You’ll have observed that the site hasn’t been updated for more than a year. This is because I haven’t been doing much in the racing world for a while, due to lack of cash, and knowing that you can’t actually afford to go racing is a great enthusiasm dampener.
However during this time the car has sat in the sat in the garage untouched and unloved, and suffered the indignity of being ignored and used to stack stuff on, but she was ready… ready to flare into life and show her mettle again!
The chance came when I scraped the cash together to to go to the 2011 750 Motor Club Birkett with Tim, Dan, Derek and Doug and all my other RGB mates. I love the Birkett, it is by far the best racing of the year, all the more enhanced by the team atmosphere and garage full of willing helpers. It is a 6 hour team handicap endurance race and I had a fantastic time. Unsurprisingly the smouldering embers of my passion for motor racing have flared into a full on conflagration again.
I had a great stint of 50 minutes with lap after lap of fighting with a very closely matched chap in a 750MC Kit Car racer. We swapped places constantly, sometimes he was baulked by traffic, sometimes I was…. but the battle raged and places were continually swapped as we caught and passed what seemed like dozens of slower cars. it was particularly memorable when we both swooped either side of a D type Jag in Maggots, and then immediately got on with the battle again on the other side…. Fantastic stuff. No quarter given… non asked firm but fair racing with no contact whatsoever despite being inches part… fabulous. Best of all I won in the end after he spun trying to close the gap on me for the nth time.
So what to do? theres a glimmer that the financial constraints will ease in a year or so, but how to keep the flame alive until then?… both Dunc and I miss being in the garage.
Now my car is old, it is also now uncompetitive, as with me in it is 60KG over the minimum weight limit…. that’s like driving around with a passenger sat next to you. The newer generation class R cars are some 4 seconds down the road from me. they also have some 10bhp more than me. So old, worn out, heavy and slowish are my problems.
I’ve looked a getting a newer car, but to be honest there’s no way they are viable financially for me…. and anyway I’ve got a car that is now sorted and handles well, I just need to add power, and in the words of Colin Chapman… Add lightness!
So to the plan.
For a while now I’ve had this in my mind.
Excuse the poor quality scan. It the MKII Genesis chassis, and is significantly lighter than mine, as you can see its main structural components are laser cut and CNC bent 3mm transverse steel bulkheads. These are precut and contain all the holes for the front suspension mounts, steering gear, and the main front/rear chassis rails. They are a very big step along the way towards a pre-jigged chassis, and certainly take a lot of the fabrication effort out of accurately making a new chassis, without Jigs. They are at least a little self jigging.
I’ve had the main 3 front bulkheads for 3 years in the corner of the garage. I may not be able to currently afford to race much. But I can afford a few bits of tube to connect the bulkheads together and get this project underway. Best of all the geometry and major component are the same, so I can transfer them over (with a bit of refurbishment along the way) to the new chassis. Tim Pell simply took the design conclusions he had made when building/ modifying my Mk 1 chassis, and built the Mark 2 chassis to be significantly lighter.
This is born out by the fact that about 3 years ago RGB has a mass weigh in. My Genesis was the lightest mid engined car in the field at 502KG for the chassis. And the lightest Genesis in the field, by 15+ Kilos, but my engine is also lighter than the zx12 run by the other Genesis boys by at least 30Kilos…. so there are at least some 15Kg available to be pulled out of the chassis.
Incidentally the new generation of Mid Engined RGB cars (Sabre, Countour and spire) are all significantly lighter still and well under 500Kg
So my estimates of available weight to be lost are.
Chassis/Cage 15Kg
Airbox 5Kg
Fuel System 3K
Uprights/Unsprung 8K (2Kg per corner)
Coolant System 5K
Gurney flap 2K
Rear bodywork 5K (mostly of filler)
Drivers spare tyre 10K
That’s 53Kg
Given the car is something like 515 KG now…. lets shoot for 460Kg…. with me at 110Kg (assuming I can lose my spare tyre) and we are close to the weight limit.
So lets state a public objective…. Re chassis the car, and be ready for next years Birkett.
I’ve made a promise to my son to be there as he missed this years due to illness.
So watch this space for more news…. hopefully RGBRacer is resurrected!