Goodwood Test Day

30th March 2013

Initial Shakedown and Testing for the
2013 Race Season

Keith and I have spent some time this winter working on the XK140, what with re-building the engine after the problems at Spa. The Moss gearbox has been rebuilt with a new Lay shaft, bearings and Needle Rollers etc.

Now it was time to drop over to Goodwood (Our local Test Track - a formidable location for testing) to shake the car down after Peter Lander of Sigma Engineering had run-in the engine on his Rolling Road.

To say it was cold was a slight understatement as I drove down to Bosham to pick up both car and trailer. Even at 09:30 the car told me it was 2⁰C outside. But, it was dry at least.

The objectives for the day were as follows:

1. Scrub-in 5 new Dunlop CR65 ‘L’ Section racing cross-ply tyres, to be used for ‘Wet Racing’

2. Bed-in some new brake linings on the rear brakes

3. Check and adjust the basic handling characteristics

4. Check for leaks, both oil and water post rebuild

Luckily I managed to squeeze three good sessions out of the day, while Keith and I hovered over the old girl like ‘Mother Hens’.

However, the first session I was ‘Black Flagged’, which meant I had to come in to check something the Marshalls had noticed untoward on the circuit.

They noticed that I was ‘PUFFING’ some smoke at the end of the Start/Finish straight, on the engine overrun. They were more worried that I might be blowing my engine!

They’re a good bunch at Goodwood!!

But we noticed that one of the Cam Covers was leaking some oil at the bulkhead end and probably dropping down on to the exhaust. So that was probably the reason - here's hoping!!?

I also noticed that the car was throwing out some water on the Drip Trays in the Race Box. Keith noticed that the overflow stub-pipe to the expansion tank had split. So that solved that one, but we could live with that for the day. This will be soldered at the next workshop session.

At least the first session gave me the opportunity to scrub the new tyres in and, to start bedding in the new brake linings with the Front/Rear brakes Proportioning Valve set to maximum rear bias.

By the end of the session, I started to smell the Linings doing some work. On my return to the Paddock Keith took the Brake Drum temperatures using my Laser gun and, by the end of the day and, after some more ‘Twiddling’ of the proportioning valve to a more 60:40 front to rear split I found the optimum position, before securing it for the season.

We also found a few screws loose under the bonnet, not to mention the loose screws belonging to the ‘Driver’ of this Jaguar wagon.

Final adjustments were made to the Shock Absorbers to stiffen the old girl up a bit as she was wallowing somewhat, coming out of Lavant Corner and Keith noticed her wallowing coming out of the Chicane.

Come the final session of the day, I thought it was time to put the ‘Pedal-to-the-Metal and to start some 4-wheel drifting out of Lavant to assess the handling and grip under some lateral ‘G’.

Keith also mentioned that the puffs of smoke were almost gone, probably due to higher speeds, higher engine temperatures to burn the waste oil off, before it was noticed again by 'You Know Who'…………… HA HA!!

That’s it for now! It’s back to the workshop next week for some further investigation and rectification before my next outing at the:
 

CKL Developments Track Day event on the 22nd April.
 

Will I see you there? It’s a FREE Entry!!

All the best!

John

John Davies Roberts