2008 BRM Safari Rally

[sportsclassic]

Originally Posted by Stuart Walker

The Lancer's straight in those photos; not like these

Cheers,

Linda

Hi Stuart/Linda
You had some bad luck on the weekend,I know how you feel at the moment. Adam rolled his WRX at Tomerong 2 weeks ago.
We have bonnet guards etc. in stock for your LA Call me on 0418284776
Thanks Carlos

[Linda Walker]

Originally Posted by sportsclassic

Hi Stuart/Linda
You had some bad luck on the weekend,I know how you feel at the moment. Adam rolled his WRX at Tomerong 2 weeks ago.
We have bonnet guards etc. in stock for your LA Call me on 0418284776
Thanks Carlos

Thanks Carlos

Sorry to see your day end early too, as I know you were looking forward to the event.

At this stage we've only had a basic look at the car; higher priorities yesterday, making sure that Stu and Zoe were ok, and taking it easy, as they both went into shock, but are getting back to themselves.

We'll be pulling it down in the not too distant future, as the agreement was that Stu would run in BRM and I'd run in Bay Stages. I suspect that may be a bit ambitious.

We'll see what bits we have, as we inherited a lot of stuff from Tony when we bought the car, and will probably give you a call when we know what we need.

[Matt]

What Kirrilee said.

SS1 went OK, with the exception of the speccie point. It was definitely not designed for a big car with an average driver! Dunno WTF I was on, but it wasn't the road. Did a semi-decent time considering.

SS2 Bluetts. Now if there was ever an area that needs a housing development, it's that one. I am not a fan. It is rough, rocky, boney and... well... just plain crap. Perhaps I am a bit biased, but I think that is because I have too much mechanical sympathy, and that area is definitely not mechanically sympathetic. As a result, I was taking it easy and trying to not hurt the car, but then *KA-ZIIING!* - a big neutral where third gear used to be. I find another gear and trundle off to the finish of the stage. We pull up at the time control, and she is making a huge racket. I stare DNF in the face. It stares straight back and gives me the finger...

We manage to drive to the service area where Fro empties the oil out. The oil is sparkly. Oh, and there's a tooth. And another. And another. Swish a magnet around inside the casing and come up with a bunch more. Oh, and that little oil channel that goes through the sandwich plate. You get the idea. I do a lap of the service park and ask if anyone has a spare Datsun gearbox, but oddly, no-one does. We are left with a simple choice - withdraw now, in the service park, pack up and go to the pub, or risk the gearbox popping completely somewhere "out there", leaving us stranded in the bush, in arctic conditions for several hours.

Now, a wiser man would have handed in the withdrawal form.

A plan is hatched: we will go and attempt the next couple of stages while Fro scurries back to my place and grabs the spare gearbox that I have. As Blackadder would say, a plan "so cunning, you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel". The gearbox is filled, (thanks Dad) and off we go...

Gee I miss third gear. SS3 (East West) and SS4 (Hyles) go without incident (well, with the exception of a RGL over crest in East West that was covered in wet clay. Instant brown pants.), but the 2 - 4 gap is freakin' huge. I am also trying to be especially nice to the gearbox. It appears to be reasonably successful.

Back at service, it is plainly apparent that we don't have long enough to change the gearbox. We are going to have to do another 2 stages, including the longest stage of the rally, Sugarloaf, before we have a 45 minute service. Let's do it.

SS5 (Pierces East) and SS6 (Sugarloaf) are more of the same. I got jiggy with the 2 - 4 changes, until about 5 km into Sugarloaf when the shift into 4th felt... well... odd. I had this in my mind as I changed back into 2nd, but upon hitting neutral, the stick siezes solid! Gaah! No amount of hitting, smacking, slapping, clutching, creeping, rolling, dumping, or swearing would free it. I prepare to DNF for the second time when *snick* it gently slips into 2nd gear. Right, we're out of here! I dare not touch the thing again, so we proceed through the stage in 2nd gear only. Whilst it was a painfully slow trip, we were elated that we were still moving. Apologies to David Stephens, Kaptainballistik, and Mikey555 for being in your way.

With more arse than class, we arrive back at service where Fro, Marc Kelly, and Ben Wilson swing into action. In true professional style, they have the old box out and the other old box fitted in less time than it would take you to watch an ad-free episode of "Law and Order". True gentlemen and champions of the sport. I don't know what else to say.

Now with 5 forward gears, we go out to improve on our previous times. At the start of SS7 (East West II) both Kelly Caruana and Tim Armstrong take late-time hits so that we can start in front of them. (Thanks so much for that. Much appreciated.) In stage, we come across Dad and Nick Vardos who have parked it with a broken hub carrier. We stop so that they can give us instructions for the service crew, which cost us about 30 seconds or so. We eventually finish the stage right on the tail of Bob and Leonie Moore.

