Monday 30 May 2011

Does my bum look big in this? New sticker for Spookworks rear end


Spookworks are pleased to be sporting a new sticker for the Rally of the Midlands!


As part of our support for the RAFBF we have put a new sticker on the backside of the Spookworks Subaru! 
Hopefully by marking up the Spookworks Subaru with their famous Heart Roundel logo  we can spread the word about the services the charity provides to serving and former RAF personnel– and raise some much needed funds in the process. The RAF Benevolent Fund spent £21 million supporting the RAF family last year so they need all the support they can get!


Check out the RAFBF at www.rafbf.org


Could there be more changes to come - perhaps from another new partner.  Stay tuned to find out!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Northwood Road Safety Day May 11

 Spookworks recently took part in the Northwood Safety Day alongside our friends in the Metropolitan Police,
 Hertfordshire Police and the RAF
 Benevolent Fund. We had a great day and managed to speak to lots of people about important road safety issues, the good work that the RAFBF does and of course the beauty
 of RALLYING! 
Enjoy the pics....


Tuesday 24 May 2011

New Pics in Photo Gallery

Just to let you all know that the photo gallery has been updated with some pics from the recent Festival of Motorsport.  See the pics in the PHOTOS link from the homepage.  Enjoy!

Monday 23 May 2011

New Throttle Cable arrives

In one of the last remaining repairs from the fire - we now have a brand new throttle cable from Subaru Amersham.  Will hopefully fit this weekend and will keep the other (slightly BBQ'ed one) as a spare.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Video from Festival of Motorsport

Just a quick taster as I am trying to get my hands on the original footage - but Homer has managed to put together some quick clips to let you see what it was like on the event.  Enjoy.


Spookworks Update

Just a quick update to let you know what is happening in the world of Spookworks.  Although there have been no posts recently, it doesn't mean we haven't been busy behind the scenes. On the 17 May we attended the RAF Festival of Motorsports at Dalton Barracks.  A great day, we managed to combine testing the new anti roll bar and give some passenger rides out to those people who give us lots of support.  There was some great in car footage of scared faces but I have yet to get my hands on it!  Don't worry it will be posted here soon. We also took loads of pics, I will load them when I get them as they are being 'tweaked'. They will be on here or on the gallery.

The new roll bar was pretty good.  It stopped the car from rolling - exactly what it said on the tin (packet actually...) we had no more tyre rub from the rear and the back of the car feels really planted on the quick stuff.  We only tried it on soft setting as that proved to be stiff enough by miles. The car has a little bit of oversteer now as well which could be quite tidy on the tighter corners.  Great job Ti Motorsport - well done.

Moving on - the car is back now at Spookworks HQ, getting some final touches put on it in prep for the Rally of the Midlands. The exhaust has now received some heat wrap in order to try and keep the temps down.  Particularly where the turbo joins the exhaust.  It was getting so hot it was melting the driveshaft boots! We have ordered some Mintex 1166 pads to try on the Rally of Midlands as they bed in quickly and work well from cold.  The Rally of Midlands is lots of short twisty stages so they should be ideal.  They also came at an exceptionally good price compared to our usual Pagid Blue or EBC pads.  I will let you know how they got on once they arrive.

Before
Couple of other bits, the protective shield was put back over the fuel filler pipe to stop rocks hitting the pipe and cracking it and we have decided to try and pretty up the engine bay as after the fire she looks a....well burnt.

Finally as prep for the BTCC at Oulton Park, where Spookworks will be displaying the car as part of the RAF stand, we are removing the RAF Police sticker from the boot and it will be replaced with an RAFBF sticker to show our support for such a worthy cause.  Don't worry the RAF Police sticker is merely being relocated.

After
More soon!



Saturday 14 May 2011

Ti Motorsport Update

With the car needing fabrication work to fix the rear anti roll bar it looks like Ti Motorsport in Reading have come through with the goods.  Have a look for yourself....

http://timotorsport.typepad.com/ti_motorsport/workshop_/

Thursday 12 May 2011

Spookworks is proud to support the RAF Benevolent Fund

Spookworks is proud to support the RAF Benevolent Fund, the RAF’s leading welfare charity, during the 2011 season.

