I'd only just got there. Apparently the marshals had been waiting for someone to hit the stick all morning and you managed it.
More piccies on www.snappyracers.com/album/SDSGoodwood
I'd only just got there. Apparently the marshals had been waiting for someone to hit the stick all morning and you managed it.
More piccies on www.snappyracers.com/album/SDSGoodwood
I've been busy sorting my house out as it's up for sale now so Fly hadn't been touched since Goodwood, but I'm out at Loton Park this weekend, so last weekend I got her out and put her in the new garage that was finished a few weeks ago
Today I've had a day off to fit a new axle to Fly - having done Goodwood with a 4.6 cwp I wanted to go back to the 5.1 cwp for the Hillclimbs but instead of getting the cwp's changed I had another baby baby atlas built up - one of the axles will go on DVY later in the year, so it made sense to get one done now instead of spending money getting the cwp's changed
Anyway it didn't go as smoothly as I was expecting, having to enlarge some holes and adjust one link bar to make everything line up
Surely if I have 2 axles built to the same spec then everything should line up, so either one of the brackets on my new axle is twisted, or one on my old one is i'll investigate after Loton
But it's on now and I've even invested is some proper Avon super soft Hillclimb slicks in the hope I can knock a few seconds off last year's times and get closer to winning the class - although it'll probably rain all year!
GavinR
Loton Park 5th/6th April
Apart from entering the Midland Speed & Old Ford Sprint Championships this year I've also entered the Loton Park Championship as I found this the most enjoyable venue of everywhere I went last year and at 1475yds one of the longer hills
Saturday was just a Loton Park round but there was still a good entry of 12 cars in the Mod Prod section, unfortunately including Mick Harriman's 600hp Audi Quattro Sport replica as there were no other over 2 litre cars
The forecast was for showers but apart from a couple of spots early on and a very cold wind, it turned out nice and the track was dry all day
Last time here in September my quickest time was 62.97s but I had been beaten by a local guy in a lovely Mk1 Escort by over 1s, so I was keen to improve my times and beat him at the same time
Anyway I started off on the Matador moulded slicks I'd used at Goodwood in Feb and was pleased with 63.75s for 1st practice
2nd practice, still on the Matador's, I thought I could push a bit harder and managed 25.00s to the split at Triangle Bend after the first complex of corners (0.5s up on 1st Practice), then nicely up the long straight up the hill to a hairpin left, over crest into hairpin right, then flat to the finish, I got a bit too much drift out of the second hairpin getting one rear tyre on the grass, thinking Fly would come back into line, I grabbed second gear anyway - and promptly span off onto the grass and parked neatly beside the marshall's post
No damage was done so during lunch I fitted my new Avon Slicks and went out for the 1st Timed Run - warmed the tyres up nicely, then bogged down off the line as I had too much grip (2.60s to 64ft) but still got to Triangle in 24.64s, flat out up the hill and carefully round the last 2 hairpins to set 62.71s, a new PB, but still not exactly close to the Mk1 who did 61.89s
So it was all down to the last run of the day and I knew I could gain some time off the start and through the last couple of bends so I decided to go for it and see if I could get into the 61's and just possibly beat the Mk1
Revved Fly to 7k off the line, still bogged slightly but picked nicely with 2.43s to 64ft, really hung on through the first complex and got to Triangle in 24.00s, kept it flat up the hill and braked a bit late for the first hairpin, just drifting round in time, over the crest into the last hairpin, kept it buried on the way out and flat over the finish
Another guy in a beige RS2000 that I'd seen last year at Loton was running just in front of me and by the time I stopped he'd come out of the Timing Hut with my Time Slip, told me I was ****ing mad to be going that fast, and gave me the slip showing to my amazement a time of 61.08s
So my friend in the Mk1 was disappointed, only doing 62.09s on his second run, and I picked up 2nd in Class behind the Quattro Sport
GavinR
