the startline; bringing the 60fts back into the 1.30s should allow us to run an 8 on the same setup as last year.
14th April 2008 - SPRINGSPEED NATIONAL AT SHAKEY
Well the Physio thinks I should be OK for Springspeed so I've entered; the shoulder is OK one day and really painful the next but it is very slowly getting better so I'll take it a day at a time.
The new diff gears are in, the engine checks out OK so its back to testing again and trying to get back to where we finished up last season - a couple of checkout passes first then a little bit of sniff to see how she reacts off the line with the new gears. It should pick the wheels up a bit better than it has been doing of late.
Say hello if you're there.
19th March 2008 - CAMARO PASSES MOT
The camaro passed its annual MOT this morning and drew a lot of onlookers at the same time with several appreciative comments. She drove there and back without any problems whatsoever, its a different car since removing the faulty FAST Air/Fuel monitor
Not long now before I can get behind the wheel in competition again. I think the Big Bang is looking dobtful but I should be fit for the Springspeed meet at Shakey plus a bit of testing in between the two if I'm lucky.
2nd March 2008 - NEW SEASON IS ALMOST HERE
The car hasn't sold so it's going back into WRE for a couple of changes to the rear end before the new season begins. Jon recommended a lower ratio in the rear end to help with the launches, we could hit the tyres a lot harder than we currently are, and also to help keep the engine in the power ban at the top end of the track as we were running out of gear at the end of last season once we got the car running well.
Following surgery to my shoulder to fix a long term 'mechanical' problem I'll be out of the drivers seat for a month of two, but I'm hoping to make the Big Bang as my first SE meet of the season. Other SE rounds this season will depend on work commitments and the desire to do some 'lighter' events this year including the King of Europe competition during June.
The main aim for this season is to confirm the cars 8 second capability; it ran an 8.97 at the National Finals with one melted plug so with a change to a lower ratio (from 3.50:1 to a 3.70:1) we should see some lower et's and an improvement to the mph.
Come by and say hello.
18th October 2007 - FOR SALE,/P>
Yes thats right, the car is up for sale. After much soul searching I've decided the car has to go. I'd like to say its been a lot of fun over the last couple of years - but it hasn't!! Its been hard work, a lot of grief and a huge amount of money. The advert can be found on Eurodragster.com
2nd October 2007 - INTO THE EIGHTS AT LAST!! - 8.9792@154.55MPH
Finally. On Sunday 30th September at the National Finals I managed to squeeze into the 8's with a 8.97@154.55mph.
It was against Mark Perkins in his 03 Mustang in the first round of eliminations. Mark had qualitifed higher than me so had lane choice; he chose the Autoglym lane which is great because I would have chosen the Pukka Pies lane anyway as all my personal bests have been run in that lane so far!
We both left with wheels up. I got the holeshot with a wicked .0030 reaction time to marks rather more sedate .0260 but he did have a much quicker 60ft with a 1.4058 against my 1.4340 All the way down the track it was neck and neck with just a few hundredths of a second betwen us at the timing points. The 1/8 mile MPH was incredible - 124.29 against 124.30! but at the stripe it was Marks race with a 8.9099. There was just .0463 of a second between us at the end, about 10'6" It was an interesting race for a couple of reason. I imagine it was an interesting race to watch for Jon Webster, who was on the startline, as he built both cars and has tutored both Mark and I in our racecraft and in getting to grips with our respective rides. It was also the first time that Mark had dropped into the 8's too since joining the Street Eliminator class at the beginning of the season. So side by side, first time into the 8's, for two more WRE cars.
What will next season bring??
