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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Nearly de-rimming the nearside rear too!
Nearly de-rimming the nearside rear too!
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Well done on the 11th place Gavin. I'm hoping to be finished in time to go to Croft in March 09 if thats the first event again. Not long to wait.Comment
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
There's a provisional calendar out for 2009 - first events are Harewood and Croft on Easter Weekend (12/13th April)
I had an enjoyable time at Brands on Wednesday afternoon, meeting up with my brother Derek in his Luego Velocity (a 7 type kit car) and a few of his friends, Russ and brother Jason in an immaculate Rally Prepared Mk1 Escort, and Andy in a Porsche Carrera 4 Turbo, and our Dad came along to spectate
After the briefing we all had to do a couple of convoy laps behind the safety car to learn the track - I knew where it went but last time I drove round was at a Sprint about 15 years ago, so this was quite handy
It was an open pit lane meaning we could come in and out as we liked, so I jumped in with Derek to start with, not having been in his car before - powered by a standard Sierra injection engine running a 32/36 carb and Megajolt ignition, it didn't have that much power but with a good set of Yokohama's and well set up suspension it cornered very well so we were overtaking a lot of cars out of Druids but were dropping back down the straights
I then went out on my own in Fly and did quite a few laps, overtaking various Skylines until a pink Renault 5 Turbo expired in a large cloud of smoke and the Red Flags came out. Back in the paddock I was just about to fit the slicks when it started to drizzle steadily so I stuck to the wets for the rest of the day
Russ had been out for a while in the Mk1, then came in to let Jason have a go and Derek went out at the same time so I watched from the paddock. Derek started in front but after a few laps let Jason past, then the next lap Jason had a bit of a wiggle through Paddock Hill bend and slid off into the gravel trap. No harm was done but the Red Flags came out again while he was towed out
By now the track was getting wet, so I took Derek out in Fly, there was quite a lot of traffic but we gradually worked through it, everyone being sensible and letting us past, but after about 10 laps it was getting a bit dodgy braking into Paddock Hill bend due to the water (I had a GPS speedo fitted and it was showing 105 at the braking point) so I came in before I did something stupid
Meanwhile Andy was following us round in his Porsche and stayed out to get some quicker laps in
When it stopped raining and a dry line started to appear, we all went out together but it seemed that every time we got up to speed, someone else fell off into a gravel trap - first a quick Saxo, then an old Mini nearly reached the tyre wall through the gravel and finally an R300 bike engined Caterham 7 went straight on at Druids - it was a complete coincidence that Fly was 2 foot off his rear bumper when he did this as I was lining up to overtake on the way out, or maybe he was so surprised to see a Mk2 behind him he forgot to brake
At the end I took Russ out in Fly so he could see what she went like, and was quite impressed
Pics to follow next week
I also went to see Ron at HT on the way, to see the new Rolling Road and pick his brains about a couple of things, and came away with a rather bling inner wing dry sump tank for Fly
GavinR
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
A few pics from the Trackday, courtesy of Raw Action
Derek's Luego with me hanging on
Russ's lovely Mk1
And FLY
GavinR
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
So when are you doing your ARD's Gavin ?Comment
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
aww come on.. you know you'll love banging door handlesComment
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Rallying is a cure for Insommnia
Click on the picture to find out how I,m doing
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
I've started taking bits off Fly to finish off DVY so after clearing various bits from the engine bay I had a good look at the cracks in the driver's side strut top that had appeared after Fat Albert last summer (and has been covered by heat shield ever since
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I can feel the crack from the other side as well and it's very crunchy all round here so it looks like I'll be busy before this season starts
GavinR
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
After a rather busy year in DVY, I finally made a start on FLY's winter rebuild tonight
Removed the wing (attached by about 20 bolts)
With the strut out of the way, it was time to remove the cover plate which had been fitted about 15 years ago to reveal the original strut top (or what's left of it)
The strut top pan looks ok - the main rust is where the original inner wing and the cover plate were welded togetherGavinR
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Good luck with the rebuild mate
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Re: GavinR's Mk2 Rally Car - FLY
Thanks
It's nearly 3 years ago I did the last rebuild, but this is a different area and hopefully if it's done right this time (with a little help from some friends) she'll last another 10 years before needing another one
Tonight I dug out the inner wings sections I'd saved from the 4 door I choppped up previously
Started with a mint strut top (even with original chassis stamp on it)
Cleaned all the waxoyl from round the spot welds
And after 45min drilling them out I ended up with this
Fits perfectly, only problem is it doesn't quite cover all the area the previous plate did
Obviously it's not going to be welded on top like this, but at least now I've got a decent sized and shaped panel to do the repairs with
What surprised me most was only finding 8 spot welds on top of the inner wing, no wonder moisture gets in and they rot out from underneath
GavinR
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Gary
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