History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[911thillclimber]

Finals have arrived for the next round at Shelsley Walsh on 10/11 August.

This is a BIG meeting, rounds of the Midland and British hill Championships, so the very fast boys arrive.

So there are 3 of us in the class, myself and the usual Norma and Chrono sports cars with well over 500 bhp and all the modernatity that brings.

At least the Lola will get into the allotted garage spot in the busy paddock, I doulbt the other 2 will be able to get the cars into the garages.

The garages are very quaint, but erected so long go Austin Severns fit easy, rest is a tight fit.

On a negative note, cleaned the car well after Prescott and have found a 3" lone 'line'/ 'crack' in the one rear Dymag wheel.

The line was not there 6 miles ago when i last cleaned the inside of the wheels.
I suspect my lovely DYMAG magnesium alloy wheels made in 1976 are reaching their end.
Fortunatly i have another pair that fit of the right size, so the best one will be used to replace the suspicious one.

I can then get the bad wheel crack tested.

This wheel looses no pressure, so maybe not a crack.(?)

[Gerard C]

Not the kind of thing you can jeopardyze with Graham. I remember when we used expensive brake discs, vented and drilled, a small crack joining two or three drilled holes decided to become a long one… Speed was above 280 kph (old Spa layout) and this almost sent my RSR in the barriers. Sometimes, savings can be expensive…

[911thillclimber]

Indeed.
I can reach 104 mph at the finish at Shelsley Walsh and there is NOWHERE to go if it all comes unstuck.
The tyre is on the spare wheel now so all ok for the next event and the rest of the events this year.
I now have time to have this checked carefully.
The 'cracked' wheel rings like a bell when tapped, but the spare rings brighter and far longer.

Not a good test, but enough to have a propper check done.

[Gerard C]

On the contrary, I think its a good test and as you say enough to order a change and a check. This confirms a old adage, keep your car clean anytime!

Almost one month before Shelsley Walsh, no hurry.

[911thillclimber]

I do not trust specialists!
In the past have been down to the wire with promises.

The car now is sound. The 'new' wheel fits, has the tyre on and balanced.

The ammount of balance weight is huge, but i do suspect the quality of the balance done.

I can run up the hill at Shelsley first practice, and if the wheel is poorly balanced it will show. BMTR will be there on the Sat, so can always get them to strip the weights and get it sorted.

The tyre fitter had great problems getting the wheel center to sit square on the balance machine and clamp up flat with the cone and clamp spinner (I was there'helping').

My local 'rough=-n-ready' tyre fitter has balanced these rims before perfectly, so may yet take it to him with a £5 for him to check it.

I hate it when thingas are not resolved.

[911thillclimber]

I do not trust specialists!
In the past have been down to the wire with promises.

The car now is sound. The 'new' wheel fits, has the tyre on and balanced.

The ammount of balance weight is huge, but i do suspect the quality of the balance done.

I can run up the hill at Shelsley first practice, and if the wheel is poorly balanced it will show. BMTR will be there on the Sat, so can always get them to strip the weights and get it sorted.

The tyre fitter had great problems getting the wheel center to sit square on the balance machine and clamp up flat with the cone and clamp spinner (I was there'helping').

My local 'rough=-n-ready' tyre fitter has balanced these rims before perfectly, so may yet take it to him with a £5 for him to check it.

I hate it when thingas are not resolved.

I always deep clean the car on he Monday post an event; cleaning can reveal so much.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

I do not trust specialists!
In the past have been down to the wire with promises.
I hate it when thingas are not resolved.
I always deep clean the car on he Monday post an event; cleaning can reveal so much.

+ 1 ! I had many issues with painted rims, mainly because the paint used was "epoxy resin" its very hard to find a good specialist here.

[911thillclimber]

Took the wheel to ScanTech who are 30 mins away for a professional test.

We cleaned the 'cracked' area of any paint and undercoat down to the magnesium surface, about 50mm either side of the line, cleaned it very thoroughly and applied the penetrating agent, a light rose colour.
It needs 30 mins to get into any imperfections.
So time past by and the dye was cleaned away and the 'fixer' sprayed onto the treated surface.

If a crack etc was there it will now show clearly.

Nothing came up, area clean as a whistle, so all ok with the wheel.

If the casting had been 10 mm or so thick he would have used ultrasonics, but at this thickness, about 6mm, this is a good approach.

