Print Page - Racing a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v

Put simply I am going to transform a 1990 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v from a shed in to a thoroughbred race car. The car is currently full of rust, has many bodged repairs, has no engine, no doors and is pretty much a wreck. Definitely not ready for the race track.

The plan is to dip the car, repair any damage, weld in strengthening plates, put in a group a rally cage and add the required safety and security features needed to win some races.

The plan is to race the car predominantly within the club racing circuit throughout England with a trip out to Europe also. The current calendar looks is starting with a visit to my local circuit in Norfolk at Snetterton (300 configuration) on the 1st & 2nd of April. Then a trip to Hampshire on the fastest circuit in the UK; Thruxton on the 22nd & 23rd of April. Silverstone (International) is next on the 27th & 28th of May which should be great with the wide open FIA circuit which is then followed by the legendary Spa Francorchamps on the 23rd to 25th of June. The north of England is next with Croft on the 22nd & 23rd of July and then the English West Country with a visit to Castle Combe on the 12th & 13th of August. Donnington Park (National) is next on the 9th & 10th of September followed by a trip north once more to Oulton Park on the 7th of October. The season finale takes the car to Brands Hatch, which will include proper night races on the 11th & 12th of November.

The plan is to race the car with the Classic Sports Car Club. I have completed a few rounds with them in 2015 and 2016 with a Renault Clio 182 in their Tin Top and New Millennium series reasonably successfully. For the Delta, the car is eligible for the Future Classics. Modern Classics and Open Series’.

Future Classics is designed for Sports, Saloons and GT cars from the 1970's and 1980's and is split into 2 groups with an overall winner for each decade. The class structure is based on engine capacity, allowing cars to battle it out all down the field and provide great entertainment. The grids are full of iconic cars from the period including Sierra Cosworths, Porsche 911s, Jensons and TVRs. The Lancia is in the A80 class, which is the highest and fastest class in the series for cars manufactured in the 1980s.

Modern Classics is designed for most production Saloon, Hatchback, Sports and GT models produced up to the end of 1999. Modern Classics attracts a wide range of cars from Alfa Romeo and Volkswagen through to BMW, Ferrari and Porsche. The Lancia is in the A0 class, which is the highest and fastest class in the series. Nothing short of a win will do for both series!

The races are run over forty minutes and include the added excitement of a mandatory pit-stop with a 30 minute qualifying session on the same day. Entries may be two drivers sharing a single car or as a two car team, however I am competing as a single driver. All race winning cars/drivers accumulate winners penalties, helping to stop the same car/driver dominating at every round.

Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/photos/

Video: https://youtu.be/cy5CkhL3RaI

Dipping
In order to see the extent of any corrosion, damage and cracking in the shell we need to remove all of the paint, rust, sealant, filler and anything else which is not bare metal. The simplest way of doing this is a process called “dipping”.

In order to dip, the car needs extensive preparation work so that it is only steal which is exposed in the process. This means all aluminium, chrome, plastic, wiring and other parts need removing from the car.

When removed, the car is fully suspended in a heated caustic tank for two days. The mixture of chemicals in the tank dissolve all non-metallic material including grease and paint. When the car is taken out of the tank, the shell is power washed with very high pressure washer using fresh water, taking particular care through the seams.

The third step in the process is to dip the car again, this time in a acid treatment. The acid neutralises the case (caustic) chemical that removes the paint and other material. Again the car is removed and cleaned with very high pressure water and then again with extremely high pressure water.

The Damage
It is no surprise that after the dipping process a number of surprises have been uncovered which were not evident with all the paint and filler intact. Overall the shell is in good condition but there are a few areas which need remedial work. The front legs have rotted away and had a poor repair completed. The floor and roof have the small worm like holes visible and there are other areas of minor root. It is the left (or drivers) side of the car which had the main issue.

The rear quarter had taken a hit sometime in the past and there has been a reasonable attempt to put it right. What was made worse is when the ruler was broken out and compared to a group N rally car, the left rear had been deformed in by 5mm. Now Italian cars in the 80’s and 90’s are not renowned for their build quality and it may have left the factory with a similar tolerance, however we decided to source a new side and make the car dead square from all angles. In addition the whole outer and middle sil had completely corroded away and only some of the inner sil remained so sils were ordered at huge expense.

Repairing more Welding
In the meantime, the process of strengthening commenced in two key areas. The first is that strengthening plates were welded in to the known weak areas of the car and all of the different panels were seam welded together. With this additional welding, the shell is considerably stiffer which should translate to a handling platform that is sharper and easier to control when out on the circuit.
Once the panels, sils and cage had been sourced, this was all test fitted, checked, measured, tacked and then finally put in to place. Other cutting, fabrication and welding work has also been done to the front wheel arch to ensure the right amount of clearance is available on full lock with the suspension under full compression.

Once the car was made square again, we did a test fit of the seat, trying to get the ballast (me) as centre to the vehicle as possible. A small section has been removed from the tunnel and the seat has been moved rearwards as far as possible without snagging on the cage. The steering column and pedal box are being moved over so that legs and arms all line up with the controls being used.
Bits which were sent off or ordered have started to arrive including a re-conditioned transfer box and front differential, rear differential, fire extinguisher, electrical cut off, heater matrix & fan and most important a driver cooling system so I don’t boil alive.

Video: https://youtu.be/_XC1FTN04sg

Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/photos/

Positioning
Driver positioning is really important when building a car for endurance so we took some time getting this bit right. The control surfaces the driver uses all need to line up with the natural ergonomics of being seated in the car. Italian cars are notorious for having off centre pedals, plus the need for brake bias adjustment we are using a floor mounted pedal box with integrated brake master cylinder. We have also decided to go with an electronic throttle and throttle body to give us more flexibility when it comes to engine mapping.
The seat has been mounted as low to the floor as possible which has resulted in a “legs out forward” position, meaning the OEM seat position was moved back significantly from the standard position. In essence, the driver’s seat is now mostly in the passenger foot well. This in turn means the gear linkage and steering column need to be extended, mounts fabricated and the new position fixed to ensure a comfortable drive.

Welding
All of the roll cage sections were welded in to place, including bars going right through the bulkhead in to the front turret in two different positions. In addition gussets were fitted to key angles and the cage was also welded to the body in key areas along the roof and sides. The final piece of the shell was the welding in of the jack mounting points for the air jacks in the corners of the car where the bulk of the cage meets the floor, given this is its strongest point.

Parts
Most of the parts ready for building have now arrived and some of them are a demonstration of engineering excellence.

Video: https://youtu.be/a1moYbigIh8

Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/photos/

Building a car from scratch is a daunting prospect when there is virtually nothing from the original donor to go back in. This is complicated still further with the supply (or not) of parts coming through at the right time. I found many a job couldn’t be completed when it should because a small but vital part didn’t arrive. This is compounded by couriers who couldn’t care less and randomly deliver separate parcels of the same consignment over a week.

