bobgenie

Good team this and the car looks great!

The PS2 is a good tyre and would be far superior cold or wet however are not as good for outright grip when up to higher temperature. In fact I have delaminated PS2 on track a few years ago (too much tread) but it did grip pretty well. All tyres work best when they are in their optimum operating range. The R888 is made to work better and not fail at higher temps like after a few laps of the track. The PS2 is a compromise for all round use. So unless you use the car mainly for track or if you only have the odd fast blast on a warm day then the PS2 is the better choice.

Dunno don't really use street tyres. The R888 are fine that's what I been using for about 5 years without any problems. The Trofeo is better in the wet definitely.

They are OK as a road I have used them a lot. Not very good cold or wet but manageable. A better tyre these days is the Trofeo a brilliant track tyre also good in the wet. Don't know how good in normal road conditions but likely to be pretty good. I'm going to try both at totb on the Evo will let you know which is better

An engine bay

I will definitely be there in the zed next year :) I'm there in the Evo this year but it won't be the same.

Was a lazy answer to be fair. Yes got Richmond gears n/a ratios and with a Quaife LSD :)

Unfortunately the zed will not be ready for TOTB. As this deadline can't be met I am going to give my wallet a rest for a little and let it recuperate. In the meantime here are a couple of pix and I think they show we are going to the next level. I think it will be worth the wait. I will pop a couple of engine shots later when I get it off the trailer.

Jeez there are certainly a lot going on here huh. Of course a mapper can damage an engine and if we're talking about Noel yes he does try to squeeze a lot out a standard engine. But since when has he hidden that fact? There is clearly a risk with this but you take your chances. You take your car to a mapper to map the car and this is a relatively straightforward affair dependent on the ECU and many other variables. More often the reason for failure will be due to weak or old parts within the engine. Fact of the matter is you can spend a fortune on a forged engine through a race engineer (or a significantly lesser figure with an artisan ) and this will offer a more 'predictable' result ( less likely to fail ) however still not guaranteed it's a fine balance. There is definitely a risk of detonation when mapping the car but IMO only if the mapper kills it through detonation should it be his or her fault. If the engine fails for any mechanical reason then I suspect the mapper might have advised you of the risks. Anyway why all this power? My car is particularly well set up and is almost unmanageable on the street at only 470rwhp. Can't run it at full power on the street even my Evo at 570rwhp is like riding a bucking bronco. So do what I do and my engineers build it and map it one stop shop thank you very much. PS. And still it's motorsport with zero guarantees so every time I break something I just dry my eyes and move on :) PPS. The 'only' time I have used different engine builder and mapper I got a failure. While I might have an opinion it's almost impossible to point the finger 100% so choose not to. For AEM ECU I would go to Dan Turner AME. I am using Link now in the Zed and Ben Hartley Eurospec tunes that and builds it. The Evo is Syvecs and again Ben tunes that but with support from Romain Levesque

Yes :) That's not a simple answer. I think matching the tyre with power is important. No point in too much tyre will simply bog down, too little will spin the wheels. Obviously with the turbos you need to maintain the boost so I get my best times by using the clutch keeping it in boost. My times have improved with time so I do think practice makes perfect. Try different things and get a feel for it. I don't even bother softening the rear these days just use whatever my track settings are and go for it :)

PS. And last year at TOTB I was only 400rwhp as my engine was mullered.

This will not be better off the line than my dogbox can't really comment on a stock box but my PPG box was the same ratios. No problems putting the power down I've managed a best 1.51 60 foot at Santa Pod and a 1.53 60 foot when I did my best 10.92 quarter. Last year at TOTB my 60 foot was top five overall the real problem is the gear changes which mess my times up. Don't forget that's with 500llb rear and 700llb front springs! My car isn't built for the quarter mile but I do enjoy it and the sequential can only help the overall time. Selling my PPG 5 speed helicol cut dogbox if you want a truly great gearbox and sounds brutal :)

never talk money my missus would kill me if she knew :) it's a 'lot' of money! I don't know the ratios as they are custom. I am still using my Richmond gears and asked Quaife to maintain the first gear as is on my PPG dogbox so that my drag starts will still be similar to what I'm used to. Then I asked that top speed was 217mph so sixth is set for that. All other gears are equally spaced though due to the high top speed they are pretty long but I'm sure I will cope with that.

Engine is in but one of the scavenger pipes fouls so some thinking to do. Now the front end is much more efficient at cooling and looks great methinks.

The adapter plate cost about £1K

Here are some photos of the adapter plate made by quaife. Here is a link to the video of it being made https://www.facebook.com/quaifeengineering/

Yes Quaife sequential :)

Look what's in this box :)

For sale my SZ baffled sump. I have used this for around four years now as you can see it's in good condition all things considered. IIRC it cost me around £400 plus postage and duties from the states and I think this is a decent price. It has kept my engine safe for a few years so clearly works quite well. The price is posted to the UK mainland and is economy.

They are built for high performance engines generally a quality build with quality components. It's a harmonic to reduce vibration pretty much at all RPM. For me though the biggest advantage is the reliability as this is what will be running my oil pump can't afford it to fail :)

Just awaiting the lines and then into the car. Dry sump fitted with pump and superdamper looking good.

The zed definitely won't be ready for Brands Hatch though potentially it might be there for some testing with the old engine on the Saturday test day. Still fingers crossed for TOTB. So I will have to use my Evo at Brands. We have just got it working and I started testing today so not all bad news then I guess :)

Here is a photo of the old engine and installation of the dry sump system parts getting it ready to test soon fingers crossed. Looking very stealthy I think! I will have a few more updates Saturday hopefully there will be a gearbox stuck on there :)

Thanks guys we are progressing and I will have a few more pics by the weekend. Not looking good for Brands Hatch time attack round sadly so will have to be the Evo (hopefully finished this weekend). We have trial fitted the dry sump to the old engine and stripping the guts from the original oil pump as will be using the pick-up. Once the new gearbox arrives we will have to measure up for a custom prop. Patience is a virtue so they tell me :)

Some stealth Zircotec here will also help with keeping things cooler. Boxed in the dry sump oil tank as MSA regs now just needs welding.