28th September 2007 - THE NATIONAL FINALS I collected the car off Jon today after he had had it for a week to refit the engine and gerabox, and give the electrics a overhaul in a last attempt to find the elusive fault. It turned out to be the new FAST Air/Fuel Ratio monitor that was playing up and drawing a lot more voltage than it should have been. Once removed the car was back to its old self, sharp and crisp. Unfortuantely due to several oil downs, we only managed to get two qualifiers in on the Saturday, running a 9.50 and a 9.2. The first run was very good with the car accelerating through the finish line for the first time ever; unfortunately a minor fault prevented the nitrous plate kit from coming in on ths startline but the mph was very good. The second run was after waiting for a considerable time in the fire up lane for the track to clear - the nitrous bottle had gone cold, the tyres were down to 11psi and the track was cold - still ok for a 9.2@138 but I had to get off the throttle at the 1000ft mark due to really bad tyre shake. The cruise didn't leave until almost 9.15 in the evening which entailed an interesting crusie back through some of the sleepy villages at around 10:15 - not good if you are trying to get some sleep as 16 Street eliminator cars come through :-) The weather is looking good for tomorrow and so is the car.
20th September 2007 - LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NATIONAL FINALS
Its been a while since I updated the website but i plan to give it a revamp over the winter. I sat out the last SE meet as the car was still not running right. Following our new PB at the Bug Jam the car just wouldn't run right; we looked at the electrics - I ended up trimming out 13.5lbs of excess cable from the original loom -, the tune wasn't right, the engine would get overheat etc etc , the list was endless. No sooner had you found and resolved one problem than another cropped up.
Last week I was just running the car up to temp again to have one last go at finding the problem when I noticed a lwater leak from the intake manifold. After stripping the manifold off and cleaning it all up I realised that I had no gasket seal so I went off to the engine maestro himself, Pete Knight of www.knightracingservices.co.uk tel 01327 871177, to get some. Pete suggested that it would be a good idea to pull the engine and get it setup on the dyno again which I duly did. Just 2 days later I get a call from Pete, the engine burbling along nicely in the background, "what does your converter stall to?" he asks."about 4500" say I. "Hold on" he says. Engine note rises quickly in the background. "Sounds OK to me" says Pete.
So the engine is OK, leaving me to ponder what the problem might be. "I've been thinking about that too" says Pete. On the back of the intake manifold we have 2 bypass hoses that take the water from the back of the heads to the front of the engine, it helps keep the back two cylinders from overheating, a common enough fault on high rpm small blocks. One of them is so close to the dizzy cap that it looks like it may have prevented the dizzy cap being rotated enough to catch the spark last time we rephased the crank trigger. Under high load it looks like we may have lost the spark. This would answer a lot of the problem we have been having.
So what lessons have I learnt this season?
First and foremost, booking your engine in for some dyno time with someone like Pete Knight is worth every penny.
Second, doing things myself takes longer but I find out more about the car and that builds my confidence in what the car is capable of
Third, listening to a couple of trusted people is much better in the long run than taking advice from every tom, dick and harry.
And finally...its my car. I've got to own it rather than it owning me
The car is back off the Jon Webster at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk 01933 315236, on Monday for a check over before the National Finals at the end of the month.
1st July 2007 - FAST FEST SHOW - SANTA POD - 1ST JULY 2007
I have had a kind invite to attend the Fast Fest show at Santa Pod and put on some demonstration runs for the crowd; hopefully they'll like what the see and we'll be able to put in some high 8 second passes following on from the Summer Nationals the fortnight before. More details at www.fastfest.co.uk
31st May 2007 - A DAY IN THE WORKSHOP...
I arrived at the workshop around 8.30 and unloaded the car. The idea was for Jon and I to go through the car and find the elusive "on/off" electrical fault that has bugged the car since its rebuild. This 'bug' seems to have affected almost everything in the car but mostly its affected my enthusiasm and enjoyment of the car, not least because its not managed a run within 3/10ths of its best time since September 2005!!!
First thing to check was the fogger system and to find out why it wasn't working on the track. Last time out at Shakey we found a faulty microswitch which was swapped out but still no power coming out of it. A simple wiring fault seemed to be at the heart of the problem; that and the fogger jets having been put back on the wrong way around when the intake manifold was refitted!! Doh!!
