Bay Stages 2003.

[Spac]

No time to write it out now.... Will do later.

About 28th outright at the end of the short event, big water loss problems the whole event, looks like we won ACT Clubman, 3rd Silver Cup.

[Dave Ferris]

Team Solartint's DNF report

time to see what this new motor can do
stage one ....motor very hot
end of stage...water pissing out 120 + deg
limp to service
blown head gasket


great

[Mad Mal]

Blown clutch 2km from the end.
After a day light inspection it is now a diff problem not clutch.

[rowdytoot]

Damn that sucks Mal, we saw you by the side of the road.. as we coasted past

Bad luck DF I guess you should exchange your keeping oil pressure in the engine secrets with Bogan, and he can tell you how to keep the water in yours, and you'll both finish the next one

Don't have time to write much either

Rowds

[crowleyaj]

Bay Stages 2003

Once again the blue lancer (Car 62) was faultlessly prepared by Scott and Shayne Iversen, and in the coastal forests not far from home (Wandandian) Scott was driving like a champion.

Alas...........

The Lord spake saying:

"Thou shalt have a flat tyre in the middle of SS3."

.....and the people cried out with much wailing and gnashing of teeth.


Haven't seen results yet but I'd say we lost about 7 minutes. Oh well.....it happens.

Seriously, apart from that we had a great time. It was nice to be seeded near Gwyn, Tweety and Fro - very good company to rally with.

When I think of Glen Farrant (Red Suzuki 10 kms into SS1) and Mal (2km from end of SS7), our weekend was not that bad.

With time penalties at Bega and forgetting to get the 3rd road card at Batemans I still have a lot to learn about navigating but I think I've still got the job.

The main thing is all we have to do is wash the car for the next event and we're ready to rock.

Bring it on!

[Matt Sosi]

Originally posted by crowleyaj
With time penalties at Bega and forgetting to get the 3rd road card at Batemans I still have a lot to learn about navigating but I think I've still got the job.

Andrew

I was speaking to other co-drivers and a large number did the same thing as well including yours truly. The time card finished at TC 1.5, which was at the time control of Old Highway.

It should of been issued at that control and not the general service area where you do not book in. It disadvantaged people who were on the other side of the road.

Matt

[Martino]

Completive: I was on song.
Transport and service: How can one make so many mistakes with no pressure.

Suffice to say the Truno got us home again, even if we had to sweet talk it the last 2km and do rolling maintenance on the way back to the Bay. (I am sure Mark will give you the full story)

Most importantly we had a ball and rumour has it gave the spectators a good show.

[Martino]

Yere i almost stuffed up the time cards as well.

I told Mark to keep on driving. I took it as the regroup time control, which we would check in about 1.5 hours time. After my earlier stuff up I decided it was safer to humour Mark and wave the card under there nose the be flagged on. I was surprised when they ran off with my card and came back with a new one. I checked my road book and there was nothing about getting a new time card in it. I also queried the controllers that I was meant to be getting that card off them at that time.

If that had only been the regroup check in, how many people would have been hit with a 90 minute late time penalty for checking in early…

[MattHarriott]

I only found out about the card thing cos we were servicing at that end of the carpark.

Tamsey was another one who I know miss the card.

[Matt]

Short report: No rhythm, no grip, no confidence, no alternator.

Dropped a heap of time due to the lack of lighting.

Came away with very few positives from the day, but at least the car is straight and repairs are easy.

[Tweety]

Originally posted by Matt
Short report: No rhythm, no grip, no confidence, no alternator.

Um, yep , all except for the alternator bit - mine worked perfectly.

