Corsa di Mille Pini

[bob moore]

Scene: a large Volvo galleon sails serenely down the Cotter Straits .....


Navigator: We be approachin' the dreaded Castrol Coast, Cap'n. Hard a'starboard.

Captain: (indistinct)

Nav: Not quite that hard, Cap'n. Ye've run us aground! The bow's jammed in the lee shore! Hard astern!

Captain: (indistinct, but much louder)

Nav: Nicely done, Cap'n. Steer to port, and unfurl the sails. Then hard a'port.

Nav: No, Cap'n, no! Port! Straight ahead be banned! Drop anchor!

Captain: ( incandescent but, fortunately for spectators with small children, still indistinct)

Nav: Nicely done, Cap'n. Prepare to go about. Then hard a'starboard.

Nav: Cap'n? I don't think all the sails be unfurled, Cap'n ........



Exit Volvo to stage left, using only two-thirds of its sails (cylinders) .................

[AV1611]

Hi folks

Ben here, from Car 33. What an "interesting" day it was for us. From SS1, Matt (nav) was seriously car-sick. In SS1, his calls were all over the shop after a few ks, so I started driving to what I could see. In this stage, we also did one of the best "wall of death" efforts on an embankment that is possible - without rolling. I reckon in a month I still won't have a good answer as to why we didn't roll, except that I always pray for safety before the start of each event! I did another, smaller, wall of death in this stage too! And a wrong road right near the Flying Finish. So not the best start.

By now, Matt was getting ready to heave, but we pressed on. SS2 - Bluetts, was his first chunder for the day. The first of many. Probably somewhere between 10 and 12 chunders before we would eventually throw in the towel. We got through Bluetts without me going off or touching the scenery too hard. Saw the VR-4 that had a big one in there. Ouch!

SS3 - East West, with bonus bits. I've never ever driven in this neck of the woods before, and had to do it without Matt even being able to look at the road book! Was interesting. We went OK though - although we had to slow down a lot for crests or anything "blind". These are not stages to be done with no navigator!

SS4 - Pierces East. This is where things started to go wrong (if they weren't wrong already!). Near the end of this stage, I understeered on a tight RGHL. Went within about 5cm of stuffing it down a hole that would have completely swallowed the car. It would have been hard to see us from the road, if I had managed to go that 5cm further... We lost 4 minutes here, trying to reverse out of this predicament. The rear left wheel was spinning on the mud-flap, and the rear right dug itself in big time. Had to dig the wheel out with a large shifter from our toolbox, then take the Big Risk of driving forwards (remember, we've only got 5cm to play with here!) to free up the rear left mudflap. This all worked, and after losing approx 4 and a half minutes, we were on our way again.

SS5 - Miowera. Fun little stage. Unless you were Car 1. How did he manage to park it down there?

SS6 - Tidbinbilla. This was the "big one" for everyone, but for us, it was going to be the litmus test. Remember, Matt has been spewing in-stage, we've been stopping in-stage for him to spew, we've pulled over on transports just to "laugh at the grass" on the roadside... And 41kms with a car-sick navigator was going to be a mighty test. It was. Too much for Matt. Freaky scary in parts, doing it "blind" with no navigation/road book. After Matt's 4th stop for vomits, and after we had let 2 cars past in stage, we decided to go "pedestrian" pace to save Matt any further grief. This was with about 7kms to go. Stopped to say a fine "how do you do" to Mr Spac, who had found an unusual place to park and spectate. Proceeded to the finish of this stage.

Drove back to Service, then went and handed in our road card. DNF due to navigator not having enough guts (literally!).

The car was running excellent. Still need to get a little more negative camber on the front, but apart from that, I was very happy with the car today.

Excellent work by the organisers - very innovative, it delivered what it promised - a true test of man and machine. Machine passed. Man's stomach failed.