In my defence I was very hung over and two other people were involved!!
As I went to back the car out of the workshop the next propblem came along; one which has raised its head a few times but never in front of Jon. You know the sort of problem - it always occurs when you are in the car but never happens when you want someone else to see it. To get reverse one has to select reverse gear and hold the transbrake down; as I hit the button the engine just died, take the hand back off and it comes back up again. Fortunately Jon was in the car this time to witness it (hey, no more thinking I'm imagining things). Tried it in 1st, same result. I told Jon that if I pulled the control panel off it would work OK and so it did, which suggested to me that it was a wiring short somewhere.
Jon proceeded to carry out all sorts of wiring checks, voltage checks etc to discover that a) there was a loose earth wire on the back of the engine (which didn't affect the problem) and b) to confirm that when the fault occurred it was dropping down to 4.9v. The issue was where was it dropping from. Initially we disconnected the launch control as that is directly wired into the transbrake - no change. Then we checked the transbrake solenoid - no change. Checked through all the wiring to and from the transbrake to the ignition for shorts, nothing visible. A good 3 hours later of diligent fault tracing and Jon finally discovered the fault - the 12v wiring from the FAST Air Fuel Ratio monitor was drawing off the ignition; once it was changed to draw straight of the 12v feed the problem disappeared. At last.
A quick break for lunch and off up the A45 for a road test; one of the great things about Street Eliminator cars is that they are taxed and road legal so you don't have to wait to get to the track before testing. A quick trip up to full throttle and Jon flicked the fogger on, a short 2 second delay and then - Bingo!! It worked even with a cold bottle and a relatively small shot of gas. A couple of check runs to confirm it was definitely OK and back to the workshop.
A trip to the workshop is always a good thing for me; I get to learn a little bit more about the operation of the car, the way things work etc by picking Jons brains as he works - if there are any doubters out there, let me tell you this guy does know his business - and also you get to see all the little bits that you miss at the track - like the 2 bolts missing out of the trans cross member; the loose earth wire etc all stuff that I need to remember to add to my already growing list of maintenance checks for each meet.
Thanks again to Jon Webster at www.webster-race-engineering.co.uk
21st May 2007 - PEAK PERFORMANCE DAY - SANTA POD
Well, it was another day at the track when we failed to make the most of our time. The headwind was pretty bad so I expected the time to be down a bit but the fogger system decided to play up yet again. On the second run the engine struggled to get past 6000rpm in second gear as the fuel side of the fogger kicked in without the nitrous to compensate.
I'll have one more go at trying to sort this problem out myself but failing that I've already asked Jon Webster at Webster Race Engineering to take a look at it for me and get it working.
8th May 2007 - SPRINGSPEED FESTIVAL - SHAKESPEARE COUNTY RACEWAY
A good weekend up until it rained just as Street Eliminator were about to go into the first round of eliminations - and me on a bye too!!
I got to the track on Friday afternoon after spending the first part of the morning sitting in the dentists chair after half a tooth fell out late Sunday evening and then driving over to Jon Websters work shop at WEBSTER RACE ENGINEERING in Rushden to check the car over, rephase the ignition and a couple of other bits that needed attention. A quick test drive around the block and the car was running as well as it had when first put together. Needless to say I left Rushden feeling quite confident
Saturday morning bought a bit of sunshine with it but a cold track; the first run out saw virtually everyone have problems with traction, myself included. The car launched fine but blew the tyres away big time about 40ft out. A 9.90 @ 143 was the result, the mph showing the car was on the way back to its previous levels of performance.
