build diary

August 8, 2006:
Car and Driver has put the Locost article up on their website now that the issue is off the newstand.
It's the same as the printed copy with one nice difference - a gallery of photos from the tests. There's some redundancy and obviously the best were picked for publication, but it's still a good look at the artistry of Chris's car, the stunning bodywork of Jon's and the madness of Mark's.

There's a new member of the family coming. My friend and Miata guru Bill Cardell put in the order for a Miata-based Westfield today. It's not a big surprise after his reaction at the track a couple of weeks ago. This is going to be fun. We'll try installing the larger 1.8 diff and it's going to be very interesting to see how Westfield approached the car. Once it's up and running, we'll probably end up installing some truly ridiculous horsepower. Well, you have to.

Apparently Kit Car magazine has a feature on the Southwest Se7ens Fest. I haven't seen it yet.
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August 9, 2006:
I picked up a copy of the September Kit Car mgazine.
It's a good article about the Southwest Se7ens Fest in general and about the four Locosts in particular. We are called "a semi-mythical kit car, sort of the unicorn of handbuilt autos." In the US kit car world with the overwelming popularity of a few models, I can see the logic in that statement even though it made me chuckle at first. The author (Harold Pace) was very kind to me, bestowing the title of "guru of the Locost concept". I don't think I'd go that far myself, but it's still flattering. I do know that Harold has some good photos of my car hidden away, I'll have to see if I can get copies of a few from him. He also captured the reactions of most people to the various cars that showed up without the distraction of instrumented testing.

Meanwhile, the track day at the Flyin' Miata Open House is approaching in a bit over a week. This will mark the second anniversary of the Seven's track christening. Two years ago, I was thrashing away and changing the transmission and chasing fuel problems at the last minute. This year, I'll clean the car and give it a quick check. How times change. Speaking of times, I've also taken 6.2 seconds off my lap time at the track since that first outing and 2.2 seconds since the event last year. It's almost all due to the car setup.
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August 10, 2006:
I've been watching a TV series called "A Race Car is Born".
It's basically 90 minutes of a Westfield being assembled - sounds mind-numbing, but the host is pretty entertaining without being idiotic - and then 90 minutes of how you can use it. It certainly illustrates the differences between a homebuilt or low-end frame and a proper kit, that's for sure. At one point, the host is explaning that the difficult part in mounting the steering rack is sliding the clamps over a rubber bushing. In my case, I had to shorten the rack and housing, build the rack mounts and lengthen the tie rods. Somehow, slipping the clamps over the rubber bushings doesn't stick out in my mind! There are some nice tips in it though and I've picked up a couple of tricks already. The program doesn't seem to be readily available right now other than in a massive digital file surreptitiously traded online.

One program that is available is Top Gear's Caterham challenge. Definitely more entertainment than education, but the fact that they actually get the car to the self-propelled stage in time is impressive. That one is on YouTube.
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August 14, 2006:
I was wrong about the name of the series.
It's actually "A Racing Car is Born". My mistake. It's available for purchase from Mark Evan's own website and a few others, but only in the PAL format. Those in North America have to resort to online pirated versions. Thanks to Michael Neisius and Jared Seymour for the information.

I took the Seven out this weekend to show it to my friend Werner from Germany. He's very familiar with my long-term obsession with these little cars and he's a fan of small, light cars. I wanted him to get a good idea of what the car was like so we headed out to the track near the end of the day. It usually gets pretty quiet at that point in the day, and with a little sweet talking we had the track to ourselves. It was good fun, running both forwards and backwards around the track. It's the first time I've ridden shotgun in the car with a quick driver and it's a pretty interesting experience. Also in the "interesting" category was the throttle sticking open twice when Werner was driving. No harm done, but it was odd. I've only had that happen once before when part of the mechanism was binding. That piece has been removed, however, and it's not shown any signs of similar problems before. I found a small cotterpin that seemed to be hanging up if you moved the throttles just right so hopefully the problem is gone.

