86alex

Don't miss out on this! 
Offer ends at the end of September! 
Speak to me if you have any questions or you're interested in buying.
 

https://www.part-box.com/20054760-cosworth-fa20-stage-1-2-power-package?search=cosworth supercharger&description=true

Hope to arrive in time for some food.

Attempting before 5pm to completely avoid rush hour traffic 

The driveway has got more busy
 

With that size of class, should there be 3 steps on the podium  (trophies lol )

Looks like we'll make double figures for N1-S!

Just to add to this the winter tyres performed way beyond expectations and handled everything that was thrown at them apart from the final gymkhana when they, in f1 speak, fell off a cliff and became the slippiest thing ever leading to me gaining the award for most sliddy. 
However, this was after a day of extreme use (speeds in excess of 120mph, emergency stops from 90mph, a handling circuit session, etc) and in a temperature of 28 degrees c. 
For normal road use and spirited driving there would be absolutely no issue running the Nokian WRA3's all year round and it really showed why they make such excellent winter tyres. 

Me & Faith will be at the PI. Pretty sure Keith is coming and hopefully staying there too!

Link to the first round photos are up: http://sprintseries.dansteeples.co.uk/2016-sprint-series/1-blyton-park.html
Started off really soggy but weather improved for the afternoon. Soaked and sunburn on the same day!

What an awesome day  was nice to see some of the new faces (and just faces I just haven't seen because i'm down south), I haven't quite put faces & names to cars properly though, or names to faces come to that but I think we all had fun, I was fairly knackered by the end of it and cold.
No major incidents which is nice, I am lead to believe there is photographic evidence of me spinning around in circles. I'm yet to bribe said photographer to not post it up 

Top day out. I manage to not even spin, and the tyres and brakes appear to still work, so double bonus.
Great to see everyone there, roll on the next one!

Glad you enjoyed it, Andy.  
Was a good if a little wet day. It was close too! I had my season long battle continue with Kev being well ahead after my aqua planing nightmare, but thankfully the water was cleared and I was able to drive the start/finish straight without lifting and finally get a decent speed into Coppice which is essential for a fast lap. In the end and I found out via FB messenger I beat Kev by 0.2 of a second with a fastest time of 146.13 which put me 5th overall. 
I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the celebrations and to receive my first Championship winners trophy and fastest woman trophy as well, but we had to get back to pick Indy up. Was a fabulous weekend and I really enjoyed doing the trackday the day before. I really think that helped, so I will look at doing more of that next year. It's been a wicked season and I've had a huge amount of competition from Kev which has made it great fun and I've really had to push myself. Finally I win a championship and importantly win at Cadwell. I just hate coming 2nd!  

Just a quick post to say thank you for all the help and making us (Cath & I) feel welcome. Had a great day.
  First time at Cadwell today (what a proper circuit) would like to do a full day / full laps instead of coming at it cold.  Thanks to those who offered tips (in particular Lauren and Mike). Gradual improvement through the day.    Ended up with a couple of 1:55s, one of which was a 1:55:1 ..    And I genuinely did have a "ReRun" it wasn't one last end of season lap.. honest..   Sky during today:     One last go:     Enjoy the celebrations tonight ..

Preview galleries are up: http://sprintseries.dansteeples.co.uk/sprint-series/5-blyton-park-eastern.html
Will work on getting the individual galleries up ASAP but it's audit week at work and we've had a lot of new procedures to go over so I wanted to get something up quick rather than starting the sorting and running out of time.
A few comments from the weekend, I've invested my supercharger fund in new kit and the photos are much better than before (better "keeper" rate and no blurry messes)... all of you who say "I didn't see you out there", well I can see your eyes now and you all did! What I find worrying from this is in briefings you're told not to stare at the object you're trying to miss as you will hit it so were you all trying to kill me? Alex in #47 gave it a good shot (that poor cone didn't stand a chance)
Had a good weekend and looking forwards to Cadwell at the start of November 

