Wheel Bolt to Stud and Nut Conversion

I started this job about a year ago and got it half done but then I crashed the car which put finishing the work on hold. I finally got round to finishing the other half of the car last week.

I had bought a full kit of bits from AG Motorsport along with got some permanent Loctite 270 threadlock to hold them in place. A quick clean of the threads with a M12x1.5 tap and I was ready to get stuck in.

There isn't must involved in putting in the studs, just a drop of Loctite and lock two nuts together so than I can wind the studs into the hubs.

AG do a 60mm or 80mm long stud and I went for the 80mm ones. That was the wrong choice!

They stick out so far I couldn't tighten up the wheel nuts as they fouled the socket. So off came the wheels and out came the hacksaw. It was a real PITA having to cut the studs on the car but that will teach me to not measure things up correctly.

As I didn't want to repeat the same mistake when it came to doing the other side of the car I measure up correctly and trimmed the studs in the vice taking about 23mm off. The shorter studs made it a bit tight to get the 2 nuts on but I got them installed easy enough. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and should make changing the wheels much easier. Just for reference, the Haynes manual says to torque the wheel nuts to 90Nm.

AG Motorsport
I bought my studs and nuts from AG but that is just where I found them at the time, I though the price was ok and the service was good. I have since been told that Rally Design are cheaper so that might be a better bet if your looking to source some for your project.

Ballynahinch Autumn Lanes Rally 2011

Saturday past (12th November) saw the second running of the Ballynahinch Autumn Lanes rally. It was a good event last year but it was even better this time round. BADMC had managed to reduced the road mileage and found a lot of new venues. Most of this years lanes were new and less autotesty than last time. Those were the only 2 issues that let the event down previously so with both having been worked on it turned out to be a great rally.

I have been out in the Nova a lot this last month so I was feeling very comfortable and was able to push pretty hard right from the off. The new tests were good proper lanes tests that I could get my teeth into, and not too many 180's round cones which really kill my times. As well as that the tests were well set up and most of the cones were taped to show which way round to go so we were clean all day and I really enjoyed all the tests. We did get a bit caught out though with there being no lunch halt. The tests were well scheduled so we only had a couple of minutes to wait at each so there was no chance to eat until things got held up a bit due to a faulty clock on the last loop.

I had installed a steering wheel knob for the first time to see if it would help me steer through the tight sections more quickly, but I couldn't really get into the way of using it. Normally when coming out of a tight section I loosen my grip and let the steering wheel slip through my fingers to straighten the wheels, but with the knob on I can't do that very easily. I found myself changing between my normal "quarter to three" grip and using the steering knob much too often, sometimes in the middle of corners, and it was just making thing more awkward. I can see the benefits of the steering knob though I think I'll persevere a bit longer and see if I can get used to it.
Andy Hughes had replaced his 106 for a 306 GTI before the rally so I was really pleased to see that we weren't too far behind his times considering he has twice the power, and due to a Quaife ATB diff, twice the grip. Having said that it was his first time in the car so I'm sure hes not fully up to speed yet. I think that traction is one of the things that is holding me back most so I will have to look into getting an uprated diff for myself. There is currently a used one on eBay that I've my eye on so I will see how the auction goes.

I had the GoPro in for all the tests so I will try get the footage uploaded soon.

Costs
Entry fee: £65
Club membership: £10
Petrol: £25 to fill the tank before the start.

Ballynahinch Motor Club
Results
Peespeed's Photos
Neillpics Photos

Firecracker Nav Rally 2011

Well that is the championship over for another year with the Firecracker Rally on Friday night having been the last round.

It was a good night for trying out my new tyres as it was dry and clear and the Class 2 championship had already been decided. There had been heavy rain in the days leading up to the event so from TCB to TCD had been scrapped due to flooding and so we had a relaxed section instead. This suited me fine as it meant I had a chance to explain to the following crews why I had been driving so slowly!

I wasn't getting on at all well with my new tyres. I had no feeling from the front of the car or from the brakes so I was being extra super cautious in the corners. I've heard that there is a releasing agent used at the factory to get them out of their moulds and it takes a few miles to scrub it off but it's not something I've ever noticed before. I have to say though that by the end of the night either the tyres improved greatly or I had just got used to them because I though they were working great. On the few dirty sections of road it definitely felt like they were biting in harder and giving me good grip. All in all I'm very pleased with my new Quatrac 3's.

