Dunnell Difference

[Sir Greg]

It's a shame really...........  

Gp350se posted to say he fancies some more horsepower and we've told him that his car is slow, it's not set up correctly, has the wrong gearbox and that he needs some driving instruction.....    

What a nice bunch we are eh.......  

[carpetstu]

Er, that'll be ACW, our illustrious webmaster...

My brothers Initials are ACW............

but he drives a catering van      

[gp350se]

Nice one Sir Greg

I' will have to post some more vids of the car and myself going quicker. The posts made me smile. Have now booked lessons with Schumacher and car is at Mclaren getting sorted.

[evo-mark]

Gavin  ..  nice vid mate  

to be fair most comments are correct , too many factors to say it's just the dunnell engine was the reason for lapping quicker  

but i will say Gavin's driving wasn't that bad and i bet if we had swapped cars

Gav would have past me exactly the same  .. !!

[The Great Fandango]

Hi Gavin,

First of all can I say I've been really enjoying your videos. I'm impressed.

With regards to your moan about the Dunnell comparison : -

1. OK, so he's got a few more horses under the bonnet and you MIGHT be right that he can outaccelerate you on the straight (ie. agreeing with you)

BUT...

2. As the previous owner of this car I feel qualified to say it'll be the gearbox more than anything that slows you down at thse speeds. The gears ratios are quite long which will act aginst you in this circumstance.

To assist me at trackdays I adopted a driving style which didn't see my revs dropping too much. Your driving style seems to utilise more of the rev range than I did (not a criticism in the slightest).

3. What's the rev limiter set to? Used to catch me out and frustrate me sometimes as there's a nice bit of power available at about 5-6.5k band.  Just when you need it... gd gd gd gd gd...

To cut a long story short the engine has more than enough power to get the same kind of performance you see in the car overtaking you. The 4th and 5th gears are just a little too high to see that happen at those speeds

Two options: change gearbox ratios or uprate the powerplant. Personally I'd still throw some more money at the engine but I would bare in mind (i) it looks like you're having plenty of fun as is, and (ii) you don't want to kill yourself!

Hope everything's OK.

Keep in touch

Kyle

[evo-mark]

hang on kyle are you saying a well driven standard zetec would have passed Gav at the same rate  

i'm sorry bud , but i think not , lets be honest theres more to a quick lap time than a good power plant

but a well set up car with extra power is always going to beat a lesser power car ..

[The Great Fandango]

Er? [stratch of head]...

Honestly, I'm not saying anything in relation to anything! (wasn't having a go at any driving standards or comparison of anything against anything else)

I didn't say anything about a standard Zetec did I?

Don't read into what I've not written. I'm a simple man, and say simple things.

All I was saying was that in my experience of driving that car (presuming it still has the same gearbox) then don't expect super acceleration in the 100-125mph area, the gears aren't suited to it.

-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

Thinking about it and after reviewing the video several times over I've edited to say that...

...Gavin didn't actually take the corner before he was overtaken that quickly. Seemed to lift off which meant that he wasn't carrying as much speed.

I still say if the man wants to put more cash into uprating the power figures then go for it.

[evo-mark]

Kyle you have edited your last post since my reply

you stated something along the lines of Gav's car being as quick as mine ..since you have deleted it i can't quote

sorry not one to start an argument and if i read wrong

i apologise

it's Saturday night and i've had the odd glass of vino

not like me

[evo-mark]

sorry again Kyle please take this bottlew of wine away from me

this is the quote and you have not deleted it ..

my vision is a tad bit blury  

"To cut a long story short the engine has more than enough power to get the same kind of performance you see in the car overtaking you. "

that's what i read when i said you think a standard zetec could pass Gavin

anyhow sorry mate speak to you when i'm sober  

[nikpro]

Nice one Sir Greg

I' will have to post some more vids of the car and myself going quicker. The posts made me smile. Have now booked lessons with Schumacher

This is what i would have expected which is backed up by later posts - why do people 'shun' instruction - is it the 'macho' thing that we all think we are better than average drivers?

All top race drivers receive regular instruction; it is the only guaranteed way of going faster.

Go spend £4,000 on a Dunnel engine but it won't make that much difference to your lap times.

Evo Mark:

I am saying a standard Zetec is quicker than your car round Oulton - as stated in my previous post my 179bhp 1.8 Zetec was lapping faster than your Dunnell engined car, so not only would my car have passed Gavin faster than you did but it would also have passed you in a car with significantly less power  

This is not a go at you and please don't take it that way but there just isn't any substitute for ability; and this is only acheived by instruction. ( I would not have passed either of you because I am not that good   )

Circuit driving is complex; we all need told how to pedal around circuits by experienced drivers.

The driver who was doing 1min 57's in my car was managing the same laptimes as yourselves in a 1.6 120bhp 960kg Mazda MX5 - explain that?

[gp350se]

Didn't realise I'd start all this.

May i just say and not as an excuse it was the second or so lap out and I was not sure what temp was in the tyres when mark past but he was running the same tyres as me so if mark could get round the corner so could I and I still couldn't keep up Marks car is very Quick.

[The Great Fandango]

You could convert it to BEC... That'll see your lap times come down!

[evo-mark]

nikpro

first of all i have no idea what my lap times were if you know please tell me ..??

the second point

if the driver of your car was in my car would he have lapped quicker than 1:57 answer YES

i can't understand why people diss power

of course suspension brakes driver ability all come in to play but as soon as anyone wants more power they are shot down in flames

drivers like me Mr average  , i know the basics and can get round most tracks at a decent speed

but my lack of ability is made up by the extra power

fact me in a megablade as fast as any standard zetec 1:37 round croft (my local track )

me in the dunnell zetec 1:32

same driver same knowledge of the track bit extra power tho ..!!

[JeffC]

would lapping in the mid 1 min 40"s be a reasonably quick time round the full circuit, I never got any times all day  everything ive got on vid sees me getting held up but a guy i was talking to reckons thats I was doing (later sessions when got used to track)  and if so I would only have Mark at a few secs behind    

ps. would think it will be a while before Mark will be replying, he phoned me at 8.00 last night when he was opening his first bottle of wine and looks like he was still drinking at 12.42        

[JeffC]

right just had a quick look at my video of the last session of the day  the one where the mount slipped and is  pointing at my nose cone for 20 minutes        

I can see the tarmac so can time a lap from the white lines on the start finish      on my first  lap I catch Marks car up and push  him round for a lap and he did a 1.54  

in 20 mins I didnt have one clear lap where I didnt get bogged down    but best time I can see for my car on that video is 1.49