It was utterly amazing that with two "wall of death" incidents and two attempts to stuff the car down Big Holes, we came away with nothing worse then a broken front right indicator lense, a scratch in the bumper bar, and a slight bend in the front right guard. Oh, and a lot of chunder dripping down the left hand door, all over the floor, and the paintwork all down the left hand side of the car...

Many thanks to the volunteers and officials. A good job was done by all. I am always mindful of the sacrifice of many so that a few can go for a fang.

At least I can say that we made it further than the Team Toyota guys! I think they thought we were going to push them in further when we came by them in Pierces East! Sorry about that, guys!

That is enough from me.
Cheerio for now,
Ben Smoker
Plan B Rally Team.

[rowdytoot]

disappointing end to a great day for Damo and I ..

after damo battled nausea all morning, but he came good in tidbinbilla I... we were happy just to get to the end of that...

thanks to Kate bowler for the kwells or whatever they were!

we broke an engine mount in superloaf II - diagnosed by pete ewing at the start of the last stage of the day. I'm a bit worried/mind not on the job when we start bluetts II, but as soon as we hit the crests down the fence line the red mist descends.... air of a couple of them, made it through the !! at the end, then we hit the downhill RGL- RGR bit that's "rough til next call" Damo was still getting over the shock of the speed coming down the fenceline, and I think missed " rough til next call" so we hit the rough at about 100 km/hr sideways, HARD on the brakes, flated a front left tyre on one big, big rock, and at that point I thought '' ****, I bet the fan has gone through the radiator" and so it had...

distributor filled with coolant, and that was that!

should have done what everyone else did and backed off, but I was having so much fun pushing the limits all day!

sadly the in car cut out about 2 minutes before al happend when the video feed connector dropped off.. GRR!

really rapt with the speed of the car today though, time to spend some $$ on development over the summer, and & we'll be back faster and laughing harder than ever!

I'll try and find the bit of incar in the Miowra stage that has at least a minute of my laughing my arse off mid stage, and the bit in sugarloaf I that I'm air drumming in- while the gemini climbs back onto the cam!

we won't be rejoining- no spare radiator, no engine mount. I'll just shout our awesome service crew; Baz and pete a beer or 5 at Oktoberfest tomorrow I think

thanks to tamsey & crew for putting on a great event. All the controllies etc for being unerringly happy and helpful.

thanks to everyone around us on the road today for making it so much fun, blake/amy, pete/kate, spac/lisi, simey, Kel/Mel et al

timmeh for the cable ties- best exhaust hangers in the world

I hope that tomorrow runs great for everyone cos we had an absolute FUNKING BALL today....

Cheers rowds

[Factor]

How good are Carl/Matt and Claude/Lizzy - them at the front - and then daylight. Go you good things. And good to see Michael Nordsvan having a good go as well.

[AV1611]

I had a thought. When I saw Spac with his Volvo biffed into an embankment, it took me back to a similar thing that made the news this year...

It was the Pascha Bulka making contact with Newcastle Beach! Those steep embankments do resemble a scaled down headland, do they not? And that Volvo certainly resembles a super-tanker!

Hope he gets it all patched up soon - we all know how many native animals usually die when boats run aground.

[Bobesh]

Originally Posted by bob moore

Exit Volvo to stage left, using only two-thirds of its sails (cylinders) .................

well, earlier in the day Volvo had a great battle with what sounded like a 2-cylinder Escort

[Mark]

Phew. Day 1 down...

Well, I just got home. Ray and Tamsey were still sprouting delirious gibberish on the CB when we ran out of range as Ray, Kirrilee and Ian Biggs were checking Sparrows.

