GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Gavin, has DVY always been this colour scheme ?
i copied a scheme years ago onto my mk2 at the time (same patern but just red yel blu) and its bugging me that it might have been your car i copied all them years ago. i will have to dig thro some old pics but i fear ive thrown a lot

Hi Mike,

DVY was in these colours when I bought her in '97, done by the previous owner who built her in '93
He had built another Mk2 before that in identical colours

She was resprayed Blue in 2003 then sold in 2004 and the new owner painted her Dayglo Orange

When I got her back in 2008 I put her back into the original colour scheme

Thanks

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Nice one Gavin

Eventsigns Mewla Rally (Epynt) - Sunday 29th August
but I had to back off a couple of times as it was raining so hard the wipers couldn't keep up

Sounds like you could do with some rain X

[stone4dr]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

]
.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Huttons Kitchens Woodbridge Stages Sat 26th September 2010

Nearly a month ago now but been very busy since then so haven't had time to do a report

This event was run by Chelmsford MC and had a good entry of 70 cars, and Holly was codriving as usual

Scrutineering was passed the previous night without any comments which was good, and we arrived at Woodbridge early on Saturday with some dampness in the air. DVY was on slicks and I wasn't sure what to do as it wasn't wet enough for the wets, but half hour before Stage 1 we decided it would be a good idea to change to them anyway and by the time we started it was pretty damp

Stage 1 & 2
We had a very good run on Stage 1, a bit of a heavy landing the first time over the jump but plenty of grip from the X22 wets and we were very surprised to be 4th overall, just ahead of Pete Rayner who was out for the first time in a new Duratec powered Mk2
Queuing up for Stage 2, the engine started to run a bit rough, and although I've been having a random misfire problem all year I thought I'd better have a quick look under the bonnet. To my amazement, the dry sump pump was waving around in mid air, the pump bracket having sheared off, it was hanging on by the dry sump pipes and drive belt. So as there was no way we could risk doing the stage like that, we headed back to service very slowly
I don't carry a spare bracket (never had one shear before) so I was about to put it on the trailer when Jon Segger and Mark Cann wandered over to have a look at my roll cage (they'd been chucked out at scrutineering for having a so called "S bend" in the front legs of the cage and wanted to look at mine because they thought it was identical and it is, but we'd been passed by a different scrutineer )
Anyway, I showed them the problem and Mark went off to get his fully equipped van with a welder and some lengths of steel. Meanwhile Ian Mepham came over as he'd seen us come back at the wrong time (he was there servicing for a 206) and started to remove the bracket so it could be welded up. Soon the bracket was off, but it turned out to be alloy so no chance of repairing it. Not to be deterred, Mark cut some lengths of 3mm flat bar and drilled holes in the appropriate places and soon the pump was back on with 2 of these. Underneath the pump, the belt tensioning brace had broken the stud off the front of the sump, so another length of flat bar was used to tension this across to the bottom alternator mount, and a quick run up and down the main runway (away from the service area) showed everything was fine. Many thanks to Ian and Mark for sorting this out for us

Practice Rally - Stage 3 & 4
Having missed Stage 2, we were allowed to go back out for the remainging stages back in our original running order, but not be included in the results. Before this we had to be re-scrutineered to make sure our repairs were ok. So we got the Chief Scrutineer over who was happy with our repairs. Jon Segger pointed out that our cage was the same as his, and the Scrutineer said to me that mine was illegal as well, which I found a bit strange as it has been fine for the previous 57 Stage Events I've done in DVY
But he couldn't really stop us going out again as we'd been passed by a different scrutineer, so we got in and headed out for Stage 3
Still on the wets even though it was pretty dry by now, we had a gentle run making sure everything was working properly, but for stage 4 we fitted the slicks and had a blast getting back on the pace again

Practice Rally - Stage 5 & 6
The Stages were reversed now and on Stage 5 we were slowly caught by Pete Rayner so I let him past and we had a good second lap chasing him
On Stage 6 he appeared closer behind us at the merge but we were going even better and he didn't catch us this time

