[rally_prep] Road Rally 205 Gti

[hudson 10]

best of luck mate

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Had a bit of an eventful day yesterday. We had a bit of arubbish morning as the first 3 stages thats all we seemed to be doing was spinning or hitting things. 3 spins on stage 1 and clipped a tyre, a little off on stage 2 which cost us over 5 mins as we got beached on a lorry tyre and had to jack the car up on mud to remove the tyre before we could carry on then one more spin on stage 3 which got some speccies running

Afternoon went much better. To try and cure the tail end happiness of the car we added an extra spare in the boot and filled the fuel tank and seemed to work well. Much neater and quciker in the afternoon. I set out to finish and ended up 43rd overall and 5th in class so I was really happy. Also managed to get some scores on the doors in the championship. No pics yet but when I get some I'll pop them up on here.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

^{Cheeky pic from Sunday. On boards are yet to be edited but should be done soon.}

 

Edited February 22, 2012 by arwel

[samthornton1990 23]

Geeet on it lad!

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Stage 1 and 2 now done. Stage 1 had a few spins and clouted some tyres. Stage 2 had a bit of an off and got beached on a lorry tyre which cost us about 6 mins. Enjoy

 

Stage1

 

Stage 2

[samthornton1990 23]

Just out of interest bud, are the gravel springs stiffer than the standard ones? Not sure whether to spend the extra £50 getting a set off ebay

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Just out of interest bud, are the gravel springs stiffer than the standard ones? Not sure whether to spend the extra £50 getting a set off ebay

 

I would say yes they are. Not 100% sure on how much difference there is but it is noticable and stiffens the front up nicely.

[samthornton1990 23]

Sick bud. Does it jack the front up to? I will have to dabble!

[welshpug 1,622]

the small diameter gravel are 180 lb IIRC, standards are 100-110.

[samthornton1990 23]

IIRC? Is that 2.25 inch when you say small diameter? But they definitaley sound a lot stiffer so I think I'll go for some of them once I've done my other plans

[welshpug 1,622]

yup

[samthornton1990 23]

Ooo, My Dad was saying something about the inserts of these been cheaper than buying the whole lot, so I could get the inserts built into a body for the 2 and a quarter springs.. BOOM. Now I just need to win the lottery

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Quick little update. Round 3 of the Steve Harkness Welsh Tarmac Championship is in Caerwent next Sunday 25/3/2012. Missed round 2 as it was the Tour of Epynt and I have'nt found balls big enough to have a go at Epynt yet so we're back for round 3. Even after missing round 2 we are leading Class 5 of the Championship...mainly as we are the only crew entered in the category but thats a minor detail

 

Car is currently in a friends garage where it will be having some solid mounts fitted to the beam, to try and improve the tail happiness of the car, and a quick spanner check to make sure everything is ok.Should get some work in progress pics on Monday.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Well what a busy day today has been. Spent the day in a friends garage who had offered to help (do most of the work) change the beam mounts to solid ones and bushes to polybushed ones. Everything went well really, beam came off the car no problem, gave it a quick check over and its all good. The rear blocks and the front bushes were shot through, no wonder it had been trying to come around a lot latelty. the rubber blocks when compared side by side were different in height by about 5mm so that probably was nt helping things. Front bushes were a bit of a pain to get out but eventually they came out and in went the polybushed ones.

 

Drove home about 20 miles or so and difference is amazing. Car feel a lot more planted in the corner and doesnt seem to wonder around at the rear. Turn in and the whole car now turns so a little bit of testing later in the week now and should be looking promising for Caerwent on Sunday.

 

Couple of quick pics below.

 

Beam off

 

Old blocks off (no old bushes as there was nothing left of them)

 

New bushes and blocks

 

All back together

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

What a day today has been. Did the Tour of Caerwent rally within the Caerwent Military training grounds. What a venue. After being warned about the kerbs that line the road, the aim was simple..Stay away from them and get a finish. 7 stages and around 70 competative miles. Very warm day which had me slightly worried after stage 1 as the water temp was creeping slowly towards the red. By the end of stage 2 it was in the red and the stop light appeared on the dash, we were near the finish so we plodded on. Came to the end control and the marshal pointed out that we had a lot of water pouring out from underneath. Initial thoughts were that it had thrown a pipe but it turned out that the expansion tank had pressurised so much and then emptied most of its contents out of the overflow pipe. We let it cool down then replaced the water and replaced the expansion tank cap as it had a nice crack running through it. Turned the heater in the car on hot and all was well for the rest of the day. Stages 3,4 and 5 went without incident and we were holding our own. We had a big moment on stage 6 coming off some nice clean tarmac onto some dusty gravel covered stuff where the back stepped out and had a bit of a wobble.. luckily managed to hold it and correct it and get away with it... corner was cautioned for the next run through Stage 7 was taken a lot easier until a mini appeared from nowhere and as I hadnt been caught or passed all day I did nt want it to happen on the last stage so I pushed on a bit to keep him away from my rear. End result was the same time as stage 6 and the mini remained behind

