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RALLY CAMPAIGN
JAKS STAGES
ISLE OF MAN, 22nd/23rd FEBRUARY 2008
Photographs courtesy of Andrew Cowley - Manx Motorsport Photos
After
a steady run in November, it was time for our first run of the year on the Isle
of Man. You may wonder why we go
there a lot, well because it has probably the best rally roads around and we are
working towards doing the Manx National in 2009 (hopefully). Johns
wife decided that we should go on Thursday due to being heavily pregnant with a
child to restrain, this left us with a tight schedule for the Recce.
After an eventful ferry journey where a few dinners were lost at sea, we
arrived to the usual mix of weather and with the formalities of scrutineering
and recce’ing dealt with Friday night was soon upon us.
It was hoped that we could improve on the last result with some
suspension changes and more ride height together with a few extra cuts in the
tyres in case of a rain. Out to the
first stage we had only turned the first corner and I could see the front of the
bonnet flapping around due to last minute spotlight adjustments! in a panic I
dived out and dealt with it, no harm done!
With little time to spare we continued up to the first stage `Gleneedles’
and within a few minutes we were laying down the rubber off the start line, the
stage went in a flash and with our nerves settled it was off to stage two `Knocksharry’
which started at the back of Peel and ended near Kirk Michael. Now after
recce’ing this stage we were expecting a good run so as the flag dropped we
hit the hammer and settled in to the notes, things were jelling and as we came
through a muddy farm road we accelerated up to a bridge unbeknown to us for its
car killing properties!! All felt good as we went airbourne but it was too quiet
for too long and as it landed with a crash it was a worrying few seconds until
we realised nothing was broke!….including our spines.
Within no time we were off the narrows and on the fast A5 Peel coast road
trying to steady the revs below 8000 in top, all was going fine until four
corners from the end I spotted a torch light and all our efforts were lost as
the stage was blocked by a stricken Escort stuffed into an embankment. Oh
well, off to stage three up Druidale to Injebreck and on through Baldwin. After another lengthy delay it was also cancelled due to an
accident, so back to service with hopefully a full run on the next loop of
stages. With the new settings pace
and confidence was building, the next three stages went swimmingly well and
overnight car 37 was up to 21st after leg 1.
After short nights sleep at the windswept farmhouse we dragged the gear
up to the Jurby service area for the morning start after re-seed. We knew the first stage `The Lhen’ so that helped and it
went well with no drama’s. Then
it was up to `Tholt-y-will’ again a stage we knew but extended by a mile,
after no intercom for the first mile, panic was alleviated by me re-connecting
the jackplug! Calm was restored and
the rest was a good stage. One of
my favourite manx classics aside Druidale. All
was well until we reached high level after the time control, we exited the stage
in low cloud that dropped visibility to 75 metres or so. Not wanting to lose any time at this point we went as fast as
we could in the conditions, which is fine until out of the cloud comes a row of
cones designed to keep speeds down on the descent! We were told if you knock over a cone you would get a 10
second penalty per cone, so it’s in your interest to get it right. I
thought we were going to splatter the lot but I just managed to get the brakes
off the locked wheels and turned it through just rocking the cones on the way
in!! as we dropped down out of the
cloud to Brandywell cottage visibility was good and after a tug on the handbrake
with exit throttle (T.Pond style) we continued the push down to Druidale. At
service we realised whilst fuelling that a jolt had broke the battery free and
repairs were quickly in hand by Mech. Jonny Stringer.
We did a repeat of The Lhen, Tholty and Druidale with visibility down to
50 metres very, very, smoothly flowing on the notes. Back at service we had climbed up to 16th and we
were swapping times with an Impreza Turbo, Sierra 4x4 and a Porsche 911. That
just left the 4 stages around Peel town centre, the first run got cancelled
after a Mitsubishi Evo ripped a wheel off in front of the large crowd, one less!
The three runs around the town were
a short blast, but with reasonable runs through them we ended up 13th
overall out of 63 starters and third in class.