After a few "sessions", the car started showing a high idle and blowing some oil smoke when starting from a stop. Hang on, I've seen this before. I pulled the PCV valve out and it was broken and hollowed out - the exact same problem that I'd seen in Texas! This is truly bizarre, as we've never seen one of these break in a Miata and now I've done it twice in two months. Is it the heat? Unlikely, as turbo Miatas do a pretty good job at generating heat. Vibration? Possibly. Physical contact with something? I don't think so, as the valve goes into a baffled part of the valve cover and that's all stock. Annoying? Oh yes. I've replaced it with a brand new Mazda part intended for the 323 GTX so there shouldn't be any question of reliability now. We'll see what happens at the Open House.

The Flyin' Miata Westfield now has a website. It might look familiar if you know this one! I'll be helping to build this one. We'll see what there is to learn from a "professional" kit.
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A broken PCV valve compared to a brand new factory unit from a 323 GTX.
Why did my other one break - again?
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August 15, 2006:
The Seven is all ready for the Open House.
A new PCV valve solved all the running problems. In fact, the magnitude of the change makes me wonder if it's been malfunctioning for a while. Regular PCV valve checks will now be on the maintenance list. On top of replacing the valve, I also gave the car a polish. It was covered in dirt, mud and chunks of tire. The patina shows that it is not simply a show car, but it still looks better clean. There's still plenty of patina to go around.
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August 16, 2006:
I'm giving Werner a helping hand with the belts before we head out on to the track.
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Tire smoke? Unlikely.
I think it's dust because I'm taking a very late apex this time around and I'm off the clean line. The car doesn't brake quite as well with two people, you see...
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Going backwards on the track, this is a heavy braking zone.
But not a straight braking zone. This makes life, umm, interesting. The car deals with it well, showing no signs of upset. The driver, on the other hand, does get a little nervous.
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August 20, 2006:
The Flyin' Miata Open House is over.
After this track day, I think there are a few more people interested in the Westfield kits!

Two years ago at the Open House, a driver named John Hunter with a turbo Miata set the fastest time of the day, 2.3 seconds ahead of anyone else and three seconds ahead of the Seven. It was a heck of a performance. He missed last year, but he was back this year and there had been a certain amount of smack talk. The difference? Two years of work on my part. Since we'd decided to run the track backwards, I didn't really have much of a home field advantage. My 10 laps or so in the reverse direction weren't much when I was up against a good autocross competitor.

The first time out, I couldn't get the back of the car to stick. It was walking all over the place under power. Very exciting for the photographers, but not a fast way around. I pulled a 1:04.260, John came in at 1:05.542. The karters say the track is 1 second slower in this direction.

The next session, John dropped a second and came in at 1:04.511. Thankfully, I managed almost the same improvement and clocked 1:03.516. That's only 2 tenths off my record in the normal direction, so maybe it's not any slower after all.

I did have a bit of a secret weapon, though. There was a lineup of people waiting for rides, so I was out with other groups with a passenger fairly often. The handling of the car is quite different with a passenger as you might expect, but it did let me spend a bit more time playing with the line in a couple of corners - particularly the fun off camber, decreasing radius, downhill "straight" with the heavy braking zone at the end. It's a real gut check every time. After one passenger ride, I decided my tires were making too much noise. This is usually a sign of low pressure on these tires, so I checked them out. Their hot temperatures were similar to what I usually set cold! Now, this is a fairly fundamental piece of setup and not something I should have been neglecting. The car has been so bulletproof recently that I haven't even bothered to check them for some time. I stuffed another 7 psi or so into the tires to see what would happen, and went out with the clocks running.

Much better. Session three caused a certain amount of excitement, as I came in with a 1:03.002. The timer came out to let me know in person - so close to a 1:02! And also a new track record regardless of direction. I'd been experiencing fuel starvation when pulling out of hard left turns so that was hurting me somewhat. John pulled off another half second, dropping to 1:04.095. There wasn't any secret to our very friendly contest either, with everyone in the pits checking times when we came in. In the next session with a full tank of gas, a poor setup on the entrance to the critical back section of the track was leading to much oversteer and a loss of entry speed. The times got about a half second slower.

