GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

[mervhill]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Yes, the TS bbq, that I can't make, because I'm at said race meeting, rub it in why don't ya!

[Dave]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

From Anglesey to my house is 2 right turns and a left into my drive. You can do it in 80 minutes easy.
And that is sticking to the speed limits, they are a bit keen in North Wales.

[mervhill]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

I have considered that actually Dave mate, but it's a bit of a family trip this one, and I don't think they'd appreciate being left.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Midland Speed Championship Trackday Thurs 4th September

Every year this championship organises a Trackday where a dozen drivers are invited to give the sponsors and their guests a taste of Sprinting

So I loaded up Fly behind the Scorpio and headed off to Curborough Sprint Track early Thursday morning, ariving in time for the complementary Bacon Buttie breakfast

I'd found some 10 year old Michelin Slicks and the day started dry so I fitted them and got Fly ready for my first unsuspecting passenger. The guests decided which cars they would like to have a ride in then the organisers sent them over to us in the paddock and we took them round the usual 2 lap sprint track. Most of the drivers were showing how quick their cars were, I was just seeing how sideways I could go everywhere

After a few times out it started to drizzle which made it even better, so I took Alan Cox's wife Juliet out as she'd always wanted a ride after watching the way I drive Fly over the last 2 years - I found her a helmet with an intercom so I could hear what she thought - after a bit of swearing the first time we went sideways, she couldn't stop laughing by the end of the run as it was such a strange sensation

By lunchtime I'd been out 9 times but after a heavy shower I put the wets on, finding that one of the slicks was down to the canvas, carried on drifting, and every time I came back with one passenger, there was another one waiting for me, and all of them got out with big smiles By the end of the day I'd been round 21 times so when I do my next sprint there in a couple of weeks hopefully I'll be quicker

It was a very enjoyable day but unfortunately the journey home took a bit longer than expected after the Scorpio overheated and the AA had to recover me back home so I'll be changing the head gasket tomorrow

[Dave]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Did you spend the whole day making the girls giggle gavin?

fair play mate, nice to have a bit of practice and entertain guests at the same time.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Did you spend the whole day making the girls giggle gavin?

Yes, 7 of them I think it was, only one of them was scared and hanging on to everything - her husband drives a very quick Westfield and she said she wouldn't go round with anyone, but by the end she went in that as well

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Wiscombe Hillclimb Sat 6th September

This wasn't a round of the Midland Speed Championship but Sunday's event was so I went down for the weekend and stayed with friends Paul and Tina on the edge of Exmoor

Paul used to Hillclimb a Westfield in the Midland Hillclimb and British Leaders Championships in the 90's and earlier this year had bought a Caterham 7 as a road car and was competing on both days as well

I was a bit worried that the event would be cancelled as Wiscombe does flood sometimes and the paddock is a sloping grass field which gets quite interesting when it is wet

I still had the wets on after Curborough, so after strapping down the battery well enough to keep the scrutineer happy, I lined up for 1st Practice on a damp and greasy hill. The first part of Wiscombe is quite open and dries quickly but the second part is through trees and needs a couple of days to dry, but in these conditions I had trouble even getting off the line (4.05s to 64ft), had to back off quite a few times to let the back end come back into line but I made it up the hill in 57.21s which was similar to the other 9 cars in my class

2nd Practice and the hill was starting to dry so I put the slicks on, this time doing 3.93s to 64ft, still too much wheelspin, up over Bunny's Leap and into the trees to the split in 25.83s, then tried to drive sensibly round the final 2 hairpins to cross the finish in 53.58s which was a bit more like it (last year my best time was 46.79s in perfect conditions)

1st Timed Run - after a heavy downpour during lunch, it took 4 marshalls to push Fly out of the paddock onto the tarmac so I could get to the start line and although it was very wet I left the slicks on as there was no standing water. I drove off the line as gently as I could, only flooring it when I had a bit of motion which worked a lot better with 3.68s to 64ft, very sensibly up the hill to the split in 26.49s and got Fly drifting nicely through the trees, tried both hairpins in 2nd gear so I wouldn't get too much wheelspin, but the first one was a bit too tight for this, and recorded a time of 55.44s which put me 6th in class

Meanwhile Paul was doing well, the wet conditions making up for his lack of power (standard 1.6 K-series with 125bhp) and was leading his class with a 53.07s run

2nd Timed Run and the track was still wet, although it had stopped raining just before I went up, so I left the slicks on again, drove sensibly off the line getting 3.62s to 64ft (if the finish was after 64ft I'd have won my class comfortably ) steadily up the hill to the split in 25.14s, through the trees and took the 1st hairpin in 1st gear this time, got going quickly up the next straight, round the last hairpin in 2nd and finished with 51.66s which I was very happy with and moved me up to 4th in class, beaten by a double driven Astra and a Clio, but beating Mike Griffiths 2.3 cossie powered Mk1 for the first time

Paul was slightly slower going in worse conditions but his nearest challenger in a 180bhp bike engined Sylva Stryker kit car decided not to bother with a second run so Paul took the class win

Tomorrow I'll write about Sunday and put up some in-car video of it

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Gavin, did you really do a when you beat Mike Griffith's Mk1 ... as you always seem so laid back i was thinking more like a quite to yourself ..