Unfortunately the second run wasn't so good. The car started overfueling again at idle; the temp stayed at sensible levels so I knew it wasn't the previous problem with the intake manifold leaking. I'd taken some of the power out of the launch so as to not overpower the track but it was a fairly poor performance, the car dropping of power at around 6000rpm in 2nd gear. I flicked the fuel pump off at the top of the track and managed to get back to the pits without turning it back on again!! obviously getting supplementary fuel from somewhere and that could only be from the nitrous system.The solenoids seemed to be OK but I paid the Fatboys for help on Saturday night (in burgers - food always gets their attention!!)and in return Martin & Paul kindly came over to check the electrics on Sunday morning for me. It turned out to be a faulty microswitch - it was turning on OK but not turning off thus allowing fuel to run through the solenoid and over fuel the engine. Once it was replaced the car was set - until we discovered that hitting the transbrake now cut the engine out and the MSD ignition was not "seeing" the 2nd step retard, the fogger system.
A bit more investigation - subsequently missing the two qualifiers on Sunday - turned up a mistake on my part. I admit to not reading the insructions for the Edelbrock Progressive controller as it broadly works in a similar way to my old one. However - if the 12v output delay is set to 0.000 then it disables the whole system. Doh!! The transbrake issue is a loose wire somewhere that hasn't been found yet but it does seem to be related to refitting the elctric console, at the moment its working again but needs sorting out before the next meet.
The cruise went off without a hitch, apart from me forgetting to check the fiuel levels in the car before setting off and making it to the fuel stop by the skin of my teeth. DOH!! again. Of course I immediately blamed it on the crew as any racer should do but I was just pleased to have passed the cruise, the first time into eliminations this season
The ladder looked good for us; first round against Colin Lazenby who had unfortunately not made the cruise due to a transmission problem therefore giving us a bye into the second round. A great opprtunity to check the car out. The second round would have seen us against either Andy Frost or Ray Tucker; lots of ifs and maybes here but given the condition of the track I gave myself a better than evens chance of doing well against either of the two big hitters as neither had run faster than a 9 all weekend. The winner of that round then had the luxury of having a bye all the way through into the final.
Unfortunately the rain started about 3.30am on Monday morning and stayed with us until after lunchtime when it slowly dried up. The track was opened again and SE were the 4th class out - the rain came down again, and thus the meeting was called - just as the first two SE cars went into stage. Robbed!!
The next outing will be the Peak Performance day on the 19th May at Santa Pod whn I get to join my old buddies in the SRS championship
THANKS must go to Jon Webster for his help and advice at the track even though trying to get his own car ready; Martin and the rest of the Fatboys for their help and advice (and taking those dodgy burgers off my hands) and my crew, Ian and Phil. Thanks everyone.
30th April 2007 - THE BIG BANG
Well another bad weekend for Big Mouse Racing. I've been noticing the engine was running off a bit the last time out, running a bit warmer than it usually does but put that down to the fueling problem we found on the first test day. Turns out it was a blown intake gasket which got worse really quickly resulting in having to strip the intake off the car to get at the gaskets which, sure enough, showed signs of leaking from the centre runners.
Given the problems I've had witht he car over the last two seasons, its perhaps understandable that I was fairly down about yet another breakage albeit a fairly minor one. My first thoughts were to take it back to Pete and let him sort it out but then I got to thinking how long that might take so I had a long and deep conversation with Stella on the saturday evening instead! Emerging Sunday morning with a world class hangover to the sound of big V8 engines and lots of fumes didn't really help me feel better but I was in the mood, if not physically, to sort the engine out. By mid morning I had cleaned up the faces of the block, intake and the spacer plates - with this engine you have spacer plates between the heads and the intake so 4 gaskets are required - and had resealed the bottom gaskets and plates when a mate, Phil Harrison, came over. He took one look at the state of me and rolled his sleeves up and started straight in on the engine, followed a few minutes later by another top man, Laurie, who also came over and just started to help without being asked. Its times like this when you need people like that around so thanks very much guys, it was really appreciated.
In between me trying to do something useful, falling asleep for half an hour, and the occasional bout of retching into the corner we got it all resealed and replumbed. Just needs the ignition timing rephasing and filling with water and its ready for next week.