We were getting on pretty well, there where a some tricky sections and Rachel was deciphering the instruction quickly, but Andy and Neil where right with us all night. We swapped road positions several times but it wasn't until they missed a junction, leading to a wrong approach and a couple of missed secrets that we could put some space between them and us. Once we seen that they had made a mistake we knew if we kept it clean for the rest of the night they couldn't catch us.

The navigation for the second half of the rally seemed to be easier and we didn't need to push too hard but we did get caught out when the road turned 90 right after a crest and we carried straight on up a farm lane. We were leading a convoy of 4 cars at that point and 3 of us went up the lane before we got stopped. My panic braking knocked off the shelf above my peddles and it was hanging down round my feet which make it very difficult to drive but I get it wedged back into place somehow and we didn't lose too much time.

At the end of the night we were 1st in class 2 which makes it 3 class wins from 4 starts this year, a record I'm very proud off. The only one that let us down was getting stuck in that field in Tyrone on the Erne Safari. We pulled the championship back to make it look like it was tighter than it really was with Davy and Clive beating us by a single point in the end. I had great fun at the nav rallies this year and with more wins than anyone else I feel pretty confident we would be in a good position for the 2012 championship.

Before the next outing I need to look at removing the shelf above the pedals and relocating the switches that are mounted on it. I need adjust the exhaust to stop if touching the body as it is making a terrible racket and I need to reattach my rear view mirror as it has fallen off.


Firecracker Results

New Tyres

I was in fairly desperate need for some new tyres on the Nova, the ones I had on it were well past their best. I had been planning to just get another pair of Pirelli P6000's but Andy Hughes changed my mind. He had used Vredestein Quatrac 3's on his 106 for the Circuit Retro and was really pleased with how they performed. The Quatrac 3 is an all seasons tyre, half snow & mud and half dry tarmac. I think it should suit the style of rallying I do very well. Most of the nav rallies are in the winter, on dirty back roads, so the more open tread pattern should work well for clearing the mud and water. And the more solid, dry tarmac biased outside edge should help the tyre handle and wear better. The M&S section of the tyre should also be an advantage on the very dirty lanes and farm yards I find myself in on lanes rallies. Hopefully it will be a winner all round.

The tyres were £55 each fitted for a 185/60 R14.

Ciaran

Bit of Work on the Nova

There was some work needed on the Nova before the Orchard nav rally. First on the list was to get some more light. I'd toyed with the idea of buying some expensive spotlights, but then I caught myself on and bought some much cheaper and 80% as good Ring Rally Giants from eBay. Spotlights are much to vulnerable on a night nav car to spend a lot of money on. They would be the first things to get wrecked if I ended up nosing into a hedge somewhere. As there is plenty of space between the bumper and the front panel on a Nova I decided the best/easiest way to mount them would be to weld a couple of plates to the bumper steel and then make up some simple "L" shaped bracket to come up over the top.

All the wiring was still in the car from the previous small spotlights that I had so I only had to ran a bit of new cable to the lights and tidy up the existing wiring and I ready to rock.

I'm really pleased with how the brackets turned out and the lights are now mounted very solidly. I might even get away without having to fit any stabiliser bars.

The next job was refitting my front mud flaps to the new wings. I made up some small brackets from aluminium angle and used Rivnuts to attach them to the car. Rivnuts are brilliant. They are similar to a rivet but have a threaded insert to allow you to screw a bolt into sheet metal. I intend to use them in many other places on the car.

The final job was to make up a bracket to mount my trip and rally timer. I wanted to move the instruments closer to Rachel as she was having trouble reaching them while belted in. The easiest way to do that was with a simple folded bracket.

However this wasn't up to the job. It bounced about and vibrated so much it was next to useless. Rather than scrap the bracket and start again I thought that a brace at the top would hold it all together much more firmly. I made up this wee steady bar and it has done the job perfectly.

So that's a few job checked of the list, but as always there are plenty more to do.

