So what happened last October at Donington when I had my first ever test?
Finally getting the engine apart for a look, it turns out that the rear main bearing had a bit of a tantrum, taking one of it’s dowels through part of the engine casing and ultimately seizing everything solid. This may also go some way to explaining the spin, if it all went direct drive on me!
So, not brilliant, but it could have all been a lot worse.
Glenn thinks he set the end float too tight. Luckilly, he just changed the bearing, drilled out a new hole for the dowel, and the rest all looked ok.
We had a brief drama with a relay on the ignition, but that was quickly sorted out.
A few days ago I finally got to hear the sweet sound of a 1300cc Formula Vee engine firing up again:
The high-pitched rattle in the video is just the pulley. It ran a little rough at first, but then seemed ok, although it was popping and banging a little at lower revs.
One thing Glenn noted was that both nearside manifolds were running much cooler than the offside ones. Hmm. More investigation needed, then!
We will almost certainly miss the Cadwell Park round of the championship on 20th June, but we’re hoping to be able to book a test somewhere around that date.
With a low budget, it’s really not worth driving hundreds of miles, paying lots of money for test days and races, and then finding the car dies on the third corner again!
We should be ready for Anglesey on 18/19 July – another challenging circuit, and I’m looking forward to jumping in the car and seeing what it’s all about, soon!
I will try and get as much footage as possible from any testing, and I’ll update this blog with what the plan will be…
When I had the Donington test last year, my mounting bracket hadn’t turned up in time, and so I went with the easy option – I put a bit of foam underneath the camera (a Mobius Action Camera in JooVuu waterproof case) and duct taped that sucker to the roll hoop on the Sheane.
Whilst this does work, and is very secure, it does come with a few problems. First, we found I’d taped over the LED that shows if the camera is switched on or running, so we had to guess whether it was working. It also means it’s hard to take the memory card out or charge the battery up.
For this year I’m going to make use of the bar clamp mount from JooVuu. It’s not perfect because it’s a bit too small for the 32mm chassis tube – but as I came to find when testing things out, the tube isn’t exactly round everywhere, either, so that makes things a bit tough.
The previous run with it taped on top of the roll hoop gave a good picture, but a lot of the screen was filled up by my behelmeted noggin. This is hard to get around, but with this proper mount it should raise the camera a good few centimeters up, which might make all the difference.
The best camera view will show as much action as possible – both outside and inside the car. This means mounting it on the right hand side, so you (hopefully) get a view of the gearshift and the steering wheel, and maybe even the pedals.
I may be able to get around this even more effectively by mounting the camera on the side of the roll hoop, although the mount that I currently have limits this, as you can’t have the mount in place with the camera horizontal…
This is probably what I’ll go with at first, but it’s no problem to unbolt and move the camera around a little.
As Glenn rightly pointed out, if I put the car upside down it could cause a problem for the camera with these mountings, but then I will be hoping not to do that, anyway!
We also need to consider getting into and out of the car – in a single seater it’s an even that requires an almost Olympic level of strength and contortionism, without having to worry about knocking a camera. And we need to ensure there’s somewhere for them to put a tow rope if we end up getting towed off circuit again!
I will hopefully experiment with rear-facing cameras (providing there are going to be other cars behind me on the track!), but that will need more thinking about with types of mount, heat from the engine, and vibrations from bodywork.
If the test day goes without drama, then I should have a bit of time to rethink what we’re doing with cameras, and make improvements where we can.
Onboard camera review: Mobius Action Camera from JooVuu
Thanks to some excellent support from JooVuu, I shall be using their Mobius Action Camera to capture onboard footage from Formula Vee races.
I’ve been using a Mobius camera on my motorbike helmet for over a year and found them to be much better than the likes of Go Pro. They are smaller, lighter and have a lower profile – so it’s less like having a brick stuck to the racing car!
In terms of reliability, the Mobius has never once let me down, despite being used daily in sun and rain and from scorching Summer temperatures to way below freezing in the Winter.
