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The UK's leading tuning specialist for "A" series engines |
News Archive Page (6)
Monte Carlo Historique 2005
-
11/05/04
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Race report - SEMSEC event at
Lydden - 03/05/04
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| Allans Race Mini - 23/04/04 |
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Lee's view, Test day
and race day - 14/04/04
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Race day at Lydden - 03/04/04
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Lydden Test Day 2004
- 27/03/04
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Bill's plans for 2004 - 26/03/04
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Preparing for
the 2004 season - The Rolling Road - 05/03/04
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Lee's plans for the 2004 season
- 10/02/04
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Bill Richards Racing
needs a new tyre sponsor
- 29/01/04
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A Happy New year to all our customers - Our plans for
2004 - 07/01/04
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News
Archive Pages
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"It's definite! Jim Wirtz has agreed
to join Mad Dog Rallying's assault on the 2005 Monte Carlo rally. Jim is
organising the service team and will bring along a reliable 4 x 4 and one
or more poor souls who are willing to give up their free time to chase
Bill and John through Alpine snowdrifts, tending to their mechanical needs
as necessary. Seriously, we are very excited about this development. Jim
is a long time customer and friend of BRR. His enthusiasm, knowledge of
Minis and linguistic skills will be fabulous assets to the team"
Monte
Carlo Historique 2005 - 11/05/04
For those of
you which aren't already aware, John Morrow owns
a beautiful Mk1 Mini Cooper. A veteran of several marathon rallies, John
has been trying to organise an attempt on the 2005 Monte Carlo Rally
Historique - but this time John will be navigating and Bill doing the
driving duties. Whilst Bill and the team have built no end of successful
rally cars, Bill is not an experienced rally driver and the whole event
should be quite an adventure for all concerned.
South East
Sports & Saloon Car Challenge Not long after the Metro
returned to the paddock the team began preparing the car for the race.
The dark clouds building up were an ominous sign of things to come,
with the weather deteriorating the Metro was set up for a fully wet race.
By the time the Metro was called down to the grid the heavens had
opened and the circuit was awash! As
the lights went out to start the race the Metro bogged own on the line and
was passed by a number of cars but by the end of the first lap had
regained most of the places lost. Further
progress through the field was made during the course of the race but this
was hampered somewhat by the lack of visibility, not only was the rain and
spray making it difficult to see but the inside of the windscreen had
misted up severely reducing visibility!
The Metro was 4th to the flag but later gained another
place due to a penalty imposed on another competitor – a good result
against some more exotic machinery in difficult conditions. SEMSEC Saloons
& Sports Championship After the last meetings
mixed conditions, qualifying for the SEMSEC Saloons & Sports Car
Championship took place on a dry track for the first time this year giving
the team an opportunity to assess the Minis new suspension set up in dry
conditions. After putting in
a number of quick laps a half spin on some oil dropped by another car
brought an early end to the session for the Mini – there was nothing to
be gained by staying out on a track that was lacking grip so the car
returned to the paddock. The
times already posted were good enough for 3rd on the grid –
the Mini again embarrassing some of the more powerful opposition.
Race
Report Lydden - 03/05/04
The
first qualifying session of the day saw the Metro in action as part of a
very large entry in the South East Sports & Saloon Car Challenge that
included the usual wide variety of car types and engines.
A trouble free run saw the Metro qualify in 7th place
overall on the grid in amongst the bike engined Radicals and Caterhams. 
Allan's
Race Car - 23/04/04
Due
to work commitments the build of my new race car has taken longer than I
previously thought it would. The body shell is now more or less ready for
painting which I hope do be doing soon after Easter. The front and rear
suspension is all ready to go on to the car and it is an evolution of my
last car. Bill is in the process of checking the engine over for damage
and will be extracting some more horsepower out of it. I hope to hit the
circuit by mid June and I am sure that the car will a serious contender
for class wins.
Test
day at Lydden For
the second session my team made some changes to the car and it was
instantly better and faster to drive. Throughout the day the car was
stiffened up and the lap times were tumbling down. Towards
the end of the day I asked Bill to drive the car so that I could get a
bench mark time that I could work to as the season progressed. To my
pleasant surprise Bills lap times were only one tenth quicker than mine so this
showed me that my driving is going in the right direction although if
pushed I am sure that he could go quicker. First
Race of the year I
arrived at the first race feeling good about the weekend and looking
forward to the seasons opening round. Just
as I was about to go out for practice it started to rain so I made the
decision to soften the suspension on the car but to leave the slick tyres
on. After a couple of laps the rain stopped and the track dried out which
made my soft suspension the wrong choice. I qualified in 12 place and
although upset with this I was looking forward to a good race.
Lee's view, Test day and
race day - 14/04/04
I
arrived at the test day early in the morning ready for the first session
at 9.00am. 