Tamsey was great, car was reliable. Many thanks are in order:

Heimo - rebuilding my LSD for me in return for two dinners. An absolute champion
Spac - helping me with all the pre-event little stuff and enabling me to pass the noise test
Richard Leitis, Professor Frink and Mad Mal - also for helping me to pass the noise test
Everyone in the cars behind me at the start (Fro, Matt H, Tort, Phil and Kagan, Russell Battison, and many, many others) - for pushing me through the start control, offering advice and actually doing the work (thanks Tort) when my plugs fouled and the -2 didn't want to go anywhere
Bede - for helping me bleed brakes and the continual encouragement
Plasto and Sam - as always, an awesome service effort, couldn't do it without you guys
Mum, Dad, Jamjar, Joh - for your never ending support and encouragement, even when I was ready to go home after 2 stages
Tamsey - for sitting in the silly seat again, sorry for not giving you a better ride

Overall I didn't really enjoy myself, the road book was lacking (even for a coast one) and so was I, the trip meter was ALWAYS out, the roads were quite rough in patches, and apparently the fault belonged with Tamsey and I when we didn't know about collecting the last time card at service - I don't recall it being specifically mentioned at the briefing (although I do recall something about road cards being handed out at random), and if someone around me was talking at the wrong time apparently it was then MY fault that I couldn't hear. I'd have thought that with something as important as time card collection, anything out of the ordinary would have been documented some where for the competitors.

Other than that little whinge, no complaints about being allowed out to hoon in the forest.

[tortfeaser]

2003 BAY STAGES – THE MOVIE

CAST

Car 79, Paul Taylor / Marc Kelly, Holden Gemini in Gemini series spec, with Katie the fabulous service crew, and helpful people from the BMSC.

SCENE…

DR. LECTER (V.O.)
But what became of the gerbils?
(no response)
Codriver...?

(As the codriver turns, staring into Dr Lecter’s feverish eyes.
He shakes his head, unwilling - or unable - to say more.)

DR. LECTER (cont.)
You still wake up sometimes, don't you?
Wake up in the dark, with the gerbils screaming?

CODRIVER
Yes...

All day long the gerbils screamed. Forty of them, running around and around, propelling us (after a fashion) forward. In three gears they screamed, but not fourth gear, for that is the gear for which there is screaming only at Bega. And once on stage 3. They stopped only when the wind escaped from the tyres, and when they were thirsty. On stage 7 the thirst was strong, forcing us to steal water from the children of controllies, who inquired as to whether the gerbils would drink it all. They did.

And so it came to pass that car 79 finally finished, and silenced the 40 gerbils screaming.

SCENE…LATER

DR. LECTER
(Smiles into his mobile phone. He is stretched out on a lounger,
on a tiled patio, languidly paring an orange with a penknife. His
appearance is quite altered - a beard, glasses, lighter hair. He's
has some cosmetic surgery, as well.)

DR. LECTER (cont.)
(into phone)
Your gerbils are still for now, codriver,
but not forever... You'll have to earn
it again and again, this blessed silence.
Because it's the rallying that drives you,
and the rallying will never end.


BOX OFFICE RESULTS
A finish, with some stage times to be proud of. All targets met.

(For those interested, from my calcs on the ACT series pointscore, Matt Harriott takes the lead in novice codriver (66 points) with me three points behind (as before, so thanks Rowdy), Arnold Ahrenfeld a further 7 points back on 56 and Phillip May on 40. As for the drivers, Fro takes the lead (54 points), with a one point gap to both Karl Ahrenfeld and Patrick Malycha, and Ray Baker on 44 points and Sophia Moody on 40. A tight series, with all the contenders except Fro having already got their 22 points for officialling.)

CREDITS
Thanks to Paul (Rowdy) for the ride – it’s a great thrill to codrive for someone in his first event. There’s so much excitement and uncertainty. Thanks for the opportunity.

Thanks to Katie for servicing.

Thanks to Naomi Horobin, Ray Baker, and the rest of the BMSC for helping us get through the event.

Thanks to the NSSCC for running a great event. Good roads, good itinerary, and pretty relaxed everywhere. Nice one. Pity about the results service and that weirdness with the timecards before the last three stages.

[The Fazz]

Well basically I wasn't nervous enough before the start. I drove too hard and (and very poorly) for 10km and drove the Suzuki straight into a bank.

Thanks to Gwyn for stopping and getting out of the car to help us lift the car off the road. Hopefully he'll get some of the time back.