9th April 2007 - EASTER THUNDERBALL - SANTA POD
I just got back from Santa Pod and the car is at least in one piece, so an improvement on last years Thunderball :-)
Not a very succesful weekend but a slow progression towards getting us back to where we were at the end of the 2005 season. We had a bit of a fuelling problem on the first run when the car stalled after the burn out and simply wouldn't refire so I got pushed back. The car still wouldn't start so Ian, the new crewman, ran back to the pits to get the battery jump box.
Back in the pits we recharged the battery and tried again, the engine fired up but was hunting so we traced back through the engine to discover where the problem was. Eventuall found a few loose nuts and went out to try again. Stalled on the startline again but put in a 9.6 after refiring.
Next morning we found a knock coming from the axle - or so we thought. Turned out to be a loose rear wheel, my decision to turn off the fire up lane and return to the pits being spot on, a wheel coming loose at 140+ mph is not a good thing.
Then we had a fueling problem all over gain which resulted in stripping the entire fuel system down, pulling the foam from the fuel cell and blowing through the whole system with an airline. We found traces of foam in the carb and in the cell itself. The sender unit had caught the foam; every time it moved with the fuel level it tore another little piece off. Once we'd cleaned everything it seemed to run OK. But 10 minutes before the crusie the car refused to start - dead battery!! A hastily swapped battery didn't help as the new one didn't have the ampage to turn the engine over. We even tried to piggy back another battery but the jump leads we were leant we simply not big enough to take the current. Better to fail the cruise in the pits than fail on the side of the road or have a fire!!
Next morning started with everything in place but we had only two qualifying runs to try the now cleaned out car; it ran a 9.5 and a 9.6 proving that we can put a lot more gas through the engine off the startline that we could previously.
Next round is the Big Bang at Santa Pod on the 28/29th April. Will that see us into the 8's? I hope so.
31st March 2007 - PEAK PERFORMANCE TEST DAY
Well it didn't go as I'd have liked.it to
First run the engine just went away over 5000rpm in 2nd gear; turned out to be a blocked fuel filter.
The second run ended quite abruptly when the hood flew back into the windscreen 100ft out fro the startline; couldn't get anyone to replace it on the day so that was it over for the day.
What a waste!
23rd March 2007 - THE FAST FEST SHOW - JULY 1ST, SANTA POD In association with Fast Car, Redline, Fast Ford and Total Vauxhall the Fast Fest show is exactly that a fest of fast cars from all areas of Motorsport.
Check it out at www.fastfest.com
I am very pleased to announce that the Big Mouse camaro will be in attendance, having been invited to put on some demonstration runs by the organisers following a kind prompt by Paul Hastie of the American V8 club in Coventry.
There will be a real mixture of cars on the track with some interesting match races between different types of race car from F1, rallycross to drag car.
I'm really looking forward to it and showing the car off in front of a different audience.
6th February 2007 - RACE SEASON IS APPROACHING, Only another 2 months to the opener of the season, the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod. I'm feeling a little nervous as the last Thunderball saw me taking the car home in pieces.
There seem to be a lot of new cars registered for Street Eliminator this season. Jon Websters old 96 Mustang Cobra is coming out under new ownership with a Knight Racing Engines big block Ford; a couple of old hands are due back - Jeff Meads and Ian Jackson with his stunning twin turbo corvette. Rumour has it that Steve Kellett will finall make an appearance with his mustang. Andy Frosts mighty twin turbo Victor is the man to watch; we all know what the car has already ran with a staggering 7.80 @ 184mph in street trim but what else is there to come.
The old school are still there and strong contenders as always; the huge 706 powered Chevy of Colin Lazenby, the twin turbo Cougar of Steve 'Splinter' Nash and of course Steve Pateman in the 706 Calibra that won the inaugral World Street Race is Louisana back in 2005.
We can't ignore the rest of the pack either. Jon Webster and his stunning turboed small block ford MG SV, I bet MG wished they could have built it like this! The corvette of Ray Tucker has shown us its teeth last season, more to come? As well as lots of other cars who could all potentially be in the 8 second zone this season.