What followed was three weeks of 12+ hour days, fabricating brackets, modifying parts, waiting for parts and trying to have three people climb over what is actually a small car by today’s standards. We were also lucky that there was another Integrale off the road with a bottom end failure and John was kind enough to let me borrow many parts from his car in order to have it ready on time. These included the windscreen, lights, gearbox bracket, radiator bracket and much more.

Getting the wheels on for the first time was a great feeling after so much work with the 17” wheels only just fitting underneath the arches when we put on some camber. We may have to take some material off the rear arches when the suspension is under full compression, however we can look at that if it is a problem later down the line.

The engine, gear box and transfer box went in without a hitch with all of the shafts lining up as they should. The radiators, cooling pipes all went in without a problem also. The only slight problem was with the brake and fuel lines. As these are running internal to the car they are made to order for the lengths you require and are stainless steel braded to ensure no leaks if there is a shunt. Sadly the supplier kept sending the wrong connectors in the wrong amounts and it took 4 deliveries until we had all the right bits together.

The car was finished on the Tuesday before the first planned race weekend at Snetterton and was shipped off to the mappers to fit the turbo & wastegate, programme the electronics and map the car. Sadly time waits for no man and it was just too much to get done in such a short space of time so plan B was put in to action and we prepared the Mitsubishi ready for a weekend’s racing.

Video: https://youtu.be/wQw-qZrUO0Y

Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/photos/

Quote from: sparehead3 on 19 April, 2017, 12:52:31 PM

Excellent posts Richard, I'm over in the West Country so will try and pay a visit at C.C. in August !

Great. Let me know closer to the time and I can send you a ticket for free entry over the weekend. Anyone else who wants a tickets to any other events, please get in touch. I usually get between four and eight for a weekend. I need two myself but usually have some spare.

Quote from: DavidLaver on 19 April, 2017, 02:20:47 PM

Able to share any detail of the reinforcements to the shell?

This was the most interesting bit for me as I was pretty ignorant of Delta shells and their weaknesses. John from jjperformance.co.uk has done all the strengthening work on the shell so he can share the precise details. When I first got it from Tanc Barratt, John showed me on the car when it was yellow where all the weak spots are, where they rot and crack. The shell from this perspective was not too bad, it was only later when it was dipped did we find the side had been shunted in 5mm but filler and paint had masked it all.

In summary, what happened was:
- Visited Walkers and went to look at the group A car they have there and took loads of pictures and talked it through with Steve
- Got a copy of the Arbath CAD drawings for their strengthening kit, this was mostly a disappointment as it was just tiny bits of metal covering only small areas
- Got hold of the roll cage (which is replica of the factory group A)

We then
- Cut out and made the inner arches larger to get more lock on full compression
- Seam welded all the panels
- Plated over the key weak areas of the shell not covered by the cage
- Welded in the cage, including through the firewall in two places to the front turrets. The rear cage is on and over the rear turret so there is huge strength there
- Finally (and we haven't done this yet) we need to put a front strut brace in-between the front turrets, but that is a last minute job as it gets in the way of the engine.

Quote from: DavidLaver on 19 April, 2017, 02:20:47 PM

The conrods and clutch are works of art...

Agreed. The crank, head and valves are also machined to perfection, all matched and balanced to within 1/2 a gram or something silly.

Quote from: DavidLaver on 19 April, 2017, 02:20:47 PM

Is that a twin filler? (plate backed by two red cones, pair of hammer in the background) I'm guessing fuel goes in as air comes out all in a big hurry. Any refuelling in your series?

Yes correct. This is a FIA twin dry break re-fuelling system and you use one of these to fill up with: http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/refuelling/atl-refuelling-bottles 20L can be done in a matter of seconds. Most of the time I will be doing 40 minute races which should be fine with a 80L tank, but I am interested in Club Enduro which run a 2 hour race with a mandatory stop for fuel. I will need to run the car to know how much fuel I will need as it varies from track to track. You can only put 50L in on one stop so hopefully I can do 2 hours on 130L or I will be doing some lift and coast or turn down the boost to make it last.

Quote from: DavidLaver on 19 April, 2017, 02:20:47 PM

Are you permitted any cooling upgrades? Going to cool diffs or gearbox(es)?

I am competing in a relatively open series where you can do pretty much what you want as long as it is original engine and gearbox type, silhouette and original suspension pickups. So, cooling is free, as are diffs.

Cooling is using a Walkers combined oil, water and intercooler radiator which they use on their rally cars. These are not particularly bigger than standard, but are constructed so the fluids go through each and every channel through the radiators before being re-circulated, whereas most OEM the water flows straight from the inlet to the outlet. The channels are also smaller, more numerous and you get much greater cooling efficiency. The pumps are upgraded to motorsport spec to deal with the constant higher RPM demands also.

The diffs are standard at the moment but were rebuilt by a company in Italy. As this is a circuit car we are going to see how the mechanical diff works as opposed to a plated diff which is less progressive when it locks up. The gearbox is a special one, also from Italy with dog ring gears and ratio’d up for about 150MPH. It may mean I am bouncing off the limiter at somewhere like Spa but everywhere else it should give better drive. It also has a strengthening plate in it to stop the whole thing from twisting around when the power is applied.

The principle was that the drive train should deal with 600BHP reliably in a rally environment which is what Walkers build most of their cars to withstand. The Fiat lump can be raced reliably with 600 when it is on race fuel but 520 is more realistic on pump fuel (which is what we must use). We are using it on a circuit which is easier in some respects (less bumps, dirt, standing starts, slow speed poor airflow) but harder on others (longer duration, higher RPM, higher average speed, [nearly] always tarmac). I am not going to say what power it is going to run as this then becomes a target for others to beat, but it will be more than 400.

Quote from: DavidLaver on 19 April, 2017, 02:20:47 PM

I do like the grey interior and structure.

John used it on one of his other cars so I copied that. The factory cars were lighter than I have done it but it strikes the right balance between not causing any glare and not being too gloomy.

Quote from: DavidLaver on 19 April, 2017, 02:25:21 PM

Exhaust manifold is quite something...Favorite bit for me? Those airjacks.

