G1en

Fantastic Lewis, what its all about, enjoying the car and creating the memories.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all! Santa got me the fantastic prezzie of redundancy for Christmas and I was over the moon, just what i wanted. No, thats not sarcism you hear, it realy was what i wanted, I even asked for it after being told i wasn't at risk. I kinda had another job lined up and was half leaving anyway so with the prospect of a few grand and a final handshake I thought why not. It does allow me to now rebuild the gearbox that's been annoying me for the last couple of seasons plus some other maintenance/preventative measures that I will contact the guys at Horsham about. What it does mean is I have had to setup another youtube page/channel as the old one was linked to my works google account and as thats now closed/defunct I cannot log in or transfer the existing videos which is a little annoying. I am sure some IT geek will know a way but sick of google searching and nothing working or the options not available. Anyhow, new intro video below from the new channel. username is now @Glen_350z rather than the old @Glen-350Z Please subscribe if you did to the old channel. Lots lined up this year if all goes to plan, will be doing 3 different Championships in the Zed.

Kieran, they are looking to get the Connaught championship back to what it was a few years back. Apparently its tailed off recently so will see what they come up with for next year. contemplating entering the classic marques championship. This is run completely different to all other championships as far as i can tell. you have to get your car dyno’d and weighed at their designated dyno to give a base power to weight figure. This is then adjusted with several other factors eg tyre type 1a/1b/1c/slicks, 2wd or 4wd, manual or auto and several more. This then produces a multiplier that they apply to your actual times to produce your classic marques event time. its been tweaked over the years and apparently works really well so the “best” drivers usually win (as the car is taken out of the equation as best possible due to above adjustments) its appealing as the zeds main achilles heel which is weight would actually be a benefit in the calculations. The downside is a lot of the cars were running road tyres as semi slicks carry a 2% (or maybe 2 secs) time addition i think so at a lot of places you would finish with a better classic marques time on road tyres and you also save money not buying semi slicks. Problem is it puts you 2 seconds down on everyone else in the class competing in other championships so your times would look poor and on the day you would maybe finish 8th instead of 3rd for example. Anyhow, plenty of time to look into things and make a decision.

Yep, i mean the Zed will never be the “best” car at any event but its a great all rounder that when setup right is a very capable car. I love giving the better/faster cars a run for their money and beating some. The only way it might get to the top of the timesheets would be to turbo it but initial expense aside, you then start running into regular issues as everything is stressed so much more. I see the guys with the 600hp evos spending more time under the car than in it, most trailer them as well. You also increase the chance of an accident and then said accident costs fortunes to sort. I love the reliability its shown where i can just turn up anywhere, drive to and from event and give it hell in “relative” control and also enjoy the day in between runs talking with and about other competitors cars and setups.

Thanks man, its not that relaxing when I'm behind the wheel. The go-pro does great at making everything look smooth but doesn’t convey that feeling in your bum cheeks when the car is right on the limit.

If you mean trackdays then no, it’s expensive enough paying for new tyres and brakes every year and a clutch every 2 years not to mention all the fluids which i do twice a year. there is still a fair few venues i still havent done so will prob include some of them next year.

Season Overview: Now with the Sprint/Hillclimb season officially over I thought best to summarise the year up. The Zed has been very reliable despite the use it gets. The engine is fantastic, and despite the gearbox crunching into 3rd it has held out and doesn't seem to have got any worse. I will flush the fluid again before the start of next season and see what it looks like. It has been great to get to so many different hillclimbs and tracks around the country to continue on from last year. The main fear of wet days has almost gone now as the car now handles a wet track as well as a dry track and i am always up near the front whatever the weather, partly due to the tyres and partly due to me now knowing the car and its handling characteristics inside out. So the year started back in March with a first trip to Cadwell. It chucked it down all day, 10% of the cars that arrived, went home in bits, but I was not in that statistic and despite being well off the target time as the track is treacherous in the wet, managed to finish 2nd in class. April saw a full weekend at the scenic Anglesey Circuit along with a round at my local Harewood. The weather was kind in Wales as its normally a complete lottery but 5 numbers came up for me, not perfect but good enough. A day on each of the national and International layouts provided a 1st and 2nd place finish with new championship records to boot. The Harewood round was very cold so the tyres struggled to switch on but still managed 3rd. May saw trips to Aintree and Harewood again. A better time at Harewood (average for the year) saw a 4th place finish and even though I was 1.5 seconds off the target time at Aintree, I finished 1st in class on the day. June was my 1st visit for Coventry Motofest where you race on public roads and I went to Three Sisters track for a first time also. It was blisteringly hot at Coventry which meant record crowds watching as the sprint is just a small part of a much larger event for the City. Red Hot meant my fastest ever start time of 2.4 seconds. 1st in class both days and new records set! Three Sisters was a good day, hot again but I think there was only me in class so a 1st place is a bit of a cheat, anyhow, new record set again. July was the busiest month of the year for me. A full weekend at harewood followed by a full weekend at Loton Park followed by a full weekend at Prescott. Probably the best 3 Hill climbs in England. Harewood rounds saw me set new records in the Connaught Championship and finished 4th and 2nd. Loton and Prescott were almost identical weather wise, Saturday was wet then dry on Sunday but as mentioned previously, the wet days used to be dreaded but now i can embrace and attack them (within reason) I broke my own existing record at Loton and had 2 2nd place finishes then just missed out on the record at Prescott with a 2nd and 3rd place finish. August was relatively quiet in comparison with just 2 rounds at Harewood. Both finished with 4th places but the earlier meeting with perfect conditions provided me with a new PB for the hill which after approx 250 runs is no mean feat. September saw a full weekend at Pembrey and the final round at harewood. Pembrey like other venues this year was the complete opposite on each day, baking hot Saturday and mainly wet Sunday. Done on 2 different layouts of the National track then Clubman track, I finished 3rd and 2nd in class with new Connaught records to boot. Harewood finished the season off with some good times but ironically my worst finish of the year in 5th such is the competition and quality of cars now. Never the less, a very enjoyable year and can't wait to do it all again in 2024. Finished the year 14th Overall in the Harewood Championship (from almost 200 entrants) and 2nd Overall in the BARC Connaught Championship (from 60 entrants) Full Results (only showing times for first 3 runs at each event - as these only count as records) Cadwell 113.30 WET (2nd) Anglesey National 62.19 (1st) Anglesey International 102.11 (2nd) Harewood 64.96 (3rd) Harewood 64.59 (4th) Aintree 51.88 (1st) Coventry 78.98 (1st) Coventry 75.38 (1st) Three Sisters 81.05 (1st) Harewood 64.64 (4th) Harewood 64.48 (2nd) Loton Park 60.68 DAMP (2nd) Loton Park 59.63 (2nd) Prescott 55.61 WET (2nd) Prescott 49.98 (2nd) Harewood 64.05 (4th) Harewood 64.71 (4th) Pembrey National 125.80 (3rd) Pembrey Clubman 134.85 DAMP (2nd) Harewood 64.56 (5th)

