This weekend see's me finally (hopefully) get to take part in my first Special Stage rally... at the second attempt after last years disasterous outing at Manby!
The car has been taxed which allowed me to go out in it last night to try to get used to it. Being used to driving cars with such luxuries as ABS and Power Steering over the last few years, it was a bit of any eye opener... especially with regards to the braking!
The tyres have been sorted and, with the forecast for rain/snow over the weekend, I'll probably be running on roa tyres! The Harnesses are fitted with brand spanking new eye bolts for the crutch strap and the intercom was moved from the Escort last night.
The aim for the weekend is to get to the finish. The stages are short and all smooth tarmac so it will give me a good oppotunity to get used to the feel of the car and give it some welly! There are some pretty interesting events that we're looking at during the year so there's no point in wrecking it on my first outing!
Friday, 6 March 2009
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Roskirk Stages - 3 Sisters Circuit - Sunday 9th March
The entry for the Metro is in for the Roskirk Stages at 3 Sisters Circuit on Sunday 9th March 2009.
Almost a year after the car was last due out, the gearbox has been out and cleaned and a new diff fitted to replace the one that blew up at the start of the first stage on the Phoenix Stages and the suspension has been pumped up on the passenger side. The car was in for it's MOT last week and failed... the new bumper fitted was covering the fog light! This was swiftly repare by Matt @ HT Auto's via the medium of taking the bumper off!
The car is now in the process of having a final check over in preperation for the event, including the fitting of brand spanking new 6 point harnesses.
Almost a year after the car was last due out, the gearbox has been out and cleaned and a new diff fitted to replace the one that blew up at the start of the first stage on the Phoenix Stages and the suspension has been pumped up on the passenger side. The car was in for it's MOT last week and failed... the new bumper fitted was covering the fog light! This was swiftly repare by Matt @ HT Auto's via the medium of taking the bumper off!
The car is now in the process of having a final check over in preperation for the event, including the fitting of brand spanking new 6 point harnesses.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Update - 16.09
Escort
The entry is now in for this years Kall Kwik Bradford Rally. This is a support event for the larger Roger Albert Clark Rally and runs on the 14th and 15th November 2008. The event starts at Elland Road Stadium, home of the mighty Leeds United, and the first stage is a floodlit Friday night stage at Temple Newsam near Leeds, which coincidently is the closest rally stage to my home and at a location I have pretty good knowledge of as I grew up playing and riding my bike around the ground to the park!
The following morning the event re-starts at Elland Road and has a second stage at Temple Newsam before moving onto the historical rally stages that were part of the original RAC rally at Langdale, Harwood Dale and Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough. We then make our way to Pickering for the service park before re-running the final three events of the morning.
Preparation on the car is continuing with a new drive shaft fitted this week and a few other changes and checks will take place over the coming weeks in preparation.
This is by far the largest event we have entered both in terms of the logistics involved and the cost (the credit crunch has just got a whole lot crunchier!) If you are able to offer any support (whether financial, parts or anything else!) please contact us as all help will be greatly appreciated!
Metro
The diff has exploded! HT Auto’s have taken the engine out and dismantled it and the problem we encounter at the Jane Cowling Memorial Phoenix Stages was due to the diff disintegrating in the gearbox! The box has been removed from the engine and cleaned out and I am getting the a new, stronger diff and a gasket set this weekend so it can be fitted in the coming weeks. Hopefully this will mean that I’ll finally be able to do a f**king Rally by the end of October!
The entry is now in for this years Kall Kwik Bradford Rally. This is a support event for the larger Roger Albert Clark Rally and runs on the 14th and 15th November 2008. The event starts at Elland Road Stadium, home of the mighty Leeds United, and the first stage is a floodlit Friday night stage at Temple Newsam near Leeds, which coincidently is the closest rally stage to my home and at a location I have pretty good knowledge of as I grew up playing and riding my bike around the ground to the park!
The following morning the event re-starts at Elland Road and has a second stage at Temple Newsam before moving onto the historical rally stages that were part of the original RAC rally at Langdale, Harwood Dale and Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough. We then make our way to Pickering for the service park before re-running the final three events of the morning.
Preparation on the car is continuing with a new drive shaft fitted this week and a few other changes and checks will take place over the coming weeks in preparation.