It
was great to get a result that good over there especially when the locals know
the roads so well. There is still
more to come from the car and us…..so stay tuned and see
our website for updates.
All
for now
BLACK HORSE FINANCE STAGES
ISLE OF MAN, 11/12th NOVEMBER 2007
Photographs courtesy of Andrew Cowley - Manx Motorsport Photos
After an enjoyable run on the previous event it was decided to fit the new engine at last and with a couple of months until this event it was ideal giving us time to fit and tune fresh for the I.o.M. All was going well on the rollers until the clutch died, costing us a week to fix and get back up there to finish the tuning. With approximately 200hp at the wheels there was approx. 50 more Hp on tap, so after a short road test it was apparent that it had brought the car back to life!!. With everything packed up we set sail (again!!) to our second home for some more serious fun. The ferry was kind to us, much to Johnny Stringers delight and we arrived in Douglas. Surprise, surprise it was raining!. That evening after getting settled in our digs we went out for our first recce, 2 of the 3 stages were the same as last year but in between was a new stage to us `Glenroy`, a very twisty narrow stage with many hairpins and only until the end it widened into what you could call a road. All day Thursday we drove the stages trying to take in as much info as possible, Marine Drive, Grenaby and St. Marks, -all well known stages (to the locals!). They were fairly straight forward to take in and with some minor modifications to the notes our work was done and it was down to Friday night to see if it had paid off!!. After a refresher run around the stages on Friday morning we set up at the grandstand ready for the nights proceedings. With 53 cars out we were seeded at 31. At 7.30 pm we set out for stage 1 which went well and we were 23 seconds faster than last year, stage 2 was a bit of the unknown with hazards like wet leaves (lots) and a water splash, it went o.k and we got out to stage 3 which we half knew, again it went o.k. With a splash and dash at Douglas T.T. Grandstand (tea and talk) it was out again to try and improve, which we did, but on the last stage of this loop (stage 6) it started to rain heavily, all was going well but we noticed that grip was becoming an issue. After another trip to service it was out for the last stint and by the time we got to stage 7 it was banjo-ing down!. That went alright only a couple of seconds lost, but the rain didn’t lift and the soft tyres were no longer holding enough heat (needed a softer compound in hindsight) and the last two stages were spent looking out of the side windows and as consequence stage times suffered dropping us down to 33rd over-night doh!!. After the hard work of the earlier stages being cancelled out, we checked the car over at service in preparation for what hopefully would be a drier Saturday. Luckily we woke to better weather and with a fresh breeze that would help us if we got a full run at all the stages. Stage 10 was Marine Drive and was one i was looking forward to, well bugger me they cancelled it! Two cars had collided at the end of the stage so we trundled off to stage 11, that went well, fast and flowing, suiting the bmw and us resulting in us catching the car in front, promising! Stage 12 was a run to St. Marks then down the bumpiest road on the island!, which was coated in mud!, after a good start to the stage through some quick bits it was on to this bumpy road, blimey, after our fillings had dropped out on the rough, the notes should have read “90 left and a 90 right on to crud up hill to mad jump!, but all the same it was a wheeze. After finishing that run it was back to service and back to Marine Drive, all clear for this run, I loved this stage with its “fresh air bends” which at the drivers meeting we were told “its not the drop off the edge that‘ll kill you but the stop at the bottom” so with this forgotten about I enjoyed the run through but with no controls at his disposal our john was a bit nervous whilst the sea and sky were in view. Stage 14 went well and 15 got cancelled...Shame. Stages 16, 17 and finally 18 went well and confidence in the car was a lot better. So from 33rd after the first leg we had climbed to 20th overall. Not so bad and if the 2 cancelled stages had of been run, well....blah blah rally talk!! Happier in the end and with some more little improvements to the car things will go better. Next event Porsche/Jaks stages at the end of February 2008. -There’s talk of them running some stages around Peel town centre, so come along it’s cheap to get there, have a watch or marshall you’ll love it!
P.S thanks to Johny for helping.
