markrolston@mac.com

doing some final testing....(it repeats the dyno clip but there's more)

Car is on the dyno. On basic tune so far making 460 with only 9lb of boost. More to come. PXL_20201021_211103037.mp4

The 3D printed real panel just arrived. I had to send it to someone with a large format printer and even then it came in 3 parts. We will have to adjust the position of the lights a bit to get it mounted correctly. For now I'm going to leave the red/white paint showing behind it, despite my original plan to black out that area. It looks pretty cool in person. It's easy enough to change it to black later.

The car is coming back together but not done so I will miss this weekends NISMO Fiesta in San Antonio. Engine is running roughly and we think it's a stuck exhaust side VVT. Going to replace it with a part that fixes cam timing in place on the exhaust side.

yes. actually just spent many months doing some reworking of the engine after blowing it up at COTA. I'm hoping to bring both to the show.

one more week to go before Nismo Fiesta. There's a lot still to do. I really only expect to get it put back together and running to be able to get it down there. Real test and tune will have to wait.

Crunch time! Still planning to test/tune in mid September and drive it to Nismo Fiesta in October. Shift actuator installed the transmission. Driveshaft arrived. Fixing leak on cam covers and while they are off we'll repaint them with a nice speckle red. I always loved the way Ferrari intakes looked with that texture. Lastly I'm converting the 3D printed canards into a mold to make carbon fiber parts.

it’s a Peel 3D light scanner. Not as accurate a laser but ok for car scale stuff.

headed towards finish. I think I can get it back on the track end of august. That means I can test at Harris Hill in September and get some track events in with rest of 2020. And there's Nismo Fiesta in early October. Pics here show finished canard 3D prints. I'll use those as molds to make carbon fiber parts. Also pic of air tank in back for the paddle shifters (pneumatic). Lastly, buttoning up some rewiring.

not the actor. a different Mark Rolston.

here's a shot of the holes in the back panel and a pic of the hatch area that shows you how open the rear is to the ground. The rear suspension packaging is open. So the idea is to flow air past the diff up over the fuel cell and out the holes.

Good idea. I'll take a look.

I have something interesting to share. Since waiting on some parts I have time to stare at the car and imagine other things that could be worked on. It's a blessing and a curse. I'm also a product designer by trade and 'making stuff' is a daily thing. On top of this, Andris' shop got a 3D scanner and that immediately starts to beg the question "what else can I scan?". So, we scanned the front to make the canards. That was cool. And just lately we've scanned the rear of the car to create a custom back panel. I love the stock look of the back panel but because the back suspension area is open, I want to move air from under the car to out the back panel. That should break up the stagnant air just below the wing and above the diffuser.... At least it can't hurt... I think. So I decided to design (with help from Hayes Urban, a fantastic Industrial Designer) a mesh panel that would hide these holes. It's done now and we'll do a test print soon. I'm concerned to not jump the shark on custom bits here. The car is already a departure from stock but overall it has to retain that 'first read' of the original design. We'll see when it's on the car.

I'm using a Motec M130. The transmission is an HGT 5 speed sequential. It's shifted through an air powered actuator that is trigged via the paddles. What's nice is we can program the ECU to handle the drop throttle and rev match on shifting. We're also wiring up wheel speed sensors since the ECU can handle traction control.

I'm using a coiled up cable that can wrap around the column without drooping too much.