Quote:
Originally Posted by mrbob
What an awesome day.
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I second all that!
Looking at the circuit from Google Maps, it looked like it was not going to be suited to the Excels. How wrong I was...
Kornel Z. let me borrow his Excel because the HEMP is still on blocks waiting for front suspension to come back from servicing at DMS.
Took the 1st run a bit easy being the first drive of the car and having Lila Z. in as passenger. A few mistakes but satisfying. One thing I diid notice was that the engine seems a tad more powerful than the HEMP's and that it tends to understeer more than the HEMP. The whole run was done in 2nd gear apart from the take-off.
2nd run was on my own. It felt really sweet but I was still drifting wide on exit from some corners.
Rhiannon joined me for my 3rd run to call pace notes she had prepared earlier. I am not used to the 1-10 pace note system and some calls just did not stick. It didn't feel that thhe run was much different from 2nd run but the pick-up of 3.x sec show what an advantage you can get from having the right calls coming at you at the right time.
Brendan jumped in for the 1st run in the reverse direction. I nearly rolled the car near the beginning of the run owing to unnecessary application of the stop lever. Towards the end of the run there are some very unsightly moments, but I manage to recover quickly from each and keep it going in the right general direction.
After the run, Brendan advised me to get the nose right in close for the corners and to jab the brake when drifting wide on the exit of corners to get the weight back on the front wheels so that they can drag me back on course.
Next run was with Lila again and try to apply Brendan's advice. All goes relatively smoothly with only a couple of back surfing episodes plus some significant, uncontrolled swerves heading up to the flying finish such that the rear of the car nearly hits the tyres on each side of the track twice!
Last run was by myself and it all starts coming together. I am left itching for at least 2 more runs.
A great day. Everyone ws so much more relaxed than for a normal rally event. The event was extremely well run by WAC. It was fantastic to get the support from NSW Excel Series sponsors rallyschool.com (esp Mick). Great to have the opportunity to learn from Brendan and Rhiannon. And I am so fortunate to have been offered a drive in Kornel's car. Plus I learnt some more lessons. What more could you want?
It is a bit of a drive from Canberra, but "I'll be back..."
Rick
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