FNS1 Pleasure Max!

[Jimbo]

So was it a hard night out in the forest, did any one come off early? Hangin out for some results..

[bob moore]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

So was it a hard night out in the forest, did any one come off early? Hangin out for some results..

Yeah, what he said.

I'm just going home from work, it's 1.18 am over where you guys are, the rally(sprint) is over, and no-one has put up their tales of glory. Or woe.

You kiddies just aren't serious ............


Nurse! Yes! That bottle over there!
Mmmmmmmmmm! Medicine!




Grumpy, etc
Darkest Africa

[Matt]

Here is a quick rundown:

Morris/Vardos - 52:03
Wagstaff/reynolds - 52:36
Waterhouse/Brookhouse - 52:41
Banyard/Cools - 52:55
Winks/Moran - 53:30
Ruuskanen/Brown - 54:01
Leitis/Mules - 54:02
Kobold/Thornburn - 55:12
Thompson/Behnke - 56:03
Ferris/Gear - 56:28
Borough/Boorman - 57:15
Hay/Hageraats - 57:41
Holberton/McMinn - 58:34
Stephens/Bennett - 1:01:15
McInerney/McInerney - 1:01:25
Leigh/Tams - 1:01:53
Amos/Amos - 1:03:56
Roediger/Roediger - 1:04:06
Baker/Buerckner - 1:05:26

Vlandis put his splinky new WRX into a ravine on the first stage.
Lemmon had a blinder, setting 4th fastest time on SS1, until a driveshaft decided to go bye-bye.
Kevin Lovatt(Beanpole) stuck the VR4 off 2 kms short of the finish on the last run.
Mick Harding (MickRSTurbo) rolled the new 180B SSS on the last run.
Spac ran out of fuel on the second run.
Dave Ferris owes Karl Willett a bottle of Wild Turkey...

[Dave Ferris]

No problem Karl ...... dam you!
.................................................. .
Here's quick event report

Bloody Lisa turned up just after 6pm and got a quick crash course from Lizzy on how to book in and then we were off. Lisa did well considering she has no experience at naving what so ever.
Julie B and Anna were set to give her a crash course, but unfortunately we had no time, thanks anyway girls .

Stage 1: ...... I suggested Lisa put the book down and just watch, but she kept trying. OMFG! we had the lose of my life and just avoided a Willy/Hughes style DNF... only just

Stage 2: I could here the terratrip getting zero'd on occasions, I also started getting calls, lol I had just about the whole stages calls before the SOS point.

Stage 3: Got heaps of calls, Lisa was getting the hang of things and we were communicating well.

Laughs: I've never had so many laughs, giggles and chat through a rally stage this made the night so much fun.

Thanks:
*To Marc Kelly, Steve Willet and all the others that helped, I really appreciate your efforts.
Anyone see how dusty Sosi was?
* The rally communty in general, although we may not look that friendly from time to time on this forum (the bitching, fighting and nasty stuff that goes on often) not that I get involved .... at the event we are a great friendly mob and good to be around.
*Thanks to my beautiful girlfriend, I had a great time

Spac! ........ Fuel!
/Dave makes a L shape with his hand and places it on spacs forehead

[rowdytoot]

If I'd have realised that it was going to be such a ****fight just getting there I would have stayed home.... all of it self inflicted as well.... GRRR

I started to get stressed on tuesday when the car wasn't running well, but decided it'd be OK, I got more stressed when my grand plan of loading the car on thursday night didn't work cos of all the cars parked in the street... got home from work at noon and loaded the car..

Then we lost the E-tag and wasted 20 minutes looking for it before we left( I found in Saturday morning in my shorts pocket! Ooops!)

Otherwise we cruised to the cotter picnic ground, and then looked for the (and I quote one Kelly, M. here) " unsign posted dirt road at 8.5 km. If you're coming from the North and you get to the tracking station turn off you've gone too far"

So we reach the tracking station turn off (which is about 11 km from the picnic ground by my reckoning) then turn around and head back taking the only dirt rd off to the left which happened to be at around 7-8 km ish, which goes down the valley.. can't be right... attempt to reverse the whole shooting match out, but I don't have enough traction to go forward when I stuff up, so unload the gemini and attempt to turn the ute around and get dry bogged just off the road... DOH!>. much swearing and ranting and raving (apparently I bore striking resemblance to the really angry dude on The Amazing Race--at this point KT was about to go and dump me and I don't blame her!)