The only problem I had was the battery life went down from 80 minutes recording time to around 30 minutes. This would normally mean buying a new camera if you’re not adept at fiddly circuit board stuff, but in this case I just got a new battery from JooVuu (for around £5), opened up the camera, and it’s literally just a case of unplugging the old one and slotting the new battery in! Even better is that the latest batteries have improved to give over 2 hours recording time.
And it’s this kind of constant improvement that puts these cameras above many costing hundreds of pounds more – firmware is updated for free by a downloadable program that also allows you to fine-tune more settings than you’ll ever need.
It’s primary use was for radio controlled aircraft, so is small and light. This also makes it perfect for use on a racing car or motorcycle.
JooVuu themselves designed and built a great quality waterproof case which I have put through some serious weather at high speed, and it’s been flawless.
The waterproof case does deaden the sound a little – there is no way to use an external mic with the Mobius, and whilst sound is good as it is, wind noise can be a pain.
I think for use on a single seater racing car, it will pay to use the case. There’s too much oil and fluids flying about on a race track, and it will also offer some extra protection if I decide to get some close-ups of tyre barriers and gravel traps.
There are as many different mounts around as you can imagine, and more are being released all the time – so you should be able to find something to suit your needs. I will be doing a separate blog exploring how and where I’m going to place my cameras on the car, so please check back for that, or give me any tips or recommendations that you have.
JooVuu also have top-notch customer support, and I’m sure will answer any questions you have through their website:
And please mention my name if you decide to buy anything from them! I’m more than happy to shout their praises, or answer any other questions that you have myself.
Specs & Info
The Mobius Action Camera Wide Angle Version has a Field of View (FOV) of 131 degrees. It’s ultra compact shape means it is small and shorter than a credit card and is is only 15mm high.
Ideal for an Action Camera:
820mAh Battery
Two user selectable video modes, toggled by the mode button after power up. Either mode can be set to record 1080p-30fps or 720p-60fps or 720p-30fps.
Three movie quality settings (Super, Standard, and Low), which will vary the recording bit rates suitable for the user-selected frame size and frame rate. The Super setting with 1080p-30 fps video gives an approximate average total bit rate around 18,000 kbps. with a high level of detail and smoothess of motion. The Low setting with 720p-30 fps video gives approximately 5800 kbps at the low end.
Lots of accessories: cars, bikes, and soon surfboards!
Ideal for a car cam:
Auto-record when power to the camera is applied (useful for car recorder use – no button presses needed).
Loop recording (5 min. clips with one sec. video overlap, so no lost video).Pressing the mode button while in Loop Record mode means that the current file cannot be overwritten and in turn protects it from accidental deletion or overwriting. However, it can be manually deleted.
Movie flip (180 deg. rotation).
Movie sound (off plus three volume levels).
Photo capture mode with frame sizes of 2048×1536, 1920×1080, or 1280×720 (all native pixel sizes – no up conversion).
Time lapse photos with delays between images. The targeted delay times range from 0.25 to 60 sec.
Recording LED toggle.
Movie/photo time stamp toggle.
Power on button delay (to prevent premature activation while handling)
Other information:
The video format is .MOV with H.264 compression codec. Furthermore, this camera can record sequential clips with a one sec. overlap, so there is no lost video and no need for an AVI firmware like the #16 to get that benefit.
Four video recording cycle time settings 5, 10, and 15 min. plus “Max”, all of which stop/save/continue. The Max setting will record until the 4GB files size limit is reached, the card runs out of space, or the battery power is removed. The actual Max recording time will vary dramatically accord to the user’s settings for frame size, frame rate, and movie quality. The 4GB file limit can be reached in less than 30 min. with 1080p High quality video.
Charging on/off toggle when plugged into a USB data port (useful for some external USB devices).
TV out (PAL or NTSC), which will include a playback mode.
TV display ratio (4:3 or 16:9).
GUI program support for setting the parameters will be available.
The UK Formula Vee championship kicks off tomorrow at Brands Hatch!
Unfortunately, I’m not going to be there…
Glenn’s had the heads off the Sheane, and they look fine, so we’re expecting to find ‘problems’ with the crank. Especially as it’s still seized solid.