I decided to have a day out in my car today. Opted to drive to Chester to pick up some vape supplies and pop in and see my old work colleagues. I was a tad nervous as it's the first 'big' trip the car has done since being back on the road all of a day! 
  Well, I stopped a number of times and checked under the bonnet, but the car felt strong and I've begun to acclimatise to it again. There is a fair bit of differential whine as is the way with these cars and they are inherently noisy, but that's what it was like some 30 years ago.    I've been careful to run the car in, so no high revs, generally not going over 4000rpm, but making sure the engine has some load. Well I took it to nudging 5000rpm a few times in third, fourth and fifth gear and you can really feel the engine come on cam, just after the TVIS opens. The engine feels really strong and in such a light car with it's terribly short gearing, it moves along at a decent rate alright. At the lower end of the revs the engine is typical torquey 4AGE, so it's a synch to drive really.    The controls all feel very light and this has taken a bit of getting used to compared with the weightier controls of the GT86, but really as I have been driving the AE86 since yesterday I'm starting to get used to it all again.    I must admit, I was sitting there on the motorway on the way to Chester and I was just thoroughly enjoying myself being back in the car again. That smile lasted all the way to Chester and all the way home again as I took the A roads on the way back. I even loaded the chassis a little to get a feel for the car again. Sure it doesn't have the precision and mega grip that the GT86 seems to pluck from nowhere, but it felt all of a piece. The suspension is a bit mismatched on the AE86, but it's okay as long as you know how to manage it. I haven't tried booting it out of slow corners as I want to ease the running in of the engine, but the diff locks up just as it always did.   Overall it's just great to be back behind the wheel again and the charisma of the car is winning me over all over again.   Here it is, parked outside my old work in Chester:   IMG_4739 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr

It was great to meet a few people at Croft today.
 
Here are a few photos of mine, all blurry and wonky ones left in. Can't promise my photography skills are up to much.
 
https://www.flickr.com/gp/102973208@N06/P39371

Well, it's be a lil over a year since I was last on track after that fateful day, but last Thursday, I popped my cherry again and ventured back on track once more. Not only that, it was also my first time taking part in the Curborough Sprint and Trackday with Deason, Faith, Mike and Will300.  I was nervous to begin with as you'd expect but I eventually got back into the swing of things.
 
I was quite chuffed with my performance that day, my very first run ever was a 1:38.6 I think which was pretty good for a complete noob there, and I'm surprised I remembered the circuit as even though Curborough is a rather small circuit, you don't just do a simple lap, instead you do one full lap followed by a figure of 8 which isn't the simplest route to remember while you're fighting your nerves and trying to get a quickish lap in without crashing your car again. To the point where during my second lap, I genuinely thought I had cocked up the route half way through, backed off....then realised that I hadn't cocked the circuit up and had just wasted some time instead, but I still managed to get my time down by 2 seconds, then another 2 seconds the run after that and I continued to improve after that.
 
I eventually got down to a 1:33.3 which I couldn't get past, I would hover or get a lil higher than that which to be fair I would have been happy with considering I wasn't far behind the more experienced lot in our group, but on my last run, I some how managed to pull one out of the bag and banged a 1:32.2 which was .3 seconds quicker than Mike's best time. Obviously it's not completely fair cos he has a complete stock car while I have a fair amount of mods and grippier tyres but at the same time, he's been to this circuit quite a few times before so has had a lot more practice that me. Deacon managed a whopping 1:30.9 with a similar amount of major mods on his car but he does have stickier tyres compared to me and again, he's had a lot more practice too, but I'm sure if he can do it, I can do it too.....at some point All in all, a very good day and the weather stayed nice and sunny too.
 

 

 
Also, since fitting my HSD Coilovers and the K-Sport BBK, I've not had a proper chance to test the car out until now and I must say, I'm very happy with the results. The car handled very well, it felt planted with a bit of slip at the back (though this is impart because I'm running low on tread on the rears), which felt very progressive and at no point did I feel the rear was getting skittish in any way which I was worried about when I first fitted the coilovers, it even soaked up the rumble strips very well. The brakes also performed very well, but a sprint doesn't really push them that far, the real test will be a long track session at some point and see if they start to fade after 10-20min sessions. Though what I did notice when they cool down is that they make a right loud tinging noise (a lot louder than the normal tinging noise when your car is cooling down), almost like metal cracking or a stone hitting the discs really hard.....I'm hoping this is normal.....