The exhaust is currently the object of hate given it has prevented me from racing! I can appreciate its engineering though... The air jacks will make the weekends so much easier given how often you need to put the car up. For those who don't know... every time you run the car you:
- jack the car up
- corner weight (jack the car down, then up again)
- check wheels for play
- take the wheels off
- check pads, disks, fuel lines, brake lines for splits, tares and other anomalies
- visually and spanner check every single nut, bolt, screw and head you can see and access
- check all seals for leaks
- check all levels
- calculate fuel, put fuel in
- corner weight, make any adjustments (multiple raising and lowering)
- check toe, camber and caster on all four wheels (this in its self can mean 10 sessions of raising and lowering the car)
- warm up the engine & transmission
- put in the right wheels and tyre combinations
- adjust pressures
- drop the car and go

It has probably added 100KG to the weight which I could ill afford to do but it is perhaps the only part of the build which I have compromised ultimate performance for luxury on.

Hi all. This is the thread now caught up as this was the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of April.

In this episode we execute plan B as the Lancia sadly wasn’t finished in time.

After extending hours well in to the small hours we had the car ready on Wednesday at the tuners. Sadly, all of this was in vane due to a “miss understanding” between the exhaust fabricators and the turbo people. A new manifold wasn’t going to be ready in time so we switched to plan B.

Plan B involved using a track ready Mitsubishi Evo 4, throw the stuff on it needed to race and see how I get on. Little did I know the long nights wouldn’t be ending anytime soon! On Wednesday the following bits were added:

Rain light
Kill switch
Transponder
Tow Loops
Seat rail taken out and fixed in place with a seat fitting
Spare seat removed

All done for about 9pm which was nice.

Thursday we went to Mallory to make sure the car was all good and get some laps under the belt. The car ran faultlessly all day getting in to the 52’s and I was confident I could do reasonably well over the weekend…. I drove to the circuit that night and set up ready for testing on Friday and all was well.

Friday Session 1 – after 5 laps the exhaust manifold gasket which is mated to the turbo manifold failed, resulting in no boost. Removed 3 studs, rounding off one of them, used some high temp silicone sealant and replaced it.

Friday Session 2 – Missed it due to fixing the gasket.

Friday Session 3 – Blew the gasket again but also blew out a bung on the manifold which caused flames to come out of the bonnet. Phoned up for some help, sourced some new studs, gasket and bungs and got a knight in shining armour to come from West Midlands to help out.

Friday Session 4 – Missed it due to no parts.

Friday Night – Chicken out of taking off the exhaust manifold but instead replaced gasket, replaced studs, rounded off a exhaust stud in to the head, found a long bolt and got it back on with about 3 threads left. Bed @ 12am.

Saturday Morning – Finished off jobs from last night and prepped for Qualifying. My helper also brought along a pit to car radio so we stuck that in as well.

Saturday Qualifying – Managed 2 laps with glorious boost before losing it all again. Clocked a slow 2:18 but carried on doing 3 laps so I qualified for the race. It then transpired I had exceeded track limits so they shunted me back to 32nd or something stupid from 12th. Checked and re-checked everything. Did all bolts up super tight but couldn’t find the source of any boost leak.

Saturday Race – Out of the assembly area I could tell there was still no boost so preceded to race as a low compression 2l NA car. Made up about 8 places on the first few laps, had a good fight with a Elise and a Fiesta before getting stuck in second gear. DNF with a gear linkage failure.

Saturday Night – Drilled and bolted the gear linkage (it was the bushes which had failed). Took off the whole front of the car including the radiator, intercooler, all exhaust and turbo manifold. Tracked down the boost leak to a rubber hose which had failed right where we couldn’t feel for it when the car was assembled. Cut about 2 inches off the hose where the leak was and then preceded to re-locate *everything* in order to get everything connected back together. 2 more studs were rounded and the thread which had the failed bung come out earlier was also knackered. Phoned another knight who arrived at 11pm with some more tools to file, grind and bodge to get it all ready. My second knight did all this after spending all day Saturday running 2 clios at Oulton Park with 750 Clio 182 having one in the barrier and one in the gravel! What a legend. Bed at 1:30am.

Sunday Morning – Woke up at 7, managed to get the studs and bolts to go in after more filing, drilling and grinding. Connected everything up, filled it with water, got it up to temperature and went for a test drive. Lots of boost, no leaks of air or fluids and everything was finally looking good.

Sunday Qualifying – Out of the assembly area still had loads of boost! Warmed up the tyres ready for a “banker” lap only to notice st loads of smoke coming out of the back. Went in to the pits where I was parked in the fire area. Once the marshals were happy I wasn’t about to die in an oil based inferno, my (now large) pit crew opened up the bonnet and diagnosed the dipstick had been blown out and pissed oil everywhere. We then went back to the pits, tipped 5L of brake cleaner over the engine without setting it alight and cable tied the dipstick down. Got back out, warmed up the tyres again and started a flying lap. Half way down the Bentley straight something in the drive train let go with a clonk and then a wine was present. I finished that lap (so I qualified, in 12th again as it happens) and when crossing the line noticed the oil pressure light was on. I then parked it up and sat out the rest of the session with the men and women of orange.

Saturday Lunch – After getting a tow back to the pits, the team diagnosed a knock in the bottom end and we withdrew the car. At that point we gave up, put the car on the trailer and did the ”drive of shame” leaving just after lunch.

Hopefully the car is finished and we finally get out on track for some shakedown and testing.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHryJZU0saQ

No pictures this time, sorry. There are some laps on the video of the Mitsubishi.

If anyone is near Darlington this weekend and fancies watching some racing, I have entered the Delta in to a weekend of events. https://www.facebook.com/notes/lancia-delta-hf-integrale-16v-racing/croft-preview/1975016312785563/ I have a few spare tickets if anyone wants to come, otherwise it is £14 for adults and kids go free.

The team is looking forward to Croft this weekend, our most Northerly race planned for this year. Looking at the forecast, it is expected we will have an English summer all weekend and go from monsoon one minute and thirty degrees the next. Luckily, we have both the Nankang AR-1 for dry and the Nankang NS-2R for any heavy downpours, the tricky bit is making sure you are on the right tyre at the right time!
On Friday the car is booked in for a full day’s testing with 4 sessions split throughout the day. The weather for Friday looks changeable with conflicting forecasts from cloudy to heavy rail. The hope is to get the driver and car dialled in to the circuit and get as close to an optimum setup as possible in the time allowed.

Saturday sees both qualifying and race for the Classic Sports Car Club Modern Classics and the Lancia is in class A, or the highest class for the series. At Croft the grid is shared with the faster New Millennium series featuring much newer and more modern machinery often with aero bits producing meaningful downforce. At the of writing the star cars joining the Lancia on the grid include a Ferrari 355s, Lotus Esprit & Elise, Porsche 911 RSR, 944s, 968 & Boxter, a Ginetta G50 and a host of BMW M3s. The weather reports heavy showers so the tyre decision will play a key role in the outcome of this race.

