GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Classic Tracks 26th May 2013

An excellent event run by Llandysul Motor Club in West Wales, nowadays run as a Targa Rally with 20 Special Tests on private land - using farm tracks, fields, narrow paths, a couple of forest tracks, around farmyards and even through some cattle sheds

A full entry of 75 I was seeded car 6 with Carrie navigating on her first road event for a few years, we started off at a club members farm where he'd built gravel tracks through a few fields, across a stream and up and down a steep hillside with hairpins, must have been about a mile long, it was great fun and an excellent way to begin. There were a lot of spectators as we were using this venue 3 times throughout the day. In between we went off to other farms, most of which we recognised from previous years, but can never quite remember where the tracks go

Fly was going well, not as bouncy over the bumps with the new rear springs and at the lunch halt we were 7th
The afternoon was just as good, many cars retiring as the toughness of the event got to them. Down one bumpy white where the potholes had been filled with large stones rather unevenly, we had a big moment when we took off sideways and landed a bit awkwardly - after this Carrie suggested I might want to back off a fraction as we were near the finish by now

The final test was back at the original farm with a final blast round the track and when the results came out we were pleased to be 6th Overall and 3rd Experts
Well done to Carrie for navigating, and thanks to Guy, Chris and Danielle for marshalling for us

Pots


Near the finish of Test 15

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

excellent, and a great result, well done

[MCURZON]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Well done Gav

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

And a few videos

This one is at the start and finish venue tests, we feature at 1:37

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

I love tge padded tractor :-)

[exboyracer]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Great stuff Gavin

Interesting trophies, looks like someone raided my black museum

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Welsh slate I believe...

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Another pic from last weekend, on the final test

[kizzy]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Awesome example

[Binnes]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

I would like to bring this thread up to date by saying that Gavin and Georgina won the Mixed Crew Award on the Peak Revs Road Rally at the weekend!

Congratulations and it was nice to put a face to the name at the start!

Ben Innes.

Clerk of Course - The Peak Revs Road Rally

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

2013 Update

After the Classic Tracks, my next event was in July - a Targa Rally at Wethersfield Airfield in Essex. Chelmsford Motor Club had previously used the airfield for Single Venue Rallies and Sprints but it had been unavailable for over 10 years, so it was good to get back in there.

I was out in Fly with my brother navigating and he was driving his Rover 200 with me navigating. There were 3 tests laid out, all to be done 4 times, 2 on the perimeter track and 1 in the bomb dump, all quite twisty and the odd bit of smooth gravel to keep it interesting

After a slowish start on the first loop I was 8th overall and Derek was 15th, but we improved steadily throughout the day.
Despite the clutch cable snapping on Fly 100yds from the finish of the final test, luckily I was still in 1st so only lost a few seconds, I got up to 4th overall and Derek had one of his best results, 9th overall and winning his class

A couple of pictures from Wethersfield from Andy Manston. Targas (previously Gymkhanas) are great fun and are a good cheap form of motorsport, many people are out in standard or lightly modified road cars and there are not many rules and regulations to worry about






Next I was out on the Neath Valley Stages for the 3rd year in a row. The event was using the forests of Resolven, Rheola and Margam Park, all between Neath and Port Talbot so it was a very compact route. There were 45 stage miles, the first lap was 8 miles of Resolven, then 7 in Rheola and Margam, and the second lap was the same Resolven stage then the next 2 run as one 14 mile stage. George was co-driving as usual and Hugh was out servicing.

We'd entered the Road Rally class but were disappointed to find out at the start that we had been amalgamated with the 2 litre modified class - if we had known a few days earlier I could have fitted the 48's for a bit more power. Fellow Tavern club members Alan and Denise Desbois were also out in their unique Peugeot 306 RWD with Andy Stevens servicing.