But we made it to HQ, and fro quicky calms me down and organises to get the ute and trailer recovered.. Thank god for Russ Winks service crew dude Simon.... legend... 20 minutes later I'm back at the service park with ute and trailer, the car is scrutineered and doco is done.. thanks KT and fro

I've discovered the terratrip ain't working, and magically frinky appears and attempts to fix it, to no avail...

We decide to have a transport pace run through the stage and see how we feel afterwards...

I dunno if it was the stress being over, or what but less than 1km in we're smiling and laughing, and making jokes...I get all the calls, and we're guessing distances, but the car is reasonably on song, and I'm backing it in a bit here and there.. I definately feel very uncoordinated at times, and I don't have good flow.. Still we got to the end and had fun, only 1 1/2 spin at the knarly on camber RGR. It's mega slippery though and the gemini is struggling for traction with about 45 hp...

SS2 I decided to try a little bit harder, but still back off when unsure... I overshoot the turn hard right that goes forever and take down the bunting.. the car stalls for the 1st time... we stall again at the SOS point, and at the speccie point- and it took some time to get it going again..the car cuts out on just about every corner that I'm not up it. We lost at least 90 seconds, but were only 50 slower so we were OK..

Car wouldn't idle at end of stage, and even with frinky on the spanners it wouldn't idle, and so we withdrew before SS3 rather than risk sticking it off instage...

We go to load the car up after it has cooled and lo and behold it idles.

Thanks to fro and nai for the calming action, and the digs..

Simon for the recovery...

Kelly, M., Willett, S., and Ferme, E. for putting the show on.

All the orfishals for coming out..

Lastly and by no means leasty :- KT for putting up with an inordinate amount of crap from me on friday, still doing a great job with no terratrip, and then still wanting to do it again (without the swearing and ranting and raving action on my part)

Rowds

[MadDog]

What a great event. Thanks Mark and co for running it.
The RX2 was sufferiing from heat stress again during the first 2 stages, resulting in loss of power and excess cabin heat (due to heater being switched on). The last stage though was great, the temperature was under control and the car was back to full power. We had alot of fun during this stage as the rear tyres had lost all grip so it was all wild and funky

Thanks Julie for doing a great job of navigating and organising me.

Cant wait for the next one!

[Marty]

Thanks to Marc, Steve and the team behind the rally. It was a great way to spend a Friday night and to de-stress after work. The laid back feel of the event was a welcome change. Running the same stage three times allowed crews to try different tyres or suspension setups.

I hadn't planned to run the event - but Marc tried to talk me into it at the last BMSC Club meeting. He said I could borrow some of his tyres to try out. He almost convinced me...

I was talking to Michael and Thomas Barrett and Paul McLean the next day. They suggested it would be a good chance for me to try out 15" wheels on my car (Use my 14's for the first run, then change to 15's for the second).

I said I needed a co-driver, as Sue would be away for the weekend. Paul said that Mel was available.

Preparation for the rally was quite easy. I had replaced a front brake line, so I dropped the car off to Total Traction Services on the Wednesday to pressure bleed the system, check the car over and give it a scrutineering check.

I picked up Mel from her work on the way out to Tidbinbilla. We saw Rowdy's car beside the road, but couldn't see anyone around. We assumed he'd run out of petrol or had some sort of minor problem, so kept going out to Tidbinbilla Lane.

Doco was a breeze. Then all that was left to do, was to stand around chatting with everyone else. Listening to the "live" results was a novelty - and a welcome distraction from the idol talking.

Stage 1:
I found it hard to get into a rhythm. I found myself breaking too early, or I was too wide on the corners. We were almost a third of the way through the stage before I starting feeling confident with the car. The handbrake turn at the Spectator point, felt good.

