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Thread: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

  1. #321
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Hi,

    You'll have to thank your brother for the compliment, I remember getting one hairpin spot on, not sure where it was though

    I'm out this weekend on the Nightmare Rally in Devon, hoping to get round without any problems

    Then I've a few Stage events lined up in DVY so it'll be May before I head over to Wales, I'd like to do the Classic Tracks again, always a good event and in daylight
    GavinR

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  2. #322
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Nightmare Road Rally 26-27th Feb 2011

    I wouldn't normally do 2 Road Rallies in 2 weekends, but I'd planned to do a 12 car with a friend from Tavern MC, Georgina Clark, a few weeks ago but she was ill so couldn't make it, so I suggested a 150 mile Road Rally in Devon would be a suitable substitute

    It's 6 years since I've done a Road Rally in that part of the country, it was only George's 3rd or 4th road event and her first rally with me, although she regularly co-drives for her dad, Martin, on SV Stages in his MGZR, it took a couple of sections to get used to each other and sort out the marked maps and separate triangle diagrams which were provided by the organisers every 10 sections, effectively making it plot and bash in places

    The route marking was good but it wasn't always obvious which triangle related to which junction, then the lack of marshals in a few places which were not replaced by boards led to some confusion as to whether we were in the wrong place, or the marshals were, on one section we had to stop and check a few signposts to work out where we were
    One Time Control we were definitely in the right place but didn't find a marshal, a few other crews had the same problem, but the rest found it which was very odd

    We had been warned that there were 15 miles of smooth whites so I'd sorted out some 2nd hand Dunlop SP82 forest tyres which worked very well on the tarmac as well as the whites which were great fun, only one was a bit bumpy and we landed in a hole by the beach car park, but the rest were pretty smooth running midfield and we only had to back off when we were bouncing in and out of the ruts

    We caught various cars during the night and they were all kind enough to pull over to let us past when we were in a hurry, and we enjoyed following local crew Gareth Janes / Steve Yeoman in their Saxo VTS for a lot of the second half, who were cleaning the sections so we didn't bother to go past, they finished 7th and 1st Novice

    There are some good pics on Brian Gilbert's site bg-photosport

    Final result was 15th Overall and 4th Expert out of 40 starters, Fly ran well all night, the only incident was when I turned round in a hurry and backed her into a bank, breaking part of the rear light and bending the bumper

    Many thanks to George for guiding me round all night, getting all the timing right, keeping calm when I drove past another slot without seeing it and also when we got completely lost a few times
    Last edited by GavinR; 02-03-2011 at 23:03.
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  3. #323
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Its FLY!!! I love this car! You were out on the bro caron weren't you? How did you get on?

  4. #324
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Quote Originally Posted by GJH View Post
    Its FLY!!! I love this car! You were out on the bro caron weren't you? How did you get on?
    Hi - yes I was out on the Bro Caron, alternator sheared about halfway through the first half

    A few weeks ago I did a Gymkhana at Debden airfield in Essex and Fly was running well and I came 4th overall and 2nd in class with Derek navigating. I was a bit slow in the morning before realising the rather old Avon Turbospeeds which had come with some Wellers off eBay were rock hard, so I changed to some well worn Yokohama 21's and we made up some time

    This weekend, on Sunday, I'm competing on the Classic Tracks with Carrie, although we've done it twice before and finished reasonably well, I'm very surprised to be seeded Car 4 - I'll just have to keep my foot down
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Quote Originally Posted by GavinR View Post
    This weekend, on Sunday, I'm competing on the Classic Tracks with Carrie, although we've done it twice before and finished reasonably well, I'm very surprised to be seeded Car 4 - I'll just have to keep my foot down
    Will keep an eye out for you tomorrow. There's a few of us doing a control at some point during the day.

  6. #326
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    how did u get on today Gavin??

  7. #327
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Quote Originally Posted by azz259 View Post
    how did u get on today Gavin??
    Hi - we finished 8th overall, 75 starters, 40 finished, well worth the trip from Bristol, I'll do a report sometime
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    nice 1, where are the results then?