Well done Kieran, the Zed keeps going strong

@Stutopia that's it now for the season, Zed will hardly get used till March, been a busy 7 months like you say. Zed has been flawless in the main.

Final round at Harewood Possibly the last event of the year.

Latest Update from Pembrey Circuit Longest travel yet, around 260 miles each way

Latest Round at Harewood: thumbnail courtesy of my daughter

Yep was gonna post, check the connector that goes through the door frame, check the wiring as it may have twisted/broken, then there is the window switch itself, can’t really be much else. hope you get sorted.

Car looks superb buddy

Use the force

Finally got it working. took the door card off again, undid the connection that goes through the door, cut open all the rubber sheaths and checked every wire for continuity and/or damage that runs into the car. Every one was fine. was at a total loss and accepted the fact that i would just have to live with it when upon putting the door connector back together realised i didnt have the locking part of the block, think i had butchered it and threw it away when i run new speaker wires through door. I thought to myself i wonder if the connector had just worked its way loose? low and behold pushed it together as hard as i could and when everything else was back plugged in, the window worked and so did the wing mirrors! so all along it was just a loose connector pic below of which one im referring to: the main connector that goes through the door jamb, anyone elses will have the additional plastic tab that locks it in. At least in my case if things stop working again, its the first place to look and a 2 minute fix. RESULT

Latest Video from Round 6 of the Harewood Championship New PB achieved

this is only thing left to investigate really, connected the motor/relay unit up to battery direct and it works fine, does the same weird noises with the old switch and new switch so extremely unlikely both are defective, wiring looks fine in door so will have to check the door joint, i did drill the connector a while back to run new speaker wire so that may have caused an issue but has been working fine for last 2 years. Also noticed today, only the drivers side wing mirror folds in (and really struggles, again like its not getting enough power), the passenger side doesn't move at all and when i try the drivers window switch all the led in switch start flickering as well as the noises, so must be something wiring/earth based somewhere, just so annoying. I am also thinking i have driven home from racing recently in monsoon conditions so possibly water has gotten into the electrics somewhere and may be the issue?

Think i may have narrowed it down some more but even more confused now, i took everything apart again, checked all wiring for continuity which was good, wired the motor unit to a 9v battery which i saw on a youtube vid to check if it works, i could hear a click but no movement so hooked it up to the main car battery and hey presto, motor is working. So motor is good, switch is good, connectors are good and wiring good. It can only be the fact its getting 8-9 volts power supply in the car and it needs nearer 12v to function but how the hell can i get more voltage to it, is there a drain somewhere? How come the other window works fine? any ideas?

Still scratching my head with this, now swapped the motor, switch unit and checked continuity of wiring- all ok but window still not working. as per video below comments the noise stops if I unclip the motor connector (that feeds through the door) so my thoughts, does the motor need grounding somehow? I also noticed both the old motor and new one, you cannot move the centre spigot (that turns the cable/runners) I assumed it should be like this but maybe not? did I get a seized motor off ebay? also checked the runners/guides that move the window up/down, they are all moving freely and good.

Had a look today and its the actual switch that is making the noises, nothing coming from the window motor, all other buttons on the switch (passenger window, central locking) work fine. anyone had this before, is the switch making noises because the motor has failed or has the switch/circuit gone bad? Only safe option is to get a switch unit and a motor unless its the wiring/signal between them thats failed.

Rounds 18 and 19 of the BARC Connaught Championship First visit to Prescott for the Zed.

Firstly, apologies if this have been on a topic before, just needed a quick insight as i will be trying to sort tomorrow. Driver side window has stopped working but when i press the switch i can hear the motor trying to operate it, like a clicking sound one way and a grinding noise the other so I would assume the switch and power are fine. Is it the motor/regulator or is something likely to be stuck?, everything online just shows replacing a bad motor but none of them state if they can hear any noise before replacing, read that gears can wear out? this sounds plausible but is that in the motor unit itself or another part? anyone had same issue and can give a quick diagnostic before ordering a motor and pulling door apart. Thanks

Events coming thick and fast now Rounds 16 and 17 of the BARC Connaught Speed Championship at Loton Park.

Back to Harewood at the weekend for the July Meeting. Round 4 of the Harewood Championship. Rounds 14 & 15 of the Connaught Championship.