It took me a few miles to get back into the rhythm of driving in a forest but by the end of the first stage we were going well. Stages 2 and 3 also went smoothly and we took it gently over the infamous Margam jump - it's a man-made jump, pretty much just a pile of gravel but too short so the rear of the car gets kicked into the air and therefore not really worth attacking at speed. Back in service we waited for Alan and Denise to arrive - they had pulled over on a road section to check the suspension and found a bent front strut. Fly didn't need any fettling, just a bit of fuel, so Hugh helped Andy change all 4 struts on the 306 back to the previous set up - they did well to complete this in 35 minutes.

Out for the second lap, we were 16s faster on the identical Resolven stage and had a great run through the last long stage. We were pleased to finish 16th out of the 43 modern cars and 4th in class out of 17. Many thanks to George, another great job on the notes, and Hugh for servicing.
I've enjoyed the 2 forest events in 2013, it would just be nice to have some more power now as Fly takes a while to get going on some of the straights...

One pic over the jump taken by Scott Turner




After a few months off, I did another Targa in November, this time at Woodbridge Airfield. There were 4 tests laid out this time, run 4 times each but the final runs were pairs of tests joined together. They were quite tricky in places and using some roads I'd never seen before, a couple quite sandy and bumpy in places. I was seeded car 1 and had a disappointing slow start finding my way through all the cones assisted by Derek and was languishing in 17th after the first lap. Derek went well, helped a bit by being the second driver and was only a few seconds behind me in 18th. Second drivers were all doing well, having tyre marks to follow or having navigated someone else first through a test is definitely an advantage and 9 out of the top 10 at this point were second drivers.

The next lot of tests I really got going, not having anything to lose I took a few more risks than usual, set a couple of fastest test times and moved up to 6th

The afternoon saw a bit more improvement but I could only manage 4th overall, just one second behind Ian Mepham in his BMW 318 and just ahead of Jamie Turner. Owen Turner had been leading going into the final 2 test but got a puncture, changed it in 1m 30s and finished 6th. Derek had a good clean run through everything and finished 15th. George was out competing as a driver for the first time in her Endurance spec MG ZR and did very well to finish 30th out of the 75 cars

A couple more pics from Andy Manston






My final event for the year was the Peak Revs Road Rally based in Leominster. In November 2012 George and I did 3 Road Rallies and this was our favourite so we were keen to do it again. It was not a round of the Welsh Championship this year so had a shorter route of 80 miles and no petrol halt. They were also running a Special Test for the first time, about midway through the event

After all the formalities were completed, we were given an hour to plot the route, but we were a bit out of practice not having done a night event since February so we had to rush through the last few sections. There was one PC we struggled to plot and ran out of time to double check it.

On a Road Rally it's difficult to tell how you're getting on, but we seemed to be going well, catching some of the other Semi-Experts around us despite the slippery conditions and patchy ice. I was running on Yokohama A021R's and they were working well although the muddy whites were quite interesting, one near the end we took a minute out of the car in front over 1/2 a mile

The Special Test was round a disused and overgrown bomb dump at Ditton Priors, used in the past for Stage Rallies but not for many years. The Test Diagram was not the best I've seen but George did well to direct me round the tracks and cones, we had a good clean run through.

Near the end we came to the PC we'd had trouble plotting but didn't manage to find the marshals so this gave us a Fail, which puts you behind all the crew who are fail free. This left us 38th and 11th in class, without the fail we would have been just outside the top 10 and near the top of the class.

Looking at the Results, we were very pleased to be equal 2nd quickest on the Special Test, just a few seconds behind the overall winner



In 2014 the plan is for more of the same, a mixture of Road, Forest and Targa rallies, but before then Fly's rear chassis needs a major rebuild as there are cracks in many places and the chassis above the bump stops is disintegrating...

First planned event is Bath Festival in February

[alladdin]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

as always

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Wish we had targa rally's up north
This is the sort of event that would save Motorsport up here but instead all the clubs are too busy
Making sure that the national tarmac championship with the whining big boys get to run

Not very fair

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

thanks for the updates, they make a great read as always

[lukem30]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Just read this thread from the start, great read and lots of interesting event reviews.