Well done anyways and look forward to Sundays report ... as i have a feeling that your holding back on something good

[mervhill]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Good work Gav!! Nice to see you did well against Mike, that's a serious car! 300cc and about 50bhp less too, well done indeed!

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Wiscombe Hillclimb Sun 7th September

Luckily there was no more rain overnight and the organisers let us come out of the paddock wherever we wanted to give the muddy bit a rest, which worked quite well

The hill was drier but still slippery under the trees, so a 1st Practice time of 50.41s was a good start as I was hoping to beat last year's time of 46.79s

2nd Practice and I was getting better at the starts (Wiscombe has a very short tyre warming area and the tarmac is not that grippy) with 3.07s to 64ft, not quite flat over Bunny's leap and still sliding through the trees to the split in 23.28s, a quick blast between the 2 hairpins and over the finish in 47.70s

1st Timed Run, off the line in 2.99s, pretty much flat over Bunny's, found a lot more grip through the trees to the split in 22.65s, into 3rd before the first hairpin and 4th before the second gained a bit more time to finish in 46.70s, which I was very happy with, until I saw Mike Griffiths had done 46.61s - slower to the split than me but quicker between the hairpins with his extra power, and the double driven Astra was ahead of this, so I was 4th again

2nd Timed Run and I took the passenger seat and fire extinguisher out to save a bit of weight and try and get up to 3rd. Off the line in 3.04s, pretty flat over Bunny's but I really need to be flat on the next bit to get Fly settled before braking into the gate and the trees. A bit messy through the trees, not quite as smooth as usual but reached the split in 22.52s, cut the hairpin a bit too tight and braked too early for the second hairpin but finished in 46.49s. Not one of my best runs but 0.3s quicker than last year on a day when most people were 1s or more off their best

Looking at the results, Mike had gone a lot quicker with a run of 45.5s to get 2nd between the 2 Astra drivers leaving me in 4th again

Paul had done a first run of 47.2s I think but this was 2s behind the bike engined Sylva Stryker. He went for it on the second run getting down to 46.10s which was very good and took 2nd in class

Thanks to Paul and Tina for looking after me all weekend

And a bit of in car from 2nd Practice and the Timed Runs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DsAqSCD87UYouTube - Wiscombe Park Hillclimb 7th Septmber 2008.

Next event is Shelsley on Sat 20th Sept followed by Curborough on the Sunday

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Gavin, did you really do a when you beat Mike Griffith's Mk1 ... as you always seem so laid back i was thinking more like a quite to yourself ..

Well done anyways and look forward to Sundays report ... as i have a feeling that your holding back on something good

It was definitely a as Mike is someone who's been Hillclimbing for years and I've never even been that close to him before. Maybe next year I'll beat him in the dry

[Dan]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

great writeup gavin cracking result too

[lee 1]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

loving the in car vids

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

Shelsley Walsh Sat 20th September

Another sunny weekend so I was looking forward to improving my times but unsure whether I could beat Tony in the Renault 5 Turbo again

1st Practice, a good start and a steady run up the perfectly dry hill to finish in 35.74s at 84mph, only 0.12s off my best time

2nd Practice, after talking to Alan about how many starter motors I'd been through this year, the current one packed up, so he parked his Mini in the queue for Practice, grabbed a couple of spectators and ran back to give Fly a bump
Another good start and a lot quicker up through the first corners to Bottom Ess nearly a second quicker (22.43s at 80mph), tried to keep it smooth out of Top Ess and over the line in 34.82s at 84mph

This put me slightly ahead of Tony, but during lunch he fitted his best slicks while I changed the starter on Fly

1st Timed Run, off the line in 2.39s, through the left hander at Kennel (Windy tells me this corner is flat but I'm not even close, maybe next year), upthrough the next right left with the shift light on in 3rd, into 4th and reached Bottom Ess in 22.12s at 82mph, neatly out of Top Ess and a short blast to in 34.49s at 85mph
Unfortunately, Tony put in a very quick time of 33.34s at 91mph

2nd Timed Run, I didn't think I could get anywhere near the Renault 5 but was hoping to be a bit quicker into the Esses. Another good start with 2.39s again, through Kennel slightly quicker, but the back end stepped out on the right left just as I was changing to 4th, and by the time I'd sorted that out I was 3/10th's slower to the Esses and finished on 34.74s at 84mph

Not one of my best runs, but a good improvement over July's time, so I loaded up Fly and headed home for a good night's sleep before Curborough the next day

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY

And the usual in car video

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PEr-_zyyIycYouTube - Shelsley Walsh 20/09/08.