Tweet
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
shame about the axle, but glad its not turned out too bad, great write up as always
shame about the axle, but glad its not turned out too bad, great write up as always
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Gavin what pressure you running in the dmacks
I tried some the other day and didn't seem to have much grip
They are softs as well so I expected them do be decentHexham and District MotorclubComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Hi,
I run 25psi all round whatever the tyre. When I first used the soft Dmacks on the Bath in 2016 they seemed bad for the first few sections then a lot better as they wore down a bit. I've got some new ones for the back this year, so will put some miles on them before the event!GavinR
sigpicComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
I think me an gavin are talking about gravel tyres John.
Are you using them on the trackHexham and District MotorclubComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Bath Festival Road Rally - 25th/26th February 2017
After the axle problem on the Carpetbagger, I fitted new diff and pinion bearings, machined a solid spacer for the pinion and used a new pinion nut to hold everything together. I did 30 miles on the road and everything seemed fine - I also used this time to "wear in" a pair of new soft Dmacks gravle tyres on the rear
This helped a lot and they were gripping well from the start
There were 63 entries and George and I were seeded at 16, a bit lower than usual. The event had a similar format to previous years with a lot of forest sections in the first half followed by some lanes and whites to the west of Bath in the second half, giving around 150 miles.
After a few hours plotting at the start, we headed off towards Warminster and the Longleat Estate for a 2 mile section in the woods. It had been raining all day, stopping just before the start but this had left the tracks very slippery. Down the first straight the throttle started sticking a bit which was slightly disconcerting, pushing us on into some of the corners, but we still set a good time. On the next road section I stopped to have a look – everything looked fine, so I just sprayed WD40 (the only thing I had handy) round the linkage and cables and moved the cables slightly to get a better angle to the carbs.
Next we had 4 sections in a nearby forest, still mucky and slippery but going well. Another short link section took us further around the Longleat Estate and a long section with a mixture of lanes and forests, a lot of these familiar from previous events. The first two parts we took 35s out of the car in front and they kindly let us past at the next control which led into a section around Frome Showground which was run as a regularity. Back onto the lanes for a few miles before heading into my favorite forest, Kingswood Warren, nice and fast, flowing and smooth! We crossed a road into Alfred’s Tower forest, notable for it’s multiple hairpins, some of which aren’t on the map, and we nearly caught another car here. Another road section took us to a white and a byway, both very muddy. Halfway down the white, looking for the turning for the byway, I spotted a likely looking slot with fresh tyre marks and turned in, only to find ourselves in a field. There was a faint track across it but it didn’t seem right so I carefully swung round and back out, and found the byway 100 yards further on – a lot of crews made the same mistake here! We were fastest on one part of this, and 2nd fastest on a couple more.
The next section started on an undulating yellow down to a slot left which I usually see too late, but this year the photographer had helpfully put his Photo board just before it so I got it right and we headed into the forests again. The final section before the Petrol halt was down a private tarmac road through a farm. This is very quick so the organisers put in chicanes to slow us down, but we’ve down it a few times before and were 2nd fastest here. At petrol we were surprised to be 4th car on the road, having overtaken a few and various cars had retired. We didn’t know where we were lying overall when we left but thought we were doing ok (later results showed us 2nd, 32s behind the leader and 26s ahead of 3rd, with 4th a couple of minutes further back).
The 2nd half started well with us cleaning the first few sections easily and only dropping a few seconds on the others. We then reached a section round Semley Hill – George remembered we’d missed a tricky slot here a few years earlier, but unfortunately I drove past it again and by the time I’d turned round and gone back we’d dropped 2 minutes. There followed some very muddy whites and I was struggling for grip, so it must have been really difficult for the Novices on more standard tyres, and we dropped some more time.
There was one section with a Quiet Zone manned by a DSO at the beginning and this made me think it was a slack section – by the time we’d realised it was tight, we’d dropped another minute. Back into the forests nearing the finish, we were back on the pace, but caught the car in front and couldn’t get past.