I shall know more shortly, and try to get pics/vids and stuff, and of course keep everyone updated.
We’ll get out there testing as soon as possible, and have a bit of support from a company who sell action cameras and lots of tech malarkey – there will be far more on this soon, and I’ll do a full blog on camera mounting and what cameras we’ll be using to capture all the action this year.
In the meantime, Brands Hatch should be fantastic!
Paul Smith will be hungry to get some results this year, especially with Martin Farmer not currently planning any Vee races as he concentrates on his excellent HRX racewear brand (seriously, check them out if you’re after a new suit etc).
The usual contenders – Buxton, Belsey, Gant, Pitchford, Probert, Ough, Jordan, Taylor – will all be out this year, and all in for a shout of at least a podium.
Ben Miloudi is still sunning himself in the Bahamas but might fly back for Silverstone, as all those beaches must get boring.
Craig Pollard is bound to be a contender again – especially if it rains!
However, my money for the championship this year is on James Harridge.
The Maverick chassis seems excellent, and was only crippled by the withheld secrets of Formula Vee engines. They’ve put their aspirations of building their own engines on hold and got a lump in there which may not be the greatest on the grid, but should be enough to see James on the top step. Maybe even at Brands Hatch.
I’m sure there will be a few rookies making a surprising entrance into the championship *waves frantically whilst trying to look nonchalent*, and some of the other drivers may make that leap to the front pack.
As ever, there will be live timing of qualifying and races online:
Motors TV will be filming at all the rounds (as far as I know), and so it looks like yet another cracking season is about to take off thanks to 750 Motor Club.
I’m going to be glued to the live timing, but my body will be at Prescott Hillclimb this weekend to have a look at something different for the first time.
I’ll probably do a write-up of that, but if you’re anywhere near Brands, get yourself down there for the best motor racing action in the UK this weekend!
As mentioned in my previous blog, the brilliant Koden KSC25 Carbon helmet comes with a few accessories.
The peak is of no use to me racing an open single-seater, but I’m sure is great for rally drivers etc.
The spoiler, however, was of interest to me.
As a very good and very cheap helmet, I’m sure a lot of people will be buying these, but, not many will want to get them painted up because it’s The Law to keep your carbon weave on show!
There are absolutely no instructions with the helmet – perhaps unsurprisingly, as you probably shouldn’t be getting in a car if you can’t figure out which end to put your helmet on. This leaves a bit of a dilemma with these extra bits, and what to do with them, though…
The spoiler and the peak come with ‘sticky stuff’ around their edges, so you just peel the tape off and stick it onto your helmet.
Umm… where??
There are no images I could find online of a helmet with either accessory actually attached!
I’m sure the spoiler is more cosmetic than anything, but as a biker I appreciate the need to have vents and peaks and all kinds of nonsense hanging off your helmet. It just looks better!
Many helmets boast about their anti-lift properties (meaning the air won’t get under them and lift them up at high speed), and the Koden spoiler may have some kind of effect here. Looking at my trusty AGV Stealth motorcycle helmet, though, I suspect it’s more to aid the exhaust vents on the back of the helmet.
My AGV has a spoiler itself, but with ducting to channel air from the front of the helmet all the way back and past the exhaust vents. My best guess is that the Koden spoiler is supposed to be placed in a similar fashion, i.e. covering the helmets exhaust vents like this:
I’ve already seen a few weird and wonderful placements from races this year, and as I said, I don’t think it REALLY matters, but by my logic and experience, this is how it’s supposed to go.
I suspect most will just leave the KSC25 bare and not have to guess!
I am planning on a few small stickers with my name on to stick on the helmet – but am also conscious that scrutineers don’t like helmet stickers as they might be covering something up.
Oh, and please before you go sticking anything on your brand new helmet – SIT IN YOUR CAR!
You’ll be gutted if you go sticking stuff all over it only to find you can’t get your head on your head rest anymore!
If you’re driving a Sheane Formula Vee – you’re fine to use it.
I know a lot of you who read my blogs are from the Formula Vee world, past and present.
