2010 Southern Mountains Rally

[Mickb83]

Originally Posted by tortfeaser

AMSAG 'rules' are a weirdness I don't think I can really get into

Can i ask Marc, what is the weirdness that you speak of?
Just a curious question from someone that has only really ever competed in AMSAG, and also from someone who is on the Steering Committee for AMSAG, if there is anything that is unclear or unhelpful to new competitors then we'd like to try and fix it.

Feel free to PM me.

As for our weekend, it started pretty crappy when our mate Anthony Campbell's tow car broke down half way down Brown Mountain, luckily for him a car carrier stopped and picked up the ute, trailer and rally car and towed them to the bottom of the mountain.

A quick call to Peter Batt (can't thank this guy enough for what he does for this sport, Batty is a LEGEND ) and he was out there to tow in Anthony's trailer with the tow car on it and Anthony drove the rally car into Eden.

I had done Doco for us and Anthony, however couldn't get it for Jim Middleton as he hadn't signed the entry for, before it went in , a quick call to Jim to see how far away he was showed he had been having troubles with the Commodore whilst driving it down to the event (Jim never tows his rally car to events!!!).

In the end the whole team arrived, all three cars safe and sound with the exception of the tow car for Anthony. Luckily it wasn't the car he was going to use to service with.

Saturday morning was magnificent, weather perfect and the vibe was one of excitment around the start area behind The Great Southern Inn.

Our rally got of to a reasonable start, first stage was good, we managed to nail the spectator point (we spun there 2 years ago) and the stage felt good, checked the times at the end and we were 20sec slower then Jamie Waterhouse.... damn!

Second stage felt much better, Mark started to get into a rhythm and it wasn't too bad a stage, checked the times and Jamie only took 9 seconds out of us... not so bad i guess.

Third stage, Mark was on a blinder, best i have ever seen him drive and the car was just feeling fantastic, doing everything he wanted.... until about 7Km's from the end when coolant started spraying out from under the bonnet.

The temp hadn't risen so Mark just thought it was coming from the overflow bottle, so he kept into it. Then about 3Km's from the end it started to overheat, so he backed off and we just cruised out to the end of the stage, luckily it was only 2.5Km's to the service.

Got to service and it was all over red rover, it looks like the head has cracked, not sure where though, that will be investigated over the next few weeks.

While waiting for Mark to go back to the caravan park and get the trailer, Jim came in ahead of Anthony, and it was not good news, Anthony had rolled about 1.5Km's from the end of stage 2, badly.

Car looks to be a write off which is heartbreaking for him as it was his baby, and the money he has spent on it, it just really sucks. So now Anthony has a broken tow car & broken rally car....

Overall it was a pretty crappy weekend for us, Jim ended up being the only finisher for the team with a decent result (12th overall & 3rd in class) considering he had a few problems himself which i am sure Kate will update us on later.

Thanks to all of the officials for being out there long hours to help let us rally...

To the organisers, thankyou for once again putting on a fantasic event, the three stages we got to see were the best forestry roads we have ever run on

To our team, thanks Mark for an awesome ride as always, thanks to the Campbell crew commiserations Anthony, you'll rebuild and be better then before, now you know all the tricks on how to get it to go fast.

Thanks Kate for all of your work getting the food and stuff ready, can we put out orders in for Cowra now....

Bring on Cowra, hopefully we'll have the engine back together by then.

[brann]

Hi All,

Photo resize has been completed and I've uploaded them to 2010 Southern Mountains Rally Pics

Cheers,
Adam.

[Buerckner]

I saw on this forum that the guys were short a 0 car so I checked with Rus and he said he'd be happy to do it. Also a good gesture from an ACT competitor seeing as Dave brought the V8 Skyline to ACT for our last event.
At that stage we were still taking the GTti down and had to scrounge up a nav, but in the end the Charade didn't want to play so like any good party we all switched positions.

Ray serviced and did a fantastic job, didn't really have much to do but was where he needed to be every time on time and kept a good supply of drinks and snacks up to us, Also sorted out the ute repairs whilst we were driving down.

The trip down have a few hiccups with the tow ute, battery failing and starter motor dying. But we got that all fixed up without too many dramas.

We found places to put both radios in the car on Friday night, had a few ales and hit the sack early to be ready for Saturday.
Rus took a few stages to get used to reading the roads again and drove with enough in reserve to allow us to check for any out of character corners etc.
Still managed to top the car out a few times 6-6.5k in 6th gear and some nice drifts at over 150km showed the speed and flow of the roads.

As the competitors would have seen there weren't to many changes to stages during the event the road book was very consistent and drivers had to really on their skills. We especially noticed the surface changes thoughout the stages.

Saturday night last stage we filled in for a road closure and got to see some of you guys in action, and on Sunday we were doing 00 and zero.
Which was an enjoyable challenge, car 1 on the road would have seen a few handbrake marks as we checked a few corners at full pace that seemed odd at 00 pace.

