Fiesta Cup Testing 2011......

[northernjim]

Now that The CSL Cup is dead and buried, S.Mac has stepped up to the mark, to keep us all entertained by buying his first race 'car'


Here she is Tango 2.5



660kg of fords finest hot hatch painted in a demure and subtle shade of Tango proud owner towering above her




The car has just been built, Steve's parted with the readies, and now its time to turn the key for the first time ( hmmm ) and see how she performs...





I've come along wearing many hats today - official tool man as I have a swiss army knife ( which is more than steve has) along with technical datalog wizard ( I'm Nathan's puppet really) picture whore( eat your heart out Matt) and chief scribe....

I knew we were going to be in for a good day when Steve rang me up and said could I go source a battery for him - 9v square - economical these fiesta's and then I couldn't find Team Fiesta Cup's Garage due to all the £100000 motorhomes in the way

some of the competition....

not that we were worried.....

For Roberto Gaydog a Gaynetta...


for the rest of you lot a proper car



and the rest of the field that we are looking forward to tussling with out on track











Vbox fitted, tyre pressures checked, nuts tweaked Steve's ready for the off but won't let me turn the cameras on for his first session - scared of the mighty fiestas FWD power I think?

anyway he comes back in complaining of dodgy steering so we/mark gives he the once over then sends him back out





second session and its his partner in crime/other half of double act - Mark who built the car's turn... In he comes after his half hour stint, the battery is fooked ( that 9v didnt go very far) as the alternator belt has dissappeared....

the spare they have brought along is the wrong size so we nip to the shop at Oulton where the guy very handily has a delivery setting off from chester in 10 mins - it will be here in an hour top man! That shop has far more parts in it than I thought possible to mend your car with... one to note for the future

We charge the battery up with some bike jump leads and send Steve out for his 2nd session with seconds to spare!

Steve's vid

http://vimeo.com/23375161

Marks vid

http://vimeo.com/23471106


feel free to offer all and any criticism of the slowness/driving style or lack of it! It really was Steve's first time in the car and its going to be a steep learning curve for him these next few months

especially as......... when Steve came into the pits after his 2nd stint I could hear something was wrong with the engine - it was definitely missing

after borrowing a few tools we/Mark compression tested it and we/Mark found that number 4's exhaust valve was - FOOKED day over real shame as the car was sounding great and the day was perfect...

Lets hope Tango 2.5 is back in rude health asap, in time for Anglesey's double header and First race for Steve on Sunday 22nd May



I know this has been long winded, but I really enjoyed the day, it was a baptism of fire for Steve unfortunately, but I loved it!