Starmart - Brindabella Motor Sport Club

Darren · 15-09-2002, 02:20 AM

Ive had to log on at 11:30 just to ensure Spac does'nt get to post first again. The things I have to do

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C Murray came up for Narooma to Nav for me & proved to be an excellent Navigator & source of confidence & inspiration. Thanks again.......sorry about the result.

Well the old phase "second verse same as the first" comes to mind. We were of to a good start. then, Yep you guessed it, lost the fan belt.....again. Nasty smell of burning oil started & we stopped. Nearly cooked the engine & had blown the crank breath plug out so oil would spray onto the exhaust if I reved over about 6K thats pretty much the way it stayed. Finally got the fan belt back on with a screwdriver in the altenator bolt hole (where the hell are all these bolts going?) to assist it in staying on. Finished that stage trying to keep the revs real low. Thanks to the bloke at the first service from whom we scrounged a bolt. With the altenator having all its bolts reinstalled....again. We where off & I was having a ball, I think I even got a few corners right!! I think the second stage went OK considering my concern with revs & belts. The bloody car had an exhaust leak somewhere & the amount of dust getting into the car was choking me to death.Third Stage I gave it a bit more of a wind-up &. Yep you guessed it.....Lost the Fan belt....again. Drove out of that Stage worried about even finishing the rally at that rate! somewhere around about here a large amount of rattling & banging started in the rear....Claude guessed a shock, I hoped exhaust. Claude won. the rubber mount had "exploded". patched it with a bit of rope & we where off again. Things improved a bit and I think the next stage was mostly just lack of driver talent that slowed us up. The 41 Km Stage was fantastic, I did'nt overshoot any corners & mostly got things OK. Claude was very patient as I systematically tried to destroy another gearbox with bad & non-existant selections of gear. I think the noisy grinding grating sound was my favorite (I used it a lot - especially at the speccy points). What a great piece of road. We might have even got a almost average time if I had'nt stopped to change the flat tyre that had fixed itself by the time I got out of the car & looked for it (well thats the way it seemed). Onwards to the next stageI think it was on this one the Altenator light came on & to my supprise the temperature gauge did not skyrocket. Fan Belt had stayed on!!! Spotty's off & drive to end of stage. Did'nt slow us too much. Very slow trip back to Service on low beam only. A very quick & very bodgey wiring patch up & we had charge again for the last stage. I think all the buggerizing around down there had broken the main output wire from the altenator. Ho Hum seemed I was destined to be plauged by gremlins in some way or other. Off to the last stage. What a great stage (infact I think they all were - excellent choice of roads). Pity about the dust & lack of sun but heaps of fun anyway. The car seemed to be Running OK now, if only I had thought of tightening the fan belt to a ridiculous level BEFORE the rally. I think it plays roughly a high C when plucked now.

All in all a very enjoyable Drive. I had a really good time. I arrived at the end with the car still in one piece & despite my Splitting headache, sore throat & nose from the fumes & dust, & my burnt wrist from adjusting red hot altenators all day, I was a happy Vegimite. I had made it......probably came last again but I made it. Now the car goes into the shed & wont be allowed out again until it promises not to spit the belt & not to fill up with oil & exhaust fumes.

Many Thanks to the people who appeared in the darkness & helped us then vanished into the darkness again. Thanks to Martin for his servicing & congratulations to Smee & Fee for a fantastic rally.