Dave
& John
W A DEVELOPMENTS PENDRAGON STAGES
PENRITH, 26th AUGUST 2007
After
a short lay off it was time to get out again and have a blast.
We decided that the W.A. Developments Sponsored Pendragon Stages was
ideal, a multi venue rally that’s based at Penrith truckstop and runs up to
Warcop army base then to Lowther country park.
As per usual the run up to the event was far from smooth, A week before
the event we had got the last of the jobs done (or so we thought !) new 5.1:1
diff fitted, re-fettled gearbox after its sporadic jumping out of fourth on the
Isle of Man, and a new 12 gallon tank for increased road sections, and a bigger
oil cooler in preparation for the new engine going in after this event.
Everything seemed o.k previously for the run to the MOT station but on a
later test run, as we wound up the speed it started to chuck its self out of
gear again! Nooooo!! One week to go and this happens!
So after a calming brew and a phone call to uncle Russ (Russ Coburn BMW
guru) it was decided that it was necessary to take it out and blast it up to
Scotch Corner so he could hopefully sort it out,
Luckily for us J.P. Stringer was going up there to pick up a diff (in
preparation for the building of his B-M) so we piled in and got it up there on
the Monday night. As the week ticked on we became concerned that it might not be
ready but after a phone call on the Friday morning I shot up there and waited
for it to be finished, time was ticking on but just after 5pm he got to the end
of it and without hesitation it was thrown into the black 320iS and a mental
blast back to Manchester ensued. I
arrived back just before 7pm and we set about re-fitting it, JPS arrived for an
extra pair of mitts and the thing was back together in a quickish 40mins. Myself
and JPS road tested it (gave it death more like) and gave it a clean bill of
health. Thank God for that!! So now
breathing easy we loaded up the following morning (Saturday) and trundled up the
M6 to Penrith with JPS and John doing the towing and Myself and Paul in `The
Management’ car following up the rear. Scrutineering went smoothly and after
dropping the bags off at the digs it was off to tea and a few light
refreshments. A quick run around
the road sections before bed familiarized us all for the day ahead.
Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast it was down to service, car was
checked over and the management car was loaded with tyres, fuel, tools, etc..
After getting our time out of service we all plodded down the A66 to
Warcop Military Ranges, with a 5.1 diff, touring car gearbox and no
soundproofing it seemed forever!! On arrival we got down to the job in hand, the
aim; a steady run with a finish in mind and vital experience so that next year
we have a better run, this event was on pacenotes and that’s great but with no
recce allowed, puts unfamiliar entrants at a disadvantage immediately. So into the first of fourteen stages and it becomes apparent
that those who are starting at 30 seconds behind have finished stage 1 and are
starting stage 2 !! which is fine but with the stage running a split system and
the roads being narrow, you’re soon hounded by the Subaru and Evo brigade.
We saw a good 7-8 cars off the road there and realised caution was
needed. So after a fraught first stage, the second went smoother.
Out of Warcop and now on route to Lowther Country Park we stopped for a
quick check over at the designated stop (pity some crews failed to do this,
thanks for not listening at the drivers meeting!) all fine and we arrived at a
busy Lowther with lots of speccys and a short blast around stage three which was
good fun (Remember Bob Milloy commentating) then half a mile to “big”
Lowther which was fast and twisty with some nice little yumps to boot. With the
first 6 stages done it was back to service for more fuel for car and crew!
Before the next 6 stages there was a run through Penrith Town Centre and over
the start/finish ramp with a short interview in front of a good size crowd, nice
touch K.L.M.C and Co!. Stages 7 and
8 at Warcop went better and we started to pick up the pace, gearbox now working
well and brakes getting tested to the max. It was apparent that the
“standard” engine was working overtime and temps were hot, but not
dangerously, but once off the stage temps quelled. Back to Lowther for stages
9-12 which were reversed from the
morning runs and more fun as they were a bit quicker. And with 12 done and 2 to
go it was back again to service for quick snacks and choc!! Another slog up to
Warcop and with the last 2 shorter stages done just the formality of getting
back to Penrith and a quick re-group before a final run over the finish ramp and
a well earned red bull and interview with Bob Milloy (Blimey that man gets
about). We started car 57 and finished 43rd
out of 115 starters, not a mega result but more than satisfying under the
circumstances and formidable competition. It
was a great event and we shall return next year – Hope the weather is as good
too. Thanks to John Stringer and
Paul Antley for their continued support, and another great team effort from
BruvsMotorWorks.
