GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

heres the results looks like gav was in the 30's overall

http://www.rallyroots.com/WCR09_Overall3.pdf

Looks like there may be a special award as well (if I read that right)

Hope you all had a good weekend and I look forward to hearing about it

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

West Cork Rally 14th-15th March 2009

Wed - Cath (Woodman) arrived early and we set off for Pembroke arriving with a couple of hours to spare. Carrie and Guy arrived soon after in the Scorpio Estate having collected a new fuel pump from Gareth. The crossing was nice and smooth, only slightly delayed due to fog, and we arrived at the B&B in Clonakilty around 11pm in light rain and were greeted by the owners Kathleen & Gerry with Tea, Coffee and a plateful of cake! - Good to see nothing had changed in the 6 years since I'd last been there and Cath was already impressed with the hospitality



Thurs - We recce'd the Sat Stages once and Sun Stages once with Service crew, then went back to the B&B for a break and left Carrie & Guy to spend the afternoon doing a few jobs on DVY, lowering the front 1", fitting the new fuel pump, trimming the mud flaps and cleaning DVY, while we recce'd the Sunday Stages again, only problem was we had to be off the Stages by 5:30pm so we tried to cut last one short only to end up on a road in between 2 parts of stage and had to turn round and go back
That evening we went up to Bandon to see if anyone sold Super Unleaded but no one did, and then all went for a Chinese in evening, and it was still raining gently

The Ring Stage during the Recce


Friday the 13th (!) started off well, Cath bumped into a friend from the Irish Retro events she'd done last year, Vincent Fagan in Rally HQ (Quality Hotel) who told us where Scrutineering was, and we recce'd the Sat Stages again, before having lunch at the B&B and then Cath and I pretended to be tourists for a couple of hours walking round Clonakilty including the Model Railway Village until it started raining again. Back at the B&B we sat in DVY for half hour trying the HANS and Helmets out until we could put the clips on and off easily before wandering round to scrutineering and found someone selling Octane Booster so bought plenty

Then things started to go wrong - I went to start DVY for scrutineering but starter wasn't engaging well enough to start her so Guy and myself spent 15 mins fitting Spare #1 (I had 3 spares!)


In scrutineering, Cath's seat was slightly loose, but Vincent was there and brought his tools over and helped us fix it, and an hour later we passed. DVY just about started to come out of scrutineering and we completed documentation while Guy put a new bolt in the seat mount just to be sure. There were various comments at scrutineering about my new set of PB20's which no one had seen over there for about 10 years!


Later that evening I tried to start DVY to go to Parc Ferme, but that starter wasn't engaging properly either, it would spin up and grind against ring gear, thought about it and realised that thread had gone from one hole which might have allowed the starter to move out, so we removed all bolts except one, pushed it in as far as possible and it engaged well and started first time, put other bolts back in loosely and drove round to Parc Ferme. We stopped for Pizza on the way back, but it was still drizzling

Saturday - we got up and the Sun was shining, got down to Parc Ferme early, DVY started first time, and even had a bit of extra time in first Service so fitted the slicks (very soft Hankook 90's on the front and soft 71's on the back)

Queuing up for SS1, Cath and I put the HANS on properly for the first, and both sat there a bit nervously, last time I'd sat with Cath was on 3 Road Rallies in 1994 and we'd only ever done one stage rally before!

SS1 - We caught a Corolla after 4 miles (found out later he was having gearbox trouble), everything was going well, Cath reading the notes with perfect timing and it felt like we were going pretty quick, but 7m into the Stage in hit a small rock on a long left, up the next straight realised we had a front puncture did the last 4m on it, changed it at the end of the stage, left the trashed wheel in a hedge and just made next road section in time


SS2 - DVY was rather hot by now (daren't switch engine off in case it wouldn't start again) and the inside was filling with smoke from gearbox oil, Cath was worried but I said this was normal (!) and the smoke cleared as soon as we started the Stage. I didn't hit anything this time but handbraked too much on a HpR, decided the boix would jump out of Reverse, so I doughnut'ed round to get going again.
This was the first of a few "Oh F***" moments which surprised Cath as she hadn't heard me swear before! - I'm sure I'd mentioned that if I swear it either means someone's in the way, we're having a big moment or about to have a big accident

Service - changed the front back to the right compound (the spare was a medium 50) and found a split in the rear tyre sidewall so swapped that one as well

