GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[BluPrinT]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

A great read Gavin!! Brings back some memories, not seen DVY for years, since i was a lad anyway!!

Awesome pics too!

[Paul C]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Keep em coming Gav! Still got 8 years to go

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Essex, thought you was a herts lad

Grew up in East Herts living with my parents, then met Carrie and lived in West Essex for 4 years before moving to West Wales for nearly 8 years and now I'm in Bristol as I work there

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Ahh my confusion is corrected .. now wheres the next bit

[wombat]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

WOW! That's some story. A great read, I just wish I could have taken the computer into the loo! Some of the pics are going up in the garage.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

A great read Gavin!! Brings back some memories, not seen DVY for years, since i was a lad anyway!!

Awesome pics too!

Now I feel REALLY old

carrie

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

2001

This was a year to forget, for many reasons

Over the winter the engine went back to HT as usual and we switched back to the old cams and exhaust system as I wasn't going any quicker with the extra top end power and we swapped flywheels with a friend's (Rob) similar cossie engine so we could run a twin paddle clutch - the single paddle had to be relined every 6 months

We were planning another trip to West Cork in March, but living in West Wales, Snetterton was rather a long way to go for a shakedown so we entered the Peter Lloyd Stages at Pembrey in February

When we arrived it was dark and raining very hard, so I put some nice new wets on DVY for the first stage. This went well, learning our way round the venue, but there were some rather large deep puddles in places that created a fountain through the gearstick hole

In service I sealed the hole with loads of tank tape and went out for the 2nd stage. This time we hit a large pothole invisible under a puddle and bent 2 rims, destroying 2 wets before we got to the finish so we called it a day before we did any more damage

Then Foot and Mouth hit the country, causing serious problems for a lot of the farming community

Because of this, a lot of motorsport was cancelled and with 2 weeks to go West Cork was cancelled as well to protect the rural Irish communities

One event which did run was Millbrook at the end of May so we went there for the usual excitement

But this was short lived as well, with a death rattle from the engine on stage 2 just before the finish and it seized just as we stopped at the finish control

A few more trips across the country followed as the engine was shipped back to HT for a new crank, rod and bearings and they diagnosed oil starvation, either caused by the baffle in the dry sump not letting enough oil return to the tank, or the oil feed pipe collapsing internally, so all this was sorted

Then it was off to Longcross in June, but once again there were engine problems, most of the oil ending up in the catch tank after a few stages

We went straight round to HT, and left DVY there with Roland. This time the problem was detonation, everything was stripped and checked and even the radiator was rebuilt to keep everything cooler, but on the next outing at a Wethersfield Sprint in August exactly the same thing happened, the catch tank filling up with oil as the pistons started to melt

Then followed probably one of the biggest and most expensive mistakes of my life, when we sought a second opinion from a well known engine builder, Jondel, who turned out to be a complete tosser

Many months and £5k later, the cossie returned from said engine builder, with new pistons, a fresh 205 block (from a transit ), a new rocker cover (the old one was warped ) and even some crappy Pipercross foam air filter replacing my perfect K&N's, remapped ignition (the detonation was caused by the flywheel swap moving TDC ) and a dyno sheet showing 232bhp

With a bit of difficulty, and after refitting the K&N's, the engine was reinstalled - the transit block had been machined to have 2 oil feeds, the extra one being where the oil pressure switch went, (on questioning Jondel I was told they always do this), so I ran a remote filter with pressure take off and a T-piece into the 2 oil feeds

Everything was finished by Christmas so we were looking forward to a better 2002

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

2002

This year instead of going back to Pembrey, we went to Builth Wells Showground in February for the Wye Valley Charity Stages and had a good day, finishing 9th I think, although DVY didn't seem to be pulling as well as she used to

Then it was off to West Cork in March, but after I took DVY for a quick blast up the road the Tuesday before, the engine started rattling from the big ends, so I phoned up Jondel to see what they had to say, the engine having done 30 miles since the £5k rebuild, and their only response was to ask for the engine back so they could have a look, which wasn't that helpful as we had to leave for the Irish ferry at 11pm and it was now 1pm

Not to be deterred, I phoned David to see if he could get away from work a couple of hours earlier while Carrie picked up our neighbour's son James and we started taking the Pinto out of FLY. Many hours later, we were ready to go, DVY was on the trailer (still with the Cossie fitted), the Pinto was in the back of the van along with the engine crane and everything else I could think of to make it run in DVY