Practice Rally - Stage 7 & 8
It was drizzling again by now but I couldn't see the point in wearing out some wets so we left the slicks on and went out for a play. It made a nice change not worrying about the times, just seeing how sideways we could go

In Car from Stage 8 - the clattering is a link bar dragging on the ground

So apart from missing Stage 2 we had an enjoyable event and would have finished about 6th

To briefly clear up the roll cage issue, there's rule in the Blue Book that states there should only be one bend in the lower vertical section of the front cage, i.e. one bend at the bottom of the windscreen and then dead straight to the floor. A lot of cages have a very slight bend forwards so they can mount further forwards on the floor and miss the dashboard. The bend in my cage is so slight I hadn't noticed it until Jon pointed it out to me. The MSA had asked scrutineers to tighten up on this rule after some cars have been rallying with "track day" cages which are designed to miss the dash of a modern car and have a significant forward bend under the dash (some 20 - 30 degrees), but by doing this it has made a lot of Escorts, Sunbeams, etc illegal. Jon has done a lot of investigation into this since the event and as long as the cage has a certificate showing that the design with this extra bend will withstand the defined stress tests then it is ok, so he has got hold of one from the MSA and everything should be ok. Windy also got some help from Gartrac to track down the correct certificate. I will get one for next year for DVY, but it has caused a lot of trouble for a lot of competitors just because of a few cars which should not even have got log books in the first place

Before Woodbridge I had decided that would be the last event for DVY this year so the winter rebuild can start

The strange misfire was back again but not too badly and when I removed the fuel tank after the event to fit it in FLY, something moved inside and this turned out to be the baffle floating around in the bottom of the tank, so whether this has been happening all year and randomly covering the fuel outlets thus causing the misfire I have no idea, but the engine will be having some improvements made just to be sure everything is ok for 2011

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

well that was certainly an interesting outing! a couple of near disaters everted! glad you got a good run out even if you werent in the results

[mervhill]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Well done Gavin, and nice one to Jon and the team of people that managed to get your car back out there!

Sounds like it was the same scrutineer that failed a micra on the Richard Burns for the same thing, again despite the fact that he'd competed in several rallies with the same cage in for several years, including full british rounds!

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

re cages its a difficult one, scruiteering is only a quick check, if the scruits went right through all the cars they'd have to start scruitineering for a sunday event on thursday morning, and just because a car has competed with a cage previously you cant really knock the scruit for failing something which doesnt comply with current rules because thats what hes been instructed to do.

[mervhill]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

It all depends on his perception of the rules as well though don't forget, he could be failing cars when they shouldn't be failed!

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

, he could be failing cars when they shouldn't be failed!

maybe, but you cannot expect the scruits to necsasarily know which cages that dont comply with latest rules are actually certified unless theres a certification certificate on hand, its not just rallying either recently rod birley had a scruit tell him the cage in his wrc was non compliant

[dottydogmk1]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Hi Gavin, really enjoyed reading your excxellent thread - brought back some great memories of the Escort dices at Loton. I hope you decide to come back to the hills in 2011 as I want to have a go at you with the Cossy fitted (hopefully!). It was really good to read some background stuff on what you have been up to with DVY, it certainly has a much harder life than JAY! Meanwhile I have been back in the shed to continue the restoration of the RS ....Cheers, Steve

[team_zi]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Loving the power slides at 6m35s

What nonsense about the roll cages.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

After spending about a month rearranging the workshop, building the shelves upwards, so I can fit 3 cars in there, including my winter project







Today I made a start on DVY's winter mods...

Cut a small hole in the tank platform and made up a plate to cover it


Fitted the pumps and filter into a rather nice mount from GRP4 Fabrications

[dottydogmk1]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Looks like you are going to fuel injection and the mystical black box then....Damn - Ithought that was my one advantage!

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Hi Steve,

That's the plan - it's something I had planned for the end of last year but gearbox problems got in the way

Is yours back together now?

[dottydogmk1]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

No, it's still in bits. I am hoping for some progress soon but can't say too much at the moment. Which throttle bodies/management are you going for? Brilliant thread by the way. Cheers, Steve.