At the start of SS8 (Hyles II), Bob and Leonie wave us past. Apparently they didn't want us behind them either. (Thanks guys!) As we take off, we discover that our lights are pointing everywhere but forward. This does not help with the confidence, considering the size of some of the drops in there (Geralds ). We survive.

Last service is nothing more than a light adjustment, oil check, some rear boots and fuel top up.

With lights pointing forward, SS9 (Pierces East II) goes much better, but being quite twisty, doesn't suit the big laggy car. No problem though, we are looking forward to Sugarloaf. We'll try to have a crack in there.

It wasn't to be. With 10 seconds to go, I flick on the driving lights to find a black hole where the road was supposed to be. One of the spots popped! Gaah! Didn't matter, really. We still had fun!

Thanks to the cast and crew of the BRM. You should all be proud of the event that you put together. Give yourselves a pat on the back.

Thanks to Kirrilee for calling what was a tough roadbook, and for keeping us all fed, watered and organised. Oh, and for coming over and working on the car. Again. Sensational!

Thanks to my lovely wife Leyanne, and the kids for letting daddy go rallying for the day (not to mention all the shed time), and for making a surprise visit to us!

Thanks to Matt Searle for sourcing bits for me prior to the rally - even though they didn't fit!

Special thanks to Fro, Marc Kelly, and Ben Wilson for getting down and dirty and changing the gearbox. Awesome.

Special note: Ever since 2003, my wife has considered herself bad luck to me. It seemed that whenever she came out spectating, I would DNF. So she stopped. Until now. When she turned up at the first service and I said "we've blown the gearbox", she said "It's because I came out, isn't it?". I have been thinking about it, and if you had not come out to the service area, Fro wouldn't have had a car to go and get the spare gearbox with. It was because you came out that we didn't DNF. Jinx broken.

[DamienS]

Firstly thanks to LCCC Tamsey and team for a fantastic event. To all the officials, road closure folk and the recovery guys, huge thankyou for braving the cold and giving up your time.

There were also a lot of people that generally gave words of encouragement, cheered from the sidelines or just came over for a chat. So here is the problem with the forum and it’s a good problem. A lot of people seem to know more about our car and engine problems and seats etc than you would usually expect from someone whom you have just met for the first time . It was great except you spend the whole time wondering if you have previously met the person before and just don’t remember.

So I have figured it out. The new rally introduction should go like this.
“G’day Damien saw you on the forum, I’m Tom but my forum name is Full-O-Bull.”
Problem solved .

But I digress.

Preparation was going beautifully for us (finally piecing the car back together after ROC tried to rattle it to death) until the night before I spot a split in the chassis and a crack in the engine mount bracket in the most “impossible to weld spot”. Anyway, all sorted and we head down to the ACT a day early for a bit of a relax.

Stage 1. Larger diameter tyres, therefore adjusted coil over suspension, equals greater travel, equals wheel pushed up into guard about 3km in to stage. Guard finally gets pulverised up enough that it only squeals on the big bumps.

Stage 2. A bit of Kung Fu panel beating that guard is clear. Got my act together and actually managed an OK time for us.

Stage 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 etc I know it’s not cool to say it, but I love Canberra roads. They are fun, tight, twisty, rough, smooth and slippy, it really does have it all.

Not sure why, but we were super slow (more than normal) on the last four stages which were night stages for us. Lights didn’t seem to be set up right but I am sure it was more about my lack of night experience.

It’s probably not coming through in the report but we had a ball, lots of laughs, a spin, and an understeer to within a millimetre of going off a 5m drop . Kristy calmly spits out “you probably don’t won’t to go off there”, beautifully understated.

The four service breaks just added to it and made it more social (mainly because we had very little to fix).

Great rally with a great vibe. Thanks again .

Ps. To Jayke Skeffington, that was a impressive bit of driving through the speccy point one. I think I got it on video and will upload it when I get a chance
Pps. How cool is it that we got to be a spectator before we even started

[skeffo]

yeah i thought it was a great event had a bit of a problem in the first stage with the car wonting to drive on its roof insted of the tred but still enjoyed the last 4 stages. just wondering if any one has got the results i couldnt stick round for the preso had to get the service crew home for a motorkhana on sunday

[Renee]

Originally Posted by skeffo

just wondering if any one has got the results i couldnt stick round for the preso had to get the service crew home for a motorkhana on sunday

http://brm.rallytiming.com/

[PROTON BOY]

Originally Posted by skeffo

yeah i thought it was a great event had a bit of a problem in the first stage with the car wonting to drive on its roof insted of the tred but still enjoyed the last 4 stages. just wondering if any one has got the results i couldnt stick round for the preso had to get the service crew home for a motorkhana on sunday

Jake i know how you feel about the car wanting to drive on the roof mine just wanted to play lets roll 3 times down a 45 degree the hill

2 good points i got from the weekend i got 1 point for starting and 2 i took russes rollover virginity

Raymond no comments on russes virginity please

[Matt Sosi]

I am going through the NSW Clubman results and doing the pointscore as we speak. Who was TBA for Mr Langslow??