All
for now
JAKS/PORSCHE CENTRE CHESTER STAGES
ISLE OF MAN, 9/10th MARCH 2007
For our first rally this year it was off to the Isle of Man to sample more value for money Manx roads. We had spent the previous few months fitting an ex-touring car gearbox (after 2 rebuilds), adjusting brakes and lines, checking and rebuilding the front and rear suspension.
We boarded the ferry on the Thursday lunch at Heysham with chief mechanic JPS and Paul. We spent the afternoon on calm seas drinking lager and meeting up with our Isle of Man photographer friend Andrew. On arrival we went over to the digs and then took the car for scrutineering – no problems here. Whilst we signed on for the rally and collected our pace notes for recce on Friday, JPS went to collect our recce car kindly lent to us by Manx Auto Sport Club Member Andy Glaister. Half an hour later JPS was sporting the ultimate `tory boy’ car – a Rover 800 2.7 (same shape that legend Tony Pond did a 100 mph Isle of Man TT lap in).
After heavy overnight rain we spent Friday recceing the stages, short on time we only went over the stages the once putting markers and reference points in as some stages were very long with lots of notes. At lunchtime it was time to exchange the Rover as the exhaust was about to expire, we were given a shiny Volvo S40 to complete the Recce. Whilst we were doing this JPS took the car off the trailer, numbered it up and adjusted the 2 up 2 down spotlights ready to head down for the 6 night stages in the evening.
We got to Service/MC1 at St Johns at 6pm relaxed and ready for the rally start at 7 pm. Out of service it was down to ‘Gleneedles’ for Stage 1 (2.4 miles), after the countdown it was a serious wake up call as the road was narrow and the car felt quicker with the new gearbox ratios. We soon got to the ‘old mines’ straights and then round the fast long 4 rights to the plantation at the end. We then drove down to Peel for Stage 2 ‘Staarvey’ (4.2 miles). This started down the farm road through the ford and then on to the ‘up and down’ straight road roller coaster, after this it was up to ‘Cronk’ with plenty of farm mud on the roads for added excitement! Out of here it was then up to ‘Injebreck’ for Stage 3 (7.1 miles long). Starting at Brandywell down off the hills and through West Baldwin it seemed like a never ending twisty section. Fortunately our markers helped and we got through ok with just a moment at the end: After pulling good speed down the A2 through Ballakelly we were late on the brakes coming into the final 6L towards Crosby. This induced understeer into the corner, but with the foot taken off the brakes it turned in and we were safe (phew that was too close!). Out of Crosby it was back to St Johns for a well earned brew. Stage 4 was a repeat of Stage 1, ‘Gleneedles’ now settled we did a much smoother job (21 seconds quicker) and then it was on to Stage 5, a repeat of ‘Staarvey’. This also went well and we could see a consistent improvement, now 10 seconds quicker. Up to ‘Injebreck’ for Stage 6 and another great down hill blast past the reservoir, through Baldwin and into Crosby, no moments this time round and 5 seconds quicker than the previous. With the night stages over we were 25th overall and were now looking forward to the daytime stuff. JPS and Paul had the barge packed up, so straight back to the digs it was (no beer yet!).
Saturday morning saw us servicing from Jurby Airfield. JPS sorted out our generators running problem and then after a re-seed we were heading to Stage 7, the ‘Lhen’ (6.3 miles of quick flat A/B roads). This stage was one of the best with very high average speeds, a lot in 5th gear, up to 105 mph it was essential to keep your foot down through the corners where the notes determined. Out of Andreas it was then down through Sulby to start Stage 8 (7.7 miles ) ‘The Cronk’ again fast A/B roads with speeds up to 111 mph (on the ECU limiter) the roads were nice and dry at this point as it was a bright but breezy day. Still tramping on fine with no issues. This was probably our favourite stage as the conditions were perfect.
