Some pics, debut track test scheduled for Jan 21st 2023 and first race meeting should be Philip Island GP circuit on 4-5 March. More images coming after this weekend

Man I have been waiting for this

A video of the car running would be great.

What model Hollinger sequential has Helical cut gears? I have been meaning to ask you. You told me but I can't freaking find it. Ugg.

I just make love explosions in my pants.

So it is all done apart from final chassis set up and initial dyno. We will run the car with the standard engine but race induction before fitting the 4-litre stroker engine. First test day mid/late Jan and first race meeting (with stroker installed will be end of April)

We're really pleased with the way the induction has come up

Teaser images

Great work sir!

I can't wait to see it run.

Ooooo I wonder what the induction noise is like with that intake and a stripped interior.

Build done, first start (but MP4 is too big to attach).

Just waiting on dyno operator and tuner to return from summer break and we'll put a tune into it and then we are off testing.

Looks a bit naughty. Can’t wait to hear and see more.

So we now have overcome pretty much all of our teething issues.

1. Getting the M150 to understand the VQ37 engine has been a massive challenge. Not a lot of knowledge in this part of the world. Has taken months (my engineer is a personal friend and he has worked on my car for "mates-rates" which means he puts time into the car when he doesn't have other cars to work on
2. We are running 6 x Jenvey ITB set up with a single Bosch Motosport DBW motor and getting this set up to advance the throttle blades on each bank sync'd has been a challenge - you have no idea how much overall torque can be affected by one bank leading the other by as little as 2%
3. The engine in the car (original still until we can test the car and sort out a chassis setup we are happy with) has not run for 3 years and we had some CAS and cam control issues to resolve

So, at least you can now hear the 6 x ITB induction noise at WOT and full load. Best described as orgasmic.

We are off the Winton Raceway (Victoria, Australia) next Tuesday for a systems check (chassis setup/handling, ECU/Dash config, cockpit ergonomics etc). We are only running R-Spec tyres for the moment and won't put slicks on the car until the dry-sumped engine goes in when sorting is complete. Provided Tuesday test goes OK, we are running in Production Sports Cars at The Bend Motorsport Park in Sth Australia and the program has the 4-litre engine installed for Island Magic at Phillip Island in November.

A couple of video's of WOT throttle tuning are here:

https://youtu.be/6TKbKmfg7rs

https://youtu.be/PRZUC9AhkOg

I feel your pain, I am using an Emtron. Firing it up next week I hope. I couldn't get an M150 so I had to go another route.

So we have tested the last 2 Fridays.

On the 21st, things did not go so well. We lost an hours and a half finding and fixing an oil leak at the rear of one cam cover. At some stage, it had taken a knock and there was a hairline crack that was rectified with sealant but the biggest problem was blowing a high-pressure fuel pump fuse twice in the afternoon - clearly something was not right and we did not have the time to pull the tank out and inspect to find the issue.

Last week was spend re-doing the fuel system (found a partially blocked pre-filter in the internal fuel pot which was the root cause). We used the standard tank with CJ Motorsport road race system which works a treat by the way, BUT with the cage in place, serviceability is not great - takes an hour to get to the pumps and ~30 minutes to stitch everything back together, so we've gone for a tank above the floor with external lift and high-pressure pumps that are instantly accessible so its is much better for serviceability.

Some lucky Aussie is going to get the CJ Motorsport system in the near future for 50% off.

Last Friday we tested again (3h20m tow to the circuit). The car ran flawlessly - still running the wet-sump engine and R-Spec tyres (6 years old so not very quick) but I did 6 x 25 minute session and it did not miss a beat. The CIRCO pads are brilliant and the 4.08 ratio and Quaife 1:1 top 6-speed sequential works like an old school bolt-action rifle - slight tug on the lever, the Motec cuts fuel for ~100ms (it is programmed for a 300ms BUT as soon as it senses that the box is in the next gear, it lights the fire again). We log over 200 channels in the ECU and up-shifts take between 90 and 120ms - and the power seems absolutely seamless.

We did have a bit of rich misfire but tweaked the tune and eventually enabled close-loop lambda and picked up a couple of 10ths.

I found the limits of braking fairly quickly with a tour thru the kitty litter at T10 and the limits of grip on the sweeper with an off into wet grass but stayed away from the concrete.

Lap times are nothing special as we are 150hp down on the "fat" engine which will be in the car for a Nov race event but I am learning the car as braking and handling are staggeringly good.

The chassis is that stiff that if you jack the car from the front sill behind the front wheel, the rear rises at the same rate as the front - we reckon we have torsional stiffness of 25,000 kg per degree of torsional twist in the chassis which is why the handling is so good. We made a few suspension setup changes and you could feel the changes on the outlap.

There are still 16 items on the do-list (mirrors, oil/filter change, measure pad wear, minor maintenance items like that). Am really happy with where we are - has only been 7 years since this started but that's life when you are self employed and unsponsored

First event will be on 20-Aug with a 1-day club race event (quali and 3 x 20 minute races).

A few club track-days after that and then the fat engine goes in.

Yeah, anyone making electronic kit is having trouble getting supply.

The Motec is a complicated beast .... very function rich and lots of interconnected settings.

Good luck with the Emtron - they are neat poece of kit

Good to see the Z is up and running. :tup: I know it's been a long road for you. :tup: :driving: