S9 Motorsport

05/07/2024

Another episode of the Caterham Sigma race engine build.

Building a Ford Sigma 1.6l fully forged engine.Cleaning the engine ready for bearing installation and then assembly ready for measuring bearing clearances

13/08/2023

Yeah… this one ends with ouchy (for the car, not me)

12/08/2023

Well that was an experience!

Started 17th, was last (19th) by the first corner but clawed it back to 15th by the end with a steady increase in pace throughout.

Brilliant time, looking forward to two more races tomorrow.

12/08/2023

Well I didn’t crash and I didn’t come last so that’s an achievement. First quali out of the way. Plenty to learn but that’ll come.

18/06/2023

Aim Solo2 DL now supports external analogue sensors

I appreciate that most Caterham owners tend to gravitate toward the Racelogic Vbox systems but I just thought I’d share that, with a free software update, the Aim Solo2 DL now supports the addition of the Aim Channel Expansion which then enables you to add 4 analogue sensors.

This is useful because you could add sensors for brake pressure and oil temp/pressure.

Normally, at club level, regs only mandate a front facing camera so you could buy:

Aim Solo2 DL - £756 https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/aim-motorsport-solo-2-dl-gps-lap-timer-with-ecu-input-1453218/

Aim Data Hub - £78 https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/aim-motorsport-data-hub-can-expansion-775727/

Aim Channel Expansion - £300 https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/aim-motorsport-channel-expansion-aimch-4/

Aim Smartycam 3 Sport - £798 https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/aim-motorsport-smartycam-3-sport-7000521/

Total price is £1932

Once you’ve bought all that then you can pick and choose which sensors you want.

Ok, you don’t get a rear camera (you can buy another Smartycam but it’s not as slick an integrated as Vbox) but you do get to have additional sensors… which, IMHO, is way more valuable to driver development.

As an alternative, I found during my research that Racelogic have a Vbox HD Lite, which has the ‘always on’ feature that we need for the regs (which is why GoPro is unsuitable) but it should be noted that the Smartycam, stand-alone, does that as well.

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/racelogic-vbox-hd-lite-video-data-logger-7000994/

I think this is a strong solution for a ‘proper’ Datalogger that meets the regulatory requirements.

21/10/2022

"Aren't tyre pressure/temp sensors expensive?"

Well, they can be, but if you don't have the budget of an F1 team then it can be reasonably priced for club level competitors.

Many people already have simple data loggers such as the Aim Solo 2 DL and a TPMS system is cheap and simple to add. The system I use is only $229 and provides all the data you need to optimise your tyre pressure choices and gain maximum grip.

If you consider that you can now buy a comprehensive data logger and tyre sensors for less than the price of a single sensor from just a few years ago, it represents great value for money.

Get in touch if you want advice and support in exploiting this often overlooked area.

18/10/2022

“What tyre pressure works best?”

Often heard in the paddock but it’s usually a guess!

By using a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, it’s possible to monitor pressures and temperatures in real time. So now the data is available in real time and recorded at all points.

Using this data in a scatter graph, I can determine that whilst the ballpark figure of “18psi works well in a Caterham with Avon ZZS tyres” is true for the front, the rears need 20-21psi hot.

This is seen by looking for the widest spread, which is the highest left and right lateral G force. Which is a reasonably impressive 1.83G!

But now I know that it took 3 laps to get there with a start pressure of 18psi.
I can also use the Ideal Gas Law (physics rules kids 🤓) to determine the ideal start pressure for any given cold tyre pressure.

Next step is to test again with a longer stint and see if there’s a window where they work optimally and also at what point they overheat and lose grip.

26/11/2020

Aim Binder 712 5 pin to Deutsch DTM 6 pin adapter

26/11/2020

This week has involved progressing this concentric wiring harness for the development car. It’s just a short run on this harness but the flexibility of concentric wiring will make all the difference