SS3 - Got to the start to find it had been cancelled after Car 19 (Mk2 Escort) had crashed, the crew went to hospital for a check up but were OK

SS4 - Had a good run through, quicker by 18s (the stages were run twice each in pairs so SS4 was SS2 again)

Service - nothing to do, getting into a routine now, Carrie torqued the wheel nuts, checked the tyre pressures and cleaned the windscreen while Guy and myself put petrol in and did anything else needed and Cath kept an eye on the time and made sure I ate and drank enough

SS5 - Probably the most famous Stage of the Rally, Ring which starts just out of Clonakilty and runs round North and South Ring Harbour before heading inland - Carrie walked 1.5m down to the harbour and got a video of us, and DVY was still running well


SS6 - Going well, overtook the Corolla again, (as we'd dropped back on the road after the puncture), and we were even getting better at remembering where any "Oh F***" moments were in the notes so we could mark it for next time

Service - nothing to do again but as it was 30mins this time, I stopped the engine for the first time to let it cool down and she started up well to leave

SS7 & SS8 - Went 8s quicker on SS7 than SS5 by the tripmeter (but times only show 4s) & SS8 was only 5s quicker but we should have been even quicker, I was too cautious driving into the low sun (about 5pm by then)

Sat Evening we went back and retrieved the trashed wheel from the hedge and even found the rock I'd hit, got a takeaway from Dec's Diner, went to the Quality Hotel and were slightly disappointed to find ourselves 62nd out of 81 listed in the results. Back at B & B, Cath and I talked about my driving and pushing harder on the fast bits

Sunday - It was cloudy at first but the Sun came out later. Checked at Rally HQ again and we were now 63rd out of 108 still running. Bumped into Vin who asked what I did. I said "You mean my job?". He said "Yes - are you a librarian?"

Service - DVY had started ok in Parc Ferme and as it was cloudy we left the same slicks on, checked engine, diff and gearbox oil, rear suspension bolts and she started fine to leave Service

SS9 - We had been reseeded overnight so were running with people who had set similar times on Sat, but I don't know whether it was talking to Cath Sat evening, or being called a librarian, suddenly we were going a lot quicker, pushing DVY like I used to, and I was handbraking better, getting the power back on earlier (its been too long since I've done Road Rallies and Autotests) much to the appreciation of the spectators, Cath had to speed up on the notes and near the end of the stage caught the R2D2 (this was a round of the Citroen C2R2 cup, nicknamed the R2D2's by us) that started 30s in front. Last corner was a gravelly SqL, DVY slid wide into small ditch, Cath shouted "just floor it" and DVY came out OK


SS10 - The Sunday stages were a bit bumpier than Sat, and as we were going a lot faster now we had a few heavy landings, even though the suspension was set pretty high and DVY was riding the bumps very well

Service - we didn't notice anything wrong until checking under bonnet with 10min to go and found not much fluid left in the rear brake reservoir. A quick check underneath and found a union on the right rear caliper bent after a heavy landing (I knew I should have gone on a diet!) Found a shorter union and another bit of pipe and bodged it back together, bled it in a hurry (Carrie filling the reservoir, I pushed the pedal a few times and Guy loosened and tightened the bleed screw until we got a good hard pedal again), only to have DVY not start with 2 mins to go. Tried to bump start her in reverse, nearly backing into the car park entrance pole (see pic of service below), tried it forwards with the help of 3 passers by but it was too much uphill, 3rd attempt backwards again and this time she fired, drove through service rather quick with the air horns on and got out with seconds to spare. Took some fluid with us to check between stages, and left Carrie and Guy asking round the Service Area for a spare caliper as the thread was damaged and I wasn't sure it would hold (and I'd left my spare ones at home )


SS11 - Lining up for the start, I daren't get out in case the engine stalled so Cath adjusted the idle and checked the brake fluid hadn't gone down (it hadn't). The brakes were working well, I handbraked round an Acute Left beautifully (pic below), but didn't realise the front wheels were pointing right and very nearly drove into the bank on the outside, had to dip the clutch and straighten up, while yelling "Ooo, ooo, ooo" through the intercom, this made Cath collapse with the giggles for the next 3 corners and I had trouble hearing the notes until she settled down
About 1/2m to go I clipped the inside of a SqL and got a rear puncture which disintegrated quickly, but we were still 7s quicker, not having caught any cars this time. Changed it on road section, had a slight panic when one stud started unscrewing from the hub, but got there in the end, left the trashed wheel in a hedge again and we think the marshals took it away with them as Carrie and Guy couldn't find it when they went back later that night. Just made road section again