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Amber Performance would like to invite GT86 & BRZ owners from all over the UK (and beyond!) to their recently refurbished premises in Dunstable on Saturday 3rd October!
  James and I have decided to work together to make this a rather special day which will include:   Convoys form various ends of the country Initial meet and greet at Amber Performance Dyno sessions for those wishing to partake The Exhaust Meet (see below!) Visit to the White Lion for those who like their pub grub Convoy to Milton Keynes Go-Karting at the Daytona Circuit MK Overnight stay for those travelling long distances or who just want to stay over and have a few beer amongst like minded company!!   As many of you will know, James' premises were, unfortunately, badly damaged in a fire last October, and as such have undergone extensive rebuild and refurbishment works, which is now entering its final stages. Once James has a confirmed date for the installation of his new dyno, we will set a date in stone and confirm all bookings (Go Karting, hotels etc) but in the meantime please let us know which dates are not suitable due to your other motoring commitments (TSS etc).
  We envisage a realistic timescale of around the end of September/start of October to allow the installation and testing of the dyno.   Now, the thanks for this bright idea do not lie solely with James and myself!! Far from it in fact! Our good friend and fellow 86er Kat - Growlerkat to those of you on unfamiliar terms with this lovely young lady - deserves all the credit for this one! Had it not been for Kat's wanton desire to check out everyones rear end (your exhausts ) this may never have been suggested as a combined meet!   So thanks Kat for planting the seed on this one! Thanks also to Steeps for suggesting Daytona!   I'm sure James will have loads more info on this over the coming weeks and I'll start enquiring about the karting etc.   Please get behind this one and support James and Amber!   Cheers!!   Rab

The stock settings have a lower spring rate at the front than the rear. I did it to ensure I could get a good amount of weight transfer under braking as I like to trail brake. I have driven cars with the 6/6kg setup and felt them to have a touch more understeer. It's a 'safe' setup if that's what you want. 

I'd say it's a bit too stiff. Most run 6/6kg. I run 5/6kg. You can get different springs. If it was me I'd change them before installation as it's a lot easier that way. 
 
I've driven Keith's car with his 9/7kg rate and though it wasn't incredibly stiff, it felt like it lost some of the ride comfort compared to mine. 
 
From what I recall different springs are around £120 a pair from Tein so it will add to your cost. 

Thanks Keethos. What a detailed reply! I think I probably will drop into RRG. I wasn't sure if they did this sort of install, now I know they do, it seems like a no brainer, as it's not too far away for me.
I will probably try out the spring rate at 7/7, as you say it's all personal preference at the end of the day.
A wheel alignment is a must too!

People are only changing them as they believe 7/7 might be too stiff for them but you ultimately need to test it out and see yourself if you think they're too stiff or not. I'm running 9/7 on my HSD's and I'd definitely say they're stiff but not unbariable for me coming from a Clio Cup. The only real downside that I'm worried about is if the suspension is too stiff, the car might become a bit skittish when travelling over rough surfaces and you don't want that when cornering hard. I've yet to experience this but I've yet to truly push the car around a track since I've had them fitted. I may consider getting softer springs at some point but that will mean taking them off swapping the springs out which ultimately means losing my current setup so they'd need a full geo alignment and adjustment again so not in a rush to do that, plus I might need them re-valving which probably won't be cheap so will see.

I'm a complete noob with the mechanical side of cars but I managed to swap the rears out by myself but it did take a couple of hours, the fronts I failed on purely because I couldn't undo the drop link bolts which had seized on and because it was getting late, gave up as I didn't have anything to help get them of with like penetrating fluid and wire brush etc.

Your not toooo far from RRG so I'm sure they'd sort you out, plus they've fitted a couple now I think (I know they will do soon anyways) and that includes the EDFC wiring. Not only that but they've got the fancy Hunter Wheel Alignment kit which means they can setup your suspension no probs.

As the 'Age of Recovery' threads on this Forum seem to be an interesting subject I will add my own. Not only to waste half an hour on a keyboard but hopefully to give some guidance, insight and depth of pockets required for those who seek the ultimate.
 
"eh?" I hear you think.... "..ultimate what?"
 
As MLK said, 'I have a dream'. And mine is to own, drive (and ultimately sell) the fastest, best driveable road-going auto GT86 in Europe.
 
I am not interested in pretty - I want power, roadholding and predictability... but I insist it is controllable for road (my Granny should be able to drive it, she's 134 and in a wooden box) yet capable of testing her grandson's capabilities at Sprint and trackdays.
 
Over last winter I engaged Fensport to rebuild my engine with an HKS kit - stroked crank (to 2.2L), new cams (to accommodate the higher piston lift), forged pistons to their design and forged rods. At the same time new injectors and new oil pump. And a stage 3 AVO turbo to mate with my existing 3" exhaust system (also AVO).
 