Back to service at approximately 11 am for a cup of tea readily prepared by our man Paul. We were now in the early 20’s overall and all the Mk2 Escorts in our class had retired. It was time to concentrate on a finish. We then went out for a repeat of the previous 2 stages for Stages 9 and 10. We were 8 seconds quicker on both, at least we were consistent! Again no problems and it was back to service for lunch and a rest for 40 minutes.
After lunch it was up to ‘Tholt-e-will’ for Stage 11 (3.2 miles) another rally classic. A quick blast through the glen followed by a climb up towards Snaefell finishing at high level. Again no problems, so then it was round the corner for ‘Druidale’ Stage 12 (6 miles). This was basically a long down hill stage working back down off the mountain on a wide road towards ‘Brandywell Cottage’ and then on to the narrow, tight and twisty Druidale. Here, the back of the car seemed to be bouncing around so we would make damping adjustments for the next stage. Back to Jurby for our last service, a quick under bonnet check revealed a leaking hose where a jubilee clip had started to split a coolant hose. Luckily we had a new hose so JPS got stuck in to swap it, cutting and scolding his hands (thanks). All sorted with minutes to spare we headed back to ‘Tholt-e-will’ for Stage 13 where we were 2 seconds quicker and ‘Druidale’ for Stage 14 where we were 2 seconds slower - it did not matter as we had another finish under our belts. After a great team effort we were more than pleased with 2nd in class and 21st overall (out of 51 starters).
After the rally our friend Andrew ran us to the clubhouse for the Trophy presentation. We quoffed several beers and collected our Trophies. Local photographers had their photos on display too. On Sunday morning it was down to the ferry for 7 am. Just before we got to Douglas we had to do an emergency stop for JPS – he had to bail out of the van for a series of barfs all over the road. After JPS barfed again in the terminus we boarded the boat and it soon became apparent that we were in for a seriously dodgy crossing. To help our hangovers we had full breakfasts apart from JPS who was looking a tad grey. JPS then scurried off to the bogs to say hello to Burt Bob and Hughie a million times over, and did not reappear for 2 ½ hours! As we were thinking he had gone overboard he reappeared a bit worse for wear! It was certainly a rally weekend he would not forget in a hurry.
Not sure what is next but see our website for updates and 2 great in-car videos of stages 9 and 10:
http://www.bruvsmotorworks.co.uk/videos/jpc07-9.wmv
http://www.bruvsmotorworks.co.uk/videos/jpc07-10.wmv
All
for now
BLACK HORSE FINANCE STAGES
ISLE OF MAN, 27/28th OCTOBER 2006
Reproduced courtesy of Andrew Cowley - Manx Motorsport Photos
We have been very busy since our last trip to Millbrook resulting in a
sick engine. A couple of months
after we had started rebuilding our original engine we managed to get another
engine (and car). Rather than
sitting around watching the year go by we started looking for an event.
We had been keeping our eye on and visiting Isle of Man rallies for some
time, so, when ‘manxrally fan’ dropped us a line about an event in October,
the challenge was on to get the car back together and get organized for what we
would call a major event. Time was
precious and we had to book ferries, accommodation and enter the rally before
building the car up –not ideal. We
stripped the spare engine down to install our new high capacity sump but the
engine needed work. We fitted new timing gear, bottom end bearings, lightened
flywheel, re-shimmed the cams, and modified the oil pump.
Other jobs on the car involved fitting a freshly rebuilt gearbox, quick
shift linkage, getting the front shocks balanced and fitting 2 up, 2 down
spots/fogs. The plan was to finish
the car 1 week before we had to set off, we just about did it after burning up
every available evening after our kiddies had gone to bed.
The last week was spent running the engine in, road testing and
organizing our equipment/spares. But we were ready and organized….just.