As you know, the car that I’m driving is owned and prepared by Glenn Hay, who’s been involved with Formula Vee and Super Vee in the UK since it began. This means there are a few classic pictures around of Glenn and a few of the other racers, and I’m sure some of you will be interested in seeing them!
Well, maybe not technically the first one ever, but the first time in this Sheane, anyway!
The MSA rules for 2015 state that all single seater drivers in cars made from the year 2000 onwards must use a frontal head restraint system, with pre-2000 cars being required to use them from 2016.
This means Glenn’s 1997 Sheane that I’ll be driving is exempt, however, after writing my previous blog about this, I decided (and my fiancée ‘told’ me!) that I’d be a fool not to be using one right from the start.
The first problem here is that these devices (which I’ll call HANS from here) come in various angles to suit seating positions – so 10 degree is for Formula One, through to 40 degrees for bolt-upright seats such as truck racing. Most single-seaters will need 20 degrees, but there’s no real way to find out which you need until you sit in the car with it on.
Secondly, compared to the 30 degree HANS used for most saloon car racing, the 20 degree kits cost at least 50% more. Whether this is pure greed (the rules to use HANS are ONLY for single-seaters), or because, as these represent a minority of racing series and smaller production runs are required, I will make no comment.
Demon Tweaks were offering an adjustable HANS for around £20 more than the 20 degree model, and as Glenn pointed out, this would mean I could use it with whatever type of car I take on track.
Delivery received, I screwed the posts in to my Koden KSC25 helmet, and attached the HANS.
You don’t have to be scared about this part. You should make sure that there is some thread locker on the screws for the posts, but mine already came with it on the screws.
The HANS attaches to your helmet by sliding the attachment onto the post, which is also spring loaded. Nice and easy, and probably something you could learn to do after putting your helmet on… I found I can put the HANS around my neck already clipped onto the helmet, and then slip the helmet on.
I don’t really know what we’d have done if we’d found it didn’t all fit in the Sheane, but luckily that wasn’t an issue.
I may have mentioned that the head rest in the car may be a little far forward for my liking, and the HANS doesn’t help here – but it’s nowhere near as intrusive as I expected it to be. You’d have to look hard at the pictures to see I’m using one, once it’s all belted up. We may use a smaller bracket for the head rest, but were most likely going to do that even without the HANS.
You CAN feel you’re wearing the HANS when you first put it on, but you wouldn’t call it uncomfortable. By the time you’ve adjusted your belts and pulled them tight (making sure it sits right), you’ve already forgotten you’re wearing it.
It makes absolutely no difference to sideways vision or movement, and, as you can see, the tethers are very slack when it’s all in place. You have to lean your head pretty far forwards before you feel them do their job.
If you’re using 3″ belts, they don’t quite fit over the guides, but the safety documentation says as long as the excess belt is riding up the neck side of the device that’s perfectly ok. We may decide to adjust the belt mountings inwards a bit more behind the seat, but I think it is workable how it is.
Other than that there are no dramas! We’ve brought an old Sheane Formula Vee up to modern safety spec, and now I just hope that we do it justice.
And with any luck, we won’t even have to make use of the proven life-saving capabilities of a HANS device.
Much as I love my floro yellow Koden, the move to using a HANS device meant my hand was forced, and I needed to buy a new helmet with the SAH2010 approval with the HANS posts drilled.
It was always my intention to get a ‘better’ helmet when I could, so I figured now I might as well spend and get something I’d be happy with for many years to come.
Most of the big names sell their entry level helmet for around £400+, then the HANS posts will cost another £40+. That’s all a lot of money for someone with an Oliver Twist style race budget like mine!
Having been happy with the fit of my Koden, I looked at their more expensive models at the Autosport International Show, and found the fit equally as good, but the quality of their later helmets noticeable better.
Their base helmet with HANS fitments could be had for around £250! The only limit is that you have to have black or white, so no gaudy glowing colours this time…
However, if I’d bought one of these (and I’d be happy to race in them) I’d have always been kicking myself for not buying the full carbon fiber version – so I did!