Why not Cosworth? They are still poncing about with their forged kit, Adrian at Fensport was still prototyping their stuff, first engine they produced had big problems and it will be a year next Thursday before Cosworth get off their arses and do anything for genuine enthusiasts andget more than their basics on the market.
 
Why not Carillo and the other stuff from the US? Because I have only met one US supplier worth anything in terms of meeting overseas motorsport commitments - SSP for auto gearbox upgrades. I know Mark at Abbey swears by the 'other stuff'  suppliers, having built LFA's engine - but he/they don't use them on the road and they are, to my mind, unproven in the UK where no alternative has existed. (And LFA chooses to dismiss my invites to prove his car inthe UK..)
 
The downside with the HKS kit - for a turbo car - is dictated by their marketing platform. They want to sell their s/c kits, so the compression ratio is left high. It detracts from the benefit of bottom end boost generated by turbo. They offer three different cylinder head gasket thicknesses (which make a difference of 11.8:1 and 11.5:1 by my maths). And when Carillo/other kits are offering 10:1 c/r (or slightly lower) it seems perverse - Cossie have learned the lesson over the market resistance to 'package' selling, why has Japan not reacted?
 
But... with the Fensport ECU mapping the turbo boost can be 'progressive'.. (money).. and it is customised to your specific car (money). Hence the decision to map my car in  (1) road  (2) extreme road (3) wet track (4) extreme track (more money).
 
Some of you may be aware that I am the only auto trans competing in Europe. Last year, after advice that the Toyo autotrans is built of tissue and stuck together with bubblegum (it is a Lexus de-engineered 8-speed to a paperweight 6-speed, worthy of a max 260bhp), I went to US and got an upgraded autotrans from SSP.
 
I chose stage 2 valve body (see website) - and, sure enough, it kicks you up the arse when you change on road, it is uncomfortable and, after five miles, my daughter went into premature labour!  (I joke). On track it is seemless.. instant response when driving over 4k revs.
 
As I was planning my engine upgrade,  Kris (at SSP) made me aware of a clutch upgrade which was going well with the dragsters over there. One car in NewYork State is pulling 600bhp at the wheels and running a standard Toyo box upgraded with this kit. Has to be the way to go, I think, and ordered a kit  - discussed it with Fensport who washed their hands of it - autotrans they have no knowledge about, other than getting it out of your chassis and refitting it.
 
Howver, Adrian gave me a contact - a man who is, ostensibly, the top competition autotrans guy in the UK
 
(. to be continued)
 
Spec K
 
 
 

Photos are all up (bar 2 cars, mixups between drivers and numbers so needs a closer look)
 
The site uses online downloads for all the photos so once you've selected the album and confirmed the order, if you've set up an account then the link is available immediately in your account area in your downloads, otherwise an email will be sent to you within 15 minutes with details of the order and links to download the photos. There are 2 zip files available with all orders: one roughly 50mb in size with uncompressed full size images, and another about 3mb with smaller (but still larger than the website's) photos for ease of uploading to social media or storing on mobile devices. The links will not expire so if you do need to re-download them you can.
 
If there is a demand for CD's posted instead I can add a facility for it that's not an issue. Paypal works fine, someone managed to sneak in an order while the photos were still uploading. Again if there's any issues or comments please let me know, the site will be improved on in time as I know already there's some layout and colour changes needed.
 
Future events will be up much quicker now I know what processes need to be done 

Just a quick post while I wait for Facebook to dust off, not used it in 2-3 years so it's a bit rusty.
 
Photos for the events I'm covering will be on here: http://sprintseries.dansteeples.co.uk/ , it's been a mad rush to try and get things in place especially as I couldn't get short term time off at work, so working 9-6 then coming in to spend another 7 hours a night working on the site, running tests, sorting photos and processing them to get them online. Currently working on them in car order so Javelin sprint will be completed tonight and hopefully Toyota sprint on Saturday with photos available do download.
 
The site just about works but all the products are "out of stock" until I have had a chance to test Paypal as they have changed their system for new sites, prioritizing getting photos up for people to see rather than the payment gateway.
 
I saw the link had already gone live on Facebook as traffic had started to hit the site, a few of the GT86's were quite high in the running order so those should be done by Sat eve. I'd welcome any comments, especially if there are any errors or faults. Hopefully all the cars are in the right folders as some weren't swapping numbers between drivers and others were mixed from the start.