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Re: My mk2 Rally car - Duratec power
I haven't updated this thread for ages - mostly because we haven't spent much time on/in the car. We didn't get to do the Lynn Stages in October as the event was cancelled. Although, as it turned out, we wouldn't have got to do it anyway as my second daughter was born on the day the rally would have taken place. The new baby has taken up quite a bit of time since then and that, in conjunction with not having as much 'spare' cash nowadays, has meant things have been a bit quiet car-wise.
Anyway, 11th Feb 2012 saw Mark and I competing in the South Downs Stages at Goodwood. Just like every time we've done it before, it was a very cold day. The oil temp gauge read -7.4 degrees centigrade when I started the car!
We got through scrutineering without any issues and then it was time for the first stage. I felt pretty rusty if I'm honest - not having driven the car for a while, so I was pleasantly surprised that we were 12th fastest on the first stage. The second stage felt better and we were 7th quickest.
It all went wrong on the third stage though. Some of the chicances were marked out with lorry tyres and as I went through one of them it I just clipped one of the tyres with my right front wheel. It whipped the steering wheel out of my hands and as I grabbed it again to re-join the circuit, I could see that I'd done some damage as my steering wheel was now perfectly upside-down. The yellow tape marker was now at the bottom. The car would still going in a straight-ish line, although I could feel that something wasn't right. We finished the stage taking it a little easier through the rest of the chicanes and then inspected the damage when we got back to the service area.
The wheels were now toe-ing out somewhat and upon closer inspection we could see that the brackets on the crossmember that hold the steering rack were bent up and partly torn. There was nothing we could do to fix them, so we carried on for the rest of the day as it was, checking the rack mounts after each stage to make sure that the damage wasn't getting any worse. I had to be a bit more cautious for the rest of the day though as we couldn't afford to hit it again in case it pulled the rack off completely.
The last two stages were in the dark, which was great fun. We finished the day 13th overall and 6th in class. Not brilliant, but better than a DNF which it could have so easily been.
Here's a couple of photos:
So, this weekend I got round to repairing the damage to the steering. I had to cut one of the brackets off the crossmember and make a new one. I also had to repair the locating bracket that is welded onto the tube of the rack itself. I think the pictures show what I mean better than words:
I haven't updated this thread for ages - mostly because we haven't spent much time on/in the car. We didn't get to do the Lynn Stages in October as the event was cancelled. Although, as it turned out, we wouldn't have got to do it anyway as my second daughter was born on the day the rally would have taken place. The new baby has taken up quite a bit of time since then and that, in conjunction with not having as much 'spare' cash nowadays, has meant things have been a bit quiet car-wise.
Anyway, 11th Feb 2012 saw Mark and I competing in the South Downs Stages at Goodwood. Just like every time we've done it before, it was a very cold day. The oil temp gauge read -7.4 degrees centigrade when I started the car!
We got through scrutineering without any issues and then it was time for the first stage. I felt pretty rusty if I'm honest - not having driven the car for a while, so I was pleasantly surprised that we were 12th fastest on the first stage. The second stage felt better and we were 7th quickest.
It all went wrong on the third stage though. Some of the chicances were marked out with lorry tyres and as I went through one of them it I just clipped one of the tyres with my right front wheel. It whipped the steering wheel out of my hands and as I grabbed it again to re-join the circuit, I could see that I'd done some damage as my steering wheel was now perfectly upside-down. The yellow tape marker was now at the bottom. The car would still going in a straight-ish line, although I could feel that something wasn't right. We finished the stage taking it a little easier through the rest of the chicanes and then inspected the damage when we got back to the service area.
The wheels were now toe-ing out somewhat and upon closer inspection we could see that the brackets on the crossmember that hold the steering rack were bent up and partly torn. There was nothing we could do to fix them, so we carried on for the rest of the day as it was, checking the rack mounts after each stage to make sure that the damage wasn't getting any worse. I had to be a bit more cautious for the rest of the day though as we couldn't afford to hit it again in case it pulled the rack off completely.
The last two stages were in the dark, which was great fun. We finished the day 13th overall and 6th in class. Not brilliant, but better than a DNF which it could have so easily been.
Here's a couple of photos:
So, this weekend I got round to repairing the damage to the steering. I had to cut one of the brackets off the crossmember and make a new one. I also had to repair the locating bracket that is welded onto the tube of the rack itself. I think the pictures show what I mean better than words:
Glad you got to carry on and finish anyway. Cross member looks good as new again
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