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Specific news about Big Mouse Racing will appear here as and when anything newsworthy happens.
23rd December 2005 - Well its nearly Christmas. The car is wrapped up in the gargae sans engine and gearbox. The suspension has all been checked over and is all in good order. The interior and exterior need a cleanup but plenty of time for that in the new year before the season kicks off again.
Have a great Christmas and New Year race fans.
24th November 2005 - I've bought Andy Frosts old Koehler fogger system off him now that he's on the way to twin turbos - good luck Andy!
Hopefully the fogger will give us the same performance increase that it gave Andy. It involves a few changes to the car. Jon Webster will take care of plumbing the intake manifold, reworking the fuel supply, changing the bottle bracket (I've got to change over to 15lb bottles) and then Pete Knight will take the engine and change the existing moly rings for Hellfire rings to standup to the extra levels of nitrous and some Cometic head gaskets. Roll on the Thunderball!!
20th October 2005 - Ooops!! Checked the car over this morning; first opportunity to look at it since putting it away after the National Finals.
Found the rear 2 plugs had completely melted!!. Having gone through the various scenarios of what may have caused such destruction it seems the most likely culprit is the cooling system not keeping the rear of the block as cool as the rest. The two rear cylinders get overheated and causing the mixture to pre ignite hence the build up of heat and melted plugs.
The engine goes back to the engine builder for a health check and some modifications to the cooling system.
One other change for next season is the fitting of a Koehler nitrous fogger system and , money permitting, a data logger.
6th October 2005 - Season Summary - Where to start? I only came out for the 3rd round of the series as the car wasn't ready before that but waht a season its been.
I've had a lot of race craft to learn; a lot to learn about the car and the way it behaves and learnt to stand away from Colin Lazenby when he's undoing ratchet straps!!
I really wanted to be in the 8's by the end of the season but it didn't happen. The car definitely has 8's potential but by taking the correct route in testing and running the car really safe I've had a good time and constantly improved ET's and mph. The car is still running a little rich and still has a few degrees of timing to come back in before it will see its true potential so look out next season!!
Thanks to everyone who has helped this year, in no particular order:
Jon Webster,
Alex McIntosh,
Pete Knight,
Steve Shane,
Phil Harrison,
Ian Page
and of course Denise, my wife.
And finally thanks to the other competitors in the class for making me feel so welcome.
1st/2nd October 2005 - National Finals - Santa Pod
The final meet of the year and the last chance for BMR to find that elusive 8 second run. The week prior to the meet a 2 stage nitrous kit was fitted, kindly donated on a temporary basis by Alex McIntosh, to try and give us that extra bit of punch.
Saturday qualifying was delayed while the track was dried out from the previous evenings downpour but by 11.30 it was ready to run on...for a few minutes until it rained again!!. We eventually got out just before lunch and ran a 9.5, the car launching very hard but still lacking that finishing power. I was happy to discover that we had in fact qualified 2nd, testimony to the track condition which the other drivers were finding difficult.Then we waited...and waited...and waited. S/E were eventually called for their 2nd round of qualifying at ......7.00pm. Lights on, the car ran a 9.3, the mph still not right for the ET, we figured that the car was still running too rich. We ended the day qualifying in 3rd place. The cruise left at 8.30 claiming Jon Webster on route when he failed to restart with a flat battery.
On the Sunday the sky was clear, the air good and we were raring to go. We drew the fatboys in the 1st round of eliminations, always quick and a quick leaver (known to get off the line quick at the start) so we decided to drop some fuel pressure, bring the 2nd stage in a bit quicker and go for a holeshot. Unfortunately for Ian Hook he suffered a broken cam and very sportingly came and told me that they would simply stage the car and then shut down, in doing so keeping the points they needed to retain their position. All I needed to do was run and I was through to the quarter finals. Famous last words!!
Its importnat in racing that the driver focuses on his job; most will have a sequence that they follow and god forbid anything should interrupt that sequence. Knowing that Ian wouldn't be racing was enough to throw me out of my sequence. I had a lousy start, leaving the line off the pedal rather than the transbrake and still had a foot on the brake when I left!!. I still went through but a wasted opportunity to test the new set up. Jone Webster suggested that the car was still too rich so another 1/4lb of fuel pressure was dropped out and a degree of timing put back in ready for the quarter finals against Splinter.
