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Rochdale Olympic Mt Coot-tha hillclimb
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KN
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Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 62
Location: Sydney Australia

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:10 am    Post subject: Rochdale Olympic Mt Coot-tha hillclimb Reply with quote

Neil sent me the following in an email.

Regards Keith.

Took the Olympic to the Mt Cootha Classic for it's first run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFAZ50jb3h0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.performanceforums.com%2Fforums%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D67242642%26page%3D3&feature=player_embedded

Few recommendations: Run bilsteins or other monotube shock (the AVO's and koni's I have are comming off) and get an LSD from the UK while the UKP is low and the AUD good!

Regards Neil

I'm guest driving Neil Roshier's (the Editor of RACE magazine) Rochdale Olympic kit-car at the Mt Coot-tha hillclimb event on the 30th-31st of May 2009.
The car was pretty twitchy as the suspension was far from sorted and the brakes could have been better! It's also only one of two in Australia so I had to be pretty careful with it .... no dings!

TheBillzilla
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TonyS
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Location: Worcestershire

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Keith,

Great video, are there any photos of the car?
Found 5 any more?



[img]

[img]

[img]

[/img]

Regards
Tony
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Last edited by TonyS on Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:52 pm; edited 4 times in total
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KN
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Location: Sydney Australia

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Neil.
Only the one of the ones you have posted, which I found on the Austrlalian Sprite website.
Have advised Neil of this website, hopefully he may post more.
I still haven't figured out posting pictues to this site yet.
Regards Keith N
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Last edited by KN on Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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Rodsmith
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Location: Pembrokeshire, West Wales

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How great to see the video, and the photo, keep them coming!
A lot of wheelspin, or clutchslip, on takeoff. Interesting to hear of the handling problems, and more interesting to hear how he solves them!

Thanks!

Rod
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calex_fr
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

very very interesting Shocked
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Alexandre Contat

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KN
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Location: Sydney Australia

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another shot of Neil's Olympic




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calex_fr
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TonyS wrote:
Hi Keith,

Great video, are there any photos of the car?
Found 5 any more?



where did you find it ?

Do you know this car, his owner and have you any pics of his rollcage ?

Best regards
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calex_fr
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

KN wrote:
Hi Neil.
Only the one you have posted, which I found on the Austrlalian Sprite website.


have you the link ?
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Alexandre Contat

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KN
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Location: Sydney Australia

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Alexandre
The link to the Sprite website is as follows
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spridgets-aus/photos/album/2127484323/pic/list
It shows various cars at the hill climb. You have to sign up as a member to view the photos. I do not know where Tonys sourced the other photos.
I have known Neil a long time via email & phone calls as we have the only 2 Olympics downunder. Neil Emailed me the photo that I have posted. Neil is not a member of the ROC at this time, so cannot post to this website.
transcripts of some emails as follows:

"I'll forward on the details of my
> dampers if you like when I finally get them built. There is
> a good local Bilstein maker in Garry Baker, who is much more
> reasonably priced than Heasmans.
> Car was unfinished and untuned, but it ran ok. Was hitting
> the bumpstops at times and needs much more rear droop
> travel, top speed on the event was around 120kph


I think I did a 68 something and Bill did a 63.5 or around that. Bill came 4th in class on 9 year old pirelli road rubber. Bill was correct in his comment: the car is completely unsorted, brakes were poor and was also untuned as I found a serious carb problem the day before I left and so the jetting and timing was only set by ear! It will get a lot better.
I'll have a look at the forum, though I've never paid attention to it before. I would suggest that due to the motion ratio's the piston diameter is perhaps more crucial that might otherwise be the case for some other cars.
Rear spring rates are also an issue for me at the moment, as the rear might be a bit too soft. I have approx 80-90mm of potential bump travel at the rear and will likely limit this to 75mm, plus 50mm of droop.

Few recommendations: Run bilsteins or other monotube shock (the AVO's and koni's I have are comming off) and get an LSD from the UK while the UKP is low and the AUD good!

I have flared my arches around 20mm to fit 185/60 tyres, but it is not a bad idea.

