A day at Blink Motorsport

A day off work today to take the car 45 miles up the A49 to Blink Motorsport in Winsford. After yesterday’s monsoon I was glad to see the sun through the windows, but once outside it was bitterly cold – I had to clear ice from the windscreen before heading to the garage. It took a little over an hour to get there and I was wrapped up like a polar explorer. After a warm welcome from the Blink team I headed off for a McCoffee nearby. 

Arrival at Blink

The original shocks and red springs

 

I had to leave the car with them all day, and found myself with 7 hours to fill. After another coffee whilst reading the recent WSCC magazine I soon realised that that was pretty much all Winsford had to offer. After only 2 hours. So I hopped on the train to Crewe and saw a film at the cinema, then went back to have another McCoffee and then the car was ready just after 4.

A great service from Fraser and the team at Blink. I had 4 x new protech shocks & springs fitted and then a full geometry, spring rate and ride height setup. The car felt so much better on the drive home, although the A49 back to Shropshire was way to busy for most of the return run. Flipping cold too! I had no idea what setup was on the car or it’s vintage, having not built it myself. However I had Avo’s on the front and Spax on the rear which seemed a little odd. They will be cleaned up and appearing on eBay soon! 

After – new shocks and springs

Looking by forward to the next sunny day now and getting out to know the car again. Already I can feel it’s going to give me more confidence in the handling and enjoyment of the car. 

In other news, I’ll be helping out again on the club stand and marquee at the National Kit Car Show on the may bank holiday. Hopefully better weather this year. 

9 floors up!

Just a brief one. Took the car to work yesterday for a run out in the march sun. Had a meeting up on the 9th floor:

Where’s westy?

All done, for now.

A lovely sunny day in Shropshire. Too good to waste indoors. Having washed the car earlier this week I headed over this morning to crack on with the last few jobs. Mostly this was just final checks – tyre pressures, oil level following the change earlier and filling up with screen wash now the new bottle is fitted. Last up I changed the bonnet stripes from white to black, applied a new sticker on the back (courtesy of Guy Martin) and gave it a quick polish. 

The sun was still out so I headed out for fuel and a brief 20 mile loop round the outskirts of Shrewsbury. Stopped on the way for a photo at the football ground. 

Keyhole Surgery.

Another busy weekend for me with most of Saturday being taken up by a trip to see Shrewsbury Town football with a group of fans from the local pub. Today though I managaged to get over to the car for a few hours. First up I ran the hoover round the inside and refitted the seats. As hoped, the removal of the padded red vinyl on the centre tunnel made this much easier and there’s not more clearance for the seats. Overall I’m pleased with the result. The seats slide on the runners more freely and it’s a lot less red!

Next was the screenwash bottle. The original one ordered from Car Builder Solutions a couple of weeks ago turned out to be too big. The clearance for getting the bottles in and out of position between the exhaust manifold and the coolant pipes is very tight and it just wouldn’t go. The replacement one, only 100ml smaller, fitted in much easier as it’s a more compact shape and design.  It was still a tough job though, and typically the mounting holes for the new one didn’t match those of the original. Trying to get the drill into position for the new hole was a nightmare. I had to remove the drill bit and the battery, pass the parts in and then re-assemble it in the space, drill the hole before reversing the procedure. The new bottle was then connected up, filled & tested. 

Last job of the day was to secure the fire extinguisher I bought last year. Up to now it’s been wedged in the boot but today I drilled a couple of holes and bolted it in place. The boot space may seem an odd place to store it, and there’s mixed views on the club forums too. Some prefer to mount it in the passenger footwell, or between the seats. However if there were to be an engine fire, I don’t want to be sat in the car with the extinguisher or having to go to get it from the footwell. Much better to be at the back of the car away from the engine. Or just runaway! 

So what’s next? Not much for me. A few last niggles then it’s ready for the year. MOT is due early April but before that it’s booked in at BLiNK Motorsport to have new Protech socks and springs fitted, and a full geometry setup.