All was well with the car until we got to the burnout; as Splinter took off on one of his trademark rolling burnouts I signalled Alex that i would wait until he was on his way back before heating my tyres. As he started to return I engaged the line lock and floored the car as normal..and nothing. The engine rpm went up for a second then died but leaving flames coming from the carb. Being a rookie I didn't know how to deal with this so just sat and watched until Alex came running back; by then the startline crew where there with an extinguisher and sprayed the card. We were then unceremoniously rolled back as Splinter left for his place in the final.
2 minutes later we fired the engine again and tagged onto the back of the other S/E competitors; unfortunately it did exactly the same again so that ws the end of the season for Big Mouse Racing. Still finished in 3rd over the weekend and have yet to see where we finished in the series.
My aim was to try to finish in the top half of the series, if we've done that then I will be well happy; if we haven't..then I'm still happy.
I've had a great time this season, learnt a lot, met a lot of new (I hope) friends and look forward to next season with relish. Roll on Easter!!
3rd September 2005 - Peak Performance - Santa Pod.
Jon and I took this as a chance to fine tune the nitrous system fitted to the car before making any changes for the National Finals. Jon began to suspect that the car was going to need a 2 stage system to get us away from the line and provide the power we need to get a decent ET.
Today was also the 5th round of the Street Racer Saturday series which is where I started in drag racing. A gret bunch of guys who just want to race their cars without all the rules that go with a formal series. Lots of fun, lots of crack.
The first run out was to be against the reigning SRS champ Andy Bond in his 1969 Camaro; Andys been deep in the 9's for a season and roughly 7/10ths in front of the nearest other SRS competitor - time to make him work for his position!!
I had the same setup that had worked so well at Shakey the week before so I was expecting a failry hard launch.
We both lined up and burnt out at the same time - 99 v 69; it seemed like almost everyone who was there was leaning on the fence to see this race. We both went into stage at the same time.
When the lights dropped I lifted off the transbrake and the car just threw itself at the sky!! The wheels lifted about 24inches of the ground and stayed there for almost a 100ft gradually coming down so softly I didn't feel it. I could still see Andy in my side mirror very close but new I had him. It was very close, a 9.186 against a 9.4. Afterwards Any came over and said that he saw my wheels go up and thought "F*cking hell, I've got him" expecting me to get off it - but like a real trooper I stayed on it for the win. Actually I didn't know at the time how far it had gone up and was just starting to react to it when it started ti drop.
Following a couple of slower runs we eventually clocked a new PB of 9.115 @ 149.60.
27/29th August 2005 - Allstar Nationals - Shakespere county.
The penultimate round of S/E and a great weekend. I think all drivers would agree that the track was in the best condition ever seen at Shakey.
We had a weekend of great launches, improved times and a cruise that I would rather not have to do again in a hurry! A great side by side run between Andy Frost and Ian Hook was the fastest side by side SE ever with Frosty just taking the win with an impressive 8.2 against an 8.3
We were knocked out in the first round of eliminations by Frosty but a great weekend anyway.
30th July 2005 - Mopar Nationals - Santa Pod.
Took the car along for the 5th round of the Saturday street racer series. Only managed one pass betrween rain squalls but ran a stout 9.4 @143 on the same tune as we used at the Bug Jam; even took some power out of the launch expecting the track to be in poor condition. How wrong was I!! With a few tweaks to the current tune; lower the fuel pressure, reduce the spread on the controller, increase launch power etc I'm sure the car has a low 9 capability as it is. Then we have another 250-300 shot of gas that we can add.
The 8's aren't far away.
July 25th 2005 - The Bug Jam was rained off on the Sunday so qualifying runs on the saturday will have to do.
After sorting out thr problem with the nitrous retard last weekend I was keen to start putting some numbers on the board this weekend. With a RWYB being open on the morning, the first run the car blew the tyres off the startline so we went back to the pits to adjust the suspension. The second run was good and confirmed that everything was working as it should.