Sunday was a round of the Midland Speed & OFSC Champs as well as the Loton Champ so I was looking forward to seeing some more familiar faces from last year, 10 entries and no Quattro's in my class, the only problem was the snow that was forecast
I got up at 6:30am a few miles down the road (thanks Dave ) to be greeted by a tiny amount of snow but with more falling all the time, and the closer I got to Loton Park, the more snow there was
This was Loton at 7:30am, the track surprisingly clear, the picture is taken standing at Triangle looking back up the track towards the complex of corners and the start
I did my 1st Practice at 11am after an hours silence due to a local Church Service and although the track looked ok, it was still damp in places including the 4th gear right left kink halfway up the hill, so I started sensibly with 67.69s, still on the Avon slicks which are so soft they work well in the damp
2nd Practice, still a bit cautious coming into every corner not knowing whether it would be dry or not, but was happy with a 62.43s run
1st Timed Run, got going well off the line in 2.52s, round to Triangle in 24.25s and crossed the line in 61.45s, not far off Saturday's time and good enough to be leading the class with the Mk1 in 2nd on 62.09s
2nd Timed Run and I'd been thinking about the first few corners and where I could push a bit harder to get into the 60's
2nd Timed Run Take 1, got off the line well and round the first complex of corners and braked late into Triangle only to find the marshall frantically waving his Red Flag as the timing hadn't started when I had so I stopped there and was directed back to the start for a re-run
2nd Timed Run Take 2, decided to pretend the first run had never happened, warmed the tyres again, launched Fly off the line, through Triangle without any incidents, flat up the hill and was stopped by another marshall waving his Red Flag as the Peugeot that had left in front of me had spun off so I pulled up and was told to turn round, go back down the hill to the start and they'd send me back up again
2nd Timed Run Take 3, same again, plenty of tyre warming and an even better launch off the line, but didn't even get to Triangle this time before being Red Flagged again due to a single seater knocking off his nose cone while spinning on the grass so back to the start again
2nd Timed Run Take 4, this time couldn't even spin the tyres they were so sticky by now, so with a serious amount of revs off the line I got to 64ft in 2.34s, very fast through the complex (it helps having some extra practice) and got to Triangle in 23.56s, flat up the hill as usual but once again nearly braked too late for the hairpin, drifted round quite well, through the second hairpin and flat over the finish to record a time of 60.47s which I was very pleased with and confirmed my 1st in Class
It was nice to come back down the hill and have the Ambulance crew on Triangle get out and applaud as I went past - they obviously appreciated a bit of drifting
Highlight of the day was Alan Cox in his immaculate 1380cc Mini setting a new Class Record of 58.01s for the 1400cc Mod Prod class, this after arriving an hour late when he got up to find 3" of snow outside his door and assuming it would be cancelled he decided to go for a walk, luckily a fellow competitor phoned him up to say how nice it was at Loton so he hurriedly set off
Next event is back at Loton on 17th/18th May to see if I can break the 60s barrier followed by Millbrook and a weekend at Pembrey
Hopefully I'll see some more OFSC competitors out by then
GavinR
Brilliant write up as ever Gavin.
Well done mate I can tell just how hard you are trying, and just how much you are enjoying it too.
as said , superb write up
(and nice meeting you btw)
Well done Uncle Gav
What was the food like at Loton? Any wild boar with goji berry sauce and creamed mushroom fillet???
top stuff sounds like a great weekend, definatly got your launches sorted now too with that much extra practice
Thanks for your comments
Plenty of pics on http://rhodopsin.co.uk/Other%20Sports/index.htm
My favourite pic from Saturday
http://rhodopsin.co.uk/Other%20Sport...-08%200382.htm
And one from Sunday
http://rhodopsin.co.uk/Other%20Sport...-08%201813.htm
GavinR
Nice one Gavin
Shame you can't use those tyres at Millbrook
Brillient Gavin.. well chuffed for you
FLY is one of my favourite cars on the forum. Probably the car that sees the most action on here I reckon!!
