At Last - A Porsche Driver!

All together now:

Oi am a Porsch-e Droiver
Oi droives it round the Crescent
Oi am a Porsch-e Droiver
It is jolly pleasant
Oo-arr oo-arr ay
Oo-arr oo-arr ay

With apologies to the Wurzels and even more apologies to whoever it was that wrote "Una Paloma Blanca"

Whatever, progress of sorts made this weekend with the fitting of the racing seat and trial fit of the belts.

Thanks to a bit of wheeler dealing, I've ended up with a reasonable Cobra steel-framed seat and a slider to accomodate short ar-----erm, slightly less tall drivers than me with ease! I've also acquired a couple of brand new Cobra mounting frames which came from a Corsa and drop into the 924 to take the seat, which is far too narrow to fit on the standard seat mounts.

The mounting frames were too tall, so I had them shortened and the seat base is about the height of the standard seat, we can just reach the adjuster over the cross member. Still to do is have the floor strengthened - it flexes where the seat frame is bolted to it! MSA rules call for 3mm plates to be added above and below the floor, so by the time it's been done I'm confident that problem wil go away.

You can see the cage in place in the photos - it's not fitted but I've nowhere else to store it! I switched to a 924 because a Midget was too small for me to be comfortable, it's amazing how little room there is in this...seat goes too far back even for my lanky frame to reach the pedals and steering wheel, but the roof is still pretty close :-)

Also difficultly close is the handbrake, which is on the right hand side. Under the doorbar. Ah, good job I've got small hands, but I don't think it'll be used in a hurry if the brakes fail at speed!

Belts are only temporarily fitted, have experimented with using the standard rear belt mounting points. It's OK on the outside edge, but I think the inside is too far off a central pull. Shame. I'll have to re-set the mounts into the vertical panel where the rear seat should be. Would like to put them on the horizontal boot floor, but I can't get in there to fit the re-inforcing plates. 

The seat goes so far back that not only can I not reach the pedals, but I'm also behind the line of the front seat belt mountings, so we need to make sure I'm far enough forwards that they pull me back properly into the seat.

Takes me back to my old days sharing the Rover SD1 with my dad in Thundersaloons. He was - how shall we say it kindly? - somewhat stouter than me and sat further back with the belts set long to go round his corpulent frame. When I got in, the mechanics slid the seat forwards until I squealed, at which point the belts were tight enough! Happy days..... 

And back to my somewhat corny rendition of "I am a cider drinker"...after I got the seat fixed in place I fired the car up and drove it round The Crescent. Rear brakes still binding, but they need a rebuild anyway, car feels really soggy but it could be that soft rear tyre, and it's heavy on the steering, can't put a tiny wheel on...BUT I'M A PORSCHE DRIVER!

Running on 4 - check!

Overheating - no!

Just one question...do all 924s have a long, clunky throw on the gear lever? Answers please to max-at-midgetmax-dot-com

The 360 gets closer, and there are a couple of drivers on the horizon to share with me. Fingers crossed!