Qualifying started at 3.30 with the VW classes going up first. I think it was about 4.00pm that SE got onto the track. We all got 4 qualifying runs in by 7.30, but I never quite managed to get a perfect run; either traction broke or the car ran dirty, even so my last run was also a new pb of 9.6 @ 143mph with a rough launch and still a fairly conservative tune. Looking forward now to the Allstar Nationals at Shakey
July 16th 2005 - Took the Camaro to the Pod to try and solve some of the nitrous issues; discovered the fault was with the MSD nitrous retard program which was retarding the spark as well as us taking it out on the crank. Nitrous was working, fuel was working but not with only 13 degrees of timing!! Running out of nitrous prevented us testing any further. Hopefully sorted now for the Bug Jam
July 12th 2005 - A new nitrous controller is on order so hopefully the nitrous problem is fixed now, so we should be able to get a couple of base runs in on the Friday of the Bug Jam meet.
June 25/26th 2005 - The summer nationals held at Santa Pod.
Our debut in Street Eliminator. The weather had improved a bit on Fridays downpour but still too wet to get on the track before lunch.
In the meantime I got to say hello to a couple of the other competitors; Ron Haslett, Wilf Stacey (a newcomer like me) Colin Lazenby and of course Any Frost who we pitted next to. A friendly bunch of people.
I was fortunate to have Jon Webster and Alex McIntosh crewing for me over the weekend so I could concentrate on getting used to the way the car handles now, a big change from before.
Being new to the car I was asked by Santa Pod to perform my observed runs; the first run was a launch as normal and come of it at the 1/8th resulting in a 12 something that was good enough for me to qualify. The car was hooking up prefectly and running arrow straight. Our next run was still on motor only and recorded a 10.68@136.mph which I was well chuffed about.
Sadly the day wasn't without its victims with Jerry Charles and Steve Nash both withdrawing from the cruise with mechanical problems Hopefully they'll be fixed by the Bug Jam.
I was a bit nervous as we prepared for the cruise as it would be the first time the car had been driven for any length of time on the public roads. Fortunately both the car and the engine did exactly what they said on the tin - no dramas at all, the engine started straight away on the hot start and kept within the temp we wanted all the way. It will take me a little while to get used to the car as I'm used to the ease of driving modern efi cars but overall it performed great.
Darren called a drivers meeting when we got back from the cruise to advise everyone that he was running another round of qualifying in the morning in order to catch up a bit after the wet start.
Sunday morning we decided it was time to try a bit of gas on the car but unfortunately the ultra conservative jetting/timing retard combination proved to be just that leaving us with a slower time than the n/a run the day before. By then we were getting called for eliminations and we were to run against Steve Large in his Zodiac who had run a 1/10th quicker the day before. With another failure in the NOS department we were soundly beathen by Steve who went through to meet Frosty in the next round.
Santa Pod were kind enough to allow myself and Wilf Stacey another shot at running later in the day; unfortunately jsut as we were getting ready to run the track had a major oil down from one of the fuel altereds leaving little time to run the rest of the car list. We finally got back on the track about 5.45 where Wilf pulled a good light and sailed away to a 9.1 - on his first outing in S/E!! My nitrous had obviously decided to stay in the bottle for the weekend so its back to the workshop to take another look at it.
A good win for Andy Frost over Colin Lazenby in the final ended the weekend for me.
Thanks to Jon and Alex for all your efforts; Andy for the plugs (used as well as new) Debs for the tea and everyone else who helped. A great first weekends racing in the Big Mouse Camaro and a taster of whats to come.
June 24th 2005 - The first chance to really put the car through its paces at a Webster Race Engineering test day held at Santa Pod near Rushden.
Unfortunately rain stopped any meaningful testing, I got as far as 3 cars from the startline in the morning before the heavens opened and that was it for the day.
June 20th 2005 - Unfortunately we didn’t get to Shakey for the first run, instead choosing to go to Santa Pod to try to get more track time in to test the car at the Jap Shpw RWYB. A couple of “new car gremlins” prevented us putting in a full pass but the early signs are promising with some great launches and wheel lifting.
June 18/19th 2005 - The first official outing for the car is at the UK Nationals held at Shakespeare County Raceway near Stratford upon Avon.
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