Control over Power 2

I had the best (ex F1) engine in British Hillclimbing - a very special 4 litre Judd EV, and I sold it - to get more power.  Photo is of me in the Pilbeam Judd at Loton Park in April 2005.   Here I'm doing some pre-start burn outs.  650 bhp with truly delightful drivability.  This car allowed me to win a number of rounds of the British Hillclimb Championship and set an outright hill record (for a short time).  Image Derek Hibbert.

When a racing engine is “mapped”, starts are one of the areas that need to be considered.   The ex-F1 Judd I had in my Pilbeam hillclimb car was fantastic for starts.   It had wheel spin capable, but fully controllable, torque from 2500 rpm to 12500 rpm .  With a 145kph (90mph) first gear in the car I would hold the engine at 3800 rpm on the start line, take up the driveline slack and then drop the clutch (slide sideways off it) when it was time to go.  The rpm would drop to about 2500 and I’d just play with the throttle to control the wheelspin.  When it was slippery, of course, the start rpm would be even lower.   0-100kph was about 1.9 to 2.0 seconds.   Felt “hooked up”.  With the turbo engine, the starts went out to nearly 3 seconds.  Pretty poor by comparison and most of it due to lack of control.

 At the end of 2005, having come second in the championship and wanting more, I looked around for what we could do to make the car faster.  Three obvious ways stuck me: increase aero, reduce weight and increase power.   To get the aero I needed to do some research and probably build a new car.  I rejected that as being too expensive and needing too much work/time from me personally – the day job in F1 really didn’t allow me time for that.  I looked at all the available options and chose a new power plant.  Not all the decisions you make in life are the best ones – but hopefully we learn from our mistakes!   The new power plant was an ex-Indycar engine of about 3.2 litres which would be rebuilt and tuned with twin rally turbochargers.  In the end we could not get any power down low and also could not reduce turbo lag to a reasonable level.  I went from about 650 bhp to nearly 900 but the car was much harder to drive and ultimately much slower coming out of corners (not to mention off the line).  As a driver the feeling was nothing, nothing, nothing, wheelspin (and sometimes “sideways”).  In truth the power change was probably from 200 bhp (feels like nothing) to 700 (spins the wheels and feels like it is out of control).   The project also ate up some money of course, so I could not “go back” and go for the new car with the old engine, or even an aerodynamic update on the old car, both of which would have been better choices. 

Judd EV 4.0 in my Pilbeam.  Tyres wrapped in security wrap to keep them clean.

 About the Judd EV 4.0.  It originally came out of a 1989 Leyton House F1 car and was a 3.5 litre V8.  For hillclimbing it had been “stroked” (more piston travel via a different crankshaft and conrods) out to 4 litres.  It had milder intake camshafts which gave it great torque.  You could idle it around the paddock under complete control.  Throttle response was fast – faster than anything I’d driven before.  After some experimentation I put about a 90 mph first gear into the car for most hills.  145 kph (90 mph) at 12,500 rpm.  Hairpins were down to about 40 kph so they would take the revs down to about 3,500 rpm.   With this engine more than enough to thrust the car forward (and sideways).   My competitors used to bring their engine tuners to the startline at hillclimbs and ask them to watch and listen.  I imagine they were asking why their engine didn’t get off the line like this one.  Start line marshals too would be warned – you won’t know when this one is about to go – be careful.

 For a lot of hillclimbs I’d put the car into second once off the line and leave it there.  That left me with a go pedal and a stop pedal.  Nothing could be easier.  Just so you know I’m not a great driver – just very enthusiastic!

 After two seasons of competition I had the engine rebuilt.  JF Engines I was told was the place to go.  Now, John and Fred (J & F) used to build these engines when they worked for Judd back in their F1 days.   They had retired but built engines they enjoyed building for people they liked – they were retired so they did it more for fun than anything else.  Happily we got on well and they agreed to do a rebuild.  I gently asked what it might cost.  Don’t know boy, depends what it needs but something near 2,000 pounds plus whatever special parts it needs.   Two thousand pounds!   Hell we’d spent 4 times that rebuilding the engine in the Peugeot 2005 hillclimber.  I didn’t believe them, but hoped for the best.  Well it needed some valves and a few other parts so it came to a bit under 2,500 pounds.   I could literally not believe it.   They were such lovely old boys too.   They found me a bit entertaining I think because I asked lots of questions about crack detection and how they did things.   Good powers of observation and experience told them more than most young people would learn with the best crack detection equipment on the planet.   They used it but only on a few parts. 

 When I put the turbo engine into the Pilbeam at the end of 2005 I sold the Judd.   Man, that was a daft thing to do!   I dare say if you went anywhere else to have your ex-Formula 1 engine rebuilt you can start adding zeros on the end of the quote!   I really like the song “Let Her Go” by Passenger.  A comment about how blokes sometimes have no emotional intelligence.  Not quite the same thing but...........  The great thing about life is that you’re never too old to learn – and arrogance is eventually knocked out of most people!   I hope I have learned.   A number of good friends did their best to warn me beforehand not to go there!

There is a short compilation video of some of the climbs from 2005 available via the link below.   At Shelsley the commentators talk about a start time – that is the time to complete the first 64 feet – at one G (acceleration) it would take 2 seconds.  It’s quicker than that – I think my best ever was 1.60 at Gurston Down.  If you watch the video. listen to the start rpm.....  Notice too how wide and accommodating the UK hillclimb tracks are (not)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFyWNVqz4f8

 The image below – used in an earlier post is not a fake – this really happens with some cars at this place on Gurston Down.  Combine super sticky tyres with too much (really) weight on the rear axle and great torque and the car just comes up (almost gracefully at first) as the bump in the hill flattens.  You have to actively come out of the throttle.   There is one other place on the championship calendar where the car would lift front wheels and that is at Loton Park after the last corner if you’re having a really good run (lots of grip).  More dangerous there as it is higher speed and you absolutely have to come out of the throttle if it happens.

Image Gerry Marshall?  Pilbeam at Gurston Down.

To view my other posts, look here :-   https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/posts/willemtoet1