So, an exercise in safe not sorry. Total cost £90 and I've learnt a bit and even remembered some details from my past.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Took the wheel to ScanTech who are 30 mins away for a professional test.So, an exercise in safe not sorry. Total cost £90 and I've learnt a bit and even remembered some details from my past.

Time and money well spent.

[911thillclimber]

Oh so slowly the rest of the season gets underway!
Feels ages since the last meeting, but only 4 weeks ago.

Had the tyre fitted to the spare rim by a fitter who was not quite on the ball and added 2 feet (yes) of balance weights to balance the rim/tyre.

He could not centre the rim on the machine and all in all a bit of a mess.

So, took the tyre to a small trusted local tyre fitter and he stripped the weights off, rotated the tyre 180 deg and balanced the lot with 3" of weights. Some were on the front of the rim so they used black painted weights to match the wheel colour!!

Should have gone there first, but within 2 mins of them opening the queue was 4 cars deep.

Just need to do the pre checks on thursday (wash, fluids, tyres pumped to 20 psi) and we are off to a packed out Shelsley Walsh.

Having trouble with my next door after 20 years (he insisted on using my front drive as his) so expecting grief about the noise of the trailer and winch either Friday or Sunday afternoon.

Is 6.30 pm evening or afternoon?

Always a black mark somewhere, but we shall have to wait and see.

After this Shelsley there is the postponed Prescott from April the week after, then our last meeting again at Precott in mid Sept.

A new bathroom means no Loton Park at the end of Sept, first time missed for 32 years.

2024 will be over then!
Suddenly, it will all be done.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

So, took the tyre to a small trusted local tyre fitter and he stripped the weights off, rotated the tyre 180 deg and balanced the lot with 3" of weights. Some were on the front of the rim so they used black painted weights to match the wheel colour!!

Rule of the thumb, rotate the tyre on the rim when you the balance weight reaches c 60 grams. Just out of curiosity, in which class will you enter your new bathroom? Soapy Specials may be!

[midgetman]

Sports Loo-bre I think you'll find, Gérard!

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[911thillclimber]

The whole exercise is one of The Paying Class. lol

DIY is not in my skill set, so all this plastering, plumbing, electrics and tiles and silicon sealers and vents etc have to be delivered by tradesmen with the skills, that is something i have to pay for.

Be nice when done!

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

DIY is not in my skill set

Ha yes??? Building and modifying a race engine is nothing together with a protoype now? It is what you said to Miss Graham after improving the washing machine!

Well done, Midge! https://www.coolthings.com/toilet-seat-go-kart/

[911thillclimber]

Shelsley Walsh today for practice.
3 in the class, the huge NORMA and the huger still Chrono and the tiny Lola.

Understandably i was very much the slowest by up to 5 seconds(!) but the car was really nice to drive.

Result was a 33.19 and a 2.1 sec start, about 1 second slower than my PB of 31.08.

All the gears selected easily, stopped ok and did the bends well, a delight to drive.

Very much a BHP hill, the Norma has around 500 bhp and the Chrono about 600 bhp and younger drivers!

Looks to be very hot tomorrow which I really do not like, so I hope that will not get to me.

My 'new' wheel has no out of balance vibs, so that run around last few weeks was well worth it.

Some very nice cars there today, but for me the star of the paddock was the first hillclimb Gould single seater with a 4 pot HART engine.

Oh so very nice.

Second was a Subaru Impreza V3 Rob Burns with a LOT of mods, built to perfection over a 14 year period.
A detailed delight.

[911thillclimber]

Sunday, and cool start. Was not to last long!

Practice run and the car was a treat just like Saturday, everything simply worked(!)
Miles behind the other 2 in the class, but no surprises there.

Timed runs were in hard sun, and getting very hot (for me), and the afternoon run was far far too hot and I knew it would not be a good run, but some good numbers nevertheless.

31.5 and then 32.09 as I suffered the heat, poor gear change control and lot the plot.

Still, all in all a great typical summer Shelsley Walsh, magic place, full and buzzing and saw lots of old and current friends, so very nice.

19 year old enthusiast tried the Lola on for size (friend of a friend) and was really taken by the car, and had a lot of compliments inc Best Sounding Car by the commentator!

[911thillclimber]

Bit off the YouTube Live stream;

https://youtu.be/2wQBfOzB2Hw?t=11463

[911thillclimber]

Prescott for the weekend.
I like this track, flowing, not too steep and a very nice open paddock.
My class of 3 is actually 2 cars, the mighty Norma and me, so just might get amalgamated to the Under 2 litre class for Midland Champ points.

