ELEANOR;

THE QUICKENING

The stripdown takes time, because some of the things that are coming out were not intended to be removed frequently, it is a real job, for example, to remove the tank.

 

Fitted in the rear seat for neutral balance, the bespoke installation involved straps, a carbon fibre cover/firewall, and an awful lot of foam. It was never to be a service item, and removal is substantial surgery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The source of the leak is unclear even after removal, so it has to be sent away to be pressure tested. The foam filling which has become so troublesome is to be replaced. They never warn you when you buy your viciously-expensive tank that it has a lifespan, but read the small print and do your research, and this failure is long overdue. A&H Fabrications are the solution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bonnet has taken many running repairs over the years, first patched by the Bear at Castle Combe in 2008 during our epic stay there it has taken several further fibreglass fixes over the intervening races, but ultimately it always fails again. The problem is that the lightweight blend of now-banned materials might well be stiff enough, but can't compete with the pressure of airflow at the speeds the car is generating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bonnet lacks a "nose" and without that return on the underside the whole thing simply flexes and bulges up, tearing it in the centre. Photographs of Eleanor at speed often show the front end wearing a full Elvis curl of the lip. Never yet black-and-oranged for it, it nontheless needs repair, the tie wrap that has been used to supplement the 7 bonnet pins is, at some stage, going to fail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gearbox is given the last rites. A new old one is sourced, and immediately sent away for complete rebuild and substantial reworking, with thorough revisions to both bearings and gears. It isn't cheap.

 

It is perhaps unusual to stick with the Getrag box, but the numbers for even the Tremec alternative simply don't match what we're aiming for with this rebirth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Power is going to take a substantial hike, and Tremec don't even try to claim reliability for the projected levels.

 

The engine is in a thousand pieces, in the expert care of Power4Peanuts proprietor Dermott McGivern. V12 head removal is a headache that seems to torment many engine specialists. With an anxious Stewert standing by like a an expectant father, or rather a pregnant duck, they seem to pose P4P no issues. Experience appears to be helpful. There is, apparently, more to this art than violence and defeated swearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Precisely what is happening in the engine department is a closely-guarded secret that not even Stewert is to be let in on. That way he can't tell anyone. Improvements in all measurable categories are eagerly anticipated.

 

More on this when we actually know what is happening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ban on carbon and kevlar for Eleanor's usual home at the JEC causes something of a headache. For a top-end car like Eleanor this stuff is everywhere, it infiltrates the machine like an organic growth.

 

In fact many cars are inadvertantly caught by this rule. In the quest for reliability most racers replace the coolant hoses. Most of the new uprated hoses are reinforced by....kevlar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuel hoses, if you elect for the cheaper non-stainless braided variety, contain kevlar. Eleanor's door cards are carbon, as is the fuel tank box, the stuff is everywhere.

 

To make her compliant with those regulations and remove all traces of this stuff is going to cost a fortune.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reality is that we could leave her exactly as she is and no-one would ever notice or care, but that is not how we do things at Kutuka Motorsport. We will not knowingly break a rule, ever.

 

So, what to do? Spending money to go backwards is not our idea of fun. The alternative is to spend a little money and go faster. Instead of removing this stuff, let's have more of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That translates into changing series, and it takes little time for Classic Thunder to catch the attentions of Stew's magpie-like brain. Decision made, and with some sadness that he has to leave a series that has been such fun for so long, Eleanor immediately begins her transformation into a wings and slicks monster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will take years of development to make her competitive in that series. Exactly the sort of challenge we love. Weight loss, wings, big slicks, and power, all easy enough, but making it all work together is a new area.

 

That table-top rear wing is no longer an optional extra, that is now destined for the rear deck, standing high and proud in the rear airstream where it will actually do some good. Anyone with half a brain knows the standard Jaguar spoilers do nothing at all, but this sort of installation can achieve actual downforce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front end needs to counter this effect, and enter Mallock pilot and useful-mate-of-Stew's Russell Munns. Single seater technology is not restricted to single seaters, and here is a man who knows his onions. There are no onions involved.

 

The construction of a substantial and effective front splitter begins. More technical than our usual fibreglassing projects, there is a certain symmetry to this whole enterprise, the careful cutting of kevlar sheet and vac-forming down South mirrors the first primitive, tentative steps up North as the Bear begins experimenting with carbon.

 

 

 

More on the aero project in part 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In race trim there is a little more room under the bonnet.

 

But play spot the difference in colour left to right!

 

The bonnet shows the many layers of repairs, the crack in the front lip that keeps reappearing, and the tie-wrap solution!

 

Err, dirty.

 

This cunning cross-brace is cleverly designed specifically to stop you removing the oil filler cap.

 

See, just how do you get more oil in here?

 

The water leaks show themselves to have been quite persistent.

 

And yet, somehow, never had any cooling issues or overheating. The benefits to a stock engine and a chief engineer who understands engine plumbing.

 

For sprint racing this tank has always been overkill.

 

But that has sometimes been of use, the full tank allowed the car to make minimum weight.

 

Removal leaves something of a mess behind though.

 

This isn't a two-minute job to remove, or to refit.

 

At first glance you might think that these two have very little in common.

 

All that is about to change....

 

You either know what you're looking at here, or you don't.

 

Project Thunder begins.

 

The latest recruit gets to work slicing up the contraband. Stewert is usefully employed as a weight.

 

Black gel and kevlar sheet. A recipe for shiny, exotic things.

 

You can tell the confident worker here isn't Stewert, he's only wearing one glove and he hasn't rolled in resin.

 

A little vac-bag action.

 

Knowledge is expensive.

 

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