The
Blackhorse Stages run by ‘manxautosport’ Ltd involved 17 stages, 9 on Friday
night (33 stage miles, 27 road miles) and 8 on the Saturday (37 stage miles, 71
road miles) using the closed roads similar to the national and international
rallies held there. We had never
done a rally at night or one on pace notes on closed roads.
On the Wednesday before the rally we all set off for the ferry crossing
at Heysham, John Stringer (Chief mechanic and advisor) had offered to drive the
van, trailer and rally car whilst Dave got his right hand programmed to using
the gear stick in the black road car (similar to our rally car). On arrival at
Heysham we had a quick customs check through the van and then got on the boat.
Luckily the crossing was smooth as we were greeted by driving rain at
Douglas. After finding our accommodation we went out in the black car, bought
our pace notes and had an Italian meal before going out for a recce. However, it
was raining that heavily that all the roads began to flood, and on the hill
roads and in some places we couldn’t see beyond the end of our bonnet because
of fog. We abandoned the job and
went to bed praying for some better weather. Thursday
was a lot better and we got round all the stages but struggled with the pace
notes at slow speed on some roads. However
we were sure on what diff to run so our man JPS did the
honours
and adjusted the rear dampers whilst we were on the recce.
Thursday night we scrutineered without any problems and JPS set the
lights up. Friday day was similar
to Thursday, we got round them all but still had pace note problems in the same
areas (Baldwin, Little London and Druidale).
The
weather was ok as we set up on Friday night at the service area behind the TT
grandstand and JPS suggested we go out on the soft tyres. With every thing
sorted, it felt good to make a start. We all lined up outside the grandstand and
set off at minute intervals down the road to Ballamonaugh near Baldrine.
It was time to deliver those pace notes. The flag dropped and I was spewing out the notes like never
before, amazingly they were easier to follow as we could now feel the bumps and
they read more continuous…phew! We
safely got round the narrow first stage and we had the taste for it.
Towards Laxey for the dog kennel stage 2 starting at Baldrine lots of
square right and lefts on a tight road followed by a smooth blast on a wider
road up to Creg-ny-baa. Again that went well and then it was downhill to
Cronk-ny-mona for stage 3. So down
to Abbeylands crossroads then right up to East Baldwin, lots of wet leaves
through this tricky bit and a great 5R narrows into a jump over a bridge then up
to West Baldwin Reservoir, then back down into Baldwin via the B22.
This end section was the worst on notes, as the windy bit seemed to go on
forever. With these three done it
was back to service for fuel and a brew then back to do the same three again.
This time round we were seeing cars smashed up, spun off, and rolled but
they were not in the way of progress. This
emphasized how steady we needed to be if we were to play out in the daylight.
With another 3 complete we were just enjoying it and could not believe
how quickly time was passing. The
organizers did well to bunch time up, the last three of the night went smoothly
and we were back in service for a full spanner check.
Well happy having completed leg 1 without any balls ups.
At the end of leg 1 we were 3rd in class and 22nd overall.
There had already been 14 retirements and all the other competitors
legible for the ‘best overseas crew’ had crashed out. …..Could we end our
trophy drought?
We
went back to our rented house for a can of beer and some well earned
kip…however we both struggled to get to sleep with all that had gone on.
Leg 2 on Saturday morning was run out of Saint Johns.
It was wet but our soft tyres had worked well the night previous without
really wearing. We set off North up
to Cronk-y-voddy and it was time to go through Little London, round Sartfell and
beyond Druidale to Ballaugh. On
stage 10 I had struggled to read the pace notes through Little London and part
of Druidale so to be honest I was dreading it.
As soon as we had set off towards Little London two of the leading cars
were off and out. Cannell’s fast Corsa was up a banking and Collister’s Evo
had a corner missing. We eased by
and got through Little London, round Sartfield hairpin and blasted it up to
Brandywell Cottage, we went over Druidale, our Dave liked it, but I still
loathed it really. We got through with a couple of “maybes” and headed back
down to Cronk-y-voddy for the Staarvey Stage 11.