Sunday afternoon sees both qualifying and the race for Future Classics for cars built in the seventies and eighties. The Lancia is in the A80 class and is expected to do well against the competition. The race to the finish in this race is likely to be with the 1979 Porsche 911 RSR of Tony Blake as well as a powerfull Triumph TR7 v8. In the A80 class the Delta is up against Coventry’s finest in the shape of a v12 six litre Jaguar XJS. Depending on the report, this is either going to be a dry or showery day so again tyres may play a role in deciding the outcome.

All to play for and the team are confident that should the car finish, it will do well. Here is a video from last year in the Renault Clio 182 championship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GpBELSTsp8 Watch out in race 2 for what could have been a massive accident with car 27. Stay up to date with live timing here: http://tsl-timing.com/event/172964 Facebook updates: https://www.facebook.com/LanciaDeltaRacing/

Hi all. Racing at Donington this weekend, I have loads of spare tickets if anyone wants one.

After a much-deserved summer break, we set our sights on the next round at Donington Park this coming weekend of the 9th and 10th of September. Looking at the forecast, currently light showers are expected on Saturday with Sunday reported as cloudy. After the success of Croft we are all doing rain dances here as I fear the Delta won’t be quite as competitive in the dry against some stiff opposition. We will be using the Nankang AR-1 for dry (4 new & 4 part worn) plus the Nankang NS-2R for any rain.

Of the two race ending problems faced at Brands Hatch we have identified the root cause of both. The drive belt failure was caused by a miss-aligned alternator pully which was causing pre-mature ware on the belt. The pully has been machined and should now be in alignment. The second failure was caused by a shear through the drive shaft at the point of the circlip on the outside end on the rear right-hand side of the car. We don’t know if the failure was just because the shaft had been a road car for 27 years before being asked to race and gave up, or if the standard shafts will all need replacing. We will keep an eye out for that.
Saturday sees both qualifying and race for the Classic Sports Car Club Modern Classics and the Lancia is in class A, or the highest class for the series. Confirmed for the meeting is a bumper grid of 36 cars with a fist full of BMW M3s a large litter of Porsches including 993 RSR, 911 SC, Boxter Ss, 968 CS, 944s, some Lotus’ with an Esprit and a few Elises plus a super-fast TVR Tuscan. Normally we would test on the Friday to get everything dialled in, but the Friday test is ridiculously priced so we are giving it a miss. Instead we are going to try and change the setup through qualifying, particularly with the rear dampers to try and get the car more balanced. For the race, a podium finish would be superb in a field of seriously fast cars, however that is probably only possible if it rains.

Sunday sees both qualifying and the race for Future Classics for cars normally run for seventies and eighties cars. At Donington the grid has been spilt so the eighties cars get their own grid, I think for the only time in the season. The Lancia is in the A80 class and is expected to do well against the competition. Like with the Modern Classics, the grid is full of some seriously quick cars with 26 cars currently. Germany makes up most of the numbers with 11 Porsches including 911, 964, 928, 944, 924 plus three Ford Sierra Cosworth’s and three ridiculously fast TVR Tuscans. With a good run should see a shot at the podium with our chances significantly improved should it be wet.

All to play for and the team are confident that should the car finish, it will do well.

Here is a video from last year in the Renault Clio 182 championship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X2TeoaEFUs A small crash can be seen from 7m30s onwards.

Weather forecast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2653591

Stay up to date with live timing here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/173664

After a much-deserved summer break, we set our sights on the next round at Donington Park the weekend of 9th and 10th of September. After the success of Croft we are all doing rain dances here as we fear the Delta won’t be quite as competitive in the dry against some stiff opposition. We will be using the Nankang AR-1 for dry (4 new & 4 part worn) plus the Nankang NS-2R for any rain.

Of the two race ending problems faced at Brands Hatch we have identified the root cause of both. The drive belt failure was caused by a miss-aligned alternator pulley which was causing pre-mature ware on the belt. The pulley has been machined and should now be in alignment. The second failure was caused by a shear through the drive shaft at the point of the circlip on the outside end on the rear right-hand side of the car. We don’t know if the failure was just because the shaft had been a road car for 27 years before being asked to race and gave up, or if the standard shafts will all need replacing. We will keep an eye out for that.

Unlike previous rounds we decided not to test and this put us slightly on the back foot in qualifying. We had new set of pads to bed in on the front, tyres to scrub, new springs on the front as well as some adjustment in the rear tow. There is an adage in racing that you should only change one thing at a time and we were playing with fire. Luckily we didn’t have any issues with the new setup but with lots of slow cars on track it did mean we only got one semi-reasonable.

There was a slight miss-hap half way though when intending to signal Richard (I) accidently turned the car off! Luckily we got going again and lived for another lap. In the end the Delta qualified a lowly 10th just behind a gaggle of cars in and around the 1m 19s to 1m 21s so there was a chance of going forward from there.

This weekend was again one where much time was spent looking at the sky and the weather radar screens. It had rained during the previous race but was sadly drying out for our race so we opted for dry tyres, Nankang’s AR-1 road legal track tyre, expecting it to continue to dry but hoped it was still damp out on track. We pick the action up from the warm up lap where we do a rolling start.
After the first corner the delta had made up three places and continued to syth through the field on the greasy track. After the end of lap 1 the Lancia was up to P2 behind the Porsche RSR of CHAMBERLAIN / FARRELL and spent the following laps closing down the gap to just over a second. By lap 5 though it was pretty much dry and the quick cars started to catch up and overtake dropping us down to 4th before the pit stops.
The second part of the race was about holding station as much as possible against the quicker field coming through. Some silly mistakes by Richard (me) meant at one point we dropped back to 7th but some shunts, spins and unreliability meant we climbed back up to 4th where we stayed for the rest of the race.

After two DNF at Brands Hatch we were relieved to have finished and finish well. 3rd in class against the faster M3s and TVRs was a great result and we had all worked hard to overcome the advantages RWD cars have over 4WD in the dry. Choosing the delta is always going to be a compromise and days like today are when you have to double your efforts to stay at the sharp end.

In the next episode we take part in Sunday’s event at Donington in the Future Classics series for cars made in the eighties.

Video: http://youtu.be/WRrkPtfd8cw
Extended Version: http://youtu.be/hRY1K1W63Gc
Timing Sheets: http://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CSCC/2017/173664cmc.pdf

Hi all. Sorry I didn't update this thread from Sunday's race... The following day we took on the might of the nineteen eighties with the Classic Sports Car Club Future Classics and face some stiff competition.

Qualifying
Having reviewed the footage from Saturday’s race we made some small damper changes to see if that would help the car and driver unlock some more speed. Here is what happened!

Despite all of the tail out action, we did improve on our best from Saturday but still qualified a lowly eight. The good news is there was a second separating about ten cars and we were right in the thick of it. Opportunity to go forward but also to drop back.