While running with passengers, I once pulled out on the track in front of a 270 hp Miata that was halfway down the straight. The Seven was able to squirt away quickly enough that he didn't get slowed down. In fact, he was able to take a second off his time because he was motivated to give chase! A couple of other memorable moments occurred when I ran up behind one of my friends. First Don in his S2000 got drafted around the track, then later I latched on to the same WRX I'd been harassing a few weeks back. I was on a cool-down lap, he was on one of his flying timed laps - but that didn't stop me from taking a good look at his back bumper for most of a lap. It's fun running on the track with these guys, as they enjoy this sort of thing as much as I do and we trust each other enough to do it.

Back to the competition. On the final session of the day - at least, the final session when I was running solo - I concentrated on my entry to the back. I came in slower and was very careful to keep the back end planted on acceleration. My reward? 1:02.471. A new track record and one that floored everyone including myself. The car (and the driver) isn't perfect and there's more room left, but it was enough to make John cry uncle. He ended with a 1:03.713, a spectacular time when you consider the next-fastest car was again over two seconds behind. It was a very fun race. The next morning, I was sore from all the driving. That's a good sore.
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August 21, 2006:
Hard at work on the track.
Again. Lots of braking here, but the car's nice and flat.
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The most interesting corner on the track - heavy braking heading into a slow hairpin.
The Seven did just what I asked it to, but you can see the suspension working hard here. After looking at the pictures, it might be time to do a little more investigation on rear alignment. Or maybe just take my own advice and pull out the pyrometer.
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Passenger rides!
Skip Cannon out for a few laps. He was definitely enjoying himself based on the way he was hollering out loud after that tricky and fast braking zone. He's currently working on a Caterham SV powered by a turbo Miata motor, so he's extra-motivated to get it done now. Skip's been waiting for two years for this ride.
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Harassing my friend Don in his S2000.
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Zoom.
I like this picture because of the sense of speed.
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September 4, 2006:
It wasn't a Seven, but the same principles apply.
Trust me, this is on topic! I spent the day recovering a Jeep. I live about 100 miles from Moab, and a friend's sister got into some trouble on Moab Rim. This trail is a fairly brutal one, given the highest rating available for trails in one of the more hard-core off-road spots around. It climbs 1000' in about a mile of ledges and steps, right along the edge of a cliff over a river. In some places, a mistake or mechanical failure is rewarded by a long fall then a big crunch noise.
This particular Jeep had experienced a total loss of brakes right near the top and had gone for a dramatic backwards ride down about 300' of a steep slope and ended a small ravine. The final drop was probably about 5' tall and the truck was literally flying by this point. No permanent damage was done to the occupants, but both spent some time in hospital. The driver got a concussion from an unpadded roll bar and it's lucky she didn't get worse. I went up to get the truck back down to the end of the trail and tow it home.
The failure had come when a brake line ruptured. It was a stainless steel line, but had been routed so the tires chafed on it. When the truck was being held on a slope by the brakes, the exposed interior line exploded and the front brakes lost pressure. A mechanical moron had replaced the rear axle with one that had disc brakes instead of the original drums, and the otherwise-unmodified master cylinder and proportioning valve didn't provide anywhere near enough pressure to the rear lines to even slow the truck on flat ground - never mind a steep rocky slope. The new disc brake calipers had a different cable attachment so the emergency brake cables weren't attached. In other words, the truck had one weak spot and managed to lose all braking capability due to both negligence and ignorance.
The moral? The owner and driver of the Jeep knew about the vulnerable front lines and the lack of an emergency brake system. The lack of rear brakes was a bit of a surprise, but it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on. In the process of bringing the Jeep home (very slowly, as we had to pass over some tough terrain while looking at the river far, far below), we came up with a catalog of weak spots in this truck that filled a page of notes.
How does this apply to Sevens? Well, off-roading and track use share a certain exposure to risk and reliance on mechanicals. It's more than foolish to go out with known weak spots in your vehicle, it's dangerous. If you're going to make major modifications or build your own car, make sure the components you're using will work together. If possible, test the modified parts to ensure they're working. And do not explore the limits of your talent and the vehicle's talent when there are known problems in major systems.
As for my Seven? Well, it's been quiet for the last week and a bit as I travelled back to Ottawa to clean out my old house and garage. But in the meantime I've learned some interesting things about the rear lower control arms. More on that in a couple of days.
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September 14, 2006:
Autocross time - again.
The autocross organized by the Red Rock Racers is on this weekend. This is the group started up by myself and a few others, so we'll see how it turns out. It has been a lot of fun setting up the wireless timing gear all over the office and timing people as they walk down the hallway, that's for sure. There's also a time trial competition on in two weeks - it's the second annual "Octoberkross". My parents are in town that weekend so I don't know if I'll be able to make it at all. That's not liable to make me popular with the organizer, given that I haven't managed to make it to any of his events since we announced we were running our own. Regardless, it's time to get the car back out of the garage and have a bit of fun. I'm going to run more tire pressure than I have in the past and see what happens.
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September 19, 2006:
The autocross went well overall.
There was the usual chaos in the morning as we realised that having the same guy doing tech and start line duties was a poor idea, compounded by a rockslide in one of the canyons that closed down the interstate. Hopefully we'll have a larger turnout next time, but everyone got a whole lot of track time. The pavement was cold (so was the air! Brrr) and there was lots of loose gravel on the course. I was stuck at the timing station for a while but eventually snuck away to take a run.

