Owning a Seven

[alga]

It's been about two weeks that my Roadster is on the road. I've learned several things about driving the Roadster without a windshield it that surprised me, or at least no-one talks about.

• Less used, quieter streets are covered in loose fine gravel that gets lifted by the front wheels, bounces off the rear arches and ends up on the floor. Sand is also directed to rear arches in a constant stream, but mostly does not reach the interior.
• 4 mm drain holes in the floor get clogged by said gravel PDQ. I'll drill bigger ones.
• Even if it's not raining but the road is wet, the mirrors and the rear arches are covered in mud interspersed with plant matter, and the driver gets a wet/dirty shoulder. The passenger headrest gets plenty of dirt too. I wonder why is the driver side headrest pretty clean?
• 350 lbs/in front/250 rear springs are quite stiff indeed. There's hardly more than 5-10 mm of suspension travel in the front even on the roughest roads. Even with the dampers on the softest setting, the car is super stiff. I'll try getting a 200 or 175 set and moving the 250's to the front.

In other news, I took part in a fast slalom competition this weekend (race track with lots of extra chicanes). About 30 minutes before the start I found that my alternator bracket is broken. Luckily a friend had a mechanic friend living nearby, so we sorted out the bracket in time. I had lots of fun, blagged a traffic cone I dragged for half the circuit stuck in my tranny tunnel as a souvenir about my first competition. Unmounted a tyre during an excursion into the grass. Got a spray of sand in my face, and found about 3 kg of sand and grass on the passenger seat. Got absolutely soaked by two storms on the way back home. Because race car!

[ayjay]

Great stuff Albert. Looks like you are having fun.
I use a crash helmet with silicone ear plugs which keeps you a lot more comfortable. and gets rid of all the wind and road noise.
I have the same rated springs as you and yes they are a little hard .What tyre pressure are you running?

[snapper]

Mud flaps on the front arches and wing protectors on the rear
Some creative use of an aero screen and a tonneau or half doors helps

[robo]

Looks like you have had lots of fun then Albert I dont suppose you had a chance to test the roll bar did you Did it live up to expectations on the track?

Bob

[mgglep]

Seeing your track pictures really spurs me on

[alga]

Originally Posted by robo

Looks like you have had lots of fun then Albert I dont suppose you had a chance to test the roll bar did you Did it live up to expectations on the track?

No, no rollbar test, luckily. It handles great, the power with a stock Zetec is a lot of fun but far from uncontrollable. Overall, the car's got a lot of potential for me to grow into as a driver. Mark Bean's FUD about understeer is pure bollocks, the suspension balance is great.

[alga]

Originally Posted by snapper

Mud flaps on the front arches and wing protectors on the rear
Some creative use of an aero screen and a tonneau or half doors helps

I doubt mud flaps would have much effect. The stream of crud is coming from the rear edge of the contact patch, it's pretty hard to cover that with a mud flap.

[alga]

Originally Posted by ayjay

I have the same rated springs as you and yes they are a little hard .What tyre pressure are you running?

About 1.2 bar cold. But R888's have a hard sidewall, so reducing pressure does not have much effect in softening the ride.

[flyerncle]

Albert,there were some strips on ebay that fitted on the side panels just below the edge and stopped in front of the scuttle panel and it stopped the water running in on your lap.