The show price from Mark at M&P was an absolute bargain of £350 INCLUDING the HANS fitments! So for that extra £100, I’d be getting a Koden KSC25 in real life carbon – the likes of which would set you back, ooh, one or two thousand for one of the ‘big name’ brands!
Quality is excellent. Nothing is flimsy, all the bits join together perfectly, and even the Nomex lining is well-stitched and as good as any I’ve seen. Weight is a stunning 1330g. To put that into perspective, as a biker of 15 years riding daily, I buy the best kit I can. I have never worn a helmet as light as the Koden KSC25, and it’s very, very noticeable as soon as you put it on!
It’s got a trusty double D-ring fastener, and holds my noggin like a sensuous lover. Or a wrestler about to crush your head like a grapefruit. Whatever makes you feel safer! And the button on the front is to release the visor – so no more fumbling around for the lift tab!
As you can see from the first picture, you get a few accessories, too. There’s the peaked bit, for people who drive closed cars and are deluded into thinking nothing can ever possibly get through the windscreen, so don’t need a visor. And another bit that I think is a spoiler. I’ll put that on, if I can – I need to check clearance in the Vee cockpit with the HANS kit, first, though.
You can get spare visors, but I forgot to get one! I think you can get black/smoke or blue iridium. I wear blue iridium on my bike, because a) it looks cool, and b) the blue tint gives better viewing definition in cloudy or overcast conditions – perfect for the UK!
I am chuffed to bits with my Koden KSC25. For the price it’s unbelievable value – but just as a race helmet for ANY money, it’s a damned fine buy! I’m sure it will do me proud.
I still went to watch the other Formula Vee’s at Donington, and I’m glad I did!
On Saturday the heavens opened and the track looked probably the worst I’ve ever seen it. This justified our decision not to race – with no feel for the car in the dry, let alone the wet, I doubt I’d have even made it to the first corner!
James Harridge, in his first season racing his home-built Maverick took a very emotional second place from qualifying. Everyone watching him power through Redgate on the throttle (the ONLY one who did this!) was a thing of beauty, and I don’t think anyone thought he’d got anything else but pole! Craig Pollard just took it, however.
I mention this here, because in all the write-ups I’ve seen so far not one mentions James’ stunning performance, and that is maddeningly unfair!
His team has battled all year with parts failing and their engine being massively under-powered. This was also literally his first time driving at Donington – no testing or anything – so his second fastest time out of all the Vee’s was set within his first 10 laps of the track EVER!
Come on! Give the man some recognition! A definite future star once they find a bit more power…
Pete Belsey also took his first ever championship race win, after some very close (as ever) racing, and Tim Probert led for the first time. Martin Farmer took the win in race 2, and if you haven’t got yourself on YouTube yet to view both races, you need to!
*Further edit: As it turns out, that was also Craig Pollards first ever pole, so a massive well done to him, to! It’s always been said that the true talent will surface when the field is equalised by rain.
Anyway, back to my own campaign…
We still don’t know what happened to the Sheane, as Glenn hasn’t had a chance to get the engine apart, yet. He’s pretty sure that the cause is going to be the float on the crank shaft. With any luck, there won’t be too much damage, and we’re already planning next season.
750 Motor Club run an early day around February for general testing and new drivers to take their ARDS test. It will be quite a fitting return for me, because it’s at Donington again.
Glenn has told me to just put the spin out of my mind and go at it from fresh. There are too many variables at work for me to have really learned much, and the tyres were old and dirty etc. I do now know that there isn’t as much grip as I was expecting, so will take it even easier and try to get a few more corners in, on my return.
A few drivers also suggested that being in 4th gear won’t have helped things, either.
Spinning a single seater is also a bit weird.
Because you’re strapped in so tightly you don’t get flung around much. I can clearly remember during the spin I was just waiting to catch the car so I could point it the right way, and didn’t move in the seat at all, until at one point my head went *dink* against one side of the roll cage.
It was only gentle, but I’m thinking of putting some padding there for extra safety.
I also have a new camera mount to try out, hopefully raising the view so it clears my helmet and shows a bit more inside the cockpit.