  9. #329
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Quote Originally Posted by GavinR View Post
    Hi - we finished 8th overall, 75 starters, 40 finished, well worth the trip from Bristol, I'll do a report sometime

    good stuff

  10. #330
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    i saw the car was out looked in good nick i was also out in a 205 started car 58 real good rally i thought what did you think ? we finished 17th overall and 1st class 3

  11. #331
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Yes we had a great time, so nearly hit a lot of things (those cow sheds were narrow and slippy ) but so much fun driving down tracks and round farms

    Results will turn up in the post sometime I think, be interesting to see which Tests we were quick on as there was quite a mixture...
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  12. #332
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    I was out on another Chelmsford Gymkhana a few weeks ago, this time at Honington Airfield near Bury St Edmunds. As this is still an active air base, all the airfield is nice smooth tarmac

    It was organised by Owen Turner who is a top Endurance Rally driver and his gymkhanas are always hard work as he uses every corner possible to make up the tests

    4 tests were laid out and we started off by doing them on their own, then in pairs and finally 3 of them together to make up a long test to finish. In between we had a few laps of the skid pan, scoring marks for "flamboyance" instead of speed and a couple of simple Regularity sections (these made up the Skill Tests which are always a part of the gymkhanas)

    It was a very warm day and with the long tests a lot of cars were having overheating problems, but Fly ran faultlessly, just having to swap tyres a few times when they wore out. I was also navigating for Derek in his 205, and Cath was also driving Fly with Matt Endean navigating. Cath was going better than when she had last driven Fly at Debden, finding the good tarmac a lot easier, but struggling with the lack of power steering

    On the longer Tests, Derek was starting to feel rough, so Cath jumped in to navigate the afternoon ones, I just kept up my normal speed while everyone else struggled

    I was 2nd or 3rd most of the day, but fastest times on the last 3 tests saw me take 1st Overall by 34s from Matt Fowle's 106

    Cath was pleased but exhausted to finish 16th, and Derek was happy with 23rd (his 205 is completely standard) out of the 58 starters

    I'm currently doing a few bits on Fly in readiness for the Neath Valley Stages on 13th August, it'll be my first time in the forest since 1997
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    another great result there gavin

  14. #334
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    So it's been 4 years since I've done a stage event in Fly, and that was with the cossie in, so this weekend I made a start on the various things that will be required for the Neath Valley

    Crack in the boot floor has been getting bigger


    I had a comment on a Road Rally about the rear cage mounts looking a bit weak, so I've reinforced them and boxed them in, after removing the rear seats and side windows for access


    The fuel tank leaks when full from an old sender unit in the top - I had to remove it to weld up the boot floor, so poured fibreglass resin all over it to seal it


    Boot floor crack welded up then plated over - it's the stress of the panhard rod mount that causes the problem


    Plenty more to do, but mainly safety features rather than repairs
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  15. #335
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    I made a lot of progress last week, painted everything I'd welded, got the fuel tank and pumps back in, rear seats, side windows, and fitted a lot of stuff from DVY - seats, harnesses, intercoms, camera mount and handheld fire extinguisher





    Then on Sunday I organised and competed on a grass gymkhana for Tavern Motor Club and came 2nd out of 16 entries

    And tonight I've fitted the plumbed in fire extinguisher which was serviced last week, just got to make the mud flaps and sort out some secondhand forest tyres and I'll be ready, I've even ordered the Pacenotes from Brian Patterson

    There's about 60 entries at the moment and 4 of us in the Road Rally class, the others being 2 BMW's and an Astra
    Last edited by GavinR; 03-08-2011 at 00:13.
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  16. #336
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Neath Valley Stages - Sat 13th August 2011

    As I had no events in DVY planned this month I decided to do something different and take Fly back into the forest
    Georgina was happy to co-drive although slightly worried about reading pacenotes for the first time in 4 years, but my last time in a forest was 1997 so I knew it would be a slow start
    I'd also asked fellow Tavern member Hugh Currell to come and service for us as I wasn't sure how long we'd have in service or how Fly would stand up to a forest event

    The event was based around Walters Arena and was practically a single venue with 2 stages run twice followed by a 5th stage combining the first 2 giving nearly 40 stage miles and only 6 miles of link sections
    They had a good entry of 61 moderns and over 20 historics and a late entry gave us 5 in the Road Rally class

    Scrutineering was slow but we passed without any problems and sat around in service for a few hours waiting to start, keeping busy by changing the rear forest tyres for some chunkier ones as everything was rather wet and mucky, and cooking bacon butties on the gas stove