There wasn't that much damage with a very bent Lower Control Arm preventing us from continuing. We threw a new LCA into it and drove it back to town and proceeded to drown our sorrows comprehensively.

The car will be back together for Wyong. Aiming to get past SS1 there...

[Spac]

Alright....

Had a bit of fun rebuilding the already recently rebuilt starter motor before the start. Damo even volunteered to do the sh177y under the car stuff. Worked sweet as for the rest of the event!

First stage, tried to go out and push fairly hard (usually a very weak point of mine). First third of the stage was not too pretty - fairly ragged without any obvious speed resulting from it. Second third of the stage was much smoother, but I couldn't work out if I'd just slowed down, or was finding some rhythm. Last third was a lot better, without being exceptional.
Heimo later told me I was "puttering past, really slowly". Stage time turned out OK, so maybe it he was just on a bad corner? Or maybe being less than 45 degrees to the direction of travel is "puttering" in Heimo's world (actually, I know the answer to that one!).

SS2, Can't remember much, because I was too busy watching the temp guage, after the car swallowed 5 litres of water at the start of the stage.... We made it to the end, and the car took another three and a half litres.... This continued through-out the rally... We used up heaps of late time, and had to leave the service parks early so the engine would be cool enough to re-fill before the start of the stage... Water economy was about 3 litres / 10kms, so the long stages were a big worry.

SS4, I think it was, we got a flat about 4kms from the end, when I hugged the apex a little too closely and copped some rocks sitting in the gutter. We made it through without having to change it. Cost us somewhere between thirty seconds and a minute, I reckon - the RX-7 is a lot more drivable on a flat tyre than the RX-5!

SS6. Up in the old SKDAC rallysprint roads (even though I haven't been there since Ulladulla last year!). Took some more late time, but were keen to stay behind the Sprinter who was quicker than his seeding. We ended up with a 4 minute dust gap (see! All of the reading of the CAMS Manual was useful!). About three quarters of the way through the stage we caught some bad dust. Then we saw tail-lights. Then we dropped back due to the dust. Then we saw tail-lights again. Then we dropped back again, VERY frustrated. Finished the stage 15 seconds behind the Sprinter, very frustrated - probably lost, ah, I dunno, maybe a minute or two. Turns out the crew in the Sprinter had thought that they were lost and turned around and came back the way they camef or a couple of minutes, before realising they weren't actually lost, and turned back around again.
I shudder to think what could have happened if we'd left the start two minutes behind them...

SS7. Car gets REALLY hot about half-way though. I'm torn between the need to finish, and the very strong desire to not stop in stage, seeing as we're going OK and haven't lost TOO much competitive time yet. I back right off and struggle through (just ask Mal how fast we went past him!).

I stall the car just outside the finish control, and it won't restart. This is a BAD sign - exactly what happened at Bathurst... We let it cool back down as much as late time will allow. I contemplate getting this far and DNFing... This makes me more than a little nervous, and throw some rocks at trees (hardly adult behaviour, I know, but it was rocks, the car or Daveee, but I can't remember if I'll need Daveee at the end, and the car is too heavy to throw at trees).
Car takes 5 litres of water and (praise be) starts up.
We cruise back to the finish and it never gets above 86 degrees the whole way... Go figure....

Wait around for hours for results, to see top three get their trophies and then be told that results wouldn't be available until 10am tomorrow morning.

BIG thanks to the Service Bitch, Damo. That man is unflappable. And apparently never stops smiling! Thanks also to Mrs Damo for letting him out on a not-at-all-convenient weekend.
And Plasto too! You're coming to the Alpine to service for Jen and me, even if you don't want to!

Thanks to:
All of the officials. Especially you Alli!

Bede, TLS, Jen for tyres.

John M, the Pox Brothers, Richard and Rob, Gwyn, Russell B and everyone else who helped or offered to help with the water situation.

And everyone else who put up with my not-so-drunken ramblings at the end.

[rowdytoot]

It was one hell of a weekend!!. al lin a good way.

