www.moospeed.com

MooSpeed 1

MooSpeed 2

MooSpeed 3

MooSpeed 4

Events
 +Formula 1
 +BTTC
 +Lotus Factory
 +Mini Days
 +The Italian Job
 +Birkett 6hr
 +RGB Racing
 +Le Mans
 +Stoneleigh

Mooscellaneous

Trackdays
 +Castle Coombe
 +Karting
 +Brooklands

MooLinks

Moogle

Contact the cow

December 2004

MooSpeed IV hits the road !!!

December 14th 2004, a landmark day in this car's history. I haven't been able to fit the passenger sidepod without knowing first where the exhaust was going to exit. As the silencer needed modifying I booked into Fishers to have the work done and to get a general pre-SVA check.

I had it in mind to fit the catalytic convertor into my standard R1 silencer for the test, it was decided on the day that if we modified front pipe of the silencer we could retain the standard outlet from the manifold and hence use the standard Fisher cat-equipped can for SVA.

As the front pipe needed extending anyway and I just seemed to have the right collection of spare pipe to do this we went ahead and modified both this and the Remus race can accordingly. Both cans then had the standard rolled end angled exit pipe welded on the back end. Personally I consider this to poke out too far from the bodywork even with the silencer pulled back in as far as it will go. Two options, I'll either grow to like it or I'll chop it off later. For SVA reasons it'll be staying for now.

So, what's it like to drive ?
Well, for obvious reasons I wasn't going to leave the house and end up hammering down the greasy, wet, leaf-strewn lanes.
I was surprised at how easy it was to drive. I was expecting all sorts of problems with snappy clutches, constant stalling and flaring throttle but I'd say the time spent on sorting the levering of the pedals has paid off.

It does sound fantastic, especially considering I was hardly doing any revs. Another thing that amazed me was how tractable it was. Pulled around town, traffic lights, roundabouts, etc. without a problem. The gearchange worked well and I was clutchless shifting more often than not.

The only weak spot was that the brake pedal felt horrible. I remember this from my Westfield so this probably shows that I'm more used to assisted brakes than anything else. After a few miles I did a few brake tests and it did pull up sharply enough. A slight concern was that rolling along in a jam at about 2-3 mph I could feel a "dragging" sensation that I guessed was the brakes. When I arrived at Fishers the offside rear wheel was pretty hot and smelt of brakes which would indicate binding, however, when we jacked the car up the wheel seemed to move smoothly enough - odd. By the time I had got back home it felt a bit better and the wheel didn't seem hot. Nevertheless I've now taken them apart for a look and slackened the handbrake a bit - just need more usage hopefully.

The drive there was really as much a shakedown test as anything else. For the whole journey I was keeping an eye on the digidash for warning signs and one eye on the road. The only thing that didn't work was the fuel gauge, hopefully nothing too major.

So there I was driving a bright orange, unregistered, window-less sportscar in the wet whilst wearing a hat, gloves and goggles. I was expecting some attention but what surpised me was the amount of people that flashed and waved... and not all with two fingers either !! Once I'd got over the paranoia that people weren't telling me the wheels had caught fire I began to enjoy brighening up a very grey and very cold morning.

It's early days to talk about cornering abilities and handling but it it so much more alive than my last pseudo-sportscar, the Barchetta. What I did find surprising is that it's very confidence inspiring. The ride is so much better than my old Westfield, whether that is down to the IRS rather than live-axle I don't know...

First time back to it's spiritual home at the Fisher factory for MooSpeed IV. Last time it was here it was in tiny bits. You can see the standard and race cans on the floor along with the various bits of joining pipe.
A look at the mid-engined demonstrator Fury - check out how far forward the pedals and cockpit are...
Engine in the wrong place.
Back home safe and sound. No major incidents, best I could have hoped for.
Still not sure about the fog lamp, wish I'd gone for something smaller. Plenty of time for modifications after the SVA is out the way.

Previous Next