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The SBD Reynard driven by Mark Smith & Steve Broughton has been very successful this year, normally finishing 1st & 2nd in Class at most events. With Steve Miles running one of our earlier spec Duratec engines quite regularly finishing 3rd in class. |
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The engine for the car was built in November 2010 using our newly designed rods & pistons, the new rods & pistons managed to push the performance up from 299bhp to 307bhp with 200lbft torque. This was done using a standard crankshaft, the engine was run in the Westfield originally as this allowed us to do quite a bit of testing on the Track'n'Road rolling road. We then removed the engine ready to transplant in to the Reynard.
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The original Vauxhall touring car engine was removed from the Reynard & a special dry sump system was designed & built specifically for this type of single seater. We managed to achieve a sump pan of only 25mm deep, this allowed us to fit the Duratec engine as low as possible in the car. We also developed a 210mm diameter flywheel & special offset starter motor for use with this dry sump system, which uses a 5.5" (140mm) twin plate Super clutch. Mark had the rear suspension transplanted from the original gear box on to the new Hewland FTR gearbox. |
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then found some beautiful shaped F1 side pods, after an immense amount
of work by Mark & myself, we finally got them to fit & send
the car for paintwork with 2 weeks to go before the first British
round at Castle Combe. We then only had enough time to screw the car
together & drive it up & down outside the workshop before
setting off to the first event. All this year we have been testing the latest MBE9A9 ECU which controls everything on the car from simply starting the engine all the way through to full control of the gearbox. There are no relays involved in any way in the car, simply pin to pin which reduces the weight & simplifies the installation. The system has run faultlessly all season & has been on general release from the end of the summer 2011. Everything is controlled from the steering wheel. |