Wednesday lunchtime we arrived in Clonakilty, where the West Cork rally is based, and spent the rest of the day removing the Cossie and bolting the Pinto in. Thursday Carrie and I went recceing, leaving David to finish wiring and plumbing the Pinto and it was running that night, Friday we finished recceing, got through scrutineering and picked up the rest of our service crew from Cork Airport, Michael, Nigel and Richard

So onto the rally, we were missing the power of the Cossie and were running out of revs down the long straights, the Pinto was feeling the strain with the cam and followers wearing between services, so much so that we didn't make it to Parc Ferme that night, deciding instead to try and repair the engine and enter the Sunday Run the next day, so we found another Pinto in a Granada in a local scrapyard and changed the worn followers

On the Sunday Run it was going well until about lunchtime when a couple of cam lobes wore out completely, so we retired and headed back to Wales

Next the Cossie was shipped off to Jondel for an inspection, while I rebuilt the Pinto with a new cam and followers. The Cossie needed another crank and rod and they dyno ran it again even though I asked them not to, and when Carrie and I went to collect it, we were presented with a £3k bill, about half of which was labour. When I suggested we'd pay for the parts only we were told that the problem was caused by a lack of oil because of the way I'd installed the engine, but they had insisted I install it with 2 oil feeds, and I had followed their instructions exactly
At the end of the day, he had electric gates to his property and my engine, and wouldn't let us leave until I had written a cheque for the full amount

Two days later we received a threatening phone call from Jondel - they'd been to the bank with my cheque and found I hadn't signed it, which was a surprise to me as I'm not that clever and we were told the boys would be round in a couple of days to sort us out

So I parcelled up all the unnecessary parts that had been fitted - Pipercross Air Filter, various oil fittings and the rocker cover - totalling £500 at their prices with a letter offering once again to pay half the bill

We didn't hear anything further so I refitted the Cossie into DVY, having a special bung made to fit the 2nd oil feed hole in the block so the oil pressure switch could go back in its normal place, and put the rest of the oil system back to how 99.9% of the world run dry sumped Pintos

Then we went to Millbrook in May, this year finishing 12th / 2nd in Class behind Royston, strangely not having any oil problems since I'd plumbed it back to normal, but I still wasn't happy with the engine, probably because Jondel had insisted that the CR should be 11:1 when HT always built it to 12:1

Finally, 31 days after getting the engine back from Jondel we received a summons to the Small Claims Court for £3k, saying that we had made no attempt to pay the bill and denying ever receiving the parcel of parts and letter

First Court Hearing, Carrie and I went along to be met by an expensive lawyer employed by Jondel, and 7 months later at Christmas we were still fighting the case, we'd collected statements from various people to say how good the engine used to be, gone back to Sanspeed's rollers for a comparison (208bhp at the flywheel) , and we discovered the engine was now 2060cc not a genuine 1999cc, but it was no use, the Court didn't understand and decided the best way to resolve the case was for an independent expert to inspect the engine at a cost of £2k which would have been a complete waste of time as the engine had been repaired already

And we couldn't use the engine while this was going on, as it was evidence, so in January 2003 we paid the £3k and the engine was shipped off to Ron at HT to be rebuilt properly with a fresh block, new pistons and 12:1 CR, and back to 1999cc, all for £1600

The remaining transit block, oversized pistons and a cossy crank and rods were built up as a short engine and sold to someone in Scotland

Next 2003, things can only get better

[lee 1]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

So you would'nt recomend jondel thenamazed you are so calm about it i would still be fuming

Keep it comming Gavin

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

So you would'nt recomend jondel thenamazed you are so calm about it i would still be fuming

Well it took me 2 hours to write that as it brings back bad memories, I try not to think about it, and no I wouldn't recommend them to anyone

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

2003-2004

Early in the year, DVY had gone off to Melvyn Evans for a general tidy up and came back painted in a lovely blue colour donated by a friend

By the time the engine was sorted, it was too late for a shakedown rally, but we did Builth in Fly as we hadn't done a rally since Millbrook the year before

Then, after quite a few laps of the local lanes, it was back to West Cork for the 25th Anniversary of that event. Seeded lower down at 90 we had a cracking 2 days rallying, DVY was running perfectly, and except for nearly rolling it into a ball on a flat 4th gear right hander and putting a tiny crease in the new paint job at the next bale chicane, we were very happy to finish 43rd overall and 6th in class out of the 150 entries. This was a lot worse overall but the same class position as in 2000 showing how many more WRC cars were running at the head of the field

The only time DVY used to lift a wheel was in Ireland due to the softer springs


After that I entered the Chieftan Sprint at Longcross in May, winning my class easily and set 3rd FTD behind Steve Broughton (of SBD) and his friend double driving their 1700cc Vauxhall powered Westfield, which had as much power as I did