My plans? To get the car baselined again and start to tune it with the knowledge we picked up previously. On paper the car is mid 8 capable and could still upset the apple cart on the right track. Ahh happy days!!
5th February 2007 - NEW CONVERTER FITTED
Spent the day in Webster Race Engineerings workshop yesterday fitting the new Neil Chance converter. Or should I say assisting Johnny Mac to fit it - alright I just held the torch and passed spanners but I was there!
Filled the engine with water, filled the trans up and it was ready to fire up again for the first time since the engine ley go at the Easter Thunderball last season - 10 months of scraping by to rebuild the engine, all the anguish of worrying what had caused it, the anticipation of hearing it run again - yep, I forgot the keys to the trunk so couldn't get at the gas tank!! Its got to be the only GM car you can't open with a screwdriver!
A few minor electrical gremlins left to sort out, mostly due to my playing with the electrics when I should really leave well alone. Oh well, gotta learn somehow.
27th November 2006 - STREET ELIMINATOR AWARDS
The SE Awards night was held at the Cheltenham Park Hotel and was well attended by over 100 racers, crew, sponsors and family members.
A full list of who won what can be seen at www.streeteliminatoruk.com,
9th November 2006 - NEW SHINY BITS!!
The new Edelbrock nitrous controller has arrived, this is the old Schnitz controller who now manufacture under the Edelbrock name. Very nice bit of kit.
Also in the box was the new FAST air/fuel ratio monitor with twin sensors; very useful piece of kit for tuning an engine.
30th October 2006 - THE CLASSIC CAR SHOW, NEC
We were at the Classic car Show on one of our sponsors stands, the American Vehicle owners Club, in Hall 2. It was a very busy weekend with a constant stream of visitors looking over the car all weekend; thank you to all those who came up and said hello.
The car was well received by everyone; some of the nicest comments coming from some of our older car enthusiasts - "I wish I had something like that when I was in my 20's" This from an 84 year old who used to race open cockpit single seaters in the 40's and 50's.
The show itself was massive, with entrance to the MPH 06 show being tacked on free with the tickets it made it a good weekend out.
A couple of companies exhibiting at the show came over and made enquiries into our sponsorship program and, while I'm not one to count my chickens etc, it would be nice if something was to come out of it.
26th October 2006 - PREPARATION FOR THE SHOW ,
Thanks to Pete Knight at Knight Racing Services and Jon Webster at Webster Race Engineering for pulling the stops out and getting the engine rebuilt and back in the car ready for taking to the show. Although the engine wasn't able to be run due to a fault in the torque converter being spotted at the last moment, it did look complete once in the car.
25th October 2006 - SUPPORT TRUCK UPDATE
The raised floor is in place with plenty of storage underfoot; all of the awning components fit in; the ramps slide in up the middle; axle stands, jacks etc all fit in place with more room to spare.
I've started to fit out the kitchenette and shower but as long as its functional as far as the car is concerned, that can all be finished off as when I've got time. By time the new season comes around we should hopefully have it all ready for weekends away at the track.
10th October 2006 - END OF SEASON Well, the season is over. Big congratulations to Ian 'Fatty' Hook and the rest of the Fatboys for a well deserved win as Street Eliminator UK 2006 champion.
The engine rebuild is going well and I'm told we are on schedule for having the engine back in time to refit it prior to the car making its appearance at the Classic Car Show at the NEC at the end of October. Please come by and say hello if you are there, we will be on the American Vehicle Club stand.
For next year we have in place a couple of new measures. A FAST air/fuel monitor to assist in getting the tune right; a must with nitrous engines plus a couple of additions to the checks; a in cabin nitrous guage plus trans oil sensor.
15th September 2006 - NEW CREW MEMBER.
I am very pleased to confirm that Steve Nelmes will be joining the Big Mouse team from the start of next season. Steve has previously raced a season in VW Sportsman so knows the ropes as far as racing goes; he just needs to get used to a few more cylinders!!