I do as much motorsport as I can afford, last year it was 1 Road Rally, 12 Hillclimbs & Sprints and 2 Stage Rallies - this year I'm planning 10 Hillclimbs, 5 Sprints and 3 or 4 Stage Rallies, all in Fly
In a couple of weeks I'm back at Loton which will be the start of 5 events in 3 weeks, so I thought I'd better sort out the sills on Fly so she can be MOT'd next weekend ready for Millbrook
I'd bought inner and outer sills for both sides back in January but hadn't got round to fitting them as the MOT ran out on the day of Goodwood, but today I invited a friend round (who's a lot better welder than me) to weld them on
Jacked Fly up to get some access - still got to paint the new garage though
Found the passenger side wasn't too bad and I remembered fitting a new outer sill about 6 years ago, so my friend just added a couple of large patches
Driver side had been patched extensively for last year's MOT but the bottom of the outer sill was rotten again, so the whole inner and outer sill between the rollcage reinforcement plates was cut out
And the rear inner arch will need a large patch
And my friend used to work in a bodyshop so I got him to knock out the small dent in the front wing from Fat Albert last year
By this evening, the whole inner sill was back on, so tomorrow its just the outer sill, the rear inner arch and a bit of filler in the front wing, then I'll underseal and hammerite everything in sight
GavinR
All the welding was finished yesterday, so today a bit of filler and paint went on
Front wing looking tidy again
Rear inner arch repaired
Inner sill
Outer sill
And finally painted over the rust on the front bumper and put Fly to bed for the week
All ready now for the MOT
GavinR
Fly passed the MOT on Sat without any problems, but while underneath inspecting her we did notice some fuel dripping from the rear carb where it joins the manifold
So I ordered a set of Misab plates from Burtons and they arrived this morning
So I spent a couple of hours removing the K&N's and the rear carb to fit a pair of them
And all back together again
All a bit of a tight squeeze but I've always preferred a large set of K&N's to any other filters
Anyway, everything's ready now for Loton Park this weekend, up against the usual Mk1 Escort and a few Peugeot's - and Windy will be entertaining the crowds in his class
GavinR
Loton Park - Sat 17th May
A good entry of 10 cars in my class made up of a Renault 5 Turbo, JamieCRX's dad driving the CRX, a couple of lads sharing an MR2 and the usual Loton regulars including Steve Bailey in his Mk1 Escort
Arriving at Loton to find it was damp and drizzly wasn't the best start to the day but I already had the wets on so I though I'd be ok in Practice and it would dry out later
1st Practice and warming the tyres up was interesting, with hardly any forward motion due to a serious lack of grip, so I went sensibly off the line, round the first lot of corners, put my foot down for the straight and fishtailed most of the way along it! I settled for a steady run up the hill, finishing with 74.23s, which was similar to everyone else
But when I went to drive back down the hill, I found the front brakes were stuck on a bit and by the time I reached the paddock they were stuck so hard that I was having wheelspin trying to get some forward motion
By the time I jacked the front up they had freed off slightly so when the Clerk of the Course came over to have words about my style of driving down the hill, I showed him the front pads steaming on the damp tarmac and he understood the problem
Windy and his friend and Westfiled driver Matt Hillam came over to lend a hand and we worked the calipers pistons back and forwards a few times before Windy suggested the fault may be with the pedal box, yanked the brake pedal a few times and with a loud clonk everything was working as it should do, so we gave everything a good dose of WD40 and put it back together for the next run
2nd Practice and I rolled gently down to the start not touching the brakes at all, but by the time I'd warmed the tyres up the marshals couldn't push me up to the timing beam as they were sticking again so I crept into position and went off up the hill with a lot to think about, this time doing 75.23s, slower than the first one
By yanking the pedal again they freed off so I could drive back down sensibly and knowing that I had a couple of hours over lunch before the Timed Runs I thought I'd better do something about this
