Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

[muckerbarry]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Not too much to report recently, other than the car has been back to Shaun's for the rear arch replacement. Now its back home we're doing all we can to make sure the trip to the Rentokil Killarney Historic Stage Rally goes as smoothly as planned. The entry list was released yesterday, and its mental! We're seeded at 95, but it is probably as good as we can expect against the experienced locals and their crazy machinery....

Over 80 escorts starting, it'll be a great event!
I'm 24th on the reserve list, i dont think ill get a start... my fingers are crossed though...

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Over 80 escorts starting, it'll be a great event!
I'm 24th on the reserve list, i dont think ill get a start... my fingers are crossed though...

I saw a few of the reserves got moved into the event this week. Hopefully you'll squeeze in yet.....

[GavinR]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Good luck this weekend

[doughman]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Gutted to hear the event has been cancelled due to awful weather conditions!

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

As some of you may have heard, our "dream" event at the Killarney Historic went pear-shaped after Storm Desmond swept through Ireland and left many of the roads impassable. To be fair to the organisers, they really did do everything possible to make the event run, but when the local council initiated their Emergency plan due to the red storm warnings, there was nothing more that could be done. To give you some idea of the conditions, I didn't hear a single team complain at the decision - it really was grim!

On a positive note, the car had a fair amount of money invested in it before the event - ultimate-spec drive-shafts, HID headlights, HID lamp pod, new brake pads, etc etc - and that means the car now enters the usual "winter rebuild" period in the best spec/condition it has ever been. As you'd imagine, that doesn't mean it'll sit and gather dust all winter, as we have plans for more improvements.....

...first up is the fuel tank. We experienced fuel surge at both Snetterton and Donnington rallies, so I removed the tank yesterday and am trying to organise a custom-built tank. The tank will look identical to the current unit, and be the exact same dimensions, but we're having a swirl pot built inside the tank, and will use a low-pressure lift pump to ensure that this is always full of fuel. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the new tank and feedback on how it performs before the end of January......

More soon guys!

[mexicotait]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Are you doing the jack frost Paul?

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Are you doing the jack frost Paul?

Afraid not - I'd imagine the car will be off the road for January while some upgrades happen. I've then got quite a bit of weekend work in February, so it'll probably be March before it gets used in anger again ;(

Cheers,

Paul

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Hello guys,

Well as always the upgrades are taking longer than expected, but we do have entries confirmed for events at Donington on March 6th and Weston Park on March 20th. I'll get some pics of the new bits up as they arrive...

Feel free to come and say Hi if you're spectating at either event.

Cheers,

Paul

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Hello guys,

We were at Donington again for the Imperial Commercials Volkswagen Rally at the weekend, and managed to take another class win and top 5 position More importantly, the new fuel tank with integrated swirl pot and L/P lift pump setup all worked perfectly allowing us to run the car at least 15Kgs lighter on the stages. I haven't received many action shots yet, but here she is just after passing noise and scrutiny:




The next upgrades planned include replacing some of braided hoses with the ultra-lightweight equivalent, a new exhaust manifold, 4-way dampers, alternative brake fluid, flat-shift tuning and a different rear exhaust box......these fingers never stand still!

Cheers,

Paul.

[Craig89]

Nice one mate, well done!

Theres a good chance i will be at weston park spectating

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Nice one mate, well done!

Theres a good chance i will be at weston park spectating

Hi Craig - I'd say we're only about 50:50 to be there next weekend as I need to replace the alternator, am still chasing some support, and don't have confirmed crew or co-driver yet. I'll hopefully get a good day on the car over the weekend and will make a plan from there....

If you are there, be sure to come and say hello and take a closer look at the car if you like.

Hopefully we will see you there.

Cheers,

Paul

[Craig89]

Keep us updated on how you get on and if your going to be able to make it.

Hopefully you get everything sorted in time

[PaulAlex]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

Hello guys,

Well, after only deciding on the Thursday before the event that we would do the AGBO Stages at Weston Park, it turned out to be the right call...

A safe tyre choice on the first stage saw us set an OK time, and we then stretched our class lead once we moved onto slicks for SS2 onwards. Weston Park was faster than I remembered it from 15 years ago (in a 106), but Abi and I were really enjoying the run until the power steering started being unpredictable on SS5. This left us losing a little time in the slower chicanes and junctions, but doing our best to make up for it on the faster sections. After 8 stages the chasing pack had bought our lead down to 7 seconds, and after the service time between SS9 and SS10 was reduced to ensure the event ran on time, we found ourselves sat on the start line for SS10 not knowing how much of a gap we still had. The wait for the stage start allowed us to devise a plan about where we could push harder, and we had what felt like a better run. Eventually, after packing everything away and getting the car on the trailer we learnt that we'd actually managed to extend our lead to 9 seconds. This gave us our third class win on the trot, and our second 5th place overall in 2 events

The car is now up on stands ready for some much needed TLC, and maybe another tweak or two. Some pics below:

Entering a hairpin left...



Saving tyres



Kicking up some dust...



Getting a move on...



More news soon guys - hopefully about some exciting upgrades

Cheers,

Paul

[Craig89]

Great looking pictures! Well done on the result as well! I couldnt get there in the end...had to work, looks like i missed a good day

[filipvdv]

Re: Paul Alex's character building, pain-in-the-ar5e, bufty money pit

car looks great, as usual, congrats on the results. Hope to see you one day on a Belgian event