I'm sure he will make a great addition to the team.
6th September 2006 - NEW RACE SUPPORT TRUCK
We have taken possession of a DAF 7.5 ton box lorry today that will be transformed (eventually!!) into the BigMouse race support vehicle.
Webster Race Engineering have been fitting it out with ramps to get the car in and out as well as the supply and fitting of a 5 ton electric winch.
Further fitting will include a raised floor with storage underneath for the canopy; a kitchenette and shower area plus of course an LCD screeen so I don't miss those all important TV episodes while I'm away!
1st September 2006 - The engine build is well underway with an anticipated completion for the end of October. Once the engine is back in the car it will be taken along to a rolling road to be chassis dynoed before hitting the track.
31st August 2006 - BIG MOUSE AT THE NEC
We have been invited to display the car at the Classic Car show at the NEC courtesy of one of our sponsors www.amvo.org, a non political club for all american vehicle owners. They will have a stand with some of their members vehciles represented and have asked us to display the Camaro.
1st July 2006 - Waiting for an engine to be built is torture!! In the meantime, other than polishing the car and sitting in it making brrrmmm brrrmmm noises I have been busy fitting a new 200 mph electronic speedo, an in-cabin nitrous pressure guage and an oil temperature guage.
Also on order from Summit is a FAST air/fuel wideband sensor kit which should be fitted once the engine goes back in.
23rd May 2006 - WE CAN REBUILD IT!! Am I ever glad I married my wife!!! After talking about it last night for some time my wife convinced me that we should rebuild now and not leave the car lying n the garage.
I honestly did try to argue with her that it was too much money but she insisted and was happy to forego the new kitchen she wanted and the holiday to orlando at the end of the year. What a girl!!!
Emailed Pete Knight earlier about a couple of changes that we might make to the engine design for the rebuild
22nd May 2006 - Back from a week in Spain to find the report on the rebuild of the engine in my email folder.
Bad news.
The engine is scrap from the heads down, even the block has had it so a complete rebuild is required from scratch. To say I am gutted is an understatement. The cost of the rebuild? well, lets just say its more than I can justify spending at the moment.
11th may 2006 - Pete Knight has confirmed that the engine suffered its damage due to loss of end float on the crank. Initially we were thinking a wrist pin failure but its now clear what caused the trauma.
While I'm away Pete will work out the cost of repais/rebuilds etc. Hopefully it won't be too much and we'll be out again soon.
1st May 2006 - Following the engine damage at the Easter Thunderball it is with regret that I have to withdraw from the championship for the rest of the season. The engine sustained severe bottom end damage due to loss of crank end float at the3 top end of the track requiring an extensive rebuild as well as repairs to the block. Unfortunately funds simply do not allow for this repair work to be carried out this year following the expense already incurred at the beginning of the season to get us out in time. I've learnt a lot from the experience and will be back again as soon as funds permit, I will get that elusive 8 second ticket!! In the meantime I'll be at every meet to help out where I can with race commentary; cruise duty and fuel checks plus the odd bit of hands on assistance to the other teams wherever I can.
19th April 2006 - What a disaster. Following a few runs at the Peak Perfomance day last week it was discovered that the new torque converter is flaring. As soon as the transbake is released the engine is revving to 5500 and staying there until the tc locks up again half way down the track.
Andy Frost from Penn Autos kindly stepped in and swapped the stator over to drop the stall speed of the converter. On the launch the tc stalled at 4500 which is about where its needed, the car launcing a lot better.......but then disaster struck.
At the top end of the traqck the engine decided to kick out a rod and dump its oil all over the track; a massive hole was found in the oil pan and lots of debris left lying in the bottom of the pan.
The engine will get pulled and taken back over to Knight Racing Services for a strip down and analysis of what went wrong.
I'm beginning to think that this car is jinxed!