The last section of the stage ran back down the hill to towards the start of the stage, and I got caught out on a RGR. The back of the car tried to overtake the front - and we stopped the spin with our front wheels almost in the gutter. We lost a few seconds before we got going and finished the stage.

We were quite surprised to discover that we were about 30 seconds faster than David Stephens (the car ahead of us). This was pleasing, because David was quicker than me at the Jerrabomberra Club Rallysprint held in August 2004.

We returned to the service area and changed the front wheels to 15's - and put a spare 15" wheel in the boot. Then we waited for next run... What we should have done, was do a Halda check - as we would have found out that the inside of the front wheels was just touching the outside of the calliper brackets. We didn't realise this until we drove off to the start of the second stage.

We heard a faint scraping sound. We found that a small burr was just touching - and decided to run the stage, then change back to our 14" wheels afterwards.

Stage 2:
This was the first of the night stages. The dust wasn't a problem for most of the stage - but was quite thick in places - particularly through the forested section. In an effort to see the road, I turned off my driving lights and left on my fog lights. This seemed to help.

Just after the Spectator Point we lost our intercom, and Mel had to shout the calls. At times I couldn't hear what she was saying - just that she was saying something - so I tried to think back to the previous run.

We passed Spac and Anna walking back to Service to get fuel for their car.

We drove a little cautiously, and were disappointed to find that we had dropped a minute from our first run. I usually drive slower at night - but didn't think we'd been that much slower - particularly when we had spun on the first run.

We went back to the Service area, and Fro helped me change the wheels back (Thanks dude). We tracked down the problem with the intercom. The connection to my helmet had come loose. I think the cable got caught behind my left shoulder when I stretched forward to grab 1st gear. Then as I changed gears, it pulled out.

We looked at the results and were quite surprised at how well we were doing.

Stage 3:
I enjoyed this run. We pushed a little harder in places, and I felt the car was running well. We dropped a bit of time at the RGHR after the spectator point. The car bogged down and almost stalled. Just after this we lost the intercom again.

I felt around and found that it had pulled out again. I yelled to Mel "I can't hear you. Can you plug me in again?". She replied "I can't reach it!" I grabbed one end in my left hand - kept steering with my right, as Mel grabbed the other end and we plugged it back in as we drove.

We passed Spac and Anna walking back to their car with some fuel.

About 2 kms from the end, Mel didn't feel well. She stopped making the calls, so I drove on what I could see and from what I could remember.

I was pleased to learn that we had pulled back 5 seconds from our previous run. Especially considering the time we lost at the hairpin, and not having any calls for the last section of the stage.

Thank you:
Firstly to Mel for sitting in with me. It's good to have someone with such a laid back attitude. Paul for helping out.
Michael and Thomas from Total Traction Services for preparing the car. The quality of your work is first rate. It's great to be given a well prepared car and it ran faultlessly all night.
Marc, Steve, Lizzy and the team behind the event. It was great, and I can't wait for the next one.
Fro, for helping me change the wheels between runs.
Last, but not least , to Cheryl, for staying home and doing the housework, while I was out playing in the forest - with another woman!

[Bogan]

I headed out early after work and hung around until all the road closures were sorted. Then Charles and I headed off to do 000/Course Car and whack in the road closures. Got to drive over the stage again and it was looking good, after dropping off the Malycha's paperwork John said this was the only chance I'd get to see if I could nail the speccy point, so we reversed up the road a couple of hundred metres and had a go at it with the handbrake. I think I did pretty good, held a nice line through it even if I wasn't at Warp 10 .

We placed the fish (is he still out there?) and went back to HQ to unlock the Subaru and release the paperwork.

Then we headed down to the time control for the rest of the evening.

Notable things were:

• Spac arriving with the passenger window down .
• Some cars and peoples I hadn't seen before.
• Everyone seemingly having a good time.
• Teaching a few brand new navs. (and at least one experienced driver) what you could and couldn't do at a time control and how to book in.
• Hearing that Spac had run out of fuel and hoping he'd be OK in the bush with Anna (who would have been overjoyed at the way the event was going ).
• Finishing the event and packing everything up with a minimum of fuss and bother.