Darren

raybak · 15-09-2002, 02:36 AM

I've got some photos available at www.bakermotorsport.net

I'll do a report after I get some sleep. Provisionally 36th

Ray

Micky G · 15-09-2002, 09:36 AM

Whew! Tough rally toward the end, the last stage was really dusty following Peter and John we lost heaps but taking easy knowing second place was fairly safe. Both really happy we knocked off Yamma on main range, holding onto fifth gear over those crests is ballsy stuff! Very sad to see Matt & Jigger off in Lowden, we drove up a bank there the first time through due to the pine needles and punctured one of the Michellen's. Have to thank all that assisted, specialy Jon Waterhouse for the tune, the old "Tractor" has never gone so fast! Also a special thanks to Trevor Stilling and Neal Bates for the tyres.
After looking at the pointscores I think Peter would have to enter and win the Nat Cap with us DNF'ing to beat Robert for the Gold Cup and I believe my position is allready there!
Fantastic

Matt Dyne · 15-09-2002, 10:39 AM

Ouch

More later

Davie · 15-09-2002, 11:23 AM

Well, what can I say, it didn’t end with a bang, it ended with a whimper.

Had a few drama’s getting to the event with coolant all over the floor on Friday morning, got that fixed. All’s good.

Arranged tyres on the morning, yep that’s good too.

SS1: I enjoyed this stage, but I’m not so sure Wayne (HAL) did, the intercom failed on the start line and he had to shout. We hit the caution just before the ROC Super Special stage too hard and knock the wheel alignment out, these things happen. The last Kilometer of this stage was spent in dust and blue smoke from a terminally ill Subaroo. Mostly happy so far. Screwed around trying to get the intercom to work, in the end got the spare out and stuck in the car, it was better in that at least I could hear Wayne now.

SS2: This was a brilliant stage, it reminded me of the events that I love on the shire roads near Wagga, we spent most of the stage in 4th gear, I was pretty happy with this stage.

SS3: Another I enjoyed, starting to get used to the car again now, remembering to hold it into corners on the throttle, except for the speccie point, nothing worse than missing a gear at the speccie point, at least it gave them some entertainment. A fair bit of this stage was 4th gear as well, good stage.

SS4: I enjoyed this stage too, aside from the number of competitors off with damaged cars, it’s always bad to see somebody pulled up and damaged. We got into 5th a couple of times here, driving into the sun doing an “Ari” as Wayne put it. The stage felt pretty good the car was sitting nicely into the corners, and holding well, still happy so far. I asked the service crew to have a meal ready for us when we got back as a joke, they had it all ready, nice bite to eat. Had a quick look over the car, decided not to fiddle with anything, the old girl was running pretty well. I’m sure Tamsey rubbed the car at this stage, as they were servicing next to us.

SS5: I enjoyed this almost as much as the first time through, though I took it a bit easier just in case skippy was about, and it was a bit dusty, still happy.

SS6: Only problem here was dust, I even got the speccie point properly this time, the car felt really strong, we lost a bit of time to Dave because of the dust, but that was OK.

Transport, headed back for the final service point discussing whether or not we’d have enough fuel to do the final Kowen stage, we decided, we’d be OK, drive through Rossi, nice and sedately cross the little bridge, at the top of the next hill we had no drive. First thought, “The effin clutch is slipping.” Get the car off the side of the road, and pull up, clutch seems OK. Wayne looks under car, Tailshaft is spinning in first gear, not looking good, one plus, there are no crunchy noises. Chock the wheels, and jack the R/H rear wheel up, it spins free, not a good sign with the LSD, drop it down, and check the left, its still engaged to the drive. The verdict a suspected broken axle, and I didn’t think the old girl had that much grunt. All that was left was to sit and wait for somebody to turn up with a trailer, and think about going to work at 07:00. Because I had to work the next morning I didn’t get to the finish venue. Unfortunately I had to sleep some time.

Thanks to all the people who helped us and asked if we were OK. To the officials for giving up their Saturday evening so we could play in the bush. To Matt Dyne for reminding me how minor a broken axle really is (I hope you can either get it fixed or build a new one). Also, to Fiona and Steve for organising such a good event. Just a pity we didn’t get to do the final stage

A special thanks to the guys, Alex and Dave, who serviced for us and who helped me until 12:30 this morning. Not to mention Wayne who was doing a pretty good job.

Oh yeah does somebody have Peter Ewings’ phone number? I need to return his spacer plates.