The only thing I came up with was to try and move the master cylinders further away from the brake pedal so they had more chance of releasing so I fitted a couple of washers between each cylinder and the pedal box
1st Timed Run and although it was still drizzling the track wasn't quite as wet as earlier, so I stuck the soft slicks on to see what happened. Coming up to the line I could tell there was more grip as I needed a bit more throttle to spin the tyres up and I got off the line well, 2.83s to 64ft, 26.82s to the split at Triangle and off up the hill, nearly didn't stop for the 2 hairpins at the top and finished on 68.87s which I was a lot happier with
Looking at the times after this I found the Renault 5 was leading on 68.24s so I was determined to try harder on the last run
2nd Timed Run, and I was far enough back in the class to see that the Renault 5 didn't improve his first run time, so I thought I'd be in with a chance of 1st. I got off the line well again, 2.85s to 64ft and 26.85s to Triangle, a bit faster through the kink up the hill but came out of this with a bit of a wiggle on (this is completely flat in the dry but a bit iffy in the wet ) scrabbled round the hairpin left at the top, over the crest into hairpin right, came out with one rear tyre on the grass for too long and went over the line wondering whether I had done enough
But my time was 68.38s, just .14s behind the Renault, still 2nd in Class, and about 1s ahead of JamieCRX's dad who won his first ever trophy
GavinR
Loton Park - Sunday 18th May
The weather improved considerably for Sunday's event with broken cloud and sunshine all day
Another good entry of 10 cars in my class, including 4 Peugoet 205's, Mike Cockayne is his very rapid 1600cc Peugeot 106 complete with Flappy Paddle Gearshift, Steve in his Mk1 Escort and someone I'd never seen before - Karl Stevens in a very tidy Silver Mk2 Escort, all stripped out for Hillclimbing - it turned out that he'd been Hillclimbing for 15 years, knew Gary and Windy but had never been to Loton Park before
1st Practice and it was great to drive in the dry again, not even any damp left under the trees so I had a good blast up the hill in 62.69s, a similar time to Steve's Mk1 but the 106 was showing us to do it with a 60.91s and Karl set a 66s which he was disappointed with but the rest of us thought was very good for the 1st time at Loton
2nd Practice and I pushed a bit harder and felt that I'd gone a lot quicker than the 1st one but got a time of 62.59s which was strange. Steve was down to 61.89s, Karl was impressive on 62.01s and the 106 was consistent with 60.76s
It all made sense though when I came to drive back down and the front brakes were stuck on again - I pulled the pedal up with my foot and they were free again so I spent my lunchbreak fitting even more washers to the master cylinders and working them to and fro to try and loosen everything up - but I could never get it to stick in the paddock
1st Timed Run and I thought I'd better get going if I was going to get a decent result today so I did some serious tyre warming, launched well off the line getting 2.38s to 64ft, hung on through the first complex of corners, got on the straight down to Triangle, stuck my left foot under the brake pedal and felt Fly surge forwards again (so for the rest of the day I did this every time I wasn't changing gear - left-foot unbraking ). The split time at Triangle was good 23.92s and I reached the top in 61.33s which was a lot better
But Karl was really motoring by now on 60.76s, the 106 was down to 60.51s but getting a bit worried by the Mk2, and the Mk1 had tried a new technique at the top of the long straight -I'm well into 4th up here, then brake for a left over crest 100m before the hairpin, a quick blast up to the 50m board then brake hard for the hairpin - Steve had taken the crest flat in 4th, then braked at the 50m board before running out of road at the hairpin so he did a bit of grasstracking and no time was recorded
2nd Timed Run and I knew if I could go as fast as in April I'd beat everyone's 1st Timed Runs but I expected the 106 and Mk2 to be even quicker. And Steve reckoned my April time was due to having 4 goes at the 2nd Timed Run so having nice warm tyres
Anyway I queued up for the start and could see the time counting up for Karl in the Mk2 who set a 61.35s so not any quicker than run one - the 106 was following me so I wouldn't know if he'd go any quicker - but the sun was out and I was determined to have a go for 2nd.
