Shaun_E

As someone who has swapped from K-series to Duratec, here's my thoughts. It's expensive whatever anyone tells you. Anybody who says they got change out of £10k is either an expert in man-maths (i.e. deluded) or used a stock engine (probably second hand) and managed to get lots of parts second hand or on the cheap. For a brand new 250bhp+ engine it's nearer £15k with all the ancillaries, exhaust, etc. Never underestimate the cost of the "little bits" - the plumbing and wiring soon mount up.In mitigation you can make a fair bit back with the K-series bits, Dry sump is especially valuable. Second hand engines are worth very little in one piece - I sold mine in bits and made more than I would have as a running unit. It still won't be as much as you'd like.Duratec was a "legacy" engine even when I fitted mine 4 years ago but it does have wide support both in terms of spares and 3rd party support so probably not a big issue.Ecoboost definitely worth a look but get a ride/drive in one first as it's a very different beast to a K or Duratec. Cheaper install as the engine is virtually stock but there are additional requirements like an inter-cooler. Buy a bigger turbo = 300bhp/300lbft which might be quite fun :-)You'll need a catalytic converterDepending on how much you paid for the chassis and bits, it could be a bargain route into a high spec car or a ruinous folly.

Possibly the coil is breaking down. Sounds very similar to the symptoms I had years ago.

Got an email today to say that it's oversubscribed and I'm S11 on the standby list - needs 11 people to withdraw if I'm to get a place. I got my entry acknowledgement on 7th June so not like I was proper last minute.

My image is of an AP disc :-)

Definitely not an unusual occurrence

I suspect it is gear position indicator for a sequential. Why it's appeared is a different question but maybe you hit a combination of buttons - another combo might remove it! The most common problem people have is of accidentally switching from mph to kph and then they don't know how to get it back!

Hi Steve, I'll try and answer some of your questions. Class 1 has been pretty well supported over the past few years and sometimes has been the biggest entry. This year some have jumped ship to class 2 and in the early rounds Class 1 has been a bit lonely at a couple of events. As one of those was Goodwood and the other Gurston both of which are a bit far south for a number of our competitors and Goodwood is also not particularly suited to low powered cars, I think this is not representative. There are a decent number of registered competitors.I think a number of the front runners have an LSD but it's by no means essentialClasses 2 and 3 are the leaders in numbers right now but it's early days and there's normally a decent spread. Class 5 is more or less empty now and 4 has only a handful of registered competitors - most of our competitors preferred to stay with list 1C tyres. For big power road-going, class 6 is the place to be.To be competitive in the HSA classes I suspect you'll need 200+bhp for B1 (our class 4 or 5) a lot more for class B2 (our class 5) and either a Busa or big Duratec on slicks for class D (our class 7). Our class 6 runs to mod-prod rules but restricts tyres to list 1C. British Hillclimb class B = our class 5 and class D = our class 7.I would recommend trying class 1 if your main focus would be the 7 Club championship but if you are mostly going to compete in other championships then I think you will find your car is a bit underpowered for the specialist production classes. Let me know if you have any more questions. I'm sure others will post soon but a fair few are involved in the planning of the 60th Celebration so aren't looking here as often as normal. Shaun

Plenty of us will be there.

Try again.

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The mirror requirement is drivers side plus one other.

Hi Simon - I'll have the black pair if Nick doesn't.

It works for me :-) Seriously though, I did test this and it's kept my settings OK so I would guess it's a cookies issue for you. No idea what cookie it's stored in though.

Currently on the list for replacement are: A frame - has a "slight" bend in itFront wheel bearings - had a hard lifeRear brake pads - I can get 3 or 4 seasons out of a set sprinting but a couple of races tends to finish them off (fronts already replaced recently)Front offside wheel inner rim - Andy described it as "square" - I may or may not have clobbered the curb at Llandow once or twiceDe-dion needs a slight adjustment as 3 deg toe out isn't really normal on the rearSo yes you could say out car has a hard life but then it has powered me to 4 class championship and 2 overall championship wins in the L7C speed championship so I would say it was worth it

Andy had never seen a cracked wishbone mount before - it's normally the wishbone itself or the outboard mount to the upright I think. The cause will be racing at Brands Hatch - the constant hitting the curbs is what causes the damage. Racers quite often break wishbones and the chassis soon gets a bit tired. Nothing to worry about on a road car and even most track day warriors won't put their car under the sort of stress they get put under when racing. My car doesn't have poly bushes and is not particularly hard sprung (225 lb/in front and 140 rear).

Many thanks to Andy for fitting me in at short notice and fixing the car - we will be competing at Gurston He found that both top wishbones were also cracked so replaced them as well. I guess 6 races last year has taken it's toll!

Andy is going to patch it up tomorrow for me and order new brackets from Arch to be fitted later.

Hi Ian - if this fits my car I'll take it. My A frame mounts are below the chassis - it's a 1997 car but some doubt as to which A frame fits it. I've been waiting months for Caterham to supply a new one. I'll measure mine and if measurements match then I'll definitely take it. Cheers, Shaun

Car has just failed the MOT because the forward upper wishbone mounts are both cracked - one pretty seriously. I need to get this fixed before the weekend if possible. Will be ringing round the local race teams later to see if any of them can do it but may have to take to Arch. Does anyone know how this fix is done and whether it is likely anyone other than Arch could do it. Looks like the mounts would have to be cut off and new ones welded on but side skin will need peeling back for access.