The Beast 2.0

Finally got The Beast out of the clutches of Saluki Motorsport last Thursday, and took it out for a modest shakedown on Saturday. Nothing adventurous or high-revving, just making sure everything works and nothing falls off. So far so good. There are few bits and pieces still to do, including retaining straps for the mudflaps which I actually sorted out in the afternoon. But now it’s back at Saluki for the remaining odds and ends to be tidied up.

But on the way, I decided to visit Al Quoz Weighbridge and see just how much flab has been excised from The Beast. This sounds such a simple task, what could possibly go wrong? In from the front, with the Beast on the trailer, over the weighbridge, pay the money and carry on out the back. Except that having gone over the weighbridge, the exit was blocked by several large trucks. Reverse back over the weighbridge? Well, it’s narrow, very long, and has a 2’ sheer drop either side - and I got halfway back along it before I bottled out. The only alternative was the world’s most difficult 3-point-turn, avoiding aforementioned trucks and various piles of structural steel in the yard. And then I had to do it all over again after dropping off the race car…..aaaargh.

Well, the weigh-in is complete. The Beast has clearly been on a low-calorie, starch-reduced, fat-free diet with a touch of Atkins on the side and a gastric band. The angle-grinder has been wielded with the skill of a surgeon’s scalpel, and ladies and gentlemen, the operation has been a success!

Those paying attention will recall that the Beast previously tipped the scales at a portly 2580kg. I was thinking that maybe we’d lose 250kg…which is exactly what we have done! The weight is now 2330kg, with a similar fuel load. So I’m afraid all your guesses were hopelessly optimistic, and the only way we’ll get near the minimum allowable 2050kg would be to get rid of the chassis, which isn’t really an option. The nearest guess came from my favourite spanner-basher, Richard Bailey.

I’m about to leave the country for ten days, to go and watch Europe whup the USA’s collective butt in the Ryder Cup - assuming I can get into Scotland by then without a visa. Yes, ‘I’m gonna be the man who walked a thousand miles’ to fall down at the 18th hole at Gleneagles. It’s a shame that world-famous marksman and part-time Newtrix technical director, Mr Rick Carless, can’t come, as I believe the haggis-hunting season is just about to open.

And on my return, there is the first race of EMSF Desert Championship on 3rd October! I have chosen to be car number 333 for no particular reason, and at some point you will be able to find out the location on www.emsf.ae. Please, please come along and support the event, it’s a great morning out amongst some of the friendliest (and sweatiest) Petrolheads in the country. And if you want to volunteer to marshal, get in touch with Stuart at EMSF on their Facebook page.

Did I hear you say ‘pictures’? OK, you’ve waited long enough.

WARNING: CAR PORN AHEAD.

It Lives! It Breathes!

Like the dreaded Kraken, awakening from its slumber in the abyss of the ocean’s depths…

Like the ferocious Grizzly Bear, emerging from its long winter hibernation in the shadows of the forest…

Like the fearsome Creature,taking its first halting steps from the laboratory of Dr Frankenstein...

Like a mighty cannonball, he seems to fly, you hear about it everywhere he goes…
(oh no - that’s Champion, the wonder horse.)

Will somebody get this damned horse out of my blog? Where was I? Oh yes! The Beast is awake! Engine turneth! Exhaust smoketh! Oil pressure riseth! And it is good!

Well, it’s been a while since I had anything memorable to report on the vehicular front, so I thought I’d wait until a Significant Milestone arrived, before getting you all excited.

There are still a few things to finish. All the essential wiring is done, and only the various ancillaries (trip-meters, GPS, Iritrack, extinguisher system) remain to be completed. The missing trim panel between the windscreen and the bonnet has now been located, languishing (unpainted) in Nanjgel’s paint shop. New external safety cut-off and firex switches are waiting to be installed. The broken windscreen wiper linkage is being replaced. We need an oil pressure switch (where did that go?), and a header tank for the radiator, and a filter for the engine breather. We have a new, larger engine oil cooler, and the old one is now cooling the power steer fluid. DOT 5.1 fluid now feeds the brakes, and particularly the clutch - which cooked its fluid last time out. A new windscreen is on order. Every single light fitting has been replaced – headlights, tail lights and high-mount FIA rear lights.