I have to thank all the other officials some we saw three times at different controls, Radio comms were good and the event ran quite smoothly. We'd be happy to help out again, and it was good to be appreciated.
Also great to catch up with some of the other rally teams that don't regularly make it to ACT.

Also thank our team sponsors Carco Exhaust and Automotive, NSW Bearing Supplies, Bold Hair and Autotech.

Any photos/video people find of us could they email/pm me the links or copies

[Rallyray]

Originally Posted by Buerckner

Which was an enjoyable challenge, car 1 on the road would have seen a few handbrake marks as we checked a few corners at full pace that seemed odd at 00 pace.

You went backwards through a stage???

[Buerckner]

As 00 before stage was green for max of 500m, whilst in radio contact with HQ, Stage start, and every other offical. Yes

[SLATES]

As road director for the smr i would like to thank all the competors who made the effort to come and all the officials that also came out to help especialy those who traveled

[fat88k]

AWESOME event! brilliant roads!
thanks to all who made and continually make our events possible you all deserve a pat on the back, a beer and a hug!

engine going bang on stage 2 on sunday saw our rally end but as they say; thats rallying.

hopefully we can make cowra but that depends on dad... wink wink...

[chris warwick]

It was obvious Nicko at about the 3km mark into the stage when John and I caught the blue haze and the rancid smell of cooked engine oil. Hope its not to terminal and that you get it fixed for Cowra.

[Lyndall]

Originally Posted by Buerckner

As 00 before stage was green for max of 500m

Out of interest, what does the above actually mean - in English?


. . . Lyndall

[Factor]

Mr Buerckner was challenged by someone about going backwards in the stage, his response is ( i think)

Yes I did, But we were 00, the stage was not green and we did it for a maximum of 500 meters - we at the time (in 00) were in contact with all officials including the stage start. etc etc

Make any more sense Lyndall? It's amazing what grammar can do for the understand ing a pice of communication, do the kiddies of today actually learn grammar I wonder

[Buerckner]

Originally Posted by Factor

Mr Buerckner was challenged by someone about going backwards in the stage, his response is ( i think)

Yes I did, But we were 00, the stage was not green and we did it for a maximum of 500 meters - we at the time (in 00) were in contact with all officials including the stage start. etc etc

Make any more sense Lyndall? It's amazing what grammar can do for the understand ing a pice of communication, do the kiddies of today actually learn grammar I wonder

I couldn't have said it better myself, I tried but apparently I failed.

And it's refreshing to be called a kiddie again, I've been feeling decidedly old lately

Anyway can we keep this thread for SMR event reports? Any discussion of what's expected of different course cars/offficals etc probably justifies it's own thread.

[Lyndall]

Originally Posted by Buerckner

As 00 before stage was green for max of 500m

Ahhh...thank you Andrew C.

So Andrew B was two commas short of an understandable comment:

"As 00, before stage was green, for max of 500m"

Makey much more sensey now...

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Factor

... do the kiddies of today actually learn grammar I wonder

No. Nor have they for the last 30 years or so.

Miss Stanfield (or any of her esteemed colleagues at BSS) never taught me nuthin 'bout writin' inglish 'n' stuff.

[Mike Cherry]

[Anthony Campbell]

Hi Guys,

well my Southern Mountains Rally didnt go to plan! It all started on friday arvo about 100ks out of eden 3/4 way down brown mountain! The 4runner's timing chain decided it didnt like how it way timed and jumped a feww teeth! A nice bloke with a car semi trailer car transporter was coming up and asked if he could help us, but he was heading to canberra, so off he went then 5 mins later he turned around and put the 4runner on the trailer and took us to the bottom. A good bunch of blokes with the last name of Batt, turned up to put the 4runner on the trailers and take it to eden, while i drove the rally car in. Thanks Peter and Mike!! (I will have a carton for you two at Cowra!)

Saturday morning got off to a great start, the first stage went great car felt awesome, the best it has ever felt, and it was definately V8 commodore roads!

2nd stage we hit a small wallaby, didnt do any damage though and that was the 2nd time i have hit a roo down at eden.

anyway about 2ks from end of stage 2 we came to a left hander and hit stood on the brakes, but it locked the rears....no fronts....like pulling the handbrake on...by the time i got off the anchors the car was already side ways and pointing at the bank.

I thought we might nudge the bank, damage the front end the spin down the road...no to be. It went up the bank caught an edge on the drivers side turned in the air came down HARD on the drives side corner of the roof bounced and landed back on all 4's!

Pretty upsetting to hurt it like that. Not sure why the fronts didnt work. maybe pad nock back, maybe the balance bar..maybe maybe! arghhh

The rebuild now starts but i think it might be some time.

But will I be back to Eden to conquer it!!

Well down to everyone involved, thanks to all the officals, rally HQ and well done to the teams that finished! It really is a survival rally!

Anthony Campbell