GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

And some in car

Brands Hatch 2012 SS2

Brands Hatch 2012 SS3 - overtaken by Jeremy Straker's Darrian which won the event after John Indri retired

Brands Hatch 2012 SS4

Brands Hatch 2012 SS5

Brands Hatch 2012 SS6

Brands Hatch 2012 SS7 - chasing the Aston Martin who finished 7th

[andylad]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

some nice clean driving there mate... well done on a goos finish.

[cossie matt]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Well done Gav, great result at a well supported event.

Great neat driving as always. Must pull my finger out and add it to my To Do list for next year.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

West Cork Rally 17-18th March 2012

Back to Clonakilty once again in St Patrick's weekend, this time with George on the notes as Cath was unable to make it. Carrie and Guy came along to service as usual and brought their Road Rally Sierra for us to use on the Recce. A day and a half of recceing and we were happy with the notes so headed to scrutineering which was passed without any trouble, fitted the wets as it had been raining on and off, and left DVY in Parc Ferme overnight

Saturday morning was brighter but the roads were still damp so we left the wets on and headed off to Stage 1 - Ring which is one of my favourites. A bit slippy in places but everything was going well, George was reading the notes well, just a fraction late in places, but for her first time with notes on Tarmac it was very good, and our time was about 70th out of 130 starters

Stage 2 - Inchy Bridge, I remembered this one from last year, quite short at 6.5 miles, very twisty at the start but a nice flowing section in the middle, we had a good run, passing an ailing Ford Ka before catching a Nova at the finish, 54th quickest. This was the closest stage to Service, so Carrie walked up to do some spectating and took this video

Back in Service, nothing to worry about, just some fuel and the usual checks, not completely dry yet so left the wets on and headed out to the second run through Ring, this time 22s quicker

Over to Inchy Bridge again but unfortunately this time it was stopped about 10 cars before us due to an accident so it was cancelled

A short service and with the sun out we fitted the slicks. Onto Stage 5 - Ardfield, extended this year to the maximum 12.5miles with a big jump near the end, it took us 11:31 which was about 70th quickest again. George was improving all the time, but as I was going faster on the slicks she was finding she had to talk a lot quicker as well

Stage 6 - Clonakilty Town, very short this year at 0.9miles with about 5 chicanes, we didn't really enjoy it but hopefully the spectators did!

In service we had about 40 mins, so checked all the link bars, added some fuel and emptied the catch tank which was about 1/3 full, but nothing unusual

We were now 62nd and headed off to Stage 7 for a second run through Ardfield hoping to make up a few places, but a couple of miles in a vibration started - difficult to tell if it was the engine or box - so we carried on but on an uphill section it suddenly got a lot worse, very loud clattering and soon the oil light started to flicker so we pulled up in a convenient junction. The marshal came running over to say we'd left a trail of oil behind us and I opened the bonnet fearing the worst, oil covering the sump guard by the starter and I could just about see a hole in the block behind the engine mount. A call to Carrie and Guy and they were soon on their way to rescue us with the Sierra. When they arrived Guy had a good look round and found this on the sumpguard



So that was it for this year, towed DVY back to Clonakilty and went out for the night. Sunday we spectated on Stage 9 & 11 before loading up and heading for the evening ferry and home. So a disappointing end to a good week, George enjoyed what she did and gained a lot of experience, and many thanks to Carrie and Guy as always

My next event was going to be Middlewick Stages in May to defend last year's win, but it could be 6 months before I'm out in DVY again

[exboyracer]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Sorry to see the engine failure DVY sounded good on that video as well!

[bmw02rally]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Unlucky mate...at least you got to the event and did a few stages......Good luck with the rebuild.

Mark

[mexicotait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Keep your chin up gav these things are set to try us

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

I had some spare time over the long weekend, so decided to take the head off to see how much damage there was...

Difficult to see in the pics, but all 4 valves on No 3 Cyl are bent, but at least they're not snapped and there's no noticeable damage to the head




Piston twisted in the bore - I've seen a lot worse and it still moves freely


When the rod exited it took a little bit of the block, and even split the starter motor casing on the way past


Not much left of the sump either


But the engine still turns by hand so maybe some of the bottom end is salvageable

[Paul C]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

What a nightmare Gavin - do you know what would have caused the failure? Will you be rebuilding it yourself or taking it back to HT's?

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

We think a rod bolt let go first and everything followed from there

It'll be going back to HT - in January Ron suggested it might be an idea to change the rods as we couldn't remember the last time they were renewed, they definitely need doing now

[Paul C]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Nice clip of you Gavin at 6.54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejbVBJ8sWoI&feature=digest_fri

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

After a few months of collecting bits to rebuild the cossie, I now have everything needed so I took the engine out of DVY and shipped everything off to HT





I hope to be out again later in the year

[Group4_Mark2]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Any idea what caused the failure. Did you loose oil pressure or anything obvious

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

crank journal looks fine so i'd say either a rod or rod bolt failed through fatigue

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

My theory was a rod bolt snapped as the threads of one was left in the big end cap. Ron had a look and said sometimes the bolts stretch which may have been the vibration which I felt just before it let go. But the head is undamaged, just some bent valves, so that's a bonus