13th April 2006 - The car is loaded on the trailer; the support gear is all packed. Its looking a little wet outside but the forecast for Friday and Saturday is looking good.
5th April 2006 - The opening round of the season at Avon Park was a bit of shambles and I don't just mean the weather. The track organisation was a joke and its fair to say that it was highly unlikely that 3 rounds of qualifying were ever going to be possible even without the weather stopping play. A big shake-up is required before any improvements are likely to happen.
On the first round of qualifying, having been called up by one of the startline crew to burn out (before the chief starter was ready as it turned out - a shambles as I said before), a small leak was spooted from the cooling lines to the transmission and we were pushed back. As it turns out this was the only chance any of the classes would get to try and qualify as it took most of the day to run just one qualifying round!!
Just 2 cars from the 9 present managed to qualify, one of them breaking in the process. Hopefully we'll have better luck at the Thunderball in 2 weeks time.
1st April 2006 - Raring to go!! The engine sounds crisp and sharp, the refreshed gearbox feeling tight and firm. Hopefully we'll be in the 8's very soon.
21st March 2006 - Spent the day at WRE workshop to refit the engine following the succesful dyno session. Unfortunately the torque converter still hadn't arrived from the states so we had to try and get the engine in on its own.
To say its tight over the cross member is an understatement, needing four of us at one point to be able to angle the engine correctly in order to get it to slide in - but in it went leaving the hosework to be connected back together.
I'm seriously thinking of contacting Speedflow and demanding sponsorship this year!! When you look at the engine you'll see why.
Thanks to Jon and the guys at Webster Race Engineering for the help, the coffee and giving me the workshop space.
12th March 2006 - SPONSORSHIP NEWS
I am very pleased to announce that both American Car World magazine and the American Vehicle Owners Club have agreed to support us this year as Associate supporters.
American Car World is the leading monthly magazine for covering the american car scene and racing in the uk. Its coverage and range of features is superb without concentrating on just one genre. As an added bonus ACW are also sponsoring the Real Steel Street Eliminator UK series this year with full coverage of all rounds appearing in the magazine.
The American Vehicle Owners Club was formed last year to provide owners and enthusiasts of american vehicles, whether they be Chevy, Ford, Mopar or whatever, a friendly, helpful family type club to join. No politics allowed!!
Please help my sponsors to help me - take out a subscription to American Car world www.chpltd.com/acw/index.html for great annual savings and visit and join AMVO online at www.amvo.org
11th March 2006 - The revisions to this website are now up and running.
6th March 2006 - Had the engine dynoed at Knight Racing Services today and tried out the new fogger system. It all worked fine and came off the dyno in opne piece which is always a bonus with a nitrous engine!! The engine turned out a healthy 938.9bhp@6100 and a whopping 910.5ftlbs@5090 - all with the smallest jets we had for the fogger so plenty of room for improvement,
I've also downloaded Nitrous Master software from Koehler Injection @ www.koehlerinjection.com a great tool for tuning your nitrous car safely.
23rd January 2006 - Picked up the transmission from Andy Frost at Penn Autos today on the way back from a weeks holiday in Scotland. Andy is a fellow competitor in Street Eliminator and a guru when it comes to transmissions; his work comes very highly recommended; Penn Autos can be contacted on 01902 344004. Hopefully the engine will be finished soon and we can start putting everything back together.
6th January 2006 - Latest news on the engine from Pete knight is that there is some minor damage to the head from a broken valve; a couple of new pistons required and a bit of a clean up while the new rings are being fitted. Once its back on the dyno we'll take some figures to work out what the spec of the new torque converter needs to be.
What new torque converter you say? Well, the gearbox went to Andy Frost at Penn Autos (01902 344004 for all your transmission needs) for a freshen up. It seems that the components fitted in the states may be a bit suspect with the new levels of power the engine should produce so we've gone for a refit with a Maraging 300 input shaft and Neal Chance converter plus hardened pins and upgraded planetary.
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