Race
We made some final changes to the setup for the race, particularly around breaking stability and took ourselves to the assembly area. This one would be 100% dry which was disappointing but that is how things go.

We made a reasonable start and got a few places on the first few laps, but being conservative on the tyres we were soon overtaken back. The car ended up 8th after the pit stops having served a thirty second winners penalty after winning Croft. We were fortunate to pit early as there was a whole train of cars behind us.

As you saw the Morgan used tape as a fuel cap, caught on fire quite badly. Thankfully everyone was ok and the car isn’t a pile of burning embers but the race was stopped. As we were less than seventy five percent through the race distance it was re-scheduled for the end of the day.

For reasons best known to the drivers and teams, a number of cars withdrew at this point, packed up early and went home. This immediately promoted us to sixth for the re-start. As you can see the rain dances worked and we had a wet track to begin with.

http://youtu.be/DBMgupBVXAg

“Richard Thurbin’s four-wheel-drive Lancia Delta Integrale was untouchable with the extra traction in its rain-soaked race. From sixth on the grid Thurbin comprehensively bested the field off the line, going around the outside of Redgate to claim the 1980s race lead.” – Autosport 14/09/17

What a race! It was all over by the first corner… there was one brief moment on the first lap where I thought “great I am in the lead, oh that means I don’t have any references for braking!” I didn’t make any real mistakes, kept it smooth and off the racing line and ended up two seconds or more a lap faster than the next guy. It very nearly ended in disaster though as the last two laps I was running out of fuel and was surging through the corners. I then used an endurance technique of lift and cost plus higher gears to eke out what little fuel I had left. Luckily a TVR stuck it in the gravel which meant 4 cars on the side of the road so they flagged it early. I made it back to the puts with only just enough fuel to put it on the trailer.

(https://thurbinme.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/20170910_192108.jpg?w=970)

Winning for the second time this year is really amazing (and the only car to do so). Clearly the Delta has a significant advantage in the wet and we need to be more competitive in the dry so we have a chance at winning in all conditions. All that being said, it is great to finish both races with 3rd in class and first overall. Happy camper here!

We haven’t yet decided when the next race is for the year so keep an eye on lanciadeltaracing.com as well as Facebook for updates and pre-views. In the meantime why not subscribe to the channel and please give the video a thumbs up.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2itOICjjKw

Extended Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOtFm57bh_4

Timing Sheets: http://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CSCC/2017/173664fuc.pdf (scroll down past the 1970’s group).

Birkett Preview - Saturday 28th October 2017 @ Silverstone Historic Grand Prix Circuit in Northamptonshire.

Jim Clark, Graham Hill , Gerry Marshall, Vic Elford and Richard Attwood all took part in it. Steve McQueen is said to have become hooked on endurance racing as a result of it. Colin Chapman, Jem Marsh and Eric Broadley developed their now-famous brands with help from it. What is ‘it’? The famous Birkett Six-Hour Relay Race, in which historic saloons can run up against modern specials. Up to 70 teams of between four and six drivers compete to lap the circuit as many times as possible within the six hours, with only one vehicle per team allowed out on track at any one time. Entry is restricted to saloon and sports cars – no open-wheelers – but that still allows for a hugely eclectic mix of cars of all ages out on track.

In fact, the Birkett is often said to be two events in one, because in addition to competing for the maximum number of laps in the Six-Hours, teams also compete in a handicap classification, which in theory can be won by anyone. Each team, unless it’s in ‘scratch’ position, is credited with a number of laps, according to perceived performance (based on observations and timings by the organisers at previous race meetings throughout the season). This means all teams should have a chance of winning the handicap side of the competition. In fact, due to the volume of traffic on track, it actually favours the slower cars, which are more easily able to meet their target race times as they’re less affected by congestion. The event is over a single day with qualifying starting at 9:00am and the race it’s self-kicking off at 11:45am for over 6 hours.

Like all endurance events, the Birkett is a team event and this year we are part of the “Legends of the 1990s”. The team is made up of a trio of turbo charged 4wd cars and a trio of BMW M3s. Normally racing together in the Classic Sports Car Club Modern Classics, this motley crew of racers have joined forces to take on the best of endurance racing. With two ex-rally cars and lots of driven wheels, the team are hoping for a 50/50 wet dry to make best use of the cars capabilities and drivers alike. The 4wd contingent is made up of a duo of Toyotas in the shape of a Celica GT4 sporting a brand new engine of Richard Hayes as well as the 3.0 twin turbo Supra of Roger Hayes. The final 4wd car is our Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v, a fresh build for this year. The team of mightily rapid BMWs is made up of Michael Russell, Tim Barley and last but not least Matthew Johnson. Racing on list tyres, the team has entered in class b as well as the overall handicap race with hopefully a very slow target time to beat! Check out Tom Barley’s facebook page: www.facebook.com/Tom-Barley-Racing-416065758749096/

The team went testing at Donington Park this week on the national circuit. The aim of the day was to get the car better set up for the dry so we are able to take the fight to the front of the field. Autumn (or “fall” to our American friends) is not the best time to go testing a dry setup and we had a day of fog, rain and cold. This meant that whilst exploring the balance of the car and the limits of grip there may have been some drifting! http://youtu.be/jzo30NuhD-g Not the quickest way around a circuit but enormous fun never the less. Came away 2.5 seconds faster than our last race two weeks ago where we managed an overall win. http://youtu.be/b2itOICjjKw

Looking at the forecast, at the moment it is cloudy and dry but definitely on the cold side with temperatures from 8 to 12 degrees Celsius (48F to 54F). The Lancia has both the Nankang AR-1 for dry and the Nankang NS-2R for any heavy downpours on standby, but all fingers and toes are crossed for rain! http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2637827

All to play for and the team are confident that if it rains we should do well. Here is a video from last year in the Renault Clio 182 championship car with “Team Clio 182”. http://youtu.be/oxnIFFTx2hw

Live timing for the event: http://www.theresultslive.co.uk/750-motor-club/2017/750-motor-club-2

Please feel free to come and say hello. Tickets are £10 on the gate with full access to the whole circuit and paddock (but not grandstands sadly). At the moment I am out first for an hour between 11:45 and 12:45 but that may change depending on weather and other dramas.

;D I had no idea! I was uploading for the NEC...

Here is the report from the Birkett.

Racing Against BBC’s Top Gear

Welcome to my blog on turning a rusty old shed in to a thoroughbred Italian winning race car. In the last episode we were at Donington Park racing against cars from the nineteen eighties. After qualifying 10th and making our way up to 8th the race was stopped and restarted at the end of the day. http://youtu.be/b2itOICjjKw The great news for us is the restart was very wet and from 6th on the grid we were in the lead by the exit of the first corner and took a dominant overall victory. http://youtu.be/DBMgupBVXAg In this episode we take on the Birkett relay racing against the BBC Top Gear crew in an epic 6 hour team endurance race.

