First of all apologies for the lack of posts but both myself and my girlfriend are going to try to blog a lot more frequently from now on. As for the Autograss project, it has very much taken the back seat of priorities with the current situation. Unfortunately with my parents both being vulnerable, I have had no time in the garage with my father to carry on with this project since the middle of last year. However, whilst isolating It gave my father a very much needed break from daytime tv.
As you can see from the picture the car is now on all 4 wheels, which is always a great milestone in any build. The front suspension and steering is all fully functional, along with the rear suspension. At the rear we have opted for a beam axle this time rather than independent trailing arms. On paper, trailing arms are a better option as they move independently from one another, maximising tyre contact with the ground, resulting in more rear grip. But we opted for a beam axle this time as we believe the trailing arms are heavier, plus they don’t do so well when they take a smack. Autograss is a non contact motorsport, but contact is very common, and limping a damaged car home to the checkered flag is a regular part of the sport.
The shell is not too far away from the all important base coat of paint, but the arches still need modifying to house the unusually wide footprint of the chassis, and a few other small jobs which include chassis fixing points and small repairs.
Engine and all ancillaries are now in place, including the very large radiator and inter cooler which we decided to run as we intend on pushing the turbo boost pressure a bit more than we should, creating a lot of heat, and hopefully a lot of horsepower. My favourite touch of the entire build is the use of a Gerry can as the cars fuel tank. We can only carry 9 litres of fuel due to the regulations limiting potential fire hazards, and a trick which many used in the 80’s and 90s was to use a 1 gallon steel fuel can. I haven’t seen this being used for a very long time, but thought it would be a nice touch as this car is 100% home built, which again is something that has depleted a lot in the sport since the 90’s.
Autograss was suspended throughout the 2020 season, with very few objection. It does look like there will be a 2021 season of some description with a lot of covid rules and regulations in place. However, I do not intend on racing this season. With myself and my girlfriend both being self employed, covid and the lockdowns have hampered us quite a lot, so we need to get that back on track before we go back to spending money on our hobbies.
Thanks for the interest, and I will get back to posting more work blogs in the very near future.
Take care and keep safe. 👍
