VrsTurbo
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Registered: 8th Jun 10
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Blyton is shocking! I wouldn't like to come off there as its not level and full of holes. If you want to go to a safe circuit. Anglesea, Bedford, Snetterton i would say are some of the best for run offs.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Interesting, I've read nothing but good stuff about Blyton until reading your post!
Seen some video's of it just after re-opening in 2011 and it was a bit building site, but the run-off and lack of kerb I can see from the recent video's looks attractive.
It's only 40mins or so away so I may go down and spectate before attending. The other tracks you listed are miles away 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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chris_uk
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Registered: 8th Jul 03
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What about oulton?
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FlaFFy_91
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Registered: 30th Sep 08
Location: Formby, Merseyside
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Have you not thought about a open pit lane at oulten park?
Nice track to start with and afaik if you get one of them you can have a instructer sit in for free round the track and give you your pointers and that.
Other than that I do love this thread and these updates. Bit gutted there was no cat sat with them gear linkage bushes but hey ho. Can't please everyone 
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Simon_16v
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Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
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There is Cadwell too, end of August for a full day is £129 i think?
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VrsTurbo
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quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
Interesting, I've read nothing but good stuff about Blyton until reading your post!
Seen some video's of it just after re-opening in 2011 and it was a bit building site, but the run-off and lack of kerb I can see from the recent video's looks attractive.
It's only 40mins or so away so I may go down and spectate before attending. The other tracks you listed are miles away
The kerbs on the corners are huge things at Blyton.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by VrsTurbo
quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
Interesting, I've read nothing but good stuff about Blyton until reading your post!
Seen some video's of it just after re-opening in 2011 and it was a bit building site, but the run-off and lack of kerb I can see from the recent video's looks attractive.
It's only 40mins or so away so I may go down and spectate before attending. The other tracks you listed are miles away
The kerbs on the corners are huge things at Blyton.
Apparently only the chicane has got kerbing, the rest of it is just straight onto the run-off.
I've had a few recommendations to try Blyton now, all stating the surface to be smooth and forgiving for noobs.
With it being so close, I think I'll pop down for a spectator session and see what I make of it before booking on.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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VrsTurbo
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Registered: 8th Jun 10
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Some blyton park videos i did a couple of months back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZA08bq1Ic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7r12RebCzY
i wont be going back again. Its quite narrow too compared to normal tracks but its cheap.
[Edited on 17-07-2013 by VrsTurbo]
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Thanks for the vids Mr Turbo, it does look narrow!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Seem to be lots of scary looking walls at Oulton and Cadwell 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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SXI - Matt
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Registered: 8th Jul 07
Location: Leicestershire Drives: Corsa C SRI
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quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
Seem to be lots of scary looking walls at Oulton and Cadwell
Oulton is excellent fun, very hard wearing on your brakes though, constant hard breaking all around the track. Not loads of run off in some places though, imagine if I went in my own car if be more wary.
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AndyCorsaSport
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Registered: 12th Feb 06
Location: Horsforth, West Yorkshire
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I done Oulton Cadwell and Croft. Cadwell by far my favourite!!
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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Bedford gt circuit.
Perfect for newbies.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Thanks guys, I'll do some research with both Oulton and Cadwell. I read the same about Bedford being the ultimate noob circuit, but many of the positive comments/reviews I read on Blyton say that it's the closest you'll get to Bedford without going to Bedford sort of thing.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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I decided to change one of the linkage bushings tonight, the nice easy one inside the cabin. I could get a feel for how easy or awkward the rest of the job might be from the comfort of my interior.
First up, gear lever surround off. No screws, bolts, nothing - just unclips and the gaitor is attached with a press-stud... easy stuff.
(note the grease I get on the camera lense, that aint going nowhere )
You can see my target, the black bush connecting the lever to the horizontal bar.
Came out with a little help from a flathead screwdriver, very rubbery compared to my solid nylon ones.
I quickly realised even when greased up that my bushings were not going to slide in without a fight. I had a bit of a brainstorm and decided I could simply put the bolt through and tighten it up to squeeze the bushing into place. I'd need a washer for each end, but couldn't find any the right size in my shed... I did however find a tin gasket that a gentleman made me for my old downpipe when I was troubleshooting that whistle.
Result!
I got cranking away and sure enough the bushing was sliding into place. About half way through the second half, my spanner slipped and I sliced my skin right under my thumbnail with a rough edge from the gasket  I ran inside, whimpered a bit (I wanted to cry) and ran it under the cold tap before braving the evening heat to finish the job.
Next step was to slide the metal tube in the middle... that wasn't going to be cake either and my bolt wasn't long enough to repeat my technique... doh.
Hopped on the pushbike (missus was out with the hack somewhere) and went to Halfords. I knew I needed M8 or smaller, and at least 80mm in length. They only went up to 75mm so I grabbed some washers and moved onto Homebase. From homebase I could get some M6 100mm bolts but they had those stupid flat ends which you'd use for fence panels or something... they'd do.
Went home and wound the tube into place by molegripping the fence panel bolt thingy to stop it spinning whilst tightening up with my ratchet spanner.