Then the adventure started as Simon and I headed into the stage to get Greg's Corolla. I think we picked the wrong shortcut but I definitely know now that I by no means know the limits when it comes to towing and 4WDing .

It was fun, thanks to Marc and Swill and everyone else, and sorry to Charles, I had a little moment very early in the day and then forgot all about it. I didn't mean for you to do my dirty work .

T.

[Bogan]

Originally Posted by Karl Willett

Dude... how come on the first run you were giving provisional start times at 3 minute gaps?

No three minute gaps, we were giving three minutes in control (to the best of my memory). Do you have the paperwork there? How many three minute gaps did we provisionalise? What do you care anyway ?

We were asked to give provisional start times with five minutes in control but we thought for ourselves (rightly or wrongly) that after the first car wasn't allowed to start until 18:08 (the time we gave them) then the two minute gaps would be maintained at the start line anyway, so it wouldn't make a difference whether we gave them 3 or 5 minutes. I'm happy to get a PM from Marc if he's unhappy with that.

T.

[Annatastic]

Originally Posted by Bogantastic

Hearing that Spac had run out of fuel and hoping he'd be OK in the bush with Anna (who would have been overjoyed at the way the event was going ).

It was pretty amusing, Spac was annoyed with himself, I was fairly placid about it all.
It was just one of those things that happens. It couldn't be fixed, it couldn't be bodgeyd up so hey what else can you do but......

Besides I can think of far worse ways to DNF, can't you Tony???

[beanpole]

We ended up with the best view in the house though, a mere 6 tulips from the end.

This event was merely going to be an evaluation run to see what these 4wd thingies are about. Very good they are too, allowing a relaxed approach, if you choose to drive that way (such as I was!).

SS1 was a matter of learning to drive it, total VR4 experience on dirt roads to that point was about 1 km. 37 psi in the tyres didn't help much. Chris got back into it ok but I was driving to what I could see- I was catching dust, but just thought it was hanging. The most important part was that the brakes held up perfectly for the pace I was running at. I was disappointed at the time but the kids told me I was 17th so it was satisfactory.

I don't know about other turbo runners but I found that damned glowing turbo a little disconcerting when we got to service. Some food, lots to drink and tyre pressures revised to 28 at half heat, and back into it.

SS2 and after the first page Chris was off the book, but a simple thing such as single sided for the first stage to d/s for 2 and 3 put her off and I was slow(er?) and cautious for some time (the SOS point I said to use the first stage pages again, and she was back into it). Was still catching much dust, this time walls of it. Sorry to the speccies, I just couldn't see. Was starting to get the boost on in the right places more often so I was disappointed with the time, but most people were a little slower.

SS3 and my plan sorta fell out of my bum- don't know why really, just stopped thinking about it and just drove. The turn hards became easier, I was braking later and using 3rd much much more, and 4th occasionally. It felt much quicker and prolly was, but 2 km from the end a long scando saw me out in the slippery stuff (in 3rd, d'oh, this thing has momentum!) and talent was in short supply. I should have got on the gas but hey........ the car beached in the only hole for miles. I reckon it would have been an 18:45, good enuff for 12th..........

No damage, just a couple of cracks in the plastic.

Would like to thank Marc and YRally for a great event, Chris for navving and my wife and family for putting up with the temporary dunny. It was open for all to use, btw.......



Kev

[Mikey555]

Well here's my report on our Pleasuremax Experience! What a ride!

Tuesday night.... Wandered out to Matt's place to meet up and have a look at the car, adjust harnesses, check helmets and intercom and have a look at an old road book to see just how to make calls... Then chattin about cars and rallying in general... Fairly relaxed and made me feel that this was gonna be GOOOOOOD!

Friday arvo, not feeling too flash having been struck by a good dose of Flu but determined to ignore screaming headache, get through the day and have fun! We packed a few bits and pieces in my car and I followed Matt out to the meet point.

After checking paperwork and signing on I sat and had a look through the roadbook while Matt did some last minute checks and chats... Took some advice and had taken some Kwells just to be safe as my only real concern was getting crook in the car.

Stage 1.......

