For those of you that might be interested, Rogue Motorsport will be competing in the Britcar 24hr race this weekend.
We're using last year's car but have upgraded it significantly in key areas.- Brakes have been upgraded to AP Racing 6 pot calipers at the front and 4 pots at the rear. These are specific endurance items that accept 25mm thick pads rather than the normal 18mm. Last year brake pad longevity was an issue for us (performance was fine) so the increase in capacity is to avoid having to change them so often - if at all. Every single component of the brake system has been changed except the pedal - which has been modified!- Wheels are now 18"x9.5 at the rear and 17"x9 at the front, necessitated by the larger brake calipers. Last year's rear tyre sizes become this year's fronts and we're running the same size rears as an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Cornering speeds have increased significantly. New ARP wheel studs have a bullet nose end to facilitate quick changes.- We have new wheel bearings in modified hubs at the rear of the car. Again, an area that gave us trouble last year has been beefed up massively. The exact ingredients are secret, but suffice to say we know they;re up to the job. Just in case, we've got two spare sets...- We've put together a new, tweaked engine and a fresh supercharger for this year, which coupled with Millers new Nanodrive oil has added an extra 25bhp, taking our maximum power output to 349.9 at the hubs. (Dyno plot after the event). The engine is running noticeably cooler and we've reprogrammed the radiator fans not to activate during normal operation, thus reducing parasitic drag on the alternator.- A second Bosch 044 fuel pump and swirl pump have been added to eliminate fuel surge.- Every single wire, fuse and relay has been removed from the chassis and engine. We've built our own custom wiring harnesses to replace them in order to have only the components that are required. All of the fuses and relays have been located where the glovebox used to be so that they are visible to the driver. If a circuit fails the a red light will illuminate to indicate which fuse needs changing. All systems have a sensible level of redundancy.- We now have a pit lane speed limiter. Activating this also turns out the auxiliary lighting system - a requirement when entering the pits.- Given the higher G forces the car will be subjected to when cornering it now has a top of the range high pressure / large capacity accusump installed. This is electronically activated by the ECU when it detects oil pressure dropping. It also pre-lubricates the engine when the ignition is switched on.- Last year's last minute cooling changes have been refined and made permanent. We've also added significant ducting to both front and rear brakes.- Rear lighting is now provided by high output LEDs intended for emergency vehicle flasher units. Even our indicators leave after images on your eyes!- In car radio system has been upgraded from analogue to digital and pit crew radio systems are top of the range Peltor noise cancelling systems. Push to talk button is now installed on steering wheel.- Air Jack system has been upgraded to allow a second level. We can now lift the car high enough for us to work underneath it in an emergency:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tweSWMcFeGA
- The flat floor now extends the whole length of the car (previously is stopped at the engine bay) and we have a functional diffuser. It's cool to watch the car being driven on dirty parts of a circuit and see just how much dust and debris it kicks up. All aerodynamic devices are now hard mounted to the chassis and can support more than 100kgs of pressure - tested by having someone stand on them!- Exhaust system has been redesigned to be quieter and more compact. The catalytic converter (which we're required to run) is now at the end of the system as this has been a failure point in the past. We'll physically be able to see if there's an issue, plus you can see the cat glowing orange in normal use!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrBoQdo5WQE
- All being well, we'll have a live video stream from the car, garage and pit box. URL as and when it happens!You can see pictures and updates on our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/roguemotorsport
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