SS12 - Dropped back a few places on the road so started this one 1m behind a Civic Type R and 30s behind a 106, overtook the Civic with a few miles to go and caught the 106 near end, really flying now

Service - put my last new tyre on rear, cleaned up the nut threads and tightened studs, no-one had spare caliper but we hadn't lost any more fluid so I didn't touch it, and left the engine running this time. Carrie and Guy had found a tyre van selling Hankooks so they got another 71 fitted to
replace the one with the damaged sidewall after we left

SS13 - This Stage finished down near a beautiful beach, just before a 4th gear RH bend where I'd nearly rolled DVY into a ball 6 years earlier - Cath was very pleased when we recce'd that the stage ended before this corner. Loads of spectators were out enjoying the sunny day

SS14 - Not much to remember, but we were still getting quicker

Service - Fitted the new tyre on other rear side and cleaned up those studs and nuts as well

SS15 - A couple of perfect handbrakes to shouts of "Beautiful" from Cath, one in particular where we were still sideways 100yds later. Only 1s quicker though trying to ignore the sun in my eyes - I'd tried to fit some sunvisors before going over but they didn't work with DVY's cage

SS16 - Last stage and the fastest we went all weekend was an excellent way to finish the rally, caught Green Civic near the end, went 8s quicker and set a time 32nd quickest on that stage, Cath was very impressed with the extra speed on Sunday and I was pretty chuffed as well

The results came out and we were very pleased to finish 39th O/A and 8th in Class out of the 81 finishers (150 starters)

Thanks to Service Crew Carrie and Guy for doing everything we asked of them, DVY for running like a dream (ignoring the starting problems) and Cath for an excellent professional job co-driving - not once did I hesitate as I wasn't sure what was coming next, and everyone for making the whole trip very enjoyable - it was the most fun I've had in a car for 6 years

No awards Sunday night - we were one of 10 British crews to travel over and one of only 4 English crews so we though we might be in with a chance of Best English crew, especially when 2 of them dropped out on SS8, but the last crew was Phill Collins in his amazing Mk2 Escort who came 4th overall and got the award - bit strange his co-driver was Irish though

Came home on Monday, very tired but looking forward to doing some more Irish events when I can afford them

[Dave]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Fantastic write up yet again Gavin.
Big thanks for taking the time to let us all know.

[merp0]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Well done 'Gavin the librarian' Brilliant read.

100yds sideways, sounds awesome

[exboyracer]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Fantastic read there I especially liked the "ooo ooo ooo" moment

[Joe-Tait]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Great read again Gavin

Well impressed with DVY considering how quickly you prepared it

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Thanks for all your comments

Little pic to show one reason why running on Wellers is not always a good idea


And a very short video taken by Carrie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdwUiEbn_dIYouTube - West Cork 2009 SS5 Ring.

There's plenty of other clips from West Cork on YouTube if you want to look at some of the other cars competing

Next Sunday I'm off to Loton Park for a Practice Day - no time to put Fly back together so I'm taking Dvy, just trying to find time to fit Fly's axle, change the springs back to hard ones, lower the suspension, change the starter again and fit the hillclimb slicks - it'll be good to see which car is quicker

Also my friend Dave is doing it in his 1600 Colt road car - his first ever Hillclimb - so that should be interesting

[PaulAlex]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Great write-up again Gavin - isnt Irish rallying just the business!?!?!

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Great write-up again Gavin - isnt Irish rallying just the business!?!?!

It's like a different world over there - when are you going over?

[JonSegger]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Fantastic stuff. Well done!! Thats a great result against the Irish boys!

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Gavin, hats off to you mate

[rallyladgaz]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

wow what a great read n what a result great pics to im so jelus keep up the great work n best of luck with your next events

[Graham]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

great stuff

[PaulAlex]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

It's like a different world over there - when are you going over?

Hi Gavin,

Realistically, I reckon it'll be late summer before I can think of getting over there - as I'll want to do a single-venue or two first to make sure the car works as I'd hope.

Already have the budget set aside for Killarney Historic event, so hopefully that'll be the highlight of 2009 for me.

Keep the reports/updates coming!

Cheers,

Paul

[4drmatt]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Brilliant write up sounds like you had a good time