South East S Fully fit once more the
Metro got away cleanly from the start and ran in 2nd place
until eventually losing a place to a bike engined Radical. Despite having
a higher top speed the couldn’t get away and the Metro closed up as they
worked their way through the backmarkers, the gap continually seesawed as
the cars encountered further traffic but the Metro was unable to find a
way past before the chequered flag and had to settle for 3rd
overall and a class win. SEMSEC Saloons &
Sports Championship After a successful days
testing last week the Mini went into the first qualifying session of the
year using the new suspension settings and the Weber carbs, the car ran
well throughout the session on settings designed to cope with the
changeable weather conditions, these allowed the Mini to qualify 6th
overall – a good platform to build on in the race.
Race day at Lydden - 03/04/04
The
Metro turned a wheel in anger for the first time this year in the
qualifying session, putting in a number of quick laps before suffering a
minor mechanical glitch that resulted in a loss of oil and a spin, the car
was returned to the paddock for the team to rectify the problem before the
race. Despite the limited
running during the session the quickest lap recorded was good enough for 2nd
on the grid.
We also tested the latest
coil spring suspension components from our sponsors Minispares, this
involved the team swapping the suspension systems at the circuit to give
back-to-back evaluations. As a result of our
testing, the Mini will contest the 1st round at Lydden with the
Webers, coil springs AND the clubman front.
Lydden Test day 2004 - 27/03/04
The
Bill Richards Racing Mini made its first appearance as a clubman at the
SEMSEC Test Day. In the on going search for more power the unique bike
carb. set up has been replaced with a pair of Weber 45s, which have
necessitated the change of image!
As
the Lydden Test Day approaches on the last Saturday in March, we have made
extensive suspension modifications to the Mini and will be testing and
evaluating some new products for our Sponsors Minispares. During
the closed season we have completed back-to-back power runs between our bike
carbs and a pair of 45 Webers. The test results were very encouraging, we now
have to transfer this into actual on circuit improvements, we hope to do this at
the test day. The results will determine whether the Mini becomes a
Clubman………..
Bill's plans for 2004 - 26/03/04
After a
full engine re-build we took Bills Eight Port Mini to Peter Baldwin's rolling
road in Cambridge so the timing and the engine power figures could be
checked. The engine was run up on the Motorbike carburettors that were used last
year and the power figures were found to be exactly the same. The Motorbike
Carburettors were then removed and replaced with Webber 45 DCOEs. The engine was
then again run up on the rolling road and we were surprised to see a horsepower
increase at 5000rpms to 7500 rpms of 14 horsepower. Due to this increase of
horsepower we now are committed to use the Webber carburettors but this means
converting the Mini into a less aesthetically pleasing clubman front end. We are
hoping to obtain a set of flat side racing motorbike carburettors later in the
season and we will see how these compare to the Webbers, hopefully we can use
these and convert the Mini back to a round front. Lee’s
Mini was also present at Peter Baldwin's rolling road to have the ignition
timing mapped and the mixture settings checked .After a few teething
problems the timing was successfully mapped by Neil turner of Polestar ignition
systems and the mixture settings were dialled in. During the
last power run the horsepower shown at various rpms was noted and this was
checked against Peters own car. We were pleasantly surprised to see not a lot of
difference between the two cars and Lee’s engine holding good power at well
over 8000rpms. With both
of the cars now ready for this season we have very high hopes for this years
championships and also have a full development program planned.
Preparing for the
2004 season - The Rolling Road
The engine
that I was using last year has also seen a lot of changes it now has steel Arrow
con rods and a Lightweight forged crankshaft fitted. Along with some other
internal changes I am hoping to see quite a difference in horsepower.
Lee's plans for the 2004 season
Over
the winter I have made some fairly big changes to the front suspension of
the Mini and I am in the process of making a larger rear anti roll bar for the
rear which should make the car happier in the corners.
Our current tyre sponsor, Triangle have
been taken over and are no longer in a position to support our team. Bill
Richards Racing are very keen to find a new sponsor, this is a great
opportunity to have your company advertising prominently on the front of
our Mini and Metro race cars as well as on our Castle Coombe track day
Mini. Regular visitors to this site will be aware that the team has a high
profile, our cars are regularly featured in mainstream media and our cars
are usually at seen at the front of the pack at racing venues across the
UK. Sponsors will have invitation tickets to follow our race program for
both cars this season and full hospitality at race venues. We would like
to take this opportunity to thank Triangle for their support in past
seasons,
Bill Richards Racing needs a new tyre sponsor
Urgent
- Can you help !
A very Happy New Year to you all - now that the
excesses of the festive season have come and gone it's time to think about
what's in store for 2004: Looking further ahead, John Morrow hopes to be
competing in next years 'Monte Carlo Historique' rally. If plans come to
fruition, Bill will be driving the event, with John as his co-driver, their car
will be a 1293cc Cooper with an 8-port head. Sponsorship is currently being
sought for their attempt on this event and we hope to bring you more details as
they become available.
Plans for 2004
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