About
The Birkett is an endurance race where 70 teams of between four and six drivers compete to lap the circuit as many times as possible within the six hours, with only one vehicle per team allowed out on track at any one time. In addition to competing for the maximum number of laps in the Six-Hours, teams also compete in a handicap classification, which in theory can be won by anyone. Each team, unless it’s in ‘scratch’ position, is credited with a number of laps, according to perceived performance (based on observations and timings by the organisers at previous race meetings throughout the season). This means all teams should have a chance of winning the handicap side of the competition.

Like all endurance events, the Birkett is a team event and this year we are part of the “Legends of the 1990s”. The team is made up of a trio of turbo charged 4wd cars and a trio of BMW M3s. Normally racing together in the Classic Sports Car Club Modern Classics, this motley crew of racers have joined forces to take on the best of endurance racing. With two ex-rally cars and lots of driven wheels, the team are hoping for a 50/50 wet dry to make best use of the cars capabilities and drivers alike. The 4wd contingent is made up of a duo of Toyotas in the shape of a Celica GT4 sporting a brand new engine of Richard Hayes as well as the 3.0 twin turbo Supra of Roger Hayes. The final 4wd car is our Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v, a fresh build for this year. The team of mightily rapid BMWs is made up of Michael Russell, Tim Barley and last but not least Matthew Johnson. Racing on list tyres, the team has entered in class b as well as the overall handicap race.

Race
Racing against Top Gear saw Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Read entered with a trio of comedy cars. Matt was in a Bentley, Harris with a S600 and Rory had a Rolls with massive, wheels, wings and diffusers. The forfeit car was a Dacia Sandero which looked completely standard.

The starting order of the race is determined by the team’s handicap and we started on the 23rd row in position 46. The Lancia took up the baton to take part in the first stint fuelled up for an hour of racing with the aim of making up places and keeping out of trouble.

Video: http://youtu.be/CoyhjR2ls-Y
Extended Version: http://youtu.be/rk9KNnQMgVo

After a good start, seemingly overtaking some drivers not quite awake start we set about picking off competitors one by one and ended up finishing the session a respectable position 25 on scratch and 21st on handicap at the one hour mark. Second out on the road was Roger and then Richard Hayes who completed 45 minutes each. After the second hour Matt completed his first 30 minute stint and then Tom did an hour in his rapid BMW 325. At the half way mark the team was position 36 on the road and 22nd on handicap. Then over the next three hours, Richard and Matt did their second stint and Michael did his double stint and managed to pull out something pretty special. After a fill six hours of racing we finished position 32 on the road (14 positions better than hour handicap) and when taking in to account our credit laps, we were lucky 13th overall. Racing against 69 other highly competitive ammeter racers and coming away 13th is amazing and the whole team were really happy with the result.

Top Gear? They finished 69th out of 70 in both the scratch and handicap race. Unlike the first Top Gear race at Britcar, I got the impression they were not really competing but spent their time filming a narrative to suit their script. We managed to overtake a slow Chris Harris in his Mercedes but they were lapping 20 seconds slower than our team so there was no real contest. We look forward to the episode on TV and are hoping the Lancia makes an appearance.

Summary
The Birkett represents our last race of the season and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We will be publishing a season highlights video over the next few weeks so don’t forget to comment below.

Site: www.lanciadeltaracing.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LanciaDeltaRacing/
Timing Sheets: http://www.theresultslive.co.uk/750-motor-club/2017/birkett/2017-grove-dean-holly-birkett-6-hour-relay

Boxing Day Tuesday December 26th @ Mallory Park in Leicestershire, UK.

The 43rd annual Plum Pudding race meeting returns on Boxing Day, Tuesday 26th December 2017. The Plum Pudding is the only race meeting on the circuit calendar to feature two, three and four wheels and is the ideal excuse for the whole family to get up off the sofa and away from those mince pies, because with fresh air and racing engines… it doesn’t get much better!

An event that’s become something of a tradition for those local to the Leicestershire circuit, it gives competitors who love to race on two, three or four wheels a chance to work off the Christmas turkey in a slightly more unique way than normal! Whilst those who love to race bikes and sidecars will have races to cater to their tastes, a pair of races each will be run for sports cars and also saloons respectively.

The way this works, however, is a little different to any other race meeting. This is because although competitors will still have a regular practice session, there is no qualifying on the day to determine the grid, nor is it chosen by a random draw. Instead, our grid position is set by the order of entries received. The grid for the second will then be a reverse of the result from Race 1, so if one wins they start at the back and so on.

For this event we shall be trailing a live broadcast of the practice and both races. We have no idea if there is the signal, bandwidth or if the camera will pick up any sound. If it works we will be looking to do it as a regular feature next year. Keep a watch out on the YouTube channel at approximately 9:45, 12:40 and 15:05.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=richard+thurbin

Full timetable download: https://tinyurl.com/ycg4w9l9

Stay up to date with live timing here: http://livetiming.tsl-timing.com/BRSCC

Couple of updates for you all...

Plum Pudding Race One

We “qualified”, or got our entry in ninth place right in the middle of the twenty car grid. The second bit of bad news is that ninth was on the right hand side of the circuit next to the pit lane.

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The start was taken very tentative given the grip advantage that 4wd has and there was no space to drive in to. Once the race got underway the slower cars dropped back and we were in a battle with similarly passed cars. After overdriving the car for a number of laps, the car came off the circuit on the exit of Gerard’s Bend and splashed through the puddles losing two places. Then followed a recovery drive where the lovely sounding Rover Vitesse was caught and passed after a better exit out of Devils Elbow corner. We finished fifth overall but 3rd was definitely possible without the off track antics. We had opted for the Nankang NS2-R tyres which are full wet “list” tyres but this was probably the wrong call as there was a definite dry line and the extra rubber given by the Nankang AR-1 would have been better.

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Race Two

The Clark of the Course decided to change the starting order and instead of reverse grid the whole field, reversed the top six. This was great news for us as it meant we were starting in second position on the front row.

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As there was plenty of space in front of the Delta we made a good start but the flying Audi TT Spaceframe yellow rocket came flying past and quickly disappeared in to the distance. We had opted for dry tyres this time with the Nankang AR-1 and once warm after the two warm up laps the tyres were giving lots of confidence inspiring grip even in the damp patches. Sitting pretty in second we were on course for finishing well but an Impreza had other ideas. After a few close laps swapping places and beginning to overdrive the car again, the exit of Gerard’s Bend caught us out again and we followed almost the same path through the grass and puddles. This time we had lot lost any places but the Clio Cup car had caught up a whole bunch of time. Sadly the Impreza retired from the race and the Clio Cup car, driven by an instructor from Mallory Park caught and overtook the delta towards the end of the race. We did have a brief fight back but off line there was much less grip so a lunge down the inside would not have finished well.

