So Wednesday of this week entailed stripping the engine from the Audi 80 2.7tt and rebuilding the entire thing on the block I picked up Monday. By the evening I had it all back in, leaving Thursday to fill it with fluids and such.

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The scariest moment was probably when I stripped a head bolt torquing down the left head. It was one of many moments I thought I should probably just give up and sleep somewhere warm for the weekend. Luckily there was just enough thread left and I nursed the bolt out and grabbed a spare bolt I had around. So it was all in – sounds promising at this point doesn’t it?

Started the car Thursday afternoon and it sounded good, but suddenly started pumping oil out from somewhere behind the timing belt and covers at the front. It was a mess, kinda like the front of the car was simply raining oil. I went inside for a bit…

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I figured I had to know why it was leaking before I called it a day and didn’t go, so out I went to lie in a lagoon of oil and start taking apart the front of the car – again. Somehow I’d missed a bolt from the front case, which happened to then be a hole all the way into the block. It was, of course, behind everything at the front of the motor, so everything came off, in went the bolt and at 10.30pm Thursday night it was running and not leaking oil. Result!

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Friday it went on the trailer (after bleeding the clutch and getting it beached pulling it out of the garage) and off to Norfolk we went.

Unloaded the car at Norfolk Arena, drank some rum, had some laughs, had a sleep.

Started the car up Saturday morning and let it warm up, there was now so much oil and coolant over everything that it smoked like the roof was on fire (the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire).

Hmmm, but after 20 minutes it was still smoking at the right side turbo… which after inspection was found to be dead. Suddenly I was a little gloomy. I hadn’t even managed to get it on track even with the monumental effort I’d put in that week to fix it. I walked away.

Then, I remembered the motivational slogan which adorned the wall of the apartment I shared with my good friends Vito and Steve after college. Vito put it up as a joke and we used to laugh our asses off at it:

“Momentum – once you’re headed in the direction of your goals, nothing can stop you.”

So, track-side we converted my twin-turbo into a single-turbo. I’m not sure if I’ll make this kit available to order, but you’ll need:

  • two land rover V8 engine mounts (one to block the hole in the turbo exhaust housing, the other to block the boost off)
  • one can of red bull (for the intake)
  • multiple clamps and zip ties
  • multiple bolts to plug vacuum lines

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So, out on track I went at the very end of practice. It did not work. I couldn’t make boost, as the one head just didn’t have enough go to compensate for the amount of air the engine want at high revs. It was horrible.

Qualifying was next, I’d done 2 laps in a car that didn’t work. I’d run out of time.

However, drifters are awesome and suddenly there was a crowd of people and ideas around the car, it was incredible. The general consensus was that we should just bypass both turbos and go without them. I got called to a driver briefing, and incredibly they all just said to go and they would fix it. Amazing.

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When I came back I laughed thinking about how much time I’d taken getting everything just right at the front of the car, which now looked like someone had simply thrown parts and zip-ties at it. We started it, it sounded good, it all worked, we all shrugged, and I got in.

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I went out to do my qualifying laps, probably something like 200hp down. I threw it in as hard as I could, didn’t spin and qualified 24th which given everything that had happened was cool, and meant I got to battle.

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I got 4 more more laps in practice and was just coming to grips with the car before the comp rounds started, in which I lost my first battle to the number 9 qualifier. I spun my lead lap, and he was all over me in his chase lap.

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I parked up, I broke out the rum, I watched some epic runs from the rest of the drivers under the lights and thought about how amazing the day had been.

Giving up is easy. Quitting is easy. Not seeing things through is easy.

Finishing things is always the challenge, and is what moves us closer to what we want.

I started the week with a broken car, I ended the week with a broken car, and yet I had the best weekend of drifting yet.

Momentum.

 

A massive thanks to everyone that helped out. I’m sorry if I didn’t thank everyone at the time, but here are names I know were in that crowd over the engine:

  • Darren Jones (he didn’t even use a hammer)
  • James Cross (pretty sure he did use a hammer)
  • Gavin Cummings (he stoped Darren from using the can of WD40 in the intake)
  • Matt Smith (he knows his stuff – Volkscraft for the win)
  • Ben Rowlands (Audi enthusiast and all-round badass Welshman)

Thanks also to:

  • Gordon Mcissac (for making it all happen – epic effort and event)
  • Dave Lannaghan (for the trailer loan)
  • Lee Hurt (for some awesome start-line marshalling)
  • Macolm Foskett and Minnie Collins (for being great hosts at Norfolk Arena)
  • Simon Lock, Tom Simpson, Joe Ball and Ollie Chitty for the laughs, and anybody else I forgot!