Darren · 15-09-2002, 11:42 AM

Errr Dave I think I owe you an apology. It was not Tamsey but me who touched your car. Remember I said Hi at the start of stage 5 (?). Sorry, my Altenator bolt gremlins must have jumped out of my pocket & onto your car. That explains why the bolt stayed in after that.

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I cant believe you broke one of those steel billets you use as axles!!!

Davie · 15-09-2002, 11:57 AM

S h i t Happens

. Just means I won't be doing Natcap, I knew I shouldn't have painted it. It has to be the red paint

fullysick · 15-09-2002, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Davie
S h i t Happens . Just means I won't be doing Natcap, I knew I shouldn't have painted it. It has to be the red paint

Was it going too fast?

Davie · 15-09-2002, 02:22 PM

Yeah the car felt really good until it stopped.

fullysick · 15-09-2002, 02:25 PM

maybe paint the axle red next time too so it can keep up with the rest of the car

Davie · 15-09-2002, 02:26 PM

Maybe, you never know, if I do that it might want to go faster than the rest of the car, and keep spinning us round

Darren · 15-09-2002, 11:48 PM

Then it would only be good for taking to the Burnout comp at the Summer Nats.

Rallyray · 16-09-2002, 10:22 AM

Our Rally started off ok...Car running well and with new tyres we were ready to have a real go.

First stage was ok apart from a minor mishap.
Turning down Fernside way(???) I was braking down a hill to turn right when the road dipped away and set the car up for a huge sideways slide down the road and finished up facing the way we came. Car stalls...try to restart. It refuses to. We get out and push the car back off the centre of the road and Mark runs up to warn the car behind. Car refuses to start for at least a minute and when it does we drive 2-3kms trying to do up harnesses etc. Not happy.
Pretty good stage.
Have a talk to Dave Ferris and say "Whats the chances of Daniel getting out of that stage unscathed?" we laugh...Then Daniel pulls in with a re-designed front end!

Other stages ok apart from 2 spins on stage 3.
South Forest way- wow! We flew and nearly caught ourselves out a couple of times. Over 42kms we took 4mins off our last years time. About 6secs a km faster! Going down onto the last stretch we keep it flat until after the gird. The speedo is hitting about the 200-210 kph mark! Only doing about 150-160 though because of our new diff.

Thanks to everyone who helped out and got the event to run. Still my Favourite Rally!

Edited cause I started to spell like Dave!

Tweety · 16-09-2002, 10:48 AM

Firstly I'd like to thank Fro for all his help and the amazing way he rebounded from his huge disappointment to come and help me out. Also to Tim B and his brother Phil, Girlie, Jamie, and Dad for servicing too, you guys were great. Car prep owes a lot to Spac, Bede and Sam, ta for putting up with all my grumpiness. Of course, thanks to all the officials (thanks for letting me through doco without a fine Girlie!) and organisers, I had a great day and will definitely be back again next year.

The first stage was a bit rough, but I was really enjoying it until about half way through when the brake pedal disappeared and I didn't have any rear brakes. It was a bit scary, but I managed to doddle to the end without any damage. I managed to disconnect my intercom though with about 5 kms to go, and while Brad was trying to reconnect mine, he disconnected his! So we just made do with hand signals (I wasn't going fast enough for it to matter anyway

). Into service, and the super service crew got going, and fixed my brake problem, so all was good.

All the other stages were incident free (maybe I wasn't driving hard enough :???: ), but I had a great time. Brad was really good in the nav's seat, and helped me to concentrate on the really long stage, and I've already told him he's got a ride for NatCap. Bad luck for Spac and Davie, both with broken axles, Matt Dyne (hope you're okay), Mark Sessions (that was probably the only thing you hadn't replaced?), and well done to Peter Skinner, Pete Ewing, and Bede for good finishes.

Thanks again everyone for letting me have such a good day.

PS I didn't come last

MattHarriott · 16-09-2002, 12:12 PM

editied: way to long. Started 56 finished 34