Team Geriatric Car build

This years car was built during the 2007 season and we started with an ordinary road going 205 1.6 GTi car. This was stripped back to a bare shell. Our intention was to build as light as the regulations would allow so the first thing we did was remove any un-wanted brackets etc that we can legally remove. With this done came the next brave step. The car was sent away for all the paint, underseal and general goo to be baked to a cinder, which was then power washed from the car. We were amazed at how sound the shell was, there was not a hint of rust in the shell at all, but we had to work fast now as obviously the car would start to rust as the bare metal had been exposed to water. With the help of friends and a professional car painter (Brian) the car was cleaned over a few days. Then etched, primed, stone chipped and painted in one day, a task Brian said he would not like to do again. Now the real work could begin. The new cage was offered up and bolted into place together with the suspension (not the racing setup as this still had not arrived.) Brake lines and sundries were than fitted. It was decided to splash out on an Alcantara dash covering as one thing I had noticed with the old car was you could get some distracting glare off the dash. A dummy engine and box were then fitted to allow the fitting of all the under bonnet peripherals, such as fuel tank and lines, electrics and air filtration. The next task was to fit the glazing, laminated screen and polycarbonate sides. The car was starting to come on now. Finally the suspension arrived and the standard set-up was replaced although final settings will be made during a test session. Desdevelopments have also been busy building me a new engine for the 2008 season and it was looking really useful on the dyno. So at the moment there is just the matter of fitting the race engine and 'box, the seat and then a full days testing to get the most out of the new car.