    Stage 1
    Everything went well but I felt I was driving very slowly, not sure of how fast I could go round the corners and there were some steep hills and muddy sections which sapped the power and at times it felt like we had 2 front punctures, I could only describe the conditions as "claggy". George was reading the notes well except when I made a comment about how slow we were going and she lost her place

    Stage 2
    This was just round a corner from stage 1 and the organisers warned us about a big ditch on the outside of the first corner, a very tight hairpin, which had already given 5 cars problems, so we went very carefully round it. This stage was a lot more open in places with some nice flowing bits but still some twisty sections. Near the end we passed an Astra in our class beached on the outside of a corner having nearly gone into the ditch, but a few corners later I nearly did the same thing, failing to spot the hairpin slot I was supposed to take (even though George had called it) and headed for a more obvious slot into the spectator car park and we bounced over a shallow ditch before I realised my mistake. Luckily I had no trouble reversing out and we were on our way again

    Stage 3
    An hour long service, so Hugh gave Fly a good check over only finding the front wheel bearings needing a little tweak and some play in the rack, but nothing to worry about. We had a look at the results and were 38th and 3rd in Class - the late entry had knocked a wheel off on stage 1, and the beached Astra had got pushed out by spectators but got a stage maximum
    This stage was identical to stage 1 except for a short section near the start to avoid a very mucky uphill hairpin. Although it was still drizzling, the stage was drier in places and I felt we were going a lot quicker

    Stage 4
    Similar to 3, it went well and I remembered which hairpin I'd got wrong although this time there was a BMW wedged in a deeper part of the ditch so we had to go slowly past it, and we had a bit of a moment when I went wide to avoid a big dip on the inside but got into the mucky stuff and nearly put it in the ditch on the outside but still managed 22s quicker than Stage 2

    Stage 5
    Another hour in service, which seemed a bit long as the event was running behind due to the number of cars off, so Hugh checked the link bars and tyres before we all had another cuppa. We'd gained a few places, now up to 33rd and 3rd in Class, but it was diffcult to tell if this was because we were going quicker or because so many cars had retired and we were over 2 minutes behind 2nd in Class
    This stage was 3 & 4 joined together making 12.5 miles in total, but it seemed to go quicker than that despite the tracks being very cut up in places. George was excellent on the notes, only getting confused when she turned 2 pages at once, but was quickly back on it. With a few miles to go we came across a BMW stranded in a ditch, but I couldn't remember if it was in our Class or not so concentrated on not doing anything stupid myself and got to the finish without any problems in a time of 17:54

    On the Road Section back to the finish we checked the Entry List and the stranded BMW was in our class, so we moved up to 30th Overall and 2nd in Class

    It was a very good day, well organised and they kept everything running despite the numerous incidents (21 cars retired from the moderns)
    Well done and thanks to George for reading the notes, she was pleased to get a nice crystal glass award, and thanks to Hugh for servicing

    After the awards in a local Rugby Club, I found the van had sunk into the verge where I'd left it, but luckily Tudor Davies and his driver were walking past so they helped us push it out

    A rather muddy Fly last night




    GavinR

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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    great result, great write up i always love reading them :them:

  18. #338
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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Congrats on the 2nd

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    Re: GavinRs Mk2 Rally Car FLY

    Well done on keeping your head while all around you were loosing theirs
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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Time for an end of season update...


    Carver's Traders Road Rally - 17/18th September 2011

    Another South West event, only 25 entries this time, George was on the maps and we'd entered as Novices as the classes were based on her experience and not mine
    It started from Ralegh's Cross on Exmoor and had a 140 mile route with halfway in Tiverton. We had 45mins to plot the route but only managed to plot 3/4 of it so were hoping we would have some time at halfway to plot the rest. The first half started well, getting past the 2 cars in front early on but we got a bit lost trying to find a white so ended up following them again and then met a local down a narrow road who took a while to reverse out of the way and we lost quite a bit of time

    At halfway we plotted the rest of the route and set off into the lanes again. After about 20 miles we had 3 sections defined by a marked map which we'd been given at the start in a sealed envelope - when we opened the envelope at the control, we had 2 copies of the map for section 2 & 3 and no map for section 1
    I ran back to the marshal but he didn't have any spare copies so I waited for the next car to open their envelope and had a quick look, trying to memorise the route, ran back and drew it on the map, so we now had the route but not the codeboard or control locations, but we got through it all and only missed one codeboard. The rest of the route worked well and we got back to Ralegh's Cross around 5am for a large cooked breakfast