With the time dropped in the second half, this pushed us down to 3rd overall, nearly 5 minutes behind 2nd, but still the best result George and I have had on a night event
My next event will be the Somerset Stages in 2 weeks, using the forests of Exmoor which I know reasonably well after organising a few events in there over the last few yearsGavinR
sigpicComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Good result and good write up
Did you get the throttle sorted?Hexham and District MotorclubComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Yes - one of the cables had started to break as they go through the bulkhead and the frayed ends were causing the problem
Fitted a new cable and it's all fine nowGavinR
sigpicComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Somerset Stages Rally - 8th April 2017
A round of the BTRDA forest championship, I'd done this event once before in 2013, and have been out marshalling the past few years.
Fly is due for a major rebuild this summer, and this event was 2 days before the MOT ran out, so I asked George if she wanted to sit in with me for a final one before the rebuild.
The event is based in Minehead and uses the Exmoor forests and Porlock Toll Road, both areas I know pretty well having organised the Exmoor Targa Rally in 2015 & 2016.
There was a smaller entry than usual with 100 cars and 7 in our class.
I went down on the Friday for scrutineering - and nearly failed, the first scrutineer not impressed with some rust on the inside of the A pillar, worried that in the event of a roll the foot of the cage might go through the floor, despite the very large 3mm steel plate on the floor. The chief scrutineer agreed we could run, but as I was going home anyway, I welded a plate over the rust.
We started with 6 forest stages, the first one delayed by an hour due to a couple of incidents. Once we were going, everything was working well, I remembered some sections but was mainly listening to the pacenotes - it's a lot faster than doing course car on the Targa when there are a lot of cone manoeuvres to slow the cars down! There were a few rough sections where the bedrock is the road surface so cannot be graded, but Fly was bouncing along quite well to George's amusement
After these it was back to Minehead for a quick tyre change service where we fitted very soft X22 wets for the 2 runs up Porlock. Even though it was dry, I knew I wouldn't be going quick enough in Fly to overheat them! We had 2 good runs, slightly quicker on the second one, but not enough power to set a good time.
A longer service this time - Richard and I checked Fly over and refitted the forest tyres, while George got us some Ice Cream for lunch - it was a hot day by the sea, so why not! The afternoon consisted of another 6 forest stages, some the same as the morning, but we did have the longest stage of 8.2 miles in Croydon. There were 2 stages in Chargot forest and these were quite rutted after being used in the other direction in the morning - I stayed in the ruts slithering along on the sumpguard and exhaust. After that the exhaust was blowing from the centre silencer as the rear end plate had been pulled back. The long stage was smoother and the final one in Timberscombe was good, so it didn't get any worse.
At the finish in Minehead we were surprised to be 2nd in Class, although 3 minutes behind the class winners in a Sunbeam.
It was a very enjoyable day and great to be back in the forests, many thanks to George for co-driving and Richard for servicing
This pic (from Blueline Photography) is at Chargot in the afternoon.
Next event will be September providing everything is rebuilt in time - I dropped the engine off yesterday and Fly is stripped ready for a new front end...GavinR
sigpicComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Pictures...
Did I mention the exhaust had got battered on the Somerset...
At least I now know where I need to make a recess in the floor for the silencer!
Decided it was easier to remove engine, box and cross member in one piece, but forgot just how tall a Pinto is!
When I took the suspension off, I found a leaking insert so removed it to find the cap had come off
Both front chassis rails and inner wings will be replaced - the damage / rot here comes from having the sumpguard bolted through the chassis
The sumpguard has a thick rubber pad between it and the crossmember which has pushed up the bottom of the crossmember
Although I didn't expect to find a distorted engine mount on the passenger side - it was still bolted solidly to the engine, but must have bent after a heavy landing
The driver's link box is still solid, but everything around it is going - this is after I've been poking around with a large screwdriver!
The bottom of the windscreen is not good, but it's only the outer skin so can be welded up easily
I've got all the bits now, mainly from Tim at TJ Motorsport.
James (Oddy) will do the front end for me, and I'll repair the back end, floor and link boxes as required...GavinR
sigpicComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Good to see her getting some love
Have you moved workshops
Looks nice a bright in thereHexham and District MotorclubComment
-
Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
I've been in that workshop for just over 2 years now - it has some good clear panels in the roof so is bright in the summerGavinR
sigpicComment
Comment