 

We ended the day 33rd overal and 2nd in class and picked up best Novice crew award so happy days all round. Car run reletively fine, Claire in the silly seat was on the ball and I did well not to cause any damage to the car at all. Talbenny stages in 3 weeks so a spanner check is needed and hopfully a box with a slip shall be installed.

[matt.f 16]

Nice well done!

What diff have you gone for?

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

^{Got a Quaiffe ATB, was advised against a plated diff as it could well be to aggressive for tarmac.. not too sure after everythign else I have read about the Quaiffe but anything is better than whats in there now}

[harryskid 193]

Nothing wrong with a plated diff !

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Nothing wrong with a plated diff !

 

Im sure there isn't anything wrong with a plated diff. The box came up complete withe Quaiffe having only covered some 200 road miles for a tidy price so snapped it up

[harryskid 193]

O well sounds a bargin and with that low milage if it don't work you would soon be able to swop it.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

O well sounds a bargin and with that low milage if it don't work you would soon be able to swop it.

 

Fingers crossed it'll be all good. Need to free up some time in the next week or so and try and get it sorted before Talbenny.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

We're not going to have time to fit the new box before Talbenny now so thats going to be done after the event as I have a fair size gap in championship events as Im not planning on doing any Epynt events this year. Should get it in the car some time after Talbenny and then do a night event and a couple of autotests to get to grips with driving a FWD car with a LSD. Not much to do before Talbenny really, spanner check and a new wheel bearing and it should be ok to go.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

Wheel bearing and spanner check done, Pugsley is ready for action. Did notice some slight play in the rear beam, particularly in the passenger side but no camber or noises and it all moves as it should. Shall be keeping a close eye on that and hopefully get it changed sooner rather than later

 

Car 51 at the Bob Shaw Memorial rally at Talbenny airfield in Pembrokshire on Sunday. Did it last year in a one off appearance as a co driver so I have some experience of the place and will be looking to push on from the start. 8 in our class this time so if I can get near the top 3 I shall be happy as there are a few Escorts floating around in with us.

[matt.f 16]

Good luck mate

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

What a day it has been at the Bob Shaw Memorial Talbenny Stages, Full of ups and downs.

Stage 1 was very slippery and I just could not get into it. Returned to service to find we had lost our rear valence along with number plate, fog light and auxillery light and a mud flap. Carried on with no problems.

 

Stage 2 was much the same, even though we were a fair bit quicker there I was still very untidy and a tempremental handbrake wasn't helping the matter. Stage 3 was a turning point. Even though 1 and 2 didnt feel right we were still 4th in class and 41st overall.

 

Stage 3 went much better, I felt like I was in the zone .

 

Change from soft to medium compound tyres on the front for stage 4 as it was drying and warming up and we contiued to climb the leaderboard and close in on 3rd in class.

 

Stage 5 was interesting as it rained heavily before we went out, slippery wasnt the word, there was no grip and it felt like I was doing rallycross rather than a stage event judging by the amount of time I spent on the grass.

 

Stage 6 was cancelled before we started as car 1 rolled and blocked the stage.

 

Before the penultimate stage (7) we found ourselves 11secs off 3rd in class. I set off on a mission to take 3rd and just so happened that I went off the line the car I was hunting was going past the merge to begin his second loop. Through the stage we closed and closed on him and I knew we were taking some time out of him, not 11seconds worth but enough to set us up nicely going into stage 8....however we didnt make it came onto a long straight after a 90right turn, up through the gears, went for third, got a big bang and lots of smoke and no more drive. Game over. Gutted and didnt take any points for the championship. Looks like the crown wheel as parted company with the diff and escaped out of the box as there was oil everywhere under the bonnet and a cheeky piece of cog resting on the sumpguard. Luckily we have a new box ready to go and some new shafts coming so just need to remove and replace. Off from work tomorrow so will investigate tomorrow and see what we find. Joys of rallying.