It started with much panic and uncertainity in the rowdy household on thursday night, when I was in the worst frame of mind possible... luckily kt talked me down from the roof when I wanted to jump

We left sydney at 1:30 pm and followed spacs coastal route-- (which was great BTW-- and nice and quick on the way home), the little gerbil house riding high on the trailer (many thanks to shawn urquhart ) ..

We arrrived at Batemans just behind Spac and Jen, who dumped their worldly belongings in the ute, and we disappeard to get the car off the trailer, 10 minutes later the biatch finally starts...

Tort arrives and helps get all our crap into the ute, and we head for scrute- which was shorter than my last khanacross scrute!!.. It's all good and after a quick bite we head to bed...

Sat AM.. much activity in the RRS camp. Tort is drilling holes in my seat mounts so we can get his seat in the car, whilst kt and I bleed the brakes- Many thanks to those who lend tools for the seat.

kt makes friends with mrs Fro and Ray and all the gang, so she can find out WTF this servicing lark is all about and how it really works.. (Huge thanks to Mrs Fro, Ray, james, and all the other BMSC /LCCC legends for making kt feel comfortable and welcome)

We go and get wind in the tyres , which results in tort and I having a stand up argument with a local, cos we were hogging 'his' bowser- there were 3 others that he could have used........ whatever

stage 1- take it easy... get to the end... it's good though I'm happy, but I keep backing off when big rock hits the bottom of the car... sad to see tony and Anna by the side of the road we get to the end and I'm releived.. I can do this.... and the time isn't too shabby for a 1st up effort..

service-- check pressures,clean windscreen, have a chat.. all good..

stage 2-- rough as guts (the road that is!) and we have a big oversteer slide flat in 3rd - at this point the left rear makes ugly noises and we realise we have flat.. 6 minutes and much uncoordination later.. we are on our way... i'm more confident, but still getting out into the sheet at the side of the road too much

service- swap the flat out for a new spare, and we are all go again.

stage 3-- was this the one with the humps? Man, did I misjudge the 1st one.. we land the car on the nose (well it felt like it)...
nonentheless all good..

stage 4-- long stage.. and another freaking flat-- font left.. hrmm torts side of the car AGAIN!!.. definately his fault ...
damn it.. we are faster at changing it though.. and still have good fun, esp over the grids. look out of the cow!! ( or was that SS3 .. Mind is a blurr)

service-- relaxed.. lots of pizza eaten.. swapped to the last spare... hope we make it home... checked the oil, and probably should have checked the hoses and coolant level...

stage 5--- great stage, had a ball, was stoked when Russell was still in control at the end..

stage 6- good as well, though the steering is a little odd and the car doesn't like going turning into right handers, but oversteers a lot mid corner... though a glance at the temp guage with a couple of ks to go shows it's much higher than it has been all day... tort tells me to keep going.. we can smell coolant..
we get to the end, and it's rising more.. it continues to rise on the short transport to SS7....

where in my haste to get out and have a look, I put the car in gear , but don't check it as I shut the can down, it pops out and starts rolling, straight into russell's car in front.. needless to say there were big appologies and russell was a bit unimpressed.. oops.. tort scrounges water, and we resolve to nurse the car to the end.. I'm a little worried..

stage 7- short shift, we use 4th a fair bit.. hehe....
have 2 big moments cos going slow the rhythm is all wrong.. the temp stays right down though, and we borrow more water at the stop point...

transport back was fine, and we finish.. much joyous relief all round..

Thanks: Tort for doing a great job all day, giving me confidence, making me laughand calling the road book to perfection.. it made my 1st event as stress free as possible..


kt for being understanding and supportive and just great to be with .. she rocks... .


Mrs fro, Ray, and all the BMSC'ers for being legends and helping kt with service, it meant a lot to both her and to me.. we couldn't have felt more welcome and part of the crowd all weekend..

Twas great to catch up with those of you I met last year, and great to hang out with everyone else... looking forward to the Safari alread....

now to fix the steering, hose and all the other little things.. oh and get rid of those sheet house dunlops!!!..

Cheers

Rowds