(https://thurbinme.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/26114625_2006195742979608_7315792865080541346_o.jpg?w=970)

Still, third is a good result, second was on the table without the error at Gerard’s Bend but even without this error, the Clio would have probably caught and passed us for the second step.

(http://Summary)

The Plum Pudding was a surprise entry to the seasons racing and was a nice way to cap off a great first year with the Lancia. Please check out the season review videos on our YouTube channel and please subscribe, comment below and give the video a thumbs up.

(https://thurbinme.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/20171226_153706.jpg?w=970)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LanciaDeltaRacing/

Video: http://youtu.be/eFvfkLnjrnw

Extended Version: http://youtu.be/A7IBaU1FTtk

Additional Footage: Colin Taft http://youtu.be/2bkYypguyAQ

Quote from: sparehead3 on 07 January, 2018, 11:59:27 AM

Well done Richard ! - great result and great photos - can we see the cameraman from the in-car footage ( going "eeeekkk" :) ) ?

Thanks Steve..! I enjoyed Mallory very much but sideways whilst fun is actually a very slow way of going around a corner. I tried to tame the car in race 2 and the results speak for themselves.

Our 2018 calendar has been finalised and we can confirm the season’s calendar as follows:

7th April @ Snetterton 200
6th May @ Silverstone International
2nd June @ Oulton Park
22nd to 24th June @ Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
14th July @ Brands Hatch Indy
18th August @ Thruxton
19th August @ Brands Hatch Indy Festival Italia
16th September @ Donington Park National
6th October @ Mallory Park
19th to 21st October @ Magny-Cours, France
27th October @ Silverstone Historic Grand Prix (Provisional)
26th December @ Mallory Park Plum Pudding (Provisional)

Last year we took part in two series of the Classic Sports Car Club, namely the Future and Modern Classics series. For this year we have decided to compete only in the Modern Classics series designed for cars produced in the 1990’s. We took this decision for a number reasons including;

- Logistically, JJ Performance are running an awesome sounding Holden GTS in the New Millennium series and the Modern Classics is on the same day
- The competitiveness within Modern Classics is better
- But most importantly, the cars competing are not one-off specials but normal production cars which one can compete realistically against in the dry

We will also be competing in one off events with other clubs such as Motor Sports Vision, the 750 Motor Club and the British Racing & Sports Car Club.

This year’s calendar visits some great circuits throughout the UK featuring the super fast Thruxton, a double visit to both Silverstone and Brands Hatch as well as the location of our second ever win at Donington Park. The season opens at Snetterton in just a few weeks time using the traditional “200” layout suited for fast high-powered cars. The visit to Oulton Park in Cheshire will be our first and we were gutted to miss the event last year due to a clash of diaries. Even more so when it ended up being a very wet race…
The highlights have to be our continental visits to Belgium where we hope to start at least one race as well as our first ever visit to Magny-Cours in central France.

As always, everyone is welcome to come and watch with prices varying from free (at Spa) to at the most £13 for an adult. We are always happy to talk to visitors in the paddock and show the car off in all of its glorious detail.

Don’t forget to check out our 2017 Season Review videos with John from JJ Performance:

Part 1: http://youtu.be/7JqrA2tOGds
Part 2: http://youtu.be/TRC7L_aRlb8
Part 3: http://youtu.be/wxZCdJlJ7as
Part 4: http://youtu.be/bCZqcIXSxPM

The New Season Awaits
For us the winter period provides time for engineers and mechanics to do those all-important jobs which you never seem to get a chance to do through the season. As usual we have left everything until the last-minute and with only 4 weeks to go (at time of writing) the list of jobs is still long and complex. Here are some of the highlights!

Dry Weather Setup – we had some help from Rob Wheldon from Raw motorsport late in the 2017 season to help improve the car’s setup and managed to improve 3 seconds over our previous best at Donington. Doing the same in the dry won’t gain us as much time as this but will definitely move us forward on the grid (more on this in a later article).

Flatten Floor & Sump Guard – to decrease drag and improve top speed. This year’s calendar has some high speed circuits and the Delta was not the most aerodynamic of cars out of the factory.

Engine & Gearbox – as per February’s article, race engines need lots of tender loving care to deliver 500fwhp lap after lap after lap. Engine and gearbox out, stripped, checked and renewed where needed. To re-install without a leaking as the engine to gearbox seal is metal to metal and it is really hard not to have this seal weep small quantities of oil when running.

Air box – make and install a custom aluminium air box to separate air entering from the light cluster from the engine bay, hopefully reducing intake temps and adding power.

Re-fit doors – a pig of a job which will take a couple of days. Those who have seen the car up close would have noticed some “less than factory quality” shut lines with the fibre glass doors.

Investigate & Fix Knock – there is currently a knock coming from the front suspension or steering which happens on load. We need to find and fix this vital part, so we don’t end up driving straight in to a wall at any movement.

100’s of Small Jobs – including securing the LED headlights, tidying up wiring loom, securing the coil packs with a cover, fixing the rear light cluster seal, sealing up the 100’s of holes in the floor, installing the driver’s cooling fan plus much more.

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Once we have done all this work is done we then need to take the car to a circuit or rolling road to perform a shakedown. After any major surgery it is wise to make sure everything has been put back in it’s right place and there are not going to be any dramas over the next race weekend. Finally testing needs to be booked prior to the first event to get me up to speed, back on the pace and ready to hammer in some good laps during qualifying.

Race Retro
It was great to chat to everyone at the Race Retro event at Stoneleigh in February. We were honoured to welcome Miki Biasion to the stand and we had a great chat about the car, what we achieved last year and our plans for 2018. A real down to earth guy who clearly has a passion for all things Lancia.

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(https://i1.wp.com/lanciadeltaracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180222_134510.jpg?fit=800%2C600)

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Drive Available!

Back in early 2017 we borrowed a Mitsubishi Evo 4 when the Lancia wasn’t quite ready to race. For 2018 it is available to arrive & drive from JJ Performance, our engineering partners and builder of the Lancia. Also joining us on the grid is a Subaru Impreza STI and Toyota Celica GT4! Give John Sheilds a call (http://www.jjperformance.co.uk/ (http://www.jjperformance.co.uk/)) and compete head to head with ourselves and other 90’s rallying icons out on the track!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnF0C8Z2jO8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnF0C8Z2jO8)

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Snetterton Shakedown

The team is still burning the midnight oil finishing off those last-minute jobs and making sure everything will be ok throughout the weekend.

