The team and their cars
The South West Stint team consists of 3 main challenge cars and our support car, which will complete the entire challenge with us too. Each of the 3 challenge cars (Tom, Joe and Sam) will be driven by 1 person only, and the support car will have the driving split by 2 people (Milly and Katie).
Each of the main challenge cars have had a before(ish) picture taken, along with a little write up from the driver. Stay tuned for the after pics!
Tom with Han, the Nissan Almera Esteem
Here we have the beautiful, powerful, agile, sleek, almighty Nissan Almera.
As we all know there is no car with four seats that is quicker than the Nissan GTR off the line. Although the Almera may not have four wheel drive it certainly shares a lot of other characteristics with its bigger brother the GTR and its not just the badge. With its 1.4 litre twin cam engine producing a face tearing 85bhp, propelling it from 0-60 in an impressive 12.2 seconds. 14 inch steel wheels with colossal 175/60 tyres for unmatched grip to help keep this wild animal on the road. The Almera also benefits from having incredible aerodynamic properties producing an unknown amount of down force to keep it pinned down on those notorious south west coastal road hair pin corners.
If there was ever any possible way I could improve this immense piece of Japanese engineering from factory standard I would, however here are my plans. I aim to add even wider wheels for even more tarmac shredding traction, removing the rear seats, and all unnecessary rear trims for weight reduction to improve the already unrivalled and unmatched handling and acceleration. The roof will have spot lights installed at the front for added visibility during those dark September days in the depths of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, and a custom made roof cage for storing supplies on our perilous journey through the unknown. The rear wheel arches will benefit from large rally style mud flaps, I also plan on tinting the rear windows of the car to add even more to the sleek Japanese look. I bought the car with 3 months MOT for £130.00 however although the car had MOT it runs out the day before we leave. So some of the budget will be spent fixing a few issues to get another years test on the Japanese tuning icon. I will also be giving the car a small service including new spark plugs, coolant flush and change, new air filter.
Joe with Rudy, the Hyundai Accent Coupe
The Hyundai Accent. Automotive innovation and beauty encapsulated by Korean masterminds.
It seemed insulting to purchase Rudy (She’s called Rudy) for the lowly price of £70, but I could offer more than money. I could take her to a loving home where I would treat her right.
The first journey was magical and scary at the same time. Much like a first date. Sure bits were falling off and she was unpredictable to the point of butt clenching, but there was a spark. Probably explains the dash board lights and drained battery…
However, Rudy came with baggage which I needed to address. Her MOT was nearly due.
- Like all women she needed new shoes. 4 good rubbers for both of our protection.
- New break lines because sometimes she didn’t know when to stop.
- Underneath the beauty were some holes. Dirty gurt rusty holes under her to be precise which needed some TLC.
- Front left CV Gaiter needed replacing
- Back box swapped for a 3” pipe because she didn’t winge loud enough already. #becauseracecar
Other than that, she was mint.
I did feel she could loose a few pounds however. With my help we stripped the back end and found half the cast of bugs life in her trunk.
Cosmetically she had a few imperfections but with a lick of paint and a heavy dose of artistic license I will be able to return her former glory and some.
Sam with Jeff, the Mk4 VW Golf
As you'd expect, I've done this right and got myself a Mk4 Volkswagen Golf.
Launched in '97, the Mk4 Golf was the best selling car in Europe by 2001, this model saw a deliberate attempt to take the VW Golf further upmarket, with higher quality interiors and better toys - on par with its older (attractive) sister, the Audi A3. The thumping 1.6 16v 4 cylinder naturally aspirated single overhead cam monster, mounted up front powers the front wheels. The exciting 103bhp is delivered at 5700 rpm and the tarmac shredding 148 nm of torque is unleashed at 4500 rpm through its 5 speed manual gearbox. Weighing in at 1142kg its fairly big boned, but that doesn't stop it reaching its incredible 119mph top speed. This sounds great - but my car has clocked up over a 160k miles... and I can feel every single one of them! Its lumpy, idles weird, stalls and splutters...
Bought as a high miler MOT failure, the first work going in to this car then will be getting it through. It failed catastrophically on its rear brakes, so discs and pads will be replaced as well as a bit of a tidy up all round. The second main failure, un-surprisingly, was its emissions - it's a shame it's not a newer car, the software would have kept the emissions suspiciously perfect under test conditions! Work to resolve this will see the cat being replaced, as well as a bit of a service; new plugs, an injector clean and a choice fuel additive being chucked in. That coupled with a gurt hooning before the check and we should fly through (ever the optimist) - with the added bonus of the car hopefully running a bit smoother too. Win win!
I also plan on adding an improved air intake system as the existing one is poor and when driving feels like its choking the car. It will be opened up with an induction style intake with plenty of cold air available to it, and shielding off the cone from the heat of the engine - a bit of doof doof induction noise will add to the fun of the car too - you cannot lose. I would like to do a bit of work to the exhaust , perhaps a back box delete or I may just come straight off the cat and run some straight pipe out of the side, y'know, because that's far more sensible.
Ideally the car needs suspension work , I want to drop the car on springs as much as possible, 30-40mm all round would be the aim - the boat like handling needs to go, and if the rear happens to get stripped too, we will be riding a tad high. We will have to see what budget allows for, but with the cars being so popular, and the suspension being closely similar to that of the Bora, Beetle and Passat, I'm hoping something will crop up on the second hand market that will sort us out a treat.
As far as aesthetics go, I'll most likely be getting the rattle cans out and having a whirl at some orange accents - maybe some matt white chucked in for good measure too. I am inspired by the rally and off road look so expect some influences to surface during the build... think fog lights and a tonne of stickers! The hope is that by the end the car is hardly recognisable by the time I have finished getting my hands dirty with it!
Milly and Katie with Mica, the Vauxhall Corsa SXI support car