Regards
Matt

[heyehy]

Ok here comes my report with the virgin nav. . . .Fernando Rodriguez.

Get through scrutineering with the TTS boys superbly! Well done to everyone there. Nice chat with everyone there, the rally community

Sat morning up early and pack the Ute. Failed scrutineering on the RHS mirror missing glass. Get one cut up and sikaflexed in place. Bede passes us winnar.

Having the start at the first spectator point well done to Tamsey and crew. Bewdiful. Allows me to see what to do (or not do, as the Evo hit the stump). Take new nav through writing short calls on the bottom of each page so they are not missed. He is freaking out a bit. After that, time allowing, get him to highlight every !, !!, or !!!. We get to our start time and head off.

Fernando is freaking out, with the number of calls, and being a chef, (Gordon Ramsey eat your heart out) wants to be a perfectionist. We amble our way to stage 1 with Fernando coming to grips with the terratrip, and the foot mounted reset. We get through without incident, driving mainly on what I can see as Fernando isn’t up to speed yet.

Stage 2, only moment, is a late RGR call, come in waaaay to fast, and up clouting a bank, deciding to steer into the bank and go up it saves us, seeing some huge boulders in the road, steer back into the road, and get back on with the job. Finish without incident.

Stage 3, Fernando finds his groove, and hasn’t thrown up yet yay! And is pretty much on the calls, albeit a little early.

Go service at some stage, with a horrible bang coming from every hard hit on the RHS front. In the service park work out the KMac strut top on the RHS front has popped out, however hasn’t managed to punch through the strut top yet. Decide with JW’s blessing to finish the event, and not or try not to hit anything with the RHS.

The rest is a bit of a blur. The stage that was bluetts on ROC with the water splash, thanks must go to Simon Evans who at the start of ROC told me that he hits the water splash flat out in 4th with the wipers on. So I (in roc) hit it flat out in second. This works, so endeavour to do it again, wipers on flat out in second with windows open. No problems. Forget to turn off the radiator fan, but doesn’t damage the radiator. Thank heavens.

Thanks to our fantastic service crew, Keith, Kelly and Jessica. Kept us fed, watered, fuelled and in fresh tyres.

Thanks to Ben Ruggles who calls me before every round of the ACT series ensuring I have enough boots to get me through the stages. Makes me feel like a professional race car driver .

SS5 is slippery, and I keep locking up the fronts on each turn in (I blued up the front and rear disks, so I think I am now braking appropriately hard) and can’t find my rhythm. Hate this stage. Ready for the next.

SS6 and sugarloaf. Fernando falls off the notes 1km before mineshaft. Nearly punt it off on the RGR before the drop. Late braking, and turn in, keep it only just on the road. . . . . oh well, get to mineshaft, see the poles that tamsey’s crews put up, and just before cresting the road, say to Fernando, look up. He does and as we go over all I hear is “oh ****”. Yeah, got another one. . . . Alas, Fernando doesn’t pick up the notes, and I do the rest of sugarloaf blind. Get some wicked air just before all the wild life drinking brownies, standing on the high areas cheering us on, just before the RGL. Make it, and through the stage! Fernando is nearly spent.

The rest of the event is fairly uneventful. Bluetts (damn, what was this stage called???) was wet and slippery but with a lack of HP we have a ball sliding around with near bald fronts, and new rears, and learning how to drive in the wet. However the water splash gets us again. Windows up this time. Fans off. No worries. Hit it flat in 2nd wipers on. Probably 90km/h. water washes up over the car and windscreen doesn’t clear even with wipers on flat out for 3 corners. Nearly hit the bank on the LHS just after the splash. If we had roof vents, we both would have been sodden. But what a stage.

Go service for the last 2 stages. Have had an increasing exhaust leak manifesting. Get to service and realise we have lost a bolt on the exhaust flange. Same one we lost at ROC. Sigh. Decide to Tie Wire the bajesus out of the bastard, to stop the gasket blocking the airflow and finish the event.

SS9 uneventful and very quick. I am very happy with the stage, albeit the Hung TO Chinese spotties pointing the wrong way, but the HIDs make no matter.