This is by far the largest event we have entered both in terms of the logistics involved and the cost (the credit crunch has just got a whole lot crunchier!) If you are able to offer any support (whether financial, parts or anything else!) please contact us as all help will be greatly appreciated!
Metro
The diff has exploded! HT Auto’s have taken the engine out and dismantled it and the problem we encounter at the Jane Cowling Memorial Phoenix Stages was due to the diff disintegrating in the gearbox! The box has been removed from the engine and cleaned out and I am getting the a new, stronger diff and a gasket set this weekend so it can be fitted in the coming weeks. Hopefully this will mean that I’ll finally be able to do a f**king Rally by the end of October!
Friday, 29 August 2008
Autumn 2008
OK.... after struggling to get the bloody clutch back on and the engine back into place, I finally admitted that I had neither the space, the time or the knowledge to fix the Metro and decided to take it down to HT Auto's in Garforth (see 'sponsors' for more info!) They've had a quick look at it and have said that a bolt has come of inside the mystical workings of the A series engine, so they're removing the engine, bolting it back on and then spot welding it into place... hopefully it is as simple as they make it sound! Fingers crossed and finances permitting, I'll finally be out again at the end of September.
The Escort is in (also to HT Auto's!) for it's MOT this Saturday. After it has (hopefully) passed we'll be putting our entry in for the Kall Kwik Rally in November. This will be our first Multi Venue Forest Rally so, not only will I need to work out how to use the Terratrip, but also how to read real proper pace notes (rather than using a route plan!) Watch this space for updates!
The Escort is in (also to HT Auto's!) for it's MOT this Saturday. After it has (hopefully) passed we'll be putting our entry in for the Kall Kwik Rally in November. This will be our first Multi Venue Forest Rally so, not only will I need to work out how to use the Terratrip, but also how to read real proper pace notes (rather than using a route plan!) Watch this space for updates!
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Progress Report...
It's been a while but here goes...
Escort
The Escort is back from the garage after having the bumps and bashes hammered out and the doors, which were pretty much destroyed, have been replaced with light weight ones. A new bonnet has also been fitted replacing the one damaged on the Jane Cowling in '07 and both extinguishers have been replaced. Work has now started getting the car competition ready with some minor re-wiring work and we hope to have her up and running by the end of June.
Metro
Up on axle stands in the garage at the moment with the engine half off and the flywheel and clutch in pieces on the living room floor (much to my g/f's disgust!) The clutch took ages to get off, partly due to my inexperience and partly due to the fact that the flywheel was jammed on pretty tight. I now need to check whether the problem is with the clutch - if so I'll be getting a new one and fitting it over the next two weeks, if not it looks like my gearbox is buggered so I'll swear a bit and pull the entire engine out in order to fit a new box.
Escort
The Escort is back from the garage after having the bumps and bashes hammered out and the doors, which were pretty much destroyed, have been replaced with light weight ones. A new bonnet has also been fitted replacing the one damaged on the Jane Cowling in '07 and both extinguishers have been replaced. Work has now started getting the car competition ready with some minor re-wiring work and we hope to have her up and running by the end of June.
Metro
Up on axle stands in the garage at the moment with the engine half off and the flywheel and clutch in pieces on the living room floor (much to my g/f's disgust!) The clutch took ages to get off, partly due to my inexperience and partly due to the fact that the flywheel was jammed on pretty tight. I now need to check whether the problem is with the clutch - if so I'll be getting a new one and fitting it over the next two weeks, if not it looks like my gearbox is buggered so I'll swear a bit and pull the entire engine out in order to fit a new box.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Phoenix Stages - Manby (Metro) : Lookout Stages - Melbourne (Escort)
The last three weeks have been very busy for the Red Pig Rally Team... but unfortunately the outcome has been the same for both cars!
The Metro was due for it's first runout at The Jane Cowling Memorial Phoenix Stages at Manby on Easter Saturday. Preperation of the car was still taking place on Good Friday when it was finally loaded onto the trailer and taken to the venue where it eventually passed sound then flew through scrutineering. This is despite the fact that at some point the Hydragas Suspension on the front end of the car had given up the ghost on the left hand side...