This was more fun, bumpy and jumpy roads all the way with a steep exit
Ford that would easily smash your front end off if not treated with respect. Our car was happily coping with the roads, it was performing
great and wasn’t as thirsty on fuel as we originally thought.
We had turn in, grip and spring rates were good.
With 10 and 11 done it was back to service for a splash and a slash.
Stage 12 and 13 were a repeat of 10 and 11 and took us up to dinner time.
After an early start and little sleep we were grateful for lunch and
another brew. Afterwards we headed to Glenmaye for the start of the stage 14,
Garey, past the old mines and on to the A36, round Barule Beg to the finish.
This stage started slow, down a really narrow lane then got faster and
faster helped by a 700m straight, then four really quick 3R’s near the end on
the A36. After this it was a hike
up to the North of Druidale for a return Druidale stage 15 ending at Brandywell
Cottage. On the way there, we got
stuck behind a horse in a trailer, followed by a load of cars. It was a slow and
tedious journey and used up all our permitted road time.
By the time we got to the top at Ballaugh Plantation the fine rain was
coming down and so was the mist. It
was soggy to say the least for the timekeepers.
Thankfully it went ok, we were cautious of the tricky tight corners that
could easily end our rally but our objective now was to finish.
We headed back for a 10 minute service and yet another brew.
On
our return we found the rear wheels had been taken off our recce car. Lack of maintenance issues and boredom of making cups of tea
had forced JPS to start servicing the road car!
At this break JPS and I re-iterated how important it was now just to
finish! Failing to do so at this
point would involve serious chastisement!!.
Stages 16 and 17 were a repeat of stages 14 and 15, again they passed
without trauma. Whilst writing this
I can remember the ‘thank f**k for that’ moment I had after receiving our
last stage time for the day. Back
to service we learnt we had finished 2nd in Class (RWD up to 2.5
litres),
17th overall and we won the “best overall overseas” crew and “best
newcomer” too….bloody fabulous.
On Saturday night we went into Douglas for the trophy presentation at the Manx Autosport clubhouse. JPS had a streaming cold at this point but top marks for sticking the evening out, we also dragged our friend ‘manxrally fan’ who lives on and takes rally photos on the Island, when he is meant to be at Sheffield University. All the club members over there are a proper friendly bunch and made us feel welcome. We collected our pots, enjoyed the evening and drunk gallons of beer. All those petrol fumes had made us very thirsty. A third of the credit must go to John Stringer (aka JPS or is it Pizzaman!) for coming over and looking after us for the duration. Although only a club rally on the Island we had made a dream come true.
John & Dave
THE CHRIS REES 2006 MILLBROOK NATIONAL
MILLBROOK PROVING GROUND, BEDFORDSHIRE, 29th MAY 2006
The two weeks before this rally saw the bruvs burning the midnight oil again. We had new front struts made to replace our pre-cambered bilsteins and fitted softer front springs. New soft tyres had been bought, all the oils had been changed on the car and with new suspension geometry, we had big improvements on turn in and grip under braking for this rally. A big thanks for J. Stringer's Dad coming in at the last minute with his lathe skills sorting out the spring top caps. We had also been given some advice from Julian down at the club night and on the British rally forum, so we were prepared for action!. We finished the car at five o'clock on Saturday and packed everything up for the journey down to Bedfordshire on Sunday.
Straight through scrutineering on Sunday and it was down to this posh gaff for a shower and then (yes you've guessed it) the pub. However, when we got to our rooms the owner was looking mythered and told us that one of the rooms had its door locked and the key wouldn't fit / work. We got some tools out of the van and told the owner that the mechanism had broken inside. We were in pickle so the owner asked us if we could force an entry. David quickly seized the T.V. police opportunity and kicked the door straight in making shite of the surrounding door casing. After this it was down the local pub for ale and dinner. Hoegarden on draught is a favourite and provided good entertainment for us and mechanics John and Paul.
