GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

[tom burgess]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Well Done Gavin on youre resultto get that far up in an old mk2 is astonishing

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Well Done Gavin on youre resultto get that far up in an old mk2 is astonishing

You'd have been even more impressed by the Mk2's that came 1st and 2nd overall then!

Thanks for the pics David

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

No worries, will get some better ones next time when I get a digital SLR

And as for tom go and wash your mouth out

[MCURZON]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Great result, glad to see you beating the four wheel drive tat!!

[Paul C]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Well done on your result Gav.

So what are your plans for DVY?

Paul

[JonSegger]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Superb Gavin!! well done. All the best blokes finish 2nd in class at Goodwood so I hear... (We were 2nd in class & 8th o/a last year)

Wish I could have been ready in time... but there's always next year.

[SnappyRacers]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

I happened to be at Goodwood... To see you vandalise a poor defenceless stick...







JB

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Gavin said he'd been on the grass a bit. Didn't realise it was all four wheels

[Dave]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Top class write up, as ever Gavin.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

And I only thought I got 3 wheels off as well

Glad it was only a thin stick - didn't even scratch the bumper

[SnappyRacers]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

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

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

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]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

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]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

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

[Dave]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

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.