2002 Sharp National Capital Rally - Page 2 - Brindabella Motor Sport Club

Spac · 18-11-2002, 12:39 PM

In the unlikely event that anyone doesn't know, the Big Monster RX-7 was out for my first drive on real live rally roads, in an attempt to get some time in the car before Narooma.

After a mad rush to get a gearbox back in the car before Saturday, and then finding that the starter motor I'd put in was wrong, and finally getting a functioning radio in the car about two minutes before we were due to leave, we were on our way... (Big thanks to Pete, Jen, Umby, Ballast, Jimmy and Kate for their help to this point).

SS1. Just cruising, and 9kms in, we find RayBay, and Matt H with the unhappy looking Charade. I mis-interpret Matt's description of "We hit here and went over, and landed on the tree, and were lucky it landed on its wheels" as meaning they're rolled (This rumour is my fault!), but they're OK and resigned to a DNF, so we continue. Ray tells me that Jen's out with no il pressure, and I desperately hope that he actually said Jem, but then I remember Jem DNS'ed... Bugger, bugger, bugger. I know that Fro's going to DNF, so that's three people that I wanted to finish out alreasdy...

Next stopped car is Fro... Bloody Fro, you're not going to DNF this early on buddy boy! After searching over both the 180B and the RX-7, we can't find a suitable bolt, and I'm thinking that he's probably screwed, and maybe he WILL DNF here and now... But then they find something from somewhere and get going again - well, they get going AFTER they've found the loose battery terminal... (So who's Captain Fingertight now, Bitch?

).

Jen and Brad are at the end of the stage with oil all through the engine bay, and no oil pressure... Damn, Ray was right...

I was trying to work out if there was a way of getting the numbers off the RX-2 and putting them on the RX-7, but I think she was already out of late time.

SS2. Another couple of cars out, including David Thopmson's 1600 which could have been a lot worse than it was - he's put it onto its side, and if it had rolled onto its roof, it probably would have gone over the embankment on the side of the road...
Scared myself pretty badly on this weird bit of road - it was a TR at TJ, but the road was twisty and undulating leading up to it, and I had a lot more road speed than I thought, and wasn't paying attention...

SS3. Road was awful off the start. And it didn't seem to get any better... After about 4kms into the stage, I figure the roads can't be this bad, so I slow down and for the first time in that stage I realise the road is now actually pretty good - its the first time I'm not shaking too much to see the road properly... My first thought is "Flat tyre", but Ballast points out the lack of steering vagueness, lack of hot rubber smell etc, so we push on for another kilometre or so before deciding that there IS something wrong with the car...

A quick inspection shows that the driver's front wheel is well up inside the front guard. Damn, we've broken a spring... After jacking the car up, we discover the wheel is going up with the car - the strut has seized. No, I still don't know how or why - we didn't hit anything, or stuff it into any banks, so I'm not to blame (for once!) Apparently ther inserts were almost brand new, so this is a worry... Needless to say, I'm going to speak to Murray Coote as soon as he answers his phone...

And so after an extrodinarly painful trip back to Uriarra, that's our rally over. I feel like a complete tool for not being able to do my job, but Marty H has offered his services, and takes over from me.

We hang around the service area and watch the DNFs roll in - Pete and Bede are out, Mawk is looking shakey... damn is anyone going to finish?

Have enough of this, and go home and have a shower and return to Finish venue. Its not looking like anyone is going to make it, until finally Fro staggers in with a big dopey grin on his face and gets a well earned cheer for pretty much everyone in the room.

the rest is a bit of a beer induced blur...

Dave Ferris · 18-11-2002, 01:33 PM

70% Spac

Daniel · 18-11-2002, 01:36 PM

Hey I just realised Spacs DNF rate in the RX7 just hit 100% - hey mate perfect score

Qwrx · 18-11-2002, 01:40 PM

Well vegemites this NatCap was full of little surprises.

First was how well the freshly repaired vertabrae held up to the pounding. All went well in that department. If only everything else went that well.