A spring day in England can start off with snow, go through rain, wind and end up a lovely summers evening with clear blue skies. It is therefore hard to know what kind of conditions we can expect on the day, so we will be making judicious use of the weather radar apps on our phones when making the critical call as to what tyres to put on the car for each session. Nankang have confirmed their support for us throughout this year and again we will be running their semi-slick tyres during testing and the race. For dry and slippery conditions, we run the Nankang AR1 tyre which is on the MSA’s C list of competition tyres and provides excellent grip and stability from new and through hour long stints. For predicted wet and monsoon conditions we will be opting for Nankang’s MSA ‘B’ list competition tyre the Nankang NS-2R which is also legal for road use and the tyre which has seen us to two overall victories in the pouring rain.

(https://i0.wp.com/lanciadeltaracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Nankang-AR1.jpg?w=489&h=651&crop&ssl=1)
(https://i2.wp.com/lanciadeltaracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Nankang-NS-2R.jpg?w=473&h=651&crop&ssl=1)

Snetterton is situated in Norfolk, England and is the most easterly circuit in the UK we use for 2018. After its use as a USAF base, Snetterton was first used for motorcycle racing in 1953, organised by the Snetterton Combine, an association of clubs in Norfolk and Suffolk. The track was used by both Team Lotus (Formula One) and Norfolk Racing Co (Le Mans) to test their racing cars. Snetterton has 3 configurations which can be used for competition. Snetterton has undergone somewhat of a renaissance during the recent years following a multi-million pound redevelopment project at the start of 2011, which was met with rave reviews from both spectators and competitors alike. The 100 infield circuit is mostly used for sprinting with the 200 and 300 used for door to door competition. The Snetterton 300 circuit hosts the British Touring Car Championship, British Superbike Championship and British F3 and GT Championships. Snetterton is a typical post war airfield affair set in the mids of the Norfolk fens. The circuit is mostly flat with big skies above alerting you of what the weather will be 30 minutes hence.

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This year the club has opted for the shorter 200 circuit and will be a good benchmark for how the car will perform over the year. A lap of the 200 circuit starts with a gentle climb up the start finish straight, hugging the put wall for added slip streaming. Richies corner is an unsighted fast right hander where only the slightest of lifts and a dab of left foot braking helps the car turn in and carry as much momentum through the apex as possible. A good exit here can bring you along side a competitor ready for a big stop in to the right hand hairpin of Montreal (what was called Wilson) sliding down the inside and ahead of your foe. The exit of Montreal is all important as instead of heading infield on the 300 configuration, the car needs to immediately turns left and head down the Bentley straight for a big drag towards the circuit’s infield bridge. The Delta should have the advantage through this tight section with good on power traction through the exit phase. After what seems like an age it gets exciting into Brundle where the car needs to brake from fifth gear down to the second gear right hand corner of Nelson all whilst going through a left hand tightening bend. Smoothness is the key here whilst not dropping too much speed on the entry. Minding the curbs on the inside of Nelson the car rockets out of the corner and soon is tipped in to the Bomb Hole. Taken much like Richies only slightly slower, the car is put in to the corner using only the smallest of lifts with a touch of left foot braking the right hander catapults you in to the never-ending corner of Coram. This right handed constant radius curve tests the balance of your car and again being smooth on the throttle and carrying as much speed around the large apex can set you up for another overtaking opportunity in to Murrays. As Murrays’ is a left hander you can be more aggressive on turn taking a wide line to the apex and get on the power early for another long drag up the start finish straight’s slight hill.

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The 300 layout better suits the short wheel base of the Lancia as the 200 tends to be all about straight line speed which in turn suits cars with low drag and lots of power. There are 32 cars entered so far and cars to note in our class or fighting for overall victory includes a Seat Leon Cupra R, TVR Tuscan Challenge, 6 x BMW M3’s and a Z3M, a fellow ex rally car in the form of a Subaru Impreza WRX, Porsches 968 & a 993 911 and the drifters favourite Nissan 200SX. Having raced with most of these competitors over last year the race will prove challenging and we expect the TVR Tuscan Challenge car to drive off in the distance with it’s large V8 and space frame light weight chassis. The BMWs can never be ruled out as their long wheel base, excellent chassis balance sees them carry speed in to and through the apex better than nearly all the cars on the grid. A good result in the dry would see us finish in the top 6 and we are hoping to match or improve on our best dry result at Donnington of forth overall. Clearly in the wet with four-wheel drive, nothing short of a win will do!

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On Friday the car is booked in for a full day’s testing with 4 sessions split throughout the day. The hope is to get the driver and car dialled in to the circuit and get as close to an optimum setup as possible in the time allowed.

This time last year we were still battling with getting the car ready for the start of the season and unfortunately one we lost. To try and still get a race we opted to rent a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4 and ended up having a frustrating weekend full of mechanical issues and dramas. You can read all about it here: http://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/04/20/plan-b-c-d/ and watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHryJZU0saQ

We had some success at Snetterton in a Renault Clio 182 a few seasons ago and managed a second in class through the pouring rain, watch the video here: http://youtu.be/Y9KcRf1zcL8 and other races here: http://youtu.be/71075NEXpNA and here: http://youtu.be/0txHElMR66k

Stay up to date with live timing here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/181464 We will also be trying out broadcasting live during qualifying and the race. Stay up to date on Facebook and YouTube for the latest announcements.

Hi all. It has been a frustrating few months with the engine in the Lancia.

For those of you not following YouTube or Facebook, here is the short story.

- After the low oil pressure from the Snetterton test, the main barings were found to be scored plus marks on the piston & 2 cam lobes rounded.
- Couldn't get ready in time for race 1 so borrowed a Mitzubishi Evo 4. Qualified 7th, on the start got up to 4th, after pit stops droped back to 6th. 5th was on the cards except for no brakes or clutch. Then ran out of fuel on the last lap and DNF'd.
- New top end and bottom end later, tested again at Snetterton and all was ok.
- Silverstone qualifying the oil pressure dropped again, withdrew from event.
- Upon investigation main barings had failed. After weeks of investigation, found the block had twisted causing the repeated failures.
- New block, piston rings and barings are now in, engine has been run in on the dyno and tested with some power runs.
- Ready for a test at Donington tomrrow before putting it on to the trailer to go to Spa next week for the Summer Classic.

Some videos with the long story!

Evo Race - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV93UyGtH5g
Evo Race Full - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-m0U2gbnkE
Silverstone Qualifying Full - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wtQWOcGQ_A
Engine Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ORJVNzKz_k
Engine Story Full - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YATS8NZOq7Y
New Engine Startup - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRsbASSKB7E

Lancia Motor Club

General => Competition Information => Topic started by: Thurbs on 15 March, 2017, 08:56:16 AM