And it looks pretty damn good. Have a look on Saluki Motorsport’s Facebook page if you don’t believe me.

Mark would like to have it finished this weekend, but I think next weekend might be its first outing. Suddenly, my very trousers are trembling with the excitement of it all.

The Beast is back. (Be afraid. Be very afraid.)

Into Paint

While we were in Spain, Robbie and the guys at Saluki Motorsport fabrication shop had been busy. The rest of the panels arrived just as we were leaving, and the front-end fabrication is now complete. Here are some pix, which I shamelessly nicked off Saluki's Facebook gallery.

So last Thursday we dragged it onto the trailer for the run round the corner to Nanjgel workshop, where it is now being prepped for paint. As luck would have it, they are down to one painter at the moment so it will be a couple of weeks before they can finish the Beast in its new livery - Fiji Blue exterior and white everywhere else, over a black chassis. All the removable hardware such as the front bumper, brackets, toolbox holder, sandladder rack and tank cradle have today been sandblasted and are in Bin Shabib for powder-coating in white.

After some agonising about losing the stock speedo (the whole original dashboard is history, remember), I've ordered a GPS speedo from Ebay. This has the advantage of not needing a sensor from the propshaft, and it will give true speed regardless of wheelspin. Yes, I could have lived without it, but I like to know how fast I'm going.

Another item on the shoping list is a blower. No, not a supercharger, I mean a fan. No, not a motorsports groupie (though that's not a bad idea...), I mean something to stir up the air inside the cab. Yes, I know, I've already got one of those and it's called a co-driver. I mean one of these. This is because we've also said goodbye to the original interior fan which lived behind the dashboard. Unless the Beast is actually moving, there's no air circulation without a fan. I forsee needing to install a fan speed control, because word is that these axial-flow fans are a tad noisy at full chat - and no-one likes a noisy tad.

What else? Oh yes, lights. We need a full set of rear LED lights (stop/tail/turn) for the back end of the wings, as well as stop and tail lights for behind the cab (to make the FIA happy). And maybe we really ought to replace the headlights as well - the roll didn't exactly improve them. One of them is a jigsaw of shattered glass, which Richard skilfully re-assembled using superglue. Maybe I'll keep that on a plinth, as an example of modern auto-art.

Later this week I can regale you with photos of white powder-coated shiny bits. Until then!

Gimme Steam!

We're off to Spain next week, and the fabrication work on the Beast's exterior should be finished while we're away. Saluki are waiting on the fibreglass wings to fabricate the tubular front framework. Once that's done, it can go into paint at Nanjgel, but we wanted it steam-cleaned first.

Should you ever need it, I can recommend 'Wheel 2 Wheel Service Station'. They are tucked away near the Eppco at the SZR end of Umm Suquem Rd. Despite from being somewhat nonplussed by the fact that it was only half a car (no discount for that), and it was staying on the trailer, they ripped into it with some high pressure steam. The Beast is now a gunge-free zone.

Meanwhile the engine is almost ready. We had a nervous moment when Trinity, the machine shop who are re-boring the cylinders and regrinding the crank, discovered a problem with the reluctor wheel. This is the disc from which the crank position is sensed, and should be pressed onto the crankshaft. For reasons unknown, it was welded on - not good, as the balance of the crank is critical. Worse, it was misaligned and rubbing on the block! So this had to be carefully un-welded, and a new one installed correctly.

Guess-the-weight Sweepstake

The guys up at Saluki Motorsport have found the angle-grinder again and given my front end a good seeing-to. Frankly, it was a mess. The inner wings had been reinforced earlier (by another garage) and their workmanship was, let us say, less than exemplary. So everything forward of the 'A' pillar is now history. This leaves a clear playing-field for fabrication of the tubular structure which will support the new fibreglass front wings. These are being moulded from my existing wings, at should be arriving later this week along with a funky fibreglass bonnet.