At 6.30 on Monday we had breakfast and made our way to Millbrook. We promptly unloaded and then drove across the venue for the reconnaisance run. `Fookin wow this place is awesome'. We trundled round in a long convoy and began to appreciate how serious this event was! By the time we got back to the pits we were shitting our pants. The stage diagrams should of had contours!. Fortunately John and Paul were in control and they nicely set us up for the days motorsport.
Running in the Clubmans event we were starting on stage 3, just slotting in between the national runners, so it was down to business. The 2.5 miles down to the stage saw us warming all the brakes and tyres up nicely. Off the line and we were mashing it up all 5 gears and on the redline at 105mph before the first roundabout, no probs through the corners and now we were living the dream, banked corners, twisty roads and some major ups and downs -couldnt believe the force encountered in the compresion of the suspension -a proper roller coaster. Then on a down hill section just before an uphill 90 right during heavy braking we `buzzed' the engine coming down the gears, we thought we had got away with it as it didnt make any nasty noises and the engine was still pulling / revving hard for the majority of the next lap until we got to a hairpin handbrake. With the foot off the gas the engine just wanted to stall and impeded the manouvre. The engine fired again and then we thought we were in business again as we hammered it around for another lap. Then we lost some power on an uphill section and then noticed the oil temperature was going silly. Still going, but through the last handbrake the engine didn't want to pick up, hmmm not good. Thought it might stabilise on the road section back to the pits as we had punished it rather severely, but at the time control in the pits it had had enough.
We didn't know exactly what had given up, but ran through several checks, half an hour later we knew it had no compression and a later test showed eight bent exhaust valves. The sheer speed of the engine had been keeping it running and explained the stalling at low rpm. Bugger......our rally was over. Thanks to everyone who helped us - we will put a better show on next time.
The engine is stripped down now, the pressure is on to get it repaired and get out again...the clock is ticking.
Happy Days.
Dave and John.
THE MENAI STAGES
ANGLESEY CIRCUIT, 5th MARCH 2006
After a lay off from
rallying of nearly three years after crashing the sunbeam at Weeton, it was a
milestone crossed to get back rallying again.
After some thought and some rallies missed it was decided that our first
rally this year would be at a venue we knew, So Anglesey racing circuit it was
for the Menai Stages Rally ran by C.&A.M.C.
Long weekends and nights working away getting things prepared for a
winter rally (car, spares etc.) only just got the job completed in time.
Midweek snow added to the jitters and workload, but to our surprise when
we arrived it was clear. Anglesey was completely dry whilst the rest of the
country was white! On Saturday it
was straight through scrutineering and an easy night out in the local pubs for a
change with the lads. Sunday
morning arrived and it was down to business. The first stage was very wet,
slippery and muddy in places, the circuit was dry, although not as much race
track was used, mileage being improved by a new complex around roads on the far
side (near the sea) and the gravel rallycross section was also being used, it
was different enough to give us something to think about. Looking at the roads/tracks we decided to cut the edge out of
the tyres to shift the water/mud and still give us some grip –this worked
well. The car was behaving well, pity about the driver, -rusty wasn’t in it
but after the first couple of stages times started to improve and we began to
find what the car was capable of. The new rear progressive springs felt right
but front springs felt a touch hard not helping ride and lockup under braking,
so we took the rough gravel section easy for some car preservation. On the third
stage we clipped a tyre resulting in a damaged steering arm. A frantic/quick change was implemented with our organised
spares and stage four was completed with no problems.
A spin followed on stage five after getting off line on the loose letting
a quicker car go through. But after
this confidence improved, we began to relax and more competitive stage times
began to help our overall position. It
was a great relief to finish the final stage, 18th overall and 5th
in class. A good return proving
that our work on an eccentric’s choice of rally car has potential and that a
good overall package is the key to finishing rallies.
Our next event is The
Millbrook Stages at the proving ground in Bedfordshire -a new venue to us so
we’ll be treating it with respect!!
Dave and John
Reproduced courtesy of Duncan Littler Motor sport Photography
Reproduced courtesy of Duncan Littler Motor sport Photography