    We spoke to the organisers about our marked map problems, but when the results came out we'd done as well as the other Novices on those sections so it wasn't worth trying to get the sections scrubbed. We ended up 8th Overall and 1st Novice, George was very happy as it was her first class win


    Woodbridge Gymkhana - Sunday 13th November 2011

    I wasn't sure I'd make this one as it was the same weekend as Rally GB, but the National B event which my friends were doing was on the Friday and Saturday, so I loaded Fly a few days before and headed off to Wales on Thursday as service crew. My friends finished without any problems and I left Builth Showground at 4pm Saturday afternoon, picked up Fly and was at my brother's in Chelmsford for 10pm

    I had a set of knobblies on Fly, bought secondhand in January and had already done the 3 Road Rallies, so the rears had about 3mm left and fronts not much more and Woodbridge is often a bit mucky so I thought they'd be ideal. Derek was double driving this time, having sold his 205 a few months ago and was trying some travel sickness pills as he sometimes feels a bit ill when navigating

    The tests were quite straightforward with 3 separate ones laid out. The first loop was a bit damp and greasy and I didn't have much grip, but when Derek went out everything had dried nicely and he was only a couple of seconds behind on each one, leaving us 3rd and 7th at the morning break

    After a couple of skills tests, the second loop of tests was similar to the first with a few small changes and with the tyres working better I managed to set fastest time on all 3, moving up to 2nd. Derek also gained a place to 6th at lunch

    We did another skills test after lunch (both cleaned it) and then on to the 3rd loop which was test 4, 5 and 6 run in the other direction. Derek was navigating well, the pills having the desired affect and he'd written which side of each cone to go on the diagram so just had to call these out. Unfortunately on the final test one direction was wrong and we lost maybe 6s correcting our mistake. Derek had a good run through without any problems

    Back in the paddock I chatted to the chap who was leading (in a Civic Type R) and discovered he'd had a similar cock up on the final test and lost about 10s
    When the results were published, this was enough to give me 1st Overall by 3s. Derek was very pleased with his best ever result of 7th Overall and picked up 1st in Class


    Fly is now resting but not for long as I've already got 2 Road rallies planned, one in January and one in February
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    great news gav
    ive got one rally booked in in jan starting in consett in durham ending in slayley forest

    what tyres do you usually run on for road rallys i have some colway gravel tyres and everyone is telling me to go on nobblies
    i normally just use road tyres and have no grip at all

    any advice?
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  22. #342
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Hi,

    It depends a lot on the event - if it's mainly tarmac then some decent road tyres such as Yoko 21R's are very popular, but if there's a lot of whites / forest tracks, then worn knobblies are a good choice and work reasonably well on tarmac too (but newish knobblies on tarmac don't as the tread blocks move around too much!)
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Cheers for that gav
    Need some decent road tyres i think
    It had pirellis on which were brilliant but didnt last long
    Im planning on puttin full knobblies all round with two decent road tyres in the boot
    See what happens

    Oh and i had a go with the handbrake yesterday after you modded it and its brilliant
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  24. #344
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Bath Festival Road Rally – Sat 4th February 2012

    After the cancellation of the Carpetbagger this was our first road event of the year. I hadn’t touched Fly since a 12 car in December but a few hours one evening and she was ready to go. On the Saturday afternoon it started snowing and after hearing from fellow Tavenr members Alan & Denise that it was just as bad where they live near the start of the rally, I fitted my best set of M&S tyres to the rear, picked up George and headed for the start in Frome.

    There were 35 entries and we were seeded Car 13 in the Semi-Experts just behind a Saab V4. After signing on we plotted the route for the 3 forest tests and waited for the start just after 9pm. Due to the weather conditions Test 2 was cancelled and Test 3 had to be shortened as the exit road was impassable.

    We reached Test 1 in thick snow and were going well until a LWR triangle halfway through where the codeboard was hidden behind a tree and we couldn’t find it (8 other crews had the same problem and 4 more had to reverse back for it), so not a good start. Test 3 went a lot better, a nice flowing forest track with no bad corners so George didn’t bother reading the map and just enjoyed the ride. We came across the stop line quite suddenly over a crest to see the Saab just pulling away, and were 3rd quickest on this one

    Back at the start we were given the route for the Night Section and an hour to plot. This wasn’t quite enough as there were a lot of Map Refs, we got all but the last few sections plotted, and restarted just after 11pm. We started well cleaning the first few sections but then caught some slower cars and with a few minor wrong slots in the confusion and worsening driving conditions, we dropped the odd minute here and there.