SS10, sugarloaf and the mineshaft in the dark. Woo. About 5km from the actual mineshaft, I hear the dulcet tones of a tractor eminating from the engine bay. Oh. The exhaust is shagged. When this happens, I have no talks. Only hp, so rev the ring out of the ting everywhere. The service crew are at mineshaft, and think nothing wrong till they see the hazards on. Sigh. Fight our way to the end of mineshaft. Yeah! Finished the event. Almost.

Get out of the stage, and Chris Hellessey tries to flag us down, but I wave and keep going. Until we hear this ting ting ting ting coming from under the car. I decide to stop and look. The exhaust has broken off at the centre muffler and is dragging on the ground. Had been by the look of the damage on the exhaust since I heard the tractor. So bit of water, let it cool off and tie wire it up. Thanks to car 39 and all the crews who stopped to check on us.

So we head off, and think apart from the noise, yes! We are going to finish. Every downhill, turn off engine, and coast to allow our ears to abate from the noise. Turn on to point hut road, and nearly there!!! Bam! No lights no engine, no nuffin. Pitch black. No moon. Oh ****! Slam on the brakes, can still barely see the 2 white lines in the middle of the road, cant see the edge of the road so stop right in the middle of the lane. Scramble out of the car, Fernando flagging down cars as they rush up behind us. I push the car off the road, eyes having adjusted to the pitch-blackness, able to see no drop on the edge.

Quick bit of electrical tracing (not kill switch, not battery terminals, where could it be) results in me finding the fusible link has broken, not blown, but merely broken with the vibration of the event. Get the tie wire again, and make up an emergency fusible link. Some guy, nice, I have no idea who lends us Phillips head screwdriver to fix it in place, and we get to the end, nearly out of late time. Rock on!

No idea of the results, but the beer tastes great, and the service crew are happy to see us, having been told we are stopped on the side of the road.

2nd novice, and a lovely trophy to end an otherwise great event.

Some people said the roads were too rough. I disagree. They were bloody rough, but that’s rallying. We slowed to 1st in the steep downhills with gutters. I wanted to finish. And finish we did, by the skin of our teeth. Nearly DNF’ed on the last transport, but I could taste that beer.

Fernando said he had a great event, and by the end of the event, was calling the notes like Dale, and doing a great job. He has a newfound respect for rally car drivers, and now hates drifters; with the amount of sideways we did, especially with the rocks, gutters and washouts we dealt with.

To all the officials, thankyou. It was bloody cold, and you let us run. Thanks.

To Ben Ruggles of Silverstone tyres, thanks! The tyres were awesome, even down to the canvas!

To the guys at TTS thanks for letting us use the workshop for scrutineering. Always a pleasure.

And to our service crew, little to do, but every little bit helps.

A great event, and I can’t wait to do it next year. . . . . ..

[Rallyray]

Originally Posted by PROTON BOY

2 good points i got from the weekend i got 1 point for starting and 2 i took russes rollover virginity

Raymond no comments on russes virginity please

What you guys do after you roll a car is up to you... No wonder he was walking bow legged...

I'll be waiting for a smack in the chops from Rus's G/F after the rollover phone call....

[Rus]

Well, what started out as a joke name, finally turned into a reality on the latter parts of SS10, when 24km in we somehow managed to understeer off a relatively straight, smooth section of the road just after a fairly open RGL and roll the Proton (the now literal Squashed Orange) three times into the darkness below some 25m off the road.

A huge thanks goes out to the members of the ACT All-Terrain club who did an amazing job with the recovery, taking a huge amount of care not to further damage Ryan's battered little Orange rocket.

I'll provide a full event report later, in the meantime though, here's a few pics of the recovery courtesy of the ACT All-Terrain club

Ryan's fairly confident that we'll be back for the Bay Stages to continue the ever-intensifying fight for outright honours in this years Novice championship.

Huge props to Tams and the gang for an awesome event, and also to all those who emailed, called and texted to make sure we were ok after they found out what happened. You all rock!

[Linda Walker]

Originally Posted by PROTON BOY

Jake i know how you feel about the car wanting to drive on the roof mine just wanted to play lets roll 3 times down a 45 degree the hill

2 good points i got from the weekend i got 1 point for starting and 2 i took russes rollover virginity

Raymond no comments on russes virginity please

Are you guys ok? I was hoping to catch up with you, but sounds like you were caught up with recovery until all hours......

[Stewy]

Yeah Linda it was quite an effort getting it back on the road as the car was plowing its way up through the soft graded soil which resulted in the recovery guys having a late one, Oh yeah and a cold one

[DamienS]

This is a very quick video of J Skeffington in the Datto 1600 at BRM.


http://www.eyeknowsomething.com/Rall...keffington.htm



Cheers
Damien