Despite a trouble free shakedown at the media day Q-Rex decided to get back at me for mis-treating it in the RoC.

Just minutes before the start the battery died. We push started it and joined the queue at the start control only to have the motor die completely. After a quick battery transplant we were able to join the field. Unfortunately, the idiot who took the fuse box cover off did not refit it properly. (The service crew have vowed to double check anything I touch in the future).

In the 1st stage the car wouldn't accelerate. Problem turned out to be the aforementioned fuse box cover stuck under the accelerator pedal!

2nd stage we seemed to be well down on power (No turbo boost). This was fixed at service when we replaced a broken T-piece on the boost controller.

On the transport out to stage 3 the battery died again!! The regulator plug had fallen out of the alternator. At least the mystery of the failed battery at the start was solved. After a push to get us going we were underway.

The trip through the Champagnes was more than a little exciting with the car wanting to swap ends, charge off into the trees or over the edge

At the next service we found that the viscous centre diff wasn't working. So for the next couple of stages it was a real lottery at every corner as to whether we were driving a FWD, RWD, 4WD or a combination during the same corner.

About halfway through stage 7 things got worse. There was a loud banging noise coming from the right rear so we pulled over to investigate. Couldn't find anything. Just as we got back into the car there was smoke billowing out from under the bonnet on the RHS. Out with the fire extinguishers, lift the lid nothing! Back into the car and look up and there is even more smoke than before. This time it seems to be coming from under the guard. Out again and check nothing. Must have just been hot brakes. Crawl to the end of the stage then on to service.

Still can't find the noise in the rear so we decide to press on. Turns out to be a broken shock in the rear strut.

Did the last stage at warp speed -9 and limped to the finish. (Sorry about all the dust Michael)

All in all a mamoth effort by the team to keep us going (Thanks everone) and a real buzz to be back after the enforced break (pun intended)

I would like to thank Adrian and the rest of the organising team for putting together a challenging course and a great event.

Merry Xmas one and all. See you in the forests in 2003

Denis

Jme · 18-11-2002, 06:42 PM

4th O/R SS1
Held position SS2
Took it easy down champagnes SS3
Gearbox blew SS4

DNFed when in 5th Outright. Bugger.

Congrats to Brad and Vicki.

Drive of the rally by Kari Dirickx. Love to see what he could do in a 4WD.

Thanks to all involved.

18-11-2002, 06:44 PM

In addition to the above report from dad (Qwrx), he forgot to mention the fact that he also did the night stages without the driving lights. And that it was lucky that Frank was navigating and not some of the members of our service crew as we got a little lost after the rally.... we DID get to see the mineshaft and new bobs spectator points though

beanpole · 18-11-2002, 08:28 PM

For once I bet you wished I was there....... what am I saying? I wished I was there!

Next time, Dale loses

Big Kev

Miss · 18-11-2002, 09:40 PM

Sniff
Here goes

Bad Karma #1
Lizzy can't get in "the zone" cause Daveee's off in ****ing England bastaaaaaaaaard!

Bad Karma #2
Gefgef is so confident with the car he spouts off at work for weeks

Bad Karma #3
Lizzy hurts finger at Gefgef's work and goes on a Band-Aid hunt, get payed out by Neal, tells Neal to get ****ed, prolly a bad move

Bad Karma #4
We are totally organised and on time for the first time ever

Bad Karma #5
Lizzy knows she has to run Champagnes and forgets to meditate before rally start

Okay.

SS1
Car feels good until ooooh 500m in and the "worn" tyres that "should be okay for Kowen" (yeah good one Gefgef ****ing idiot) prove they're not okay. Hmmm. Dust. Unusually thick dust. Hey I see the Barretts in the distance, which brings me to

Bad Karma #6
Catching Barretts on stage. Nuff said.

14.56km in tripmeter ****s off never to return again. Spin. Spin again. Shag the speccie point. Spin some more. Catch some more dust.