    We ended up following a 205 with a Golf and another 205 close behind, all doing about 25mph along a rather slippery bit of road when the 205 in front got a bit close to the edge, locked up and the camber took him onto the verge and into the hedge! George suggested we stop to make sure they were ok but I had no grip and was worried we’d do the same if I tried to stop. Then at the next junction, there was a loud bang as the clutch cable let go

    I waited for the next few cars to go past then pushed Fly out of the way, before getting completely confused about trying to start the engine in gear, thinking the starter had packed up at the same time, but eventually figured out my mistake and we drove slowly to the next control in 1st gear. Then it was a 3 mile make up section which we had to do to remain in the rally, this time I got going in 2nd gear and parked in a layby 100yds from the control, George ran off to get our time (Alan & Denise were running this one), while I made a start changing the cable. I’ve carried a spare cable for the last 20 years but never had to change one on an event, removing the old one and routing the new one in the engine bay and onto the pedal went well, but lying on the ground in the snow trying to get the cable into the clutch fork was a right pain. Eventually with George’s help it was done and we were ready to go again. A quick look at the map and we realised we could cut out a big loop and rejoin at petrol in Wells on our correct time.

    By this time of night, the skies had cleared, the moon was out and the temperature had dropped so the roads were now sheet ice in places. The organisers cut out the worst bits and the first section was on the flat with some nice straight roads, it was the quickest section all night and we cleaned it without any trouble, and the next one as well. Then it was onto the lanes around Worthy Farm, a downhill section into a Ford was very icy and we had a run at it to make sure we had enough speed to get up the other side, luckily it wasn’t that deep. Soon after we were looking for an unmarked white, recently added for the Glastonbury Festival, another Tavern crew Will & Bob Rutherford had used it before on an Enduro event so earlier showed us roughly where it was, we thought we had gone past it and were going to turn round when Will and Bob came past so we followed, but at the next entrance they turned round and went back so we did the same and found it the second time. After all this we had dropped 3min, then there was a link section around Shepton Mallet to the final 2 sections heading back towards Frome.

    Queuing up for the Time Control, Bob asked if we wanted to go ahead, but they were going very well and I didn’t want to get in their way. The control was slightly uphill which caused problems first for Andrew Lees in his Nova and then Will in their Astra just trying to reach the control (both in Enduro spec cars so no LSD’s). Fly didn’t have any trouble and we left soon after Will, overtaking them at the first junction. Next there was a nice long white, plenty of grip in the mud so I was pushing on and we caught Andrew Lees at the end of it. We followed him for a bit and then came to a downhill square right, Andrew tried to use the verge to slow down but ended up bouncing down the verge and stopped just before a gate at the bottom. We had slightly more control, and got past while he recovered, and only dropped a minute on this section (only 2 cars cleaned it). The final section was probably the worst of the night, bits of snow and black ice, we dropped 3min in 2 miles just trying to keep on the road, I was driving with one hand on the wheel and one on the handbrake so I could try and steer with both ends!

    Back at the finish we had breakfast while waiting for the results. As we had visited all the Main Time Controls we were classified as a finisher, 24th and last overall, on the sections we did our times would have put as about 5th, but some of the sections we missed out were Plot & Bash which we usually lose some time on.

    We were glad that we continued after changing the cable as it was good experience for both of us, I don’t think I’ve ever done a rally in such bad conditions, and George still hasn’t done that many night events, although we hope to do a few more this year. Many thanks to George for navigating and helping fix Fly!
    GavinR

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  25. #345
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    A couple of pics from last weekend, courtesy Andy Manston of M&H Photography



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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Another great write up there, sounds like you really like using fly, you gona come over to Wales for any events this year?