A few seconds on the rev limiter in 1st and the tyres were very warm, I got another good start with 2.35s, braked as late as I dared for the first square left, a quick blast down a short straight into a long left hander, keeping it flat in 2nd until the corner tightens, dab the brakes, right and left flick through Fletchers Dellow onto the straight up to Triangle, left foot unbraking again, into 3rd through the split (23.53s) braked late and down to 2nd for the square right at Triangle, tried not to get too sideways on the way out, round the next right hander into a sharp left at Keepers, back on the power as soon as possible, up through 3rd and 4th through the flat kink on Cedar Straight, dabs the brakes over the crest at 100m board, back on the throttle again to the 50m, braked and down to 2nd for the hairpin left, using all of the concrete rumble strips on the outside, braked into 1st for the crest into the last hairpin at Museum, back up through 2nd and 3rd keeping off the grass and through the finish
I felt I done as much as I could and the first good sign was Karl greeting me as I pulled up saying I'd got ahead of him
A quick look in the Timing Hut showed 60.49s (only 2/100th's off my April time) and even better that the Peugeot had not improved either recording 60.64s
So I was very chuffed to get 1st in Class, by 2/100th's of a second
The 106 was 2nd, Karl 3rd and the Mk1 did a 62.00s which was good enough for 4th
GavinR
WOW what a fantastic write upi feel as if i was nearly theregot my heart going a bit too reading itCongratulations on the class win.Superb result
tommy 2000
Excellent thread & a good read!
I grew up watching Gavin & Carrie's exploits in FLY, mostly before they moved over to Wales, them and the car are probably partly to blame for my love of old skool escorts!!
Do you still have the other escy, white one was it?
I'll come and say hello Monday!
Baz
Great read, and well done.
We took the white one (DVY) to Wales with us and did West Cork for a few years as well as coming back to Millbrook. DVY was resprayed blue in 2003 and then sold in August 2004
But she came up on eBay in January as a bare shell, so I've got her back now and the rebuild will begin when I've got some spare money - FLY is running DVY's n/a cossie at the moment
GavinR
great read that gav and well done on the result
were you not just tempted to strap a bungee cord to pull the brake pedal back, or would it have made the pedal too heavy?
Yes I thought of that as well but couldn't see a sensible place to bungee it too apart from the steering wheel so it was easier to carry on with it
Last night I fitted a new master cylinder for the front brakes, but now I've found a crack in the pedal box next to a previous repair I'd done 6 years ago after failing scrutineering at Builth Wells Showground - so I'll be welding that up tonight
This might explain why the whole pedal box was flexing every time I braked hard
GavinR
The pedal box is all welded up now, I've been out for a drive and everything's working perfectly
GavinR
Congrats on the result and on the entertaining write up
Excellent write up as normall Gavin, think i'll have to see about getting you a regular slot in a mag
Glad to see the welding was done by a semi pro knowing your previous exploits with welding Gavin
Great sprint result must be a great feeling collecting silver ware in a car of FLY's age (no offence to FLY)
Am really looking forward to Monday and catching up with some of the old CMC crews. Just trying to chill and not get to over excited
Last edited by Tazman; 23-05-2008 at 14:16. Reason: needed extra letter
Unfortunately it doesn't always go quite to plan...