Ciaran

Hero to Zero

What a weekend, absolutely brilliant! Two events in two days is a great way to spend a weekend.

First up we had North Armagh Motor Clubs Orchard Navigation Rally. It was the first nav' to run in the second half of the season, everyone was well up for it and the club didn't disappoint. The event ran in the area south of Armagh City for the first time and it was a worth while change, the roads were great. I had to press on most of the night and the roads took a lot of driving. It had been fairly wet leading up to the rally so there were large puddles on most route with us having to wade through a couple of flooded sections. Having not had the Nova out on a nav' for almost a year it took a bit of getting used to, I've grown used to having power steering in the Passat, but the Nova coped very well with a couple of miss judged yumps. The first was just before the relaxed section and as I was following another competitor I only had my dipped lights on, which are very poor and I didn't notice the bump, so didn't slow down for it. We got launched feet into the air, well it felt like that anyway, and then landed hard. The Bilstein dampers I have in the back of the car seem to be a great job as it landed nice and sweet and without drama, unlike some other crews I talked to who also got caught out and then had the back of the car bounce back off the road again. Or that might just be the famous 106 torsion beam rear end. The second bump was just after relaxed and had a dip just before it so this time it launched us up onto our nose, there are scratches on the front of the bumper! Our underbelly served as a warning to Clifford Auld who was following as he just managed to get slowed down in time and avoided doing the same thing. Great nights craic and it was fantastic to see all the old faces out again. Speaking of which, Paddy McCollum came out of retirement and put in his usual high quality performance to finish first overall. In doing so he has completed the full set and has now won all of the rallies in the navigation championship. To my knowledge he is the only person to have done this. And to top of the night we won our class, happy days.

So after a late night and then up early to get the car washed it was down to Larne for their first running of a lanes rally. Larne Motor Club had organised a very compact route with the total mileage for the event being just 55 miles and with most tests being lanes rather than autotests I was very much looking forward to the days motoring. The morning was very wet but it had mostly cleared up for the start. The rain had left the tests in a bit of a state and all were very slippery. This wasn't helped by my front tyres being almost completely worn out. I have to admit that I wasn't happy with my driving. I wasn't aggressive enough, I had no confidence in the grip and I was just rolling up to stop lines rather then attacking them, a very poor effort on my part. Other than that I was enjoying the rally, I love being out in the Nova no mater what I'm doing. Unfortunately my lack of confidence in the front end grip and my general poor driving on the event led to me getting stuck for 8 minutes. I was on a bad line coming into a 90 right and understeered into a soft bank that I couldn't reverse out off. I have it on video so I'll upload it in the future so we can all enjoy my mistake. Luckily a marshal and the land owners sons came to my rescue and got me out so we could carry on. There wasn't a mark on the car but the time loss was massive and meant we finished the rally in last place. My brother, Niall, was out on the rally as well in his newly acquired Sierra. He got on well and put up some very competitive times but he suffered the same fate as I had and got stuck in the scenery. The first test had a deep gravel section and and the Sierra just dug down into it until it was sitting on its belly, game over. He wasn't the only one to get caught out on that section as the Fletchers Escort ended up the same way. All in all we both enjoyed the rally and will be back next year, even though we finished last and second last.

Few things to sort out before the next event. I need to adjust my spot lights, they are shinning a bit high. I need to get 2 new front tyres, probably go for Pirelli P6000s again. And I need to work out a better way to mount my jack as it rattles a lot where it is and isn't actually very secure.


North Armagh Motor Club
Results

Larne Motor Club
Results

QUBMC Summer Lanes 2011

Saturday at the Summer Lanes was great fun. I haven't done a flat out bit of driving for ages and it was brilliant to be back in the Nova again and even better the sun was shining. The Summer Lanes is open to all cars so there was quite a mix of cars among the 40 crews that started. My Nova, MX-5's, 1980's Starlets, a BMW CSL, Minis, Midgets, a Manta and the ever present RWD Fords. We completed 16 tests and everyone seemed to be having a great day out.

Rachel and I had a good run but made a mistake on the first run through the long Evervale test and incurred a test maximum which meant we posted a 5:31 rather than our 2:19. Losing over 3 minutes put us well out of the running but we kept our heads and didn't make anymore mistakes