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Forgot to add nice pictures too, the conditions do look terrible

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Myotis Road Rally - Saturday 5th May 2012

    Following the cancellation of the Nightmare Rally in Devon last month, George suggested we enter the Myotis Rally on Salisbury Plain despite her competing at Down Ampney on the Corinium Stages during the day, co-driving for her dad Martin Clark, but the Myotis started from Devizes which is only an hour away from Down Ampney so it looked like it would be possible

    An early start on Saturday morning for all of us as I was servicing for George and Martin at Down Ampney. I had a quiet day, their MG ZR was running well, except for one puncture which cost them a minute and dropped them to 4th in class, and the event ran very smoothly, it was all over by 4pm

    So a gentle drive down to Devizes via the back roads, we found a nice pub by the Kennet and Avon canal for a meal and arrived at the Noise Test just before it opened

    On to the rally, we left Devizes at 11pm with a set of marked maps for the route and diagrams for 7 special tests and had a 35 min run out to Salisbury Plain. The first section was 12 miles long with 10 route checks, but we cleaned it with 5 minutes to spare despite some confusion near the end where the road on the map was blocked and a new one had been built by the military alongside it

    Then it was on to the first special test, very short, around a couple of cones and a grass island, but once again there was another road not on our diagram so more confusion before we found the island and finished the test. Straight in to the next competitive section, but the marked map showed the test finishing 1/4 mile out from where we actually were so we missed the next slot and got pretty much lost on the Plain. We spotted some other competitors and realised they should have been well ahead of us so and worked out where we were, got back on track and completed the section, but dropped 10 minutes

    Next there were 2 more special tests, about half a mile long run twice at 30s intervals, round a few barns and cones all on the loose, it was great fun. First time through we were slightly delayed by dust and did 1m 33s but the second time I knew where I was going and got Fly drifting nicely to set a time of 1m 26s and we caught the car in front on the finish line

    The next section was about 7 miles long and after a tricky start finding the right road we got going well. On the drier bits dust was a problem as we were catching the car in front, but when he hesitated at a T junction I got very close and overtook up the next straight. About a mile later we hit a pothole rather hard and there was a loud bang from the rear left. Assuming we had a puncture I backed off slightly but we were still a minute early at the next control so I got out and had a look - no puncture but the wheel was right up in the arch and the bump stop was hard up against the chassis - the leaf spring had snapped

    So we followed the route to the next control which was just before halfway, handed in our paperwork and drove slowly home

    At home today, looking a bit lopsided...



    Tyre rubbed the inner arch all the way home but only the edge of the tyre so I can use it again



    Something missing, probably lying near a large pothole on Salisbury Plain...



    Both sides off, and I've dug out some standard RS2000 springs from the workshop to turn into slippers then she can go back together



    Next event is the Classic Tracks in 3 weeks
    GavinR

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  29. #349
    Racer Decade Plus User mexicotait's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Bloody hell thats a big hit gav
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    I've hit bigger holes before on whites, not sure what speed we were doing, but I've never broken a spring before, normally they flatten out over the years and then I replace them
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Thats what i was thinking ive only seen them flatten and tgen crack
    Never snap like that
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  32. #352
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    First task was to convert the standard springs into slippers

    All marked out, angle grinder ready to go



    One slipper spring



    And fitted to Fly along with new discs and shocks - the side that snapped there was a little oil on the shock absorber shaft so that might have contributed to the problem, and the discs were going rusty round the edges so the pads weren't gripping everywhere



    I'm out this Sunday on the Classic Tracks around Llandysul, looking forward to it
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    how did the classic tracks go did see you down there i was out car 32 good challenging route

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Hi,

    We had an enjoyable day but had a few problems on some of the tests, though Fly was running well all day

    It was George's first go at a Welsh event and we started off badly, having trouble finding the marshal on Test 1 amongst the spectators and in the chaos forgot to get the codeboard countersigned, so a 2 minute penalty

    Once we got onto some longer tests we were going better, beating the bogey on 3 and setting top 10 times on 3 others. A couple of the routes through sheds were tricky, one particular square right was too tight to drive round even at slow speed, so I backed out and had a run at it, got the handbrake just right and we emerged unscathed. The 2 tests near the end with the fords were good although I hit the first one a bit hard (it didn't look that deep!) and we both got wet legs but it helped cool us down as it was such a hot day I need to do some more sealant around the gearbox tunnel as that's where most of it comes from

    Unfortunately one of the Tests that we beat the bogey on we forgot to drop an extra minute on the next road section so we got a make up fail and finished 29th overall

    I hope to get over for a night event in the winter, not sure which one yet...

