Race taxi on track. Ahvenisto radalle.com season opening

Mika, Erno and helpers Harri ja Pete worked long hours the days before the event to get the car ready for the track. The work included making a new oil pan because the old one started leaking around the oil stick tube, and we also had to get working lights.

The race taxi being pulled to the track.

Race taxi and the service car. Finally at the track.

Erno took the first turn to drive. The car worked flawlessly for half an lap, after which it started to sputter. The water temp gauge read 130 degrees, so it was driven calmly back to the pits. At the pit it was noticed that the china made gauge was in metric for oil pressure, but the temperature read in imperial, so 130 degrees Fahrenheit wasn't that bad after all.

Mika continued to drive, and as soon as the engine got into boost it started to sputter. The day went mostly when trying to sort this out. Mika went to the track 4-5 times and drove approximately 10 laps with good and bad success. Sometimes the engine worked, but mostly not. The day was ended with an engine failure. The engine started making noise like the connecting rod bearings would have broken.

Even though the engine didn't function properly, the few friends that got a ride were really impressed how well it went on the track. The suspension also worked surprisingly well considering that we didn't get stiff enough springs for the front in time for this event.











Thanks for the on track photos to Toni Lari. More of his photos can be seen at: http://toni.dnsf.org/

Big thanks to all who helped! After the visit on the track we have a better picture of what to do next with the car. A couple weeks until the event at Artukainen street track in Turku!

Preparations before first race track event

Right after the car show Mika took an angle grinder and removed the front wheelarches. New ones were made by removing arches from another car, welding on a 50mm strip of steel and the new wheelarch was then pop riveted into place.

Widened side door hinge. It is 22mm wider than original to clear the center lug. We tested with just the new wheel that the side door had plenty of space, but the massive nut for the wheel wasn't taken into account. :)

The tool to tighten the wheel nuts. 75mm. Borrowed from Pekka.

A picture from under the car. We took the car to Erno's car lift so we could do some minor details under the car. We ended up spending a week there when we rerouted everything under the car. It was so uncomfortable doing it in our own garage, and getting the whole picture when the car was lifted up was enough to convince us of doing it again.

When the car was up, we decided also to add a bit more steering angle at maximum lock. ;)
Much time has also gone into going the car through one bolt at a time.

American Car Show 2009

A couple pictures from the car show.









A special thanks to everyone who visited us at the car show! We had a great time!

Adapters, wheels and reverse screens

We got all parts for the American car show by tuesday and the final assembly started so we could get the car ready for the show.

Changing the PCD from 5x112 to 1x0?. The adapters came from Tommi's billet.

Here's a shot of the wheels what they looked like before.

A picture of the lip after they were straightened. The end result looked like it was machined and brand new. They could be polished, but the end result wasn't evenly shiny and you could still see the deeper scratches. But you can't expect more from wheels that cost 30€ a piece.

The wheels were straightened by Amriff in Järvenpää, Finland.

Making the interior. The roof and dash screens have been installed and now it's turn for the rpm meter.

The screens and rear camera came from JJ-Tuonti. The reverse camera has nightvision, so you can see who is behind you even when it's dark.

Erno's friend Pete came to help us install the reverse camera and screens. Thanks for the help!

A better picture of the dash.

Washed outside. Our trailer had become too narrow during the winter, so we had to order transportation to the car show. Luckily Erno's neighbour came to the rescue with his truck.

At the Fair center, almost inside!

Photosession

We did a small photosession with the race taxi. We just got the skirts and bumpers painted black, so we wanted to see how it looks looked from a distance.




Looks nice. Square panda? The black skirts make the car look a bit like it's a bit higher off the ground than before. I guess we will just have to lower it more...

One week until it's ready. Two weeks until first test.