The engine was originally an A series of 998cc. I drove Keith Hamers car in the UK, which has a reasonably highly tuned a series and then decided that this was not really suitable for Australia. 100kph was 5000rpm, which was fun on a skinny back road, but not at all fast - in fact there was usually a line of cars behind me. The trim I had, such as the rare badges etc did not get packed in the car and did not make it here. You could get one made up, but it would not be cheap. NOS door handles are available in Australia via standard and triumph spare in melbourne. They are standard 8 units. From memory they cost $40 each. The rest of the engine bay was pretty much up to what the builder had to hand. Mine was a real mess, with little thought into what was used and by the time I got it everything was rusty and it was all junked. I do have some period fuse boxes etc, so I'll find it all and let you see it.

I cannot recall if I mentioned that I have added a 6pt cage to the car. What it did highlight was that some of the original glassfibre in my car is very weak and the added material helps a lot. I'm weighting up how to do a complete mould on the cheap, so I can perhaps reshell the car at some stage in the future. Having said that I've been working on some glass repairs today and I am sick of the smell and the mess!

Regards Neil"

Regards Keith
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calex_fr
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thank you very much Wink
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Alexandre Contat

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TonyS
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Link to another photo

http://motorsportphotography.ifp3.com/#/gallery/hrcc-cootha-classic-2009/stkmcc09-0505/

But it will not let you copy

Regards
Tony
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KN
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Joined: 21 Jan 2006
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Location: Sydney Australia

PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Update from Neil

"I had a look at the thread and can add some additional comments to what you have put there so far:
There was no clutch slip, just wheelspin - which is what you might expect with the Fiat's torque delivery. It is generally easy to drive, but I will have to sort out the brakes. The front disc's are a Marina conversion, which uses the Marina caliper. This is a good choice for the Olympic, as it is the Girling 14LF caliper. This caliper is common to FF, Formula Mazda and a couple of other race catergories past. As such pads are reasonably plentiful and cheap...I will be ordering a few in the next week or so.
The damper comment re monotube dampers relates more to a handling biased car. A tourer would be fine on twin tube dampers, but for a more sporting focus I would suggest that the greater piston rear of a 46mm Bilstein would be a better match for the generally poor motion ratios/damper velocities of the P2 rear as a MM front suspension conversion to telescopic dampers. In many respects the P1 is far better in the rear suspension dept in this regards with a 1:1 axle damper ratio vs the approx 1.4:1 ratio of the P2 and the better link arrangement. Given the lack of roll control WRT sway bar adjustment, I will be discussing low speed bump perfomance of the dampers with the Bakers. I agree with a previous comment (in a different thread) on the MM front suspension that did away with the front sway bar and used a MM trailing link. The front structure of the Olympic is not reall stiff enough to use much of a front bar, even when heavily reinforced like mine is. I may look at a secondary bar to help control the roll, particularly at the front.
I'm happy to send images of the 6pt cage, but would urge caution. You need to know what your local authorities would want WRT a cage, before embarking on it's design and construction. Make sure you get their advice in writing! I am boxing some sections of the car and will fill them with foam, in addition I plan to replace the doors with a skinned foam block - which will assist with their stiffness and side intrusion protection.

Key learnings of the event are simple:

1. Install a better driver. Bill was really 5 sec faster than me, so I need to improve - no change to the car will alter this.
2. Fix handling/dampers
3. Tune the car: I have installed an o2 sensor bung and have a wide band O2 sensor to assist with the weber tuning.
4. Fix the brakes - brakes that are ok on a spirited run to the shops are not good enough on an event: new pads front and rear and new fluid - then a braking test session to adjust F/R bias.
5. Fit a better tachometer - the old smiths one could not keep up with the Fiat engine. So a new Smiths motorsport tach has been sourced.
Regards, Neil"
Via Keith N
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Last edited by KN on Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:22 pm; edited 2 times in total
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calex_fr
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fiat engine ?

Shocked
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Alexandre Contat

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KN
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes A Fiat twincam with 5 speed 2 litre.
Mine had a 1600cc Fiat twincam & 5 speed when I bought ESU816. Neil elected to stay with his Fiat engine while I have swapped to 1500 GT cortina.
Regards Keith N
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Last edited by KN on Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:16 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Paul Gething
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Joined: 10 Feb 2006
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Location: Redditch Worcs UK

PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope you can make out the photo.

On my P1 I ditched the original A/R bar and replaced it with a trailing link from a Marina. Then to control roll, I installed an adjustable A/R bar that started life at .625" 16swg and ended up at 1.125" 8swg.

I reinforced around the radiator with small diameter tube 'glassed in. This added a great deal of stiffness to the front to help the roll bar work correctly.

To balance the car in roll I ran 160lb springs on the rear.

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