    Thanks
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Since the Classic Tracks I've only been out in Fly once a few weeks ago on the Tavern Gymkhana - driving round cones in a field. Everything went well and I won by about 10s. George also had a go driving Fly, having an enjoyable day to finish 10th

    Tomorrow I'm out on the Neath Valley Stages with George on the notes. This year they're not using Walters Arena but going into Rhonda & Resolven Forests which should be more interesting. There's about 8 Road Rally cars entered so I'm not expecting to do that well, we're just out for a laugh

    Same as last year, I've swapped the seats and harnesses from DVY, and also changed a leaking front shock and rebuilt and fitted the Quaife box I used to run. Even had time to respray the front panel which was going rusty

    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Good luck Gavin. I will be watching the results as someone i know is out in his new car and i will be interested to see how he gets on. I see The Clarkes are out in the MG as well.

    Have fun.

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Neath Valley Stages – Saturday 11th August 2012

    After competing on this event last year when it was based in Walters Arena, the roads cut up quite badly so I wasn’t sure about entering this year, but when it was announced that they were using Rhondda and Resolven Forests, I decided to have another go with George on the notes again

    There were nearly 60 cars entered in the modern field and 20 historics including Juha Kankkunen / Nicky Grist in a Historic Rallysport Mk2 Escort, and Dai Llewellin / Phil Short in a Brace’s Bread Mk2 Escort. I had made a few improvements to Fly by re-fitting a Quaife Clubman box and had bought some new Forest tyres off eBay at a bargain price. We had a surprisingly high seeding at 41, and George’s brother Ed was also out in their Endurance Rally spec Rover 200 for his first ever forest event, with Tavern member Bob Rutherford on the notes

    The event was based at an old factory near Resolven which meant under cover servicing and the route was 3 stages run twice giving a total of 45 stage miles and 75 road miles. The weather was lovely and sunny as we headed out to Stage 1. It was nice and smooth except for a few sections which had been regraded with large rocks providing very little grip – this caused some interesting moments as I tried to remember how to drive on gravel!

    A short link section within the forest and we were on to Stage 2. This time there were large rocks for the first half and then smooth gravel for the second half, the only problem we had was when I made a comment on seeing the car in front pulled over and George forgot to turn to the page of notes! Luckily the next junction was not far away so the right place was found and we finished without further problems. After a 20 mile road section arrived at Stage 3. This one was nice and smooth throughout and we had a good run through, getting quicker as we went on.

    Leaving the forest led us straight into Resolven village and back to service. There wasn’t much that needed doing to Fly although some filler / rust had fallen out of the rear arches as the tyres were a bit big Guy fitted the other 2 new tyres just because I had them but we left the fronts (which I’d used last year) as she was turning in well. Meanwhile we waited for Ed and Bob to arrive. Finally they made it, having been held up before the start of stage 2 when a car got wedged on a cattle grid. They were enjoying the event, although finding it very slippery in places.

    When we left service, we were given some results for the morning stages and were surprised to be 24th Overall and 3rd in Class, and Ed and Bob were 32nd Overall and 6th in Class. On the way to stage 4 we chatted about how the morning had gone and decided there was some time to be gained on the rocky sections. We started the stage well, everything was flowing better, George was reading the notes perfectly and I was a lot more committed over the crests and through the more open corners. Even the rocky sections had got smooth lines where everyone had been through before, and we were pleased to set a time 26s quicker than Stage 1

    Onto Stage 5 but this time the rocky sections had got worse, apparently they’d only been regraded a few days before so the loose rocks turned into ruts, quite deep in places and there were 6 or 7 cars parked up with mechanical problems. I was happy that Fly would survive the conditions so kept pushing on and we had a very good stage, 21s quicker than Stage 2. The final stage 6 was still smooth and we went 13s quicker. So on the afternoon loop we’d gone a whole minute quicker than in the morning! Back in service we waited for the Ed and Bob and they arrived without problems

    George checked the results and was amazed to find we’d won the Road Rally Class and were 16th Overall, and even better Ed & Bob were 3rd in the Road Rally Class and 25th Overall. Many thanks to Hugh, Martin, Carrie & Guy for looking after all the cars, and George for another excellent job on the notes



    We enjoyed the event sop much I might have to try a few more forests next year
    GavinR

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  38. #358
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    great write up and result as usual

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    Great write-up, and congrats on the class win!
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

    just read back through this thread ....superb fair play

    good skills on the class win

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