I was very pleased with all the many nice comments made about the car ? it drew lots of attention all day long. I even had a very nice lady with very bright hair grab me and ask if I would be happy to do an interview for sky TV!! All very embarrassing and not me at all but I thought why not - the lady was very impressed and said it was her favourite car of the day and she has even booked a ride and another feature of the car :
The time came for my first practice run at about 10 am so I lined up. I thought I would try a run with the launch control on and the anti lag just for the great noise. Due to all the problems with the gearbox and thoughts of the clutch giving out in the days before the event I had no chance to practice at all so I lined up and off I went. The start was terrible and did a 15.8 !! Terrible but it was rather fun though and I put it down to experience, or lack of it in a racing situation under a lot of pressure!
I had not been told how many runs I would be getting but after chatting with my neighbours I found out I would only get one more run so thought I would try with no launch control (which I hadn?t had time to practice with) and just use the car as it was.. So off I went and lined up for the second time. This time the start went a lot better and I was happy with my 13.83 @ 114 mph - still a long way off the best time in the car from looking at other Volvos times but will never be able to beat a good friend in Sweden who runs a 10.64 @ 144 mph !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck to him with his next goal which is under 10 sec next year!
The day had been fantastic - I was hoping to have some more runs but for the class I was in, that was may limit. I had a great day and met some very nice fellow car lovers. I also had many customers come and support us which was very kind and lots of people came over and said what a nice neat job the car was, especially how under the bonnet looked which meant a lot to me after all the hard work.
I have found lots of pics people took on the day :
So far is my favourite :
At the end of the long day my brother Andy drove the Peril all the way back to RT head quarters - he rather enjoyed his first decent run in the car?!
MORE GEARBOX ISSUES !!!
I spent the next week doing my commute to and from work in the Peril which was great fun to help cheer up the other fellow commuters. Unfortunatley on the way into work the following week disaster struck !!! Coming onto the roundabout on the A3 I slowed for second gear and the gearbox once again made the horrible noise. I could not believe that the brand new box had only lasted 200 miles !!!!!!!
I recorded a small video of the noise if you?re feeling brave :
I luckily had a second hand gearbox which I had bought about three years ago and have popped that into the car for now while we do a full strip of the other box to finally find a cure for the failures ?..
This story is up to date so far I will have more to add and hopefully some performance times soon I hope you have enjoyed reading this half as much as i have enjoyed the challenge the project has set me and my great team of supporters and helpers....
I have had lots of help and support from the following people:
All at RT HQ have helped in a big way with the project :
My brother Andrew/Lucy/Derek/Mark S/
The 'Q' my great mate for all the help and long hours
Mark Shead of MA Developments
Rod T wiring etc
Andy (AndysR) and brother James
AP racing Brakes
Spec R alloy
Vehicle wiring products
Earls
Data spares (Dash etc)
Brighton and Hove motor club
Merlin Motorsport
Zircotec
Silicon hoses.com
Turbo Dynamics
And of course my long suffering wife Emma for the help and support with the ups and downs a project like this brings.
If you would like to build such a crazy volvo please contact us
www.rtmechanics.co.uk
Russ