Voila!
All back into place, you can tell how much more sturdy it is just by looking at it
Went for a quick drive round the estate, much nicer to change gear already which was a pleasant surprise. Hopefully there's more to come when I tackle the underside of the car
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Oh, I also noticed that if I torqued the bolt right back up that my gear changes were TOO stiff so I had to slacken off a bit. Once everything is done, I'll tweak this to perfection and loctite the nut in position.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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I decided to tackle the rest of the linkage last night.
Jacked the front passenger corner up and had one last evaluation before taking the tools out.
At the bottom of shot is the gearbox crossmember, that would have to come off for access so I supported the transmission with the jack and go to work.
Once off I could get a proper look at my targets, the big bushing in the foreground and hidden away at the back the knuckle joint and it's two bushings:
I started by removing the large one, unhooked the reverse lockout cable from the gearbox to give me more space and popped the old bushing out pretty easily...
New vs Old:
The next step was a decision, a decision which cost me a couple of hours I could either remove the linkage from the gearbox by knocking out a retaining pin, or I could unbolt the knuckle. I opted with unbolting due to access to the pin, but quickly ran into a problem.
There was not enough clearance between the knuckle and the transmission tunnel inside wall for me to remove the bolt fully. After about half an hour of swearing and sweating I managed to squeeze it out by moving the transmission on it's mounts using my jack handle and shit loads of elbow grease.
Finally freed...
Into the cockpit now to unbolt four bolts which held the weather seal into place and once removed I could drop the linkage out of the bottom of the car:
Note I've not installed the large bush yet, decided to leave it till last to give better access down below.
The next bit cost me far too much time too, replacing the knuckle bushings. I got them out easy enough, but my long bolt/two washer/nut trick from the previous day was struggling to squeeze them in. I kept stripping the thread on my bolts which then needed dremeling to retrieve!!
After 45mins or so and 6 or 7 bolts later though, I was finally done:
Now to get the linkage back onto the car I would need to tackle that bolt clearance issue again. I couldn't insert the bolt from the other side because the driftshaft was in the way so it was back to levering the gearbox to one side. I was properly knackered at this point and it was so difficult. I finally got the bolt into the hole and then found it wouldn't slide all the way through!! :@ Upon inspection, the inside of the metal sleeve had some rough swarf which the bolt was catching on, and I didn't have the space or leverage to force the bolt past it. Out came the bolt again, and I stuck a thin dremel attachment in to clear it all out.
Some many times later, the bolt and knuckle were finally back into place.
Last step was to insert the large bushing, it wasn't such a tight fit so went in with minimal drama using my usual trick:
Bolted it back together, rehooked the reverse lockout cable and sorted out the interior.
Done! About 10pm finish, covered head to toe in grease and knackered. I did a quick test to make sure I could select gears but couldn't be bothered with a test drive.
Got inside and as I was washing my hands, I felt a tingling pain all over both hands. I clenched each hand into a fist and thin perforated lines all over each hand split and oozed with blood Something was catching my hands and just barely scraping the skin, but when I tightened up it was just enough to tear the skin and this morning they were in fucking agony
With a sore back, legs, head, face and hands I finally got my test drive on the way to work this morning. The gear changes are infinitely better and they "clunk" into place so cleanly, it really is a joy to go through the gears and they almost select themselves when you nudge the stick towards position.
Really chuffed with the result, even if it did take me four hours and a fair bit of pain. No real drama, had some access challenges and plenty of dremeling to do but got the job done
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Ben-B
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Registered: 28th Jul 08
Location: the lovely Nottingham
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Using an exhaust gasket to get a bush in!
Fantastic read and nice car, keep it up
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Stuart H
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Registered: 17th Jul 09
Location: lanark , scotland
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Love how you challenge everything yourself then can be arsed to do a big write up after it. Keep it up , love reading the updates.
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chris_uk
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Registered: 8th Jul 03
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Just a note about oulton..
Its a great track and i think you would love it, yesterday i did a trackday there in the time attack vx.. Its quite fast but also quite safe not many places where you are going to kill ur car. Deffo reccomended 
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Thanks guys.
Appreciate that note Chris, Oulton looks ace to be honest, seen a few video's of people on tuition sessions too and it's pretty impressive.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Sounds like I've got a supercharger since installing these bushes. The transmission on these is whiney anyway, but now it's crazy
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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taylorboosh
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
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good update this imo
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BarnshaW
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Registered: 25th Oct 06
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should not be a massive amount of whine mate, not with the low mileage you have? i had a bit on mine.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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It was always a little bit whiney, spoke to David@API about it a while ago and said thicker oil can mask it but it's not unhealthy, they all do it.
The bushes have seemingly just amplified it. I can slightly change the pitch of it by applying sideways pressure to the shifter while its in gear so definitely a reverberation thing.
Apparently dynamatting the transmission tunnel helps but tbh its not that bad... can't hear it over moderate stereo volume or when booting it due to engine/exhaust sounds. Its just motorway cruising with no radio on when it gets irritating
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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