Nice pic from the Sprint


But Millbrook was cancelled in 2003 and with the court case and working in Bristol instead of London since July 2002, money was a bit tight, so DVY stayed in the shed for the rest of the year

In 2004 things weren't much better, and even though David and Richard offered to help with the expenses for West Cork we decided we couldn't afford to go, so it was May 2004 before DVY came out again

There was no need to tax her, so I did a few laps of our 9 acre field to make sure everything was running perfectly


Then it was off to Millbrook where we bumped into Cath Woodman for the first time in years, who was co-driving for Windy on his first ever Stage Rally

After a good battle all day, Windy and Cath finished 19th / 3rd while we were 22nd / 6th only really setting good times in the afternoon when I'd remembered how to drive

And the usual jump shot


Soon after Millbrook, Carrie and I sat down and made the difficult decision to sell DVY, the mortgage being more important than having 2 rally cars (FLY will never be sold ) and I joined Turbosport as part of trying to sell her

The price was £15k and we had a few people round, one in particular I remember was looking for his first rally car, but after I took him for a ride up the main road to the local garage, turned round and came back drifting round the corners flat in 4th, he decided DVY was too quick for him

A few months later and still no buyers, Carrie put an ad on British Rally Forum asking for offers for all or parts of DVY and after a few calls, Rupert Lomax came round one Friday afternoon in August, liked what he saw and came back 8am Saturday morning with £8k and helped us remove the engine, gearbox, seats, harnesses, exhaust, radiator, fan, etc and took her home

In October that year he entered his local forestry event, the Cambrian Rally, and was leading his class before his John Hardman Vauxhall engine had problems (I said he should have bought the Cossie )

And a pic of Rupert on that event

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

2005-2007

When Rupert had bought DVY, he had mentioned doing the Barbados Rally Carnival next summer and sure enough he was there - DVY now painted to mach his Plant Hire business


In August, Rupert entered DVY on the Ranges Stages at Trawsfynydd and came 1st overall

Then in October he was back out on the Cambrian Rally, this time retiring after a nasty encounter with a tree stump


After this we heard a lot of rumours about how the damage was so bad that Rupert had to re-shell DVY, but when I phoned him in February 2006, he said it hadn't been that bad, just needing a new wing, door skin and a bit of panelbeating to the roof

I'm not sure if Rupert and DVY did any more rallies between then and late 2007 when DVY had been modified to run in the Historics with a Warrior Pinto and proper AP brakes, no roof scoop, etc, and was out on the Track Rod and Cambrian Rallies - this pic is from the Cambrian

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

2008

In early January I had a text from a friend saying they'd seen DVY on eBay and a link was put up on TS as well

Rupert had always talked about building a Mk1 and he had finally got round to it, taking everything off DVY that would fit a Mk1 and selling DVY as a shell on eBay



Carrie had left in Jan 2007 so I wasn't worrying about money as much and I decided to try and get DVY back

After speaking to Rupert, I was happy DVY was as good a shell as when I'd sold it to him - he'd cut the bulkhead to fit the Vauxhall, fitted some extra bars to the cage, strengthened the panhard rod mount and fitted proper tank stands in the boot - he thought she would go for £3.5k, I thought more like £5k for a shell in that condition, but I bid £6k as it was DVY

A few other people were bidding as well, and at the last second an Irishman bit £6k as well but lost out as I'd bid earlier

When I collected DVY, Rupert had dug out some of the bits he'd removed to make DVY into a forest car - the original 300/120 Bilstein inserts which DVY was built with, some TCA's and compression struts, the dash clocks and steering column

DVY then sat at my place in Wales for a few months and I fitted enough bits to make her rolling, and then was put into storage at my parents house while I moved to Bristol

By October I'd finished all the events in Fly and brought DVY back to Bristol to be painted

Before - took me hours to remove all the stickers and clean all the adhesive off


After


And they painted the engine bay as well - Fly's original Pinto was just fitted to get it out of the way - it won't be staying


Today I've been rebuilding my other very narrow atlas, tightening the diff, fitting new shafts and very long wheel studs - I'll have to run thick spacers to clear the coilovers

Looks like I'll have a busy winter getting her ready for some rallies next year

[4drmatt]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

another cracking read?

so what is the plan for the car?

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

another cracking read?

so what is the plan for the car?

Plan is to rebuild to similar spec as before for Tarmac Stage Rallies - next year DVY and FLY will have to share engines and gearboxes though