GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[Joe-Tait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Looks great Gav

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Still a few jobs to do before the rally, including lowering the rear by about 3" and the front by 1", and David might appreciate a seat as well

Yeah think a seat might come in handy

[lee 1]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Looking good

Good luck for the rally

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

I'd been having a bit of a nightmare with the seats - when I went for the MOT I'd just bolted my seat to the seat rails but it was too high and too close - the homologated seats I've bought have nice alloy subframes but this adds a couple of inches to the height and they only just span the seat rails so I can't move the seat back

So the only solution was to remove the rear seat rail and bolt directly through the floor, with large plates to spread the load and some spacers to allow for the uneven floor, my seat was finally in the right position and the harnesses fitted on Saturday before I had to stop and go pot collecting at the Midland Speed Awards night

Sunday I sealed up the front and rear bulkheads around the oil pipes, bolted in the plumbed in Fire Extinguisher and made a decent battery tray

Tonight I finished off the battery mount with some solid clamps, and mounted the 6 Fire Extinguisher nozzles - 2 in the footwells and 4 spread around the engine bay - for Irish events you need FIA Homologated Extinguishers so I've gone for some Zero 360 gas ones (I don't trust foam )

Then I drifted slowly home in the Scorpio Estate, finding some nice quiet roads with virgin snow on them

Tomorrow night I should have the pull cables fitted and hopefully the passenger seat, harnesses and hand held extinguisher

We're seeded Car 7 on Saturday, just ahead of a genuine RS200, and Jon Segger is at 16

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Then I drifted slowly home in the Scorpio Estate, finding some nice quiet roads with virgin snow on them

Sweet

I'll get to play with my Impreza one day

[exboyracer]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Good luck for the weekend

[Paul C]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Good luck for tomorrow Gav, i hope the weather is kind to you all!!

Paul

[MCURZON]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Car is looking stunning Gavin. Hope you have a good run on the weekend.

Matt

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

After spending 4 or 5 hours a night in the workshop last week, DVY was finally ready enough for Goodwood, no time to set up the front suspension but it looked about right and didn't manage to take any pics either

Friday morning I headed over to Steve Harkness in Yate and bought some very soft Hankook slicks, before taking DVY up the road for the first time, finding the brake pedal had quite a lot of travel (but could still lock the tyres) and the steering wheel was a bit far away from my laid back driving position luckily I had bought another steering wheel off ebay the other week with a 3" dish so I added that to the tools in the Scorpio, loaded up and headed off through the snow to the south coast Friday night, and thanks to Jo and Rob for the bed for the night

Saturday morning was cold but clear and there was no snow at Goodwood, but plenty on the hills not far away

DVY started nicely and passed noise and scrutineering without any problems, giving David and I enough time to fit the slicks, change the steering wheel and adjust the tracking before the start

Stage 1 and the organisers warned us about ice in the car park that was the first part of each stage and some more ice on the circuit, so we started off very cautiously, having trouble seeing the chicanes through the low sun, then got overtaken by the Celica GT4 of Gary Le Coadou which was putting out tons of smoke every time he braked and we were 14th quickest out of the 32 starters

Stage 2 after giving the windscreen a good scrub I could see the chicanes a lot better, but the handbrake stopped working in the car park section, so I had to take to the grass to get round, but 18s quicker than Stage 1 was a bit better

Stage 3 & 4 - I was hoping by this time the damp patches would have gone but it was so cold they stayed which made it a bit interesting in places, and I resorted to driving round the hairpins (the handbrake bracket had snapped at one end). A couple of steady runs saw us lying 9th at the lunch break, surprisingly 2nd in class but 33s off the class leader - we were Car 7 but cars 1, 2, 5 & 6 had pulled out earlier in the week, including last years class winner

Stage 5 & 6 - After an hours lunch break, we were going the other way round the circuit (the racing direction now) and it had dried completely and suddenly everything fell into place, the tyres were working well, I'd figured out where the chicanes were, the hairpins had gone from the car park and the circuit just flows better that way round - we took 13s then 20s out of the class leader to be equal with him after Stage 6, and set 4th fastest time on this one David had even tightened his belts now we were going a lot quicker

Stage 7 and everything nearly went wrong, going to start DVY the starter jammed in the ring gear so we couldn't even bump start her. A large hammer didn't work either so we jacked the front up and I loosened the starter enough to wiggle it and the engine was free. We rounded up some bystanders, bump started her and arrived at the start control a bit flustered and a couple of minutes into our 5 minute lateness. Starting a few cars lower down the field, on lap 2 we were catching a BMW M3 Compact when I hit a tyre on one of the chicanes quite hard, but we still overtook them and pulled out a 10s lead in our class

Stage 8 - the tyre I hit had put a dent in David's door and the rear arch (nothing serious) but the wheels were still pointing the right direction so we just bump started again and had a good last lap

Final result was 7th overall and 1st in class not bad for a shakedown

Thanks to David for codriving

Just a few jobs to do now on DVY before I head off to West Cork in March for my next event, but the entry's gone in and the ferries and B&B are booked

[merp0]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Well done Gav

[Wessie]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

well done

[Joe-Tait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Well done Gav

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Unloaded DVY today, washed all the mud off and took some pics









A couple of dents


Pushed the door out by hand and it popped into place, you'd never know I'd hit anything except for the tyre marks


Derek came down to watch and took some pics




And Andy Manston always seems to be stood in the right place when I go grasstracking


A few more pics from the event on Andy Manston's site http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk/e...ownStages2009/

[exboyracer]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

excellent

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Thanks for the ride Gavin, was a most excellent and enjoyable day, rounded of with a cracking result considering DVY was only finished on Friday

Some more pictures attached hope they come out ok