It's been a busy day at our (Gem, the missus, and I) end. Up at 6.30am, Meet for Greenhills 7.30am. Laughed at Jamar spinning 00 in front of the TRD management etc. Stifler in the Celica was the best through the Greenhills spectator point. The aforementioned Volvo boat was good for a laugh. The first time Spac choked, everyone roared and Spac could hear us over the noise of the engine. Just diabolically funny.
Off to Uriarra after 12pm when Greenhills finished, ran some TTS signs down to Tidbinbilla lane, got a lift in a friends Evo 7 doing it so it was relatively painless . Got back to service, found out Richard Leitis needed the trailer so drove to Amaroo, picked it up, came back to Miowera, chucked the car on the trailer. I think Richard has in-car of his off. Couldn't be bothered to do a post-mortem except on the call, 'RGL then RGR' he had gone straight ahead on the RGL, as the camber went from negative to positive with a slight rise then went down a 2m drop on the outside, into a rock about 10m. Snotted the front right but bonnet looks okay. Cut the corpse for the other day. Towed the car back to Aranda.
Out to Kowen, then out to Sparrows, cleaned some logs away in the landing zone of a ski jump-like...errr...jump. Into Millpost Lane, and bunted with John Malchya upto the service park. Way too tired so made it home (just).

Tomorrow should be an easier day. I only expected about 20 cars to finish today and to have a mere 12 left tomorrow but looks like 24 are in there tonight so hopefully tomorrow will be a bit calmer. Sparrows and Culverwells should be pretty easy on cars...

A big, huge thanks to every single official who sat and stood out there today and got sunburnt and gave up their Saturday. A big man hug from Ray coming everyone's way!

If anyone's trying to get onto Tamsey tonight you'll struggle because of the mobile phone reception at the Service Park in Kowen. Channel 3 duplex is worth a try on the CB or add '1' to the combination lock on the exit of the Kowen stage as I set it up as I left tonight at 10.45pm....

How much fun was Bluetts, going DOWN the back straight? I hope the road book was about right for the crests and jumps etc?

See you all out there tomorrow!

Mark

[DaveTrees]

Originally Posted by AV1611

When I saw Spac with his Volvo biffed into an embankment,

[Daniel]

Spac in spectator point 1 is proof that when you get behind the wheel of a Volvo you forget how to drive.

I think my 2 year old would have been faster through there on her trike.





Comiserations to Lettuce and Rob - a bunch of little bits of bad luck rather then a single almighty stuff up seem to have been to blame for their departure.

[bob moore]

Originally Posted by Bobesh

well, earlier in the day Volvo had a great battle with what sounded like a 2-cylinder Escort

And the Volvo clearly was winning

Onya, Cap'n!

[Marcus]

I have an admission...

I'm the real Flat in Fifth. Because I was Flat in Fifth when we took a jump on stage 2 and the landing went very badly....



Least we did okay on stage one. Could have been about 30-40 secs faster with a spin and a wrong road.

[Kagan]

Our event started and finished all on the first stage. Noticed it was quite slippery (think the tyre pressures were a bit high), but of course I didn't back off like I should have. We also had issues with no terratrip. Came up to the RGR on crest then RGL. We drifited over the top of the crest and slide off the road at a far rate of knots. We hit the rock wall pretty hard and it chucked us up onto our nose, with a little pirouette and we came down hard on the rear left, snapping the rear disk into 3 parts, and splitting the wheel baring to the point that half of it just dropped out when lightly touched.

So that was the end of our event, dissapointed to throw it away on the first stage, but thats rallying I guess.

A huge thanks to Dad, not only did he spend the whole time leading up to the event getting the car ready, he also tried all night last night to get us back on the road and only pulled the pin at 12:15 this morning.

Also thanks to Dougal, for meeting us back out at the stage once we had the trailer to allow us to get the car out of there.

[colejs]

Hey everyone, made it to this event and got some pics of most of the field if anyone is interested.
Go the Datto's!!!

[Jnr]

could anyone with pics of cars 7 19 or 26 please email to blake @ qwrx . com . au (spaces removed obviously).

My event report will come soon, but need to get a photo from Pat M first to help explain stuff.

[gemgem]

does any one know what happined to cars 2 (shabby)and car 34 gemini peter smith