As per its tradition at a new venue, the Seven fouled its plugs as soon as I went to start it. Cute trick - but this time I was prepared! Sort of. I stole a set of plugs from a friend's Miata ("Hey, why is my hood up?"), fired up the engine to get the cylinders warm and then popped the crusty plugs back in. Perfect.

Not so good on the course, though. The car was running lean and I could only use light throttle, but I still managed a decent time. Why lean? My old friend altitude again. The course was no higher than the one at Aspen, but over the course of the various trips I must have forgotten to leave the fuel I needed in that vacuum range. I popped it back in and the car felt strong. On my next run I missed a cone so I looped around in a big circle to reach it - and put down the same time as the last! The big problem was gravel. Competitors had pushed it off the course, but if I got off line at all the Seven would just wash out in front and I'd be frantically adding lock. Not smooth, not fast. I had to basically the follow the same line as everyone else which wasn't all bad. The final run came in at 1:02.750, nearly 7 seconds faster than everyone else. It's hard to beat a Seven through the cones, no matter what kind of hack is driving! There are some good pro pictures online - this one is my favourite.

I expect everyone who's a fan of homebuilt cars knows about the DP1. I've been reading the build log for a few years. Why do I mention it? Because the car made its first drive today! Click on the Recent Updates for the DP1 to see the latest. AWD, turbo bike motor - yikes.
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On the autocross course.
This was a tight gate - it felt claustrophobic to me. Imagine how the poor guy driving the Grand Am felt!
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Not a bad view for autocrossing, is it?
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September 22, 2006:
Chaos reigns.
I'm moving. This means all the tools are packed up, I'm filling trailer after trailer with odd car parts (it's a lot easier moving the spare parts for the Mini than it is for the Cadillac!) and my garage looks bigger than it has since I started the Seven build. I'd always joked that my garage was larger than my house. Turns out it was closer than I thought! If you count the storage area up front there's only 28 square feet difference. Meanwhile, the place I'm hoping to move into has an even larger garage. Heh heh heh. During the process, there's not going to be a lot of Seven work.
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There was a set of 18" wheels off a pimped-out Miata sitting in the shop, and the Seven was sitting nearby.
I don't think those front fenders are going to fit over the wheels, but I'll have to bolt them on just to see. Well, you just have to, don't you?
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