For more information on the charity please visit www.rafbf.org

Ti Motorsport to the Rescue

After several attempts we just couldn't fix the anti roll bar mounts.  We tried a helicoil before anyone asks which as a concept is brilliant but we could only get it to work in one of the holes. With the Festival of Motorsport just around the corner ( next Tuesday) we had to cut our losses and escalate the problem higher.

 After some discussion with Gwaine at Langworth Motorsport, he suggested we try Ti Motorsport at Reading to see if they could solve the problem with a spot of welding.  Car was delivered there this afternoon to Dave who seemed to think he knew just the trick to sort us out.  So I leave the car in his capable hands to fit the anti roll bar and the newly acquired Motec Oil Catch Can - in anodised red of course.  Will post some pics when complete.  If you want to check out Ti Motorsport you can have a look at their page at the link below - they have some very cool stuff:

Ti Motorsport Home

Sunday 8 May 2011

Weekend Update

After putting in a good 10 hours work on the car we have made some progress but not as much as we had hoped. Seized bolts seems to be everywhere and both a hacksaw and drill had to be used to get some of the old bits off to get the new bits on.

The power steering pipes are now on and fitted.  System has been bled and looks ok.  Pipes look great! Was a nightmare getting the pipes back on - but we knew this.

Fuel filler pipe now fitted and whole area tied up.  Brake hose has also been rerouted.

Tried to replace the rear anti roll bar but one of the anti roll bar bracket bolts sheared leaving me with a problem.  Decided to give Langworth a call on Monday to ask advice but this gives me a big headache especially as I want to use the FoM for a test session for the new roll bar.  Hopefully the problem will fix itself over night by some miracle taking place.....

More new parts hopefully arrive tomorrow so I will have another update then.

Saturday 7 May 2011

Spookworks Hits the Big Time

The Spookworks Subaru was proud to have hopefully the first of many appearances in Motorsport News this week.  Although Mini WRC stole the front page we managed to still get a mention several pages in- including  a picture with a Typhoon aircraft and our fiercest rival - Phil Bruce in his mighty 206 Supercup car.

You may have to zoom in to read the text.  Enjoy....

New Parts Arrive

Good news the new parts have arrived to repair the damage post the D'Isis Rally.

New Parts Arrive - Hurrah!
Left front is the new rear drop links from Whiteline, next to those are the 2 new power steering pipes repaired by Pirtek.  (They include some space age technology fire protection so if I got into some sort of earth re-entry I will be fine..) The little sensor shaped like a hose connector is to replace the melted sensor (pic in previous post) and is courtesy of CC Motorsport, Sheffield.  Thanks Chris. Next is some new teng "stubby" spanners so I can minimise the nightmare of putting the power steering pump pipes back on....behind that new power steering fluid,   Redline, expensive but low foam, high boiling point and generally just good stuff. The big red bag behind the fluid is the new 24mm uprated Whiteline Anti Roll bar to try and reduce the roll we had at the previous event.  Fingers crossed.  The item in the middle is a second hand fuel filler pipe to replace the one that Jonesy had to repair half way through scrutineering (Thanks Jonesy!) Thanks to Langworth Motorsport, Lincoln for that one. Finally the 2 gold things in between the filler pipe and the anti roll bar are uprated rear anti roll bar mounts.  Apparently if you stick the 24mm rear anti roll bar on without these you are in trouble.  The uprated bar will just rip the standard ones out.  Right better go - tomorrow I will try and fit it all.

Monday 2 May 2011

Rally of the Midlands

I can confirm that our entry for the 2011 Rally of the Midlands has now been confirmed.  Too early for seeding details yet but if you want to see what the event entails check their website:

http://www.rallyofthemidlands.co.uk/ or alternatively have a look at the footage on utube from last year (we weren't there sadly...)

Post D'Isis Rally Damage Report - Update

Just as a quick update - Pirtek, Watford are now kindly manufacturing a new power steering pipe.  Fuel pipe on route thanks to Langworth Motorsport, Lincoln and an order will be placed with Demon Tweeks on Tuesday for the other outstanding items.  No decision on the anti roll bar yet. More to follow.