I didn't really know what to expect. Pulled into Control and I just wanted to be sure to do what I had to correctly. Then up to start line.... "1 minute", "30 secs" (here I was trying to settle nerves and excitement at the same time!)... "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!" DAMN! For a little car this thing GOES! Got first call right so was happy about that! The rest if the stage I was hanging on and loving it! Every now and then I remembered to reset the Tripmeter and get my calls out. Struggled to get timing right but it was good fun! Matt seemed to be havin fun chuckin the car around but I never once felt anything but safe! Had one close moment and nearly followed the Blue WRX off the bank but managed to pull up in time... My grin must've been huge when we pulled back into service.

Stage 2........

I had more of an idea this time what my job was so was trying hard to remember the resets, calls, etc and do a better job! Still hard to do while enjoying the ride so much but I thought I did better this time... Was different to be driving behind spotlights! Managed to miss Kangaroos and Rabbits on the road a couple of times too... Even though we felt fast we ended up being slower than the first run through by about 20 secs....Bloody wildlife! Toward the end of the stage I started to feel just a touch queasy but still good fun!

When we had another break between stages I wandered around breathing deeply, drinking plenty of water, another Kwells and trying to talk myself out of feeling crook and after sitting quietly I felt a bit better so got back in the car for the last run...

Stage 3........

At the start I was feeling alright so decided this was gonna be my best stage of calls of the day. Managed to remember a few of the tighter bends to be wary of as well as waving at Speccie point! Halfway through the stage my head was pounding and stomach not great, but apart from a couple of garbled calls (as I swallowed deeply trying to keep it together!) we got through the stage. As we pulled into the last control and handed over the time card I had the belts off and dove out of the car to go 'clear my head'

Overall though I had an absolute blast! I was cranky with myself for being sick but I still reckon I would have been ok if not for already feeling crook. Apparently there were others who suffered the same so I was in good company!

Big thanks have to go to Matty for his time, patience, driving skill as well as showing me the ropes...

Also to the organisers and officials for your time and effort, and for making this a relaxed event for a newbie to be involved in. Everyone was so helpful and friendly that it made the evening a pleasure(max)! Can't wait for the next one!

Mike 8)

[Julie Boorman]

Thanks to Marc and all others involved for putting on a great event. It's a great way to unwind at the end of the week. Can't wait for the next FNS and to see what you call it .

This was my first event in Canberra and I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the roads. I had heard that there were a lot more calls for Canberra rallies in comparison to the coast rallies. It was definitely different to the roads at Narooma.

Highlights for me were:

• The last stage. Definitely the best fun .

Originally Posted by MadDog

We had alot of fun during this stage as the rear tyres had lost all grip so it was all wild and funky

• The relaxed atmosphere. Attitudes were adjusted by the use of star stickers and Marc's warning/rule at the competitor briefing.
• Seeing some very keen spectators waving at the spectator point.

Tim, thanks for asking me to nav for you, for the fun rally and for the laughs I had at your t-shirt with the bum picture on it. Also thanks to Mat for looking after the kids again (2nd time in 2 weeks) and bringing them out to spectate.

[Rallyray]

Things that we noticed...
* WRX's or nay 4wd's can get out of big gullys... :O
*JW's lights were just superb. They looked twice as bright as everyone elses and very well aimed unlike fro's... Seemed Fro was going Possum hunting.
*Blake pulled off a huge moment. Came in to hairpin corner and the back just stepped out in a big way...Went travelling down the road sideways for a about 20-30 metres. If he would have done it another 20m later it would have worked out well.
* Rowdy- Turn your lights off when you stall straighaway... It will be easier to start...
*Spac...You toss... I mean how can you run out of fuel...
*Banyard went bloody berserk at the Spec Point on run 3... Fully committed.
*Timmy can't three point turn.

Congrats to Marc and YRally... You guys done a terrific job. It looked like a fantastic rally. Well done.

[BlueRex]

Originally Posted by Bogantastic

I didn't mean for you to do my dirty work .

T.

No sweat, Specie point hairpin made up for it
Karl think that was me doing the times for SS1 so sorrry if I screwed up the gapping.. every intent of 2 min gap with 3 min in control -

C