We arrived at Millbrook bright and early to find it dry and windy but rain was forecast for later and by the time we started our first stage (Stage 3) at 10am it was steadily drizzling, not really wet enough for wets so we went out on the slicks, and after a cautious stage were 11th quickest
Half an hour later it was really raining hard so we put the wets on and went 10s quicker, but so did everyone else so we dropped to 12th
Stage 5 and a slightly shorter stage but near the end of the first lap going up a long winding hill the back end felt very loose, we came down to the merge, then a sharp right up a very steep bit and I hardly had any traction at all, so I decided to some in a lap early and take a maximum rather than risk not completing the next 3 miles and having to go home early. This cost us 7m30s but I'm happy it was the right decision
Watching the in car video tonight, it's as if the left rear was going down throughout the first lap then on the sharp right there's a bit of a bump and the tyre folded up inside the rim, so the wheel was spinning inside the tyre
Anyway, we got back to service and put another one on
Stage 6 and the rain was quite torrential by now, about a mile into the stage we were stopped by marshals waving their Red Flags as the stage was stopped due to a serious accident After 10 minutes we were directed back to service along with everyone else and were a bit concerned that Windy and Cath might have been involved (knowing that they were also out on the stage) but they eventually returned having been stopped in a different place
It turned out one of the Darrians had aquaplaned off and rolled it, the co-driver walked away, the driver was taken to Bedford hospital with a cracked rib and a crushed vertebrae in his neck, but has been released today and hopes to be out rallying at the end of June
Stage 7 and now we were running in the reverse direction and over the famous jump
Still on the wets although it was drying, with 10 seconds to go the marshals stopped us as the Finish Time Clock had blown over in the wind
Ten minutes later and we were off (with a lot of spluttering up the first straight as the plugs had fouled due to the waiting) and had a nice good stage back to 12th quickest again, a bit twitchy over the jump aiming for the photographers
Stage 8 and it was dry enough for the slicks again so we went for it a bit more and got plenty of air over the jump, 18s quicker and 8th on this stage
Thanks to Andy Manston of M & H Photography for the pic - my order's in the post
Then the final 2 stages, not completely dry but the driest it had been all day, so we had a play, 6th quickest on Stage 9
Stage 10 and I came out of the merge not far behind a white Mk2 car 16 so I gave chase and kept up quite well, realising afterwards that it was an old rival Tim Wilson in his 2.5 Millington powered Mk2, then on the second lap an Impreza came out behind us, he could catch up in some places but I'd pull away up the winding hills and over the blind crests and we were 6th quickest again
So the day got better as it went on, David enjoyed the ride (thanks ) and I was just pleased to do a few stages in almost dry conditions - after dropping to 44th after the puncture we finished 20th overall and 7th in class, but would have been 6th or 7th overall without
My dad had a VIP Pass for the day and had a good time spectating
Drive of the day goes to Windy and Cath, 2nd overall and setting 3 fastest stage times, may be next year you'll get 1st but a brilliant result anyway
As for Fly, the brakes were still sticking slightly so I'll be changing the pedal box on Friday ready for Pembrey on Sat and Sun
And when I've figured out how to do it I'll post some in car action so you can see what Millbrook's like
Last edited by GavinR; 27-05-2008 at 23:34. Reason: .
GavinR
A fantastic read as always Gavin.
Keep it up mate.
Great read
Loving the jump action
Screaming 1300 mexico rep
Gavin, you forgot to mention that on stage 9 (i think) we caught and over took that impreza that started 30 seconds in front of us
ok he may have had braking issues but we still caught and passed him
Enjoyed the write up
And this is a great pic Cant beat an airborne escort
Windys been filling me in with the details tonight, That Davrian .. the scar on the tree!!! the drop!!! glad they are ok.
And Gavin , next year, Windy 1st, you follow him to 2nd ... thats an order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MicuK...eature=relatedYouTube - Bring me sunshine.
Thats one part sorted
Last edited by Retromotorsport; 29-05-2008 at 15:06.
I had a day off today to get everything ready for Pembrey tomorrow so I spent most of it changing the pedal box
I'd bought a secondhand Gartrac one off a fellow Turbosporter last October and when the old one was out of Fly I could see a lot of differences
The one in front is Gartrac and its all a lot more substantial. More significantly, the master cylinders mount horizontally instead of at a slight angle, and there's no need to cut 8mm off the rods as they are further away from the pedal
Having a close look at my old one, I could see another break in it, and the bias bar & brake pedal bush were seized up so I think every time I braked, the brake pedal itself was binding instead of the master cylinders
Because the Gartrac one has moved the cylinders, I had to extend some brake pipes but it all went together in the end and is well bled
I'll discover how the bias is set in 1st Practice tomorrow
GavinR
All the best for Pembery
Finally got the right bits to connect my camera to the computer, so I've put all the in-car from Millbrook on YouTube
See http://www.youtube.com/user/dvy759
The best 2 are probably Stage 8 over the jump, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Gzw7iG__AYouTube - Millbrook 2008 SS8.
and Stage 10 the quickest I went all day, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsORFRLjGekYouTube - Millbrook 2008 SS10.
GavinR
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