After all the effort that had gone into rebuilding the car I thought I owed it to myself to properly set up the car. Whilst the car didn't have any of the suspension removed during the rebuild, i did have the front uprights re-welded and straightened out. So I took the car over to AB Performance where i set to on the tracking, camber and weight distribution. AB kindly guided me through the process and gave a few pointers, but i am proud to say that with the help of my new wing man (Martin Garner) we set the car up all on our own! It took us 7 hours to set up mind but well worth it especially as I learnt sooooo much in the process. I have to say it wasn't straight forward especially for a novice. After doing the tracking it was onto the camber, but after doing the camber it was a case of redoing the tracking as it all keeps moving. So after a lot of adjustments and more adjustments we were finally there. Fully adjustable suspension is great.....but from a novice point of view...i think there is a case for it being too adjustable :-)
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| 591.8KG Slightly on the heavy side, but this was with a full tank of fuel and my lardy arse sat in weighing in at just over 100KG. So the car without fuel or me would be in region of 470KG. There is still plenty of opportunity to save weight, but this will be phase II of the project/rebuild. |
The ride heights were quite high, but soon realised that the front springs were quite soft which when sat in the car caused quite a lot of deflection, which by some stroke of luck brought the car in line to just over the min ride heights. One aspect we were able to dial out was the front beam weight distribution causing almost 50:50 distribution across the front, and as AB pointed out its especially important to get this aspect spot on to prevent wheel lock up under heavy braking. Front to back weight distribution wasn't ideal. Again 50:50 would have been great but with so many variables to consider especially for pair of novices I settled on a 45:55 split. With some different springs and more experience I think we could have achieved a slightly better result.
All in all a very enjoyable experience and learnt a lot in the process.
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| Ahh....finally finished it! |
Whilst there, I had the pleasure of reviewing the new Generation 2 Sabre. It is quite a piece if engineering. Bloody magnificent it was! The detail and thought that had gone into redesigning the car is quite astounding. I want one!!! But re mortgaging the house may be required first ;-)
I have to say, as AB was talking through all the features of the new car, his passion, enthusiasm and drive to achieve something like he has done is just unbelievable and this is only too apparent when he talks about it. His philosophy was to create a race car where everything fits first time and most importantly take the "kit" out of kit car. With every part being productioised through use of CAD design and some bang up to date production techniques, every part is indexed, so in the unfortunate circumstance of an accident it is literally a case of ordering parts knowing they will fit first time with no modification as all parts can be sourced off the shelf.
One thing I think AB is very proud of is the fact, and boasted about time and time again, is that you should not have to use a drill at all in the build process. If you do, then the design is wrong.
In summary....although the price tag for a Gen2 Sabre is relatively high, when you consider the cost of other kit cars on the market, if you consider that the price IS the all inclusive price....no hidden extras, it is actually very good value.
I have built a couple of cars now and helped rebuild one, but when you get started with a base budget of £x, all too often the original budget is blown away. When you consider the time it takes to build a kit car..... say 12 months in the hands of an average builder, 12 months is probably quite a reasonable time frame to expect to finish it in, but if you consider the demands on your own time, AB reckoned 3 long weekends and it should be finished. Which when you start to think about how much you value your own time, the cost saving is massive and makes the car exceptionally good value.
It sounds great right?! Well in the interest of providing balance, the initial outlay is however going to mean you will need quite deep pockets in the first instance.....but projecting the time saving and associated costs of that time across a year i keep thinking this car is incredible value for money and some day worth taking a punt on;-)
As I left the unit at about 18:30 I quickly realised maybe I should have left a little earlier perhaps. With the snow starting to descend I knew I had to get back quickly. What with Daventry having its own micro climate, if there was snow Sufflok way it would be 10 times worse back home. Thankfully the A14 wasn't too bad most the way, but as we drew closer to home the hill sections started to induce some butt clenching moments. I'm sure in just a car it would have been fine, but when towing a trailer with a race car on it, traction soon became an issue. Wheel spinning my way up the hills and other motorists giving me plenty of room as i was snaking my way up the dual carriageway we finally made it. Got back to my estate then the fun started again. Immediately got stuck and got Martin to get out and push. Finally managed to get the trailer backed up on the drive and unloaded the car all the while the snow coming down fast. All that was left to do was get the trailer back to the yard where I keep it. Easier said than done. With in the space of 20mins the roads became unpassable especially with a trailer. It was time to admit defeat and leave the trailer on the drive and call it a day.
Wasn't ideal as I would be flying out to Sweden with work in the morning and my thoughts quickly turned to.....will I actually make it to the airport. 07:00 the next morning I set to clearing the car of snow and headed off. I got all of 50 yards and got stuck on the smallest incline you have ever seen. I was able to leave the car in 1st gear, get out with the wheels turning still and proceeded to push. Dam it....why are estate cars soooo heavy. Couldn't budge it at all. Then out of nowhere 5 people miraculously appeared, people walking their dogs mainly, and started to push. Few minutes later I was free! Time to go catch my flight.
Quite an eventful weekend all in all.
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