The dashboard has also left the building, along with a few hundredweight of miscellaneous wiring, in preparation for a new aluminium dash, which will be tastefully finished in matt-black powder-coat, for a stealthy, minimalist look. (At least, I think that's what Mark said.)

So how much weight have we actually shed? We started at 2550kg, and our minimum allowable weight is 2050kg. The two rearmost doors weighed almost 40kg. These were not included in the 2550kg figure, which did include 2 spare wheels and a quarter of a tank of fuel. (And an engine, currently on holiday with Al Numairy.)

So let's have a 'guess the weight' sweepstake. When it's finished we're going to weigh it again in full race trim, and whoever gets closest to the final figure gets a passenger ride. Sound like fun? So get guessing!

Time for Plan B

Plan A was to get the engine sorted, change the back end to a pickup and get the Beast ready for the next rally (9-10^th May).  Then maybe do the rest of the work (fiberglass front end, rewire, new dashboard) over the summer. 

The cab back panel is in, and a polycarbonate window will go above it.  The rear wings have been cut to size and the brackets to attach them are in progress.  We’re rapidly reaching the point where only the detail work to fit ancilliaries like the jack, sandladders, compressor, air tank etc. remains. 

New tyre rack and suspension turret

However – we have now moved to Plan B.  Mark has convinced me that it makes sense to complete the job by doing the front end while the engine is out.  That means  stripping out all the wiring and ancillaries from under the bonnet, and the dashboard.  Then the front bodywork will go, to be replaced by a tubular structure to support new fiberglass wings, while a new fibreglass  dashboard will complete the interior.  Once that is done, it will visit Nanjgel for a complete inside (white) and outside (Fiji Blue) respray.   Then it’s back to Saluki Motorsports for re-wiring and engine installation.

All this means that we won’t have the Beast back for the May 9-10^th event.  But when we do finally get it back – it will be like a new vehicle!  Then we'll see how close we are to our 2050kg target weight.

Here's to the crew

I've been so caught up with the rebuild of the Beast that I haven't taken the time to pay tribute to the NewTrix Crew who did all the hard work behind the scenes in Liwa.

Rick Carless once again resumed his position as 'Technical Director', coming over from UK to spend a week getting hot, sweaty and sandy.  He's in the process of editing some video he took, along with some of my in-car stuff, so watch this space!

Richard Bailey packed his entire inventory of tools onto the pickup and drove each day to the service point (which is not a bunch of fun in a slow vehicle). He then masterminded the reconstruction of the wrecked car, working with Rick to straighten panels, fit a temporary windscreen, fit temporary rear lights, and re-wire everything.  Sadly it was all to no avail, as the engine was full of sand after the rollover, but they worked like stars to get it finished.

Kate Stedman was a new recruit to NewTrix, also flying out from UK to help.  She took over all the various housekeeping duties which Sheila usually does, washing race-kit, sweeping and cleaning the car, and making sure we all had food and drink.  The left Sheila free to concentrate on the road-book each evening.

The mysterious Phantom Blogger (aka Ersatz von Frankenblogger) was once again on hand, on line and usually off-topic with his inimitable blend of fact and fantasy (mainly the latter).  If only we knew who he was, we could thank him properly.....

And of course, my trusty co-driver Sheila.  For the second time this season she's had to escape from a rolled race-car!  As usual her navigation was spot-on, we never missed a waypoint. When we blew the idler pulley bearing on Day 1, she was on the tools with me getting the new serpentine belt fitted, what a star!





L to R: Kate, Richard, Sheila, Ian, Rick
Photo credit: Grumpy Goat

 

Emirates Desert Championship T1 awards
Ian (1st), Ibrahim Al Muhana (2nd), Mohd Bin Sulayem, Dave Mabbs (3rd)
 

 

After the awards dinner on Thursday, the party moved on to the Y-Bar at the Rotana.  I am led to believe that security kicked us all out at 4am...

Rick and Dominic Spiller

Sheila, Ali Mirza and Stephan Schott

Phantom Blogger, Dominic, Sheila, Kate, Rick

Sheila, Ali Mirza, Claire