Super slick day, well organised and we had 4 practice runs. Weather was great and the track great too, so set to trying to find my PB set 3 years ago of 44.15 secs.

First run was the usual steady run to see that all is working which it was, and the other 3 were taken with the same mindset but a bit harder each run so the times fell bit by bit but still 1 second off the PB...grrrrr.

I'm starting to think the slicks are past thier best.
This is the 3rd year on this set, and the PB was set with the improved engine and near new slicks.
The car was a touch loose in places.

New tyres for next year!

The car ran just great, utterly driveable thanks to McClurg Motorsport chassis geo and utter driver skill (as if...).

Tomorrow seems to be the same weather, so just maybe i can find that 1 second.

Just one heartbeat, that is all I need!

[911thillclimber]

Sunday, and all is not well.

Thought I would be able to continue the steady time reduction from Saturday's practice, but this morning's practice was dismal, 45.34/ 2.31

First timed run and it got worse!

45.61 / 2.33. I don't do 2.33 starts, that is embarrassing.

Had to resolve things, so 'modified' my approach for the final run of the day to a much better 44.7 / 2.14

Throughout the weekend, the Lola has been great, the driver far less so and my excuse is the tyres are going right off, i mean, what else can the reason be?....

Lovely weekend if a bit disappointing but others were setting new class and hill records left right and centre, bike engined car snapping chains and a friend finding a 1.000.000 bhp more by resetting his spark plug gaps!

Mad, but wonderful.

Just one meeting left now, back at Prescott in early September.

[911thillclimber]

We are back in the running for next weekend at Prescott for the British and Midland Championships event.
Have 4 in the class, first time this year, the Norma, the Chrono, my old sparing class mate Nigel in his rebuilt NG with a bigger engine for 2024 and the Lola.

The NG needed some serious straightening out after the big off at Shelsley Walsh at the start of the year, so Nigle has missed out almost all of 2024.

Slightly awkward paddock position due to a slope and an under cut that can catch the front of the car, nothing changes at Prescott!

This will be our last meeting for the year so the plan is to have some fun and come home in one piece.
The Lola will go into storage as i have another Porsche flat 6 to rebuild in the winter, and these engines are huge when stripped apart.
Space is tight in the garage.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

The Lola will go into storage as i have another Porsche flat 6 to rebuild in the winter, and these engines are huge when stripped apart.

Hooo yes! Stripping all the accessories, the heads and the timing bits including the camshafts carriers makes you wonder how they will fit back! Are you using classic rockers or the ones with a shim?

[911thillclimber]

Standard rockers.
My hot engine in the Lola has the stock rockers too and all ok so far.

The engine is out of my old 1973 911 which I installed with a 3.2 way back in 1996 when trying to keep up with the influx of turbo saloons into the hillclimb class.

At times there is a belch of blue smoke on start up. The engine is about 130/140K miles old now and was thrashed to death for 10 years before it retired and I joined the pack in my hot Impreza.

The engine has never been apart from new, 1985, but the valve guides are a weak area.

Total tear-down to the crank and then a lot of prepping for re-assembly, the heads being the most time consuming.

The re-build will be back to standard, nice road spec engine, 220 bhp in a 1000Kg of early 911.

Doing it now while I can still get on/off the garage floor repeatedly!

Have had the car for 36 years now. My heart beat still jumps whenever I look at it....

[Gerard C]

I understand you feeling. My metallic blue then first 911 was a 2,5 ST bought metallic blue then resprayed in yellow. My favorite all time is the 2.8 RSR one I never raced but always fancied. When I see what money my ex 2,7 or 3,0 RS can make…

[911thillclimber]

Prescott dawn wet and full of drizzle. Shame, the first wet meeting for us this year.

4 in the class, but everyone all over the paddock were careful on their first practice and me too.
A very careful 57.33, secobd practice was getting better and netted 53.53/2.27 start, and the final practice a good solid 47.38/ 2.25 start.

Pleased with that.
Car was great.
My old adversary, Nigel in his rebuilt NG with a 4.7 litre Rover V8 was back and chasing me.

His runs were 62.45/56.9/52.29
My pb is mile away at 44.15 but that was on fresh slicks and this latest engine. Tyres are now 3 years old and feel it a bit.

Practice tomorrow and 2 timed runs, so hoping the wet weather 'promised' will not arrive!

[911thillclimber]

Just found a bit of Live-Stream, 3rd practice:

https://youtu.be/gze0krAJals?t=2218