Below are details of our car's specification and how it was built

The car we use is a Vauxhall Nova SR.  The original was bought in April 2000 by Graham as a bare rally prepared shell.  He built it over a period of 5 months in a barn at a local farm.  It started life as a pretty basic machine using an engine from a scrap dealer which came out of a car with 115,000 miles on the clock and everything else apart from a couple of vital safety components also from the scrappy.  Graham sought help from local mechanic Terry Dixon, who is also involved in rallying, for the more technical aspects of the build.  In September 2000 the car was taken to its first event at Great Orton, Cumbria.  It finished 2nd to last but never the less it finished (last was Graham's pal Steve Head!!).  We decided that more power was needed and began to develop the car a bit at a time as we could afford it.  First step was to put a slightly better Cam in the car, then to get more fuel in using a trusty pair of Weber twin 40 DCOE carbs.  We then found we needed better brakes to stop us quicker and then we uprated the suspension.  Like I say this was done over a period of time and we have now got a car which is becoming competitive.  In May 2002 we changed the engine for a faster 1300cc one which gives us a pretty respectable amount of BHP.  In July 2003 the original car was written off in an accident at the Sweet Lamb rally complex in Wales and the car was re-shelled.  The spec remained as it was other than the seats, belts and cage after that until April 2011 when the car was fitted with the upgraded Quaife F10 gear kit and shortly afterwards in September 2011 a higher spec 1400cc engine was built and fitted and the car put onto fuel injection and Omex engine management.

Full Specification

Shell: Seam welded throughout and fitted with Harry Hockley strengthening kit.  Weld in Safety Devices roll cage with forward triangulation mounted to strut tops. Kevlar full length external floor protection trays. Harry Hockley professional seat mount kit. Internal quaife type gearchange linkage direct to turret top.  Semi pro-built wiring loom.

Safety: Motordrive pro seats with ally frames and TRS 6 point 3" aircraft release belts. Battery box mounted in rear, Lifleline plumbed in and handheld AFFF fire extinguishers. 

Engine: Vauxhall 1389cc 8 Valve OHC motor.  Lightened and Balanced crankshaft, flywheel and clutch cover.  Crank Polished and pistons machined to give better valve clearence.  ARP big end bolts fitted.  Head ported and polished for better gasflow and fitted with a Piper BP285 high lift camshaft.  Also running a stainless cold air induction kit with large cone filter.

Engine Management: OMEX 600 series ECU connected using pro built loom made from aircraft grade cable and industry accepted "works spec" overbraid/heatshrinks.  Distributorless ignition system using coil pack and utilising Magnecor Red KV85 competition leads.

Gearbox: Quaife F10 straight cut close ratio gearbox fitted with 4.53:1 crown wheel and pinion.  Fitted with a ZF plate type limited slip differential set at 40%.  Helix 3 paddle competition clutch plate with Sachs cover.

Fuel and Exhaust: Vauxhall multipoint injection system fed by two facet electric pumps from standard injection tank.  2" skidded exhaust system bolted directly to floor for extra strength.

Brakes: Astra 2Ltr 16 valve brake calipers and discs with Mintex 1155 pads. TAS anodised hydraulic fly off handbrake with drum brakes on rear with standard shoes.

Suspension: Harry Hockley 2.25" adjustable spring platform struts with Bilstein 40mm inserts and 185lb springs and Harry Hockley alloy top mounts. Bilstein thick tube Group A struts on rear with pro-tec forest springs.  Poly bushed all round.  Bottom ball joints replaced with Harry Hockley uniballs.