SS2
Tripmeter still AWOL. Funny noise coming from rear of car. Tyres now completely rooted. Other than that it felt okay. Ha ha except the TL through gate the RGR (or something, too depressed to look at road book sniff) we noticed a problem ooooh 5 metres up the road hahaha 4km hahaha 4km hahaa

Service (hey, I've not got that much to report, may as well tell the whole story)
Glen (legend) Steve (the Windscreen man 0417 298 741) and Mark (apprentice legend) try to sort the dicky noise, the tripmeter, change the tyres, refuel and frantic Lizzy cause she has to do Champagnes next. Tyres yes, fuel yes, everything else no.

One thing I have to mention at this point is I am constantly and happily amazed at how communal rallying is. No I don't mean navi sluts or the like, I mean piss bolting back to the ute when you hear someone's looking for cable ties (Hello Michael/Thomas) and getting it for them KNOWING that they'd do the same for you, and offering to go back to the start and get the tripmeter out of your car that DNS (Misters Varova thankyou

) and deliver it to you at the next service. It goes without saying that our whole level of rallying is like this, no matter who you are or what you drive, if we can make it fit, you can borrow it. Even the fact that people ASK to borrow fuel/welders/experience goes to show what a great community we rally with.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Champagnes.

After ****ing around a service, fumbling around looking for a place to stub our ciggas inside the car without dirtying the pretty white paint, chick toilet break and running the 200m to the control we book in dead on time! Words of wisdom from Greg and JP as to how to not freak when death in the shape of a ****ing big drop is staring you in the face, JP is amazed at how small my seat is (but he still managed to squeeze in). Then we go. No tripmeter meant I HAD to look out the window to gauge distance.

Good Karma #1
Lizzy conquers her fear of Champages! Woohoo!!!!!

Alas, something snaps and we lose drive, 6km to go on the stage (sorry Pete if you got our dust). Pull up to control and the guy goes "you've got one hell of a noise coming from the rear end" (like we couldn't hear it derrrrr). Limp back to service. Pull wheel off. Resign to the fact that the Levin axle is hard to come by, let alone at 4pm on a Saturday in the middle of Hicksville. Geoff kicks some stuff. Glen, Mark and Steve lie down for a kip on the grass. I find Bernie to ask how the hell I withdraw. Ta Bernie, knew you'd be an expert

Congrats to all that finish, and Gefgef wanted to let you all know he can now identify with those of you, erm, I mean us, that have mechanical failures. First one in 2.5 years of rallying, not a bad effort, but on our favourite event and after $way too much, well, spose it's better than DNFing a la Dougie and Mark.

Sniff. Need more red. Just gimme the dregs, I'll suck it outta the plastic baggie.

Daniel · 19-11-2002, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Miss
change the tyres, refuel and frantic Lizzy

How do you 'frantic' someone? Or was that supposed to say 'Frantic the tyres, refuel and change Lizzy' or maybe 'Franticly change the tyres and refuel Lizzy'?

jamar · 19-11-2002, 09:24 AM

G'Day

Car 49 navving for Matty T - Mr act 2002 novice drivers champion!

Our event report: yes we were slow - but on a mission.. 5 stages out of 8 we had a drama of some kind... hate kowen, too high tyre pressures & old maxsports suck... bent a throttle linkage on ss3 (jammed at full open) & Matt had to drive 1/3 of the stage "on the key" (turn key off to slow down), Matt smacked it straight again at service, thanks to a nearby tree, I made a couple of crap calls here and there in the next stage & Matt suffered from brain fade on a RGL & went right, no driving lights for the long event .. entertained Phil Thornburn & others on the RLG that doubled back near the start control of ss8 (overcooked the handbrake turn, so Matt decided that a 360 or two was in order..)

but at the end of the day we finished and secured the novice drivers championship for Matt, which was the ultimate plan... congrats Matt...

congrats to Adrian and his team for a great event

Thanks to Marla for servicing - outstanding job once again

photos are up on MFoto

Cheers

Jason

jem · 19-11-2002, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Miss
... and offering to go back to the start and get the tripmeter out of your car that DNS (Misters Varova thankyou ) ...

Just had to make sure I got my