Unfortunately by Saturday morning everything was not well. The engine was failing to fire with a weak battery being the problem and we when I tried to take the car out for a drive to get it warmed up it was pulling horribly to the left. We returned to the service area and jacked the car up and noticed that, when in gear, the left hand front wheel seemed to be catching. We lowered the car and Clive took it for a spin but only got 20 metres before he lost all gears. We spoke to some guys who were running a Mini and they had a quick look but they were as much at a loss as us. Rally over before we even got on stage.
This weekend saw the Escort take part in it's first event of the year at the Lookout Stages at Melbourne. The event started well for us, with the car running faultlessly on stages 1 and 2 (despite the co-driver having what he was assured was ManFlu, and not the plague). Stage 3 was going well but we were held up by a VW Polo at one point and after getting past it clipped a chicane but managed to avoid any serious damage.
Stage 4 started and we were immediately straight back on it and were flying, hoping to put in another good stage time before lunch, unfortunately when we were caught by a flying Pug 205 we went too hot into a chicane and side swiped the drivers side into it. We made it to the end of the stage without anymore excitement but the drivers door had taken a bit of a battering.
After lunch we again tried to hit the floor running but never really got back into it before the back end of the car stepped out at the split, Clive struggled and managed to just about bring it under control when we were t-boned by a Pug 106. They had seen us lose control and taken action to avoid us but, as the back end pulled itself back into shape we had ended up on the side of the road they had taken and they had nowhere to go. We limped out of stage (at speed) and surveyed the damage but it wasn't a pretty sight! The co-drivers door was completely stoved in and the sill had also been pushed in, triggering the extinguisher in the process and bending the door bar. With no extinguisher and a door bar resembling a banana we were forced to call it a day.
Both cars are now in their respective garages and work will start other the next few weeks on getting them up and running again. For the Metro, the first job is to charge the battery and then remove the clutch to see if it is that which has broken. If not it will mean a full gearbox removal. For the Escort, we have already had one quote for the repairs and will look at getting the work done within the next few weeks.
The Metro was due for it's first runout at The Jane Cowling Memorial Phoenix Stages at Manby on Easter Saturday. Preperation of the car was still taking place on Good Friday when it was finally loaded onto the trailer and taken to the venue where it eventually passed sound then flew through scrutineering. This is despite the fact that at some point the Hydragas Suspension on the front end of the car had given up the ghost on the left hand side...
Unfortunately by Saturday morning everything was not well. The engine was failing to fire with a weak battery being the problem and we when I tried to take the car out for a drive to get it warmed up it was pulling horribly to the left. We returned to the service area and jacked the car up and noticed that, when in gear, the left hand front wheel seemed to be catching. We lowered the car and Clive took it for a spin but only got 20 metres before he lost all gears. We spoke to some guys who were running a Mini and they had a quick look but they were as much at a loss as us. Rally over before we even got on stage.
This weekend saw the Escort take part in it's first event of the year at the Lookout Stages at Melbourne. The event started well for us, with the car running faultlessly on stages 1 and 2 (despite the co-driver having what he was assured was ManFlu, and not the plague). Stage 3 was going well but we were held up by a VW Polo at one point and after getting past it clipped a chicane but managed to avoid any serious damage.
Stage 4 started and we were immediately straight back on it and were flying, hoping to put in another good stage time before lunch, unfortunately when we were caught by a flying Pug 205 we went too hot into a chicane and side swiped the drivers side into it. We made it to the end of the stage without anymore excitement but the drivers door had taken a bit of a battering.
After lunch we again tried to hit the floor running but never really got back into it before the back end of the car stepped out at the split, Clive struggled and managed to just about bring it under control when we were t-boned by a Pug 106. They had seen us lose control and taken action to avoid us but, as the back end pulled itself back into shape we had ended up on the side of the road they had taken and they had nowhere to go. We limped out of stage (at speed) and surveyed the damage but it wasn't a pretty sight! The co-drivers door was completely stoved in and the sill had also been pushed in, triggering the extinguisher in the process and bending the door bar. With no extinguisher and a door bar resembling a banana we were forced to call it a day.
Both cars are now in their respective garages and work will start other the next few weeks on getting them up and running again. For the Metro, the first job is to charge the battery and then remove the clutch to see if it is that which has broken. If not it will mean a full gearbox removal. For the Escort, we have already had one quote for the repairs and will look at getting the work done within the next few weeks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