We have a load of things still to do to the Sheane, like moving the position of the extinguisher on to the floor of the car under my legs, improving the engine mountings, and a million other minor preparation jobs.
For 2015 we should be able to do the whole season.
It seems like a long way off, sat here dreaming about jumping in the car again (and every second thought I now have is about racing!), but I’m sure it’ll all come around quickly again.
This time we should be much better prepared, and ready to compete!
Anyone following me on Twitter and Facebook will already know that This Did Not Go Well.
Basically, the engine seized on the 3rd corner on my first ever lap, and unfortunately that means it’s season over for us!
I mentioned in my blog about the ARDS test that I have absolutely no frame of reference for driving a car on track, and although this didn’t contribute to the death of the engine, it did lead to my first spin.
I spent literally two minutes stalling the car in the paddock before deciding to hit the track and go for it.
Leaving the pit lane I dropped it into 4th (top) gear with the aim of cruising around for a few laps. The tyres were not only cold, but hadn’t done a lap for 6 years.
It was here I also realised I hadn’t adjusted my mirrors! I couldn’t reach to sort them out properly, and could see a little, so thought I’d cruise around and pull into pit lane at the end of the lap to sort them out.
I turned through the first corner and saw some cars coming up fast behind me, and at the top of the Craner Curves a Ginetta G55 flew past me very close. As a biker who loves filtering, this didn’t phase me, but pulling such a close pass on a Novice in the opening minutes of a test day did seem a little harsh.
No matter, I stayed in 4th through Old Hairpin, and on the exit the back stepped out.
Now, this was my first time ever driving the car. I had no idea if I could go into that corner at 30mph or 130mph safely. I honestly thought I was cruising at about 50% of the cars ability, so wasn’t expecting any loss of traction at all. I took Old Hairpin FAST when I was last there on a bike!
From there it all happened very quickly. I though it had just spun before I’d had a chance to do anything. It was only when I watched the onboard video that I saw that I HAD corrected the slide on instinct, and kept a good constant throttle.
I’ve been drilling “Correction – Recovery” into my head for about a year. Correct the slide then bring the wheel back to recover, so you don’t spin the other way.
The problem is I have no idea what the steering is like on this car, and as it came back into line I cocked it up and around it went.
Whee!!
I stalled it during the spin just before I remembered to get the clutch in, but caught it nicely so I ended up facing the right way and was hitting the starter button before I’d stopped spinning.
It didn’t start, so I thought it might be because I was still in 4th gear, so fumbled into first and it took a few tries before the engine roared back to life.
I felt like an idiot for spinning on a damned out-lap, but I guess I was asking too much of the car/tyres without knowing it.
I was still perfectly calm (even with cars whizzing past me as I was stationary in the middle of the track!) and wasn’t having a flap. I’d just take it even easier for a few laps and be ready to catch the back if it stepped out again.
I gave a stab of throttle and eased off the clutch, and it went about 10 yards and then died.
Thinking I’d stalled it somehow, I used the momentum to pull over to the right hand side of the track out the way and hit the starter button again.
*CLUNK*
I tried a few more times but just got the clunk. I figured the battery must be dead, and got my hand in the air to let the marshalls know I had a problem.
They red-flagged the session, and I got towed back to the pits by the Wagon Of Shame feeling like a right dick-head…
Glenn knew instantly that the engine had seized, and getting a spanner on it confirmed it was locked solid…
We think it’s either a piston or main bearing, but we also had a very tight tolerance on the crank (or cam? Hell, I just drive the thing!) which could also have failed under load for the first time.
Either way, our test day was over. And with no time in the car, even if we could get it fixed for the race on Saturday, we thought it best to withdraw our entry.
So that’s all for 2014 for me! Gutted, but that’s racing!
We’ll make sure I get some proper time in the car to get the feel of it in early 2015, then will be able to think about doing a full season.
I hope you’ll continue to follow my progress, and thanks for all your support!
This video isn’t the proudest of my life, but I’m giving you the warts and all tale of my journey into racing, so it’s only fair you get to see this:
James Cater Racing 