Lithgow

[Bob Selby-Wood]

Hey all,

Well we went there to wave the Datto 1600 flag cause we were the only ones entered.

What is rallying coming to you lot ???? NO MORE 1600's OUT THERE "COME ON YOU BLOKES, GET EM OUT OF THE SHEDS AND LETS GO !!!!!!!

Well we had a ball and we finished. The old girl could have done a Southern Cross she is so strong. Not one spanner put on her just fuel and out of Service.

My son Brett who had never been in a Rally picked up pace noting immediately and did a fantastic job in the silly seat. He is now hooked like the rest of us.

We came 21st (not bad for a bloke that has not driven for 38 years) and a first timer in the passengers seat Eh ??????

I'd like to thank the organisers for putting on this great event especially Ric Carey, Phil Morley, Sue South and all of the hard working officials that made it all possible.

A HUGE THANKS PEOPLE

Bob and Brett Selby-Wood

[Mickb83]

Originally Posted by Bob Selby-Wood

What is rallying coming to you lot ???? NO MORE 1600's OUT THERE "COME ON YOU BLOKES, GET EM OUT OF THE SHEDS AND LETS GO !!!!!!!

You need to come run AMSAG then Bob,

At the first round this year we had 9 Datsun 1600's (3 of those had those dirty dirty turbos though)...

Plenty of 1600's to challenge there.

Why don't you look at running the next round?? it's only a month away and cheap. No need for a CAMS Licence/log book, blind rally (means no need for recce, just like the old days) and plenty of Newcastle guys should be there too, you can join our Newcastle Mafia

Cheers,

Mick Bannon

[Bob Selby-Wood]

Mike

Sounds good I'll look at it for sure.

Selby

PS my Datto is Ex Ross and Scott Jackson. You might know it ????

[DiscoDazzler]

Hi Guys,
Just recovering after a huge weekend, lots of fast and rough stages and quite a test for our first event. Huge thank you to all the crew that put the event together, great work Ric and Phil and all their team...Special thanks to Sue South for calming my nerves a little at documentation with some navigation tips to pass onto Jade.

Jade did a great job at his first time in the passenger seat, getting more up with the calls as the rally went on, we even tried a few notes here and there...I just have to work on listening to him now

The car more or less performed well, although I kept leaving bits of it in the forest every time I went out, with the bumper coming off in SS6, the rear section of the exhaust SS3, then the rest of the exhaust SS10 and finally a rear skid pan on SS11...Thanks to the recovery boys for collecting my bits and returning them, (I hope you divided up that case, Bean was after a 6 pack I think).

The only real annoyance was a weird intermittent clutch slipping problem all day and a heap of brake knock off, but I heard there was a fair bit of that going around.

Plenty to fix before the next event, as we discovered the next morning that the rear cross member has been crushed back a little...It certainly was rough in places.

Yes, unfortunately there was an apparent timing error on SS6, I thought we were fast, but I was a little surprised to have gone that fast at the time...I thought that missing bumper must have caused some sort of power to weight advantage was worth over 2s/km!...haha.

Any pics or video would be very much appreciated, even though we seemed to bollocks up every speccy point...I saw some flash cameras sticking out of the trees a couple of times on some stages before it got dark...Not sure who to contact there??? Any suggestions?

Finally, massive thanks to Doug and Jon for traveling up especially to service, you guys were a huge help and certainly ensured we got to the end.

Look forward to getting out there again soon...

Daz

[BEN]

ahh, im still pretty bummed after DNF ing and im only the Nav,

I must have spent 2 solid weeks after work and on weekends making the car perfect after AIS with Mathew, and it was fantastic, all the little gremlins solved, brakes were fantastic, and handling was perfect, (actually a little too light, but we were being cautious on the setup)
we were getting hosed by Adam in P2 who was having a blinder, so were just pacing ourselves with the Excel's without being ballistic with a good 8 Min lead with 1 and a bit stages to go the diff let go in a big way.



not a great shot, but shows you some of the damage, the centre gears to the diff are floating aroung to the left, crown wheel clearly visable, smurf blood everywhere, will take a better shot when out of the car

It was a great drive by Matt and a great event by the NSSCC guys as usual.

Ben

[welby]

Here's a few pics guys. I stuffed up my timing and after SS2 i headed of to SS6 but the light was all but gone. Anyway have to say one of the best organised rallies i've been to and great for the spectators Got most of the field in SS2, pm for the pics.

[Dave Kelly]

Originally Posted by welby

Here's a few pics guys....

Nice pics... Clearly your camera has a particular taste for Evo's

Cheers

Dave

[welby]

Hmmm didn't notice that Dave here's one to balance it out a bit

[Davo]

Awesome shots Welby! Loving the one of Schofields!

I'm going through my shots now and will post a link soon!

As for the event itself, I had a great time, plenty of awesome roads AND VIEWS! Spent a good portion of my time just looking at the landscape!

Well run considering the unexpected shortening of Summit, Kudos to Ric for coping with the issues arising during the day and still managing to get the presentation done on time.

All in all it was lots of fun, great photo ops and I'm hoping/keen for next year.

P.s. Lucky enough to get this shot while driving past Gum Valley's speccy point late in the day, see if you can spot yourself

http://davidwatson.com.au/theoffice/spectators.jpg

[Michael Ryan]

Originally Posted by welby

Here's a few pics guys. I stuffed up my timing and after SS2 i headed of to SS6 but the light was all but gone. Anyway have to say one of the best organised rallies i've been to and great for the spectators Got most of the field in SS2, pm for the pics.

Top Shots. I love looking at who gets the line right. I would love to see Charlie in the same corner, or he may have to stay back for detention. Seeing Geralds car soooo low in the back, and knowing he had rear diff problems makes me add 2 + 2 together. Could be wrong though.

[welby]

Originally Posted by Davo

Awesome shots Welby! Loving the one of Schofields!

I'm going through my shots now and will post a link soon!

As for the event itself, I had a great time, plenty of awesome roads AND VIEWS! Spent a good portion of my time just looking at the landscape!

Well run considering the unexpected shortening of Summit, Kudos to Ric for coping with the issues arising during the day and still managing to get the presentation done on time.

All in all it was lots of fun, great photo ops and I'm hoping/keen for next year.

P.s. Lucky enough to get this shot while driving past Gum Valley's speccy point late in the day, see if you can spot yourself

http://davidwatson.com.au/theoffice/spectators.jpg

You were right Dave it did turn out nice

[Rus]

Originally Posted by welby

Hmmm didn't notice that Dave here's one to balance it out a bit

Love it! How can I get a BIG one?!

Was it taken at the top of the hill about near the start of stage 2?

[Ric Cary]

Originally Posted by Rus

Love it! How can I get a BIG one?!

Sorry Rus you got what ya got to late to hope for change now, you could try " Gro Some " but I think its a topical treatment

[fro]

I think the motto for this rally should be "Lead Free".

[chacheen]

we all had a great weekend and are really happy with the result .
it was good to get back on the dirt again after tassie for a few weeks there i was a bitumen man but after getting some dust back in the lungs gravel rallys are for winners ....
dasher swapped the car back into gravel spec in his garage but the first run on the gravel media day the back of the car was all over the shop and the brakes were crap . after a few runs i still was not a happy camper with the arse of the car and the brakes so changed diff settings and it helped a bit but still not great ...dasher checked the heights and suspension while we headed off for recce and the car had settled a bit uneven and he discovered the brake bias controller wasnt working at all ...another top job by the donkeys that installed it last year ...
recce went good and me and eoin are improving with every rally which is good ...more recce sat morning while dasher and the crew worked on the car some more ....ready for the off but i was not sure how the car would handle after dasher made the changes and the brakes were a bit of a lottery too .it was really good that there was such a long transport on gravel to the first stage so that helped me set the brakes and get feel for the car ...
stage 1 no problems went around first corner and the back of car stayed in line and wasnt as giddy as media day ....so next corner a bit faster still no budge so i said to eoin it felt good so we had some fun on stage 1 ....
stage 2 ...jesus i was glad that was only run once i think i physced myself right out of it on friday on the downhill section when back of car wanted to commit automotive suicide and try and throw itself off the cliff ....
stage 3 cant remember anything
stage 4 great run joint fastest and nearly wrote off the bus load of asian tourist standing at the finish line snapping away mad
the stages at dusk we lost a bit of time as we forgot the light pod back in the hotel in lithgow so there was lots of breaking and squinting and me cursing myself for not eating more carrots when i was young so i could see in the dark ...
first night stage with the light pod and was in dust for second half of stage so more time gone there ....i dont mind driving at night time eoin was on the money all day and didnt miss a beat with the delivery of the notes which helped with commiting to the crests and fast stuff ...
thats pretty much it had a great day and most importantly i had fun driving the evo which with dasher at the helm we are finally getting the set up right.doing rally oz in micks subaru was the first time i had driven a 4wd that was set up right and i couldnt believe how easy that car was to drive.im as mechanically minded as a turnip so its good to be able to tell dasher whats not right with the car and compare back to how the subaru was .....

now for the thanks ............biggest one goes to dasher for a super job on setting the car up (he still cant quite understand me but is smiling and nodding at me a lot less lately )and his advise and relaxed manner is always encouraging .....thanks to paul my brother for helping out again ...eoin on another faultess day calling notes despite me in his ear roaring obsenities to myself and the car .....mick ryan again for rallyschools continued help support and advice...and last but not least to rick phil cathy and all the crew who put on a fabulos event.. we had a blast last year and this year even more so ...roll on rol 2011.....

clip below stage 4 apologies for no sound our camera had depression and decided not to work properly ...

Untitled on Vimeo

Untitled on Vimeo