Back in devon and hanging out with his old friend the 2a. Here he is when I was out testing everything before application of all the motorsport cut off, fire system, number roundal and tow here stickers.



Up at Sparrow Hq before heading for home. You can clearly see the fat tyres and the negative camber. Also that recessed fuel filler I was on about earlier. That is an LED rear fog let into the rear bumper.



Pete has really done some top work setting the car up for me.



Once the new stickier tyres are on, I'll see if I can wind it down a little bit more. Seems rudely high at the moment.



It might weigh a little bit more but this was worth every penny to fit, I want to use green car every day as well as ragging him up hills and on sprints, but I do a lot of mountain biking and wanted to see if we could fit this so I can get a stripped down bike in there...

Boom! Scrutineering at Prescotts La Vie en Bleu - PASSED!



A little tired after an evening of the Sparrow Equipe entertainment and camping but massively stoked for a day on the hill!



So... before you get too excited... This was the rest of my class (post 1974 saloons)... Having said that I finished midfield and beat the Turbo 2s in the wet (my childhood fantasy car) and an Alpine A110 to mention a few.



Getting lined up and on the rear wheel chock at the start.



This was the second practice run and rather slippery. A lot of wheelspin off of the start and a little twitchy in the first long fast corner and in Ettores - the flat 180 deg corner.



Coming into Ettores. And yes, that is a gradulux rear blind fitted.



Funnily enough.. made in France, but I could only buy through a trader in Germany. Looks cool and if I get asked why I have it I'll just reply that it is a racing aid - keeping the driver cool and thus in a better physical state for racing.



Exiting Ettores with a little slither and some tyre squeal in the dry.



Cutting a straight line out of Ettores and up towards the hairpin, I tried this a few ways, changing to third about here and then back on the power before braking hard and into second for the hairpin... Or as I favoured in the final run (as shown on the video in previous post) I left it in second and bounced it off the limiter (9200rpm) briefly before braking hard and turning in.



I love hairpins. This was my favourite part.



And onwards up the hill towards the Esses and the final long corner.

It was great to meet a few more people the night before the competition, I chatted to a few people on the Citroen and 2cvGB stand - sorry, I'm awful with names! - but it was a delight. Also meeting some of the 2cv racers, people who've made, worked on or painted bits of green car and some nice hangers on that were a pleasure to hang out with that eve and on the day. Also - Mrs Sparrow. Thank you for the cake.

What a nice detailed report, now I'm really jealous... I think you did a briljant job over there first time out racing it.... I would be to scared to race such a "shinny"and good looking car.....

Keep on doing the good stuff with it....

I would like to say a massive thanks to Pete and the team at Sparrow Automotive. The work and setup that they have done recently on Green Car has really set me up well for enjoying him in competition (and not completely showing myself up!). There are definitely faster times to be had with a little honing of my driving skills on track.

I do have in mind a few more 'improvements' to undertake before the year is out.

- A set of computer cut plastic windows to be bonded into the frames - this should save a substantial amount, and hopefully help to make up for the weight we had to add with the cage and tank guard.
- A set of Yokohama Advan Neova AD01 club racer spec/road legal tyres in 185 55 15 (these are permitted in list 1A by the MSA - I currently have a set of Yokohama AE01 BluEco in 175 65 15 that are a fairly soft compound but not as sticky as the AD01s and not on any of the MSA permitted lists).
- Find the bloody oil leak that is coming out of the drivers side of the motor somewhere. Currently infuriating and proving a little hard to track down.
- Thoroughly research supercharging with a Rotrex supplied by TTS. They have done this before to an 1150 BMW GS so they have a little head start already.
- Add a rubber front splitter as anything over 110mph and the front end has an alarming amount of lift.
- Swap out the cardboard heater hoses for some silicone ones with proper joiners and ducting P-clamps to secure them all.
- Put the original style wing mirror back on the drivers side (the small one vibrates too much at speed)
- The L200 oil cooler is cracking around the mounts so I need to mount this on some rubbers (the smaller one is already mounted like this)
- do a Belgium front arm conversion
- drill out the door handles for some more weight saving
- fit stiffer springs. I currently have 150% uprated springs that a company called spring coil made up for me about ten years ago, what rate do the race teams use, 200%??
- Use him as much as possible.

My opinion..

Put in an aloy (race-tank) at the rear seat location (would save you 3 kg)

I would prefer a turbo above a supercharger..
because supercharger comes in from iddle, giving only more wheelspin,

A turbo comes in at about 3000 rpm so when wheels already have traction..

A turbo gives you more high end power then a compressor just what you wan/need..

My ultimate goal is adding 2 small IHI RHB31 each to 1 cilinder going into an intercoolern with two inlets and 2 outlets going into the throttle bodies... 180 hp at least (R1200GS)

p.s. I have 2cv turbo experience so I think I know what I'm talking about

Looking at the classes I'm tending to put it in my '55 2cv.. Would be great running it in pre-1960's race class....

Also put in a Louis Barbour limited diff-lock (if you allready haven't one)....

Thanks for the thoughts Geo, I've followed your turbo installations and forthcoming BMW install for a long time now.

- regarding alloy fuel tanks in the interior, do you think alloy would save weight over the plastic tank I have currently? Personally, I know I could go smaller for race purposes but I love to use this on extended road trips and indeed drive it to the racing. So I'm not going to cut down on capacity - I just plan in advance to turn up to the track with half a tank or less. Also its much safer for me to have it outside the car.

- you're probably right and I am very interested to see you make a twin turbo install - do it!! I've just always wanted a supercharger.
Out of interest - how much heat difference do you think their will be between turbos and supercharger? That is something I really have to work on as cruising for long periods at 90mph+ causes oil temperature of 110-115deg... which is a bit higher that optimum (I think BMW recommend 90-110 deg for a good operating range).

- I will put mine on the rolling road when I am home so I can see what sort of baseline figure mine is making before I start fiddling any more.

- regarding classes, it is only Prescotts La Vie en Bleu event where you would be put in a pre 1960's class. With the engine change our cars fit into the Sports Libre class for UK National and European Hillclimbs. So that would put us against all kinds of hillclimb specials and one offs.... I knew this from the start but thought it would be good fun anyhow!

Ohh yes, I've been thinking about the Quaife LSD for a while now!

Putting in an aloy petrol tank will save you the tankguard which you have now about 3kg I guess

Turbo will be hotter for your engine oil then supercharger, supercharger has its own oilcircuit.
Turbo runs normally on engine oil.. However you can make a second oil circuit with external oilpump, and a big oilcooler somewhere at the rear end of the car in the rearwindow/lid or something like that... we must be creative in this..



I also love my big oilcooler in the frontfender(s), I will do this also with my beamer... just like my Turbo car...

However you will need bigger oilcoolers anyway.... Boosting your engine will double or tripple the heat build up by your engine.. More power means a lot more heat.. And take the biggest aircooler you can get your hands on, you will need it desperately... to cool your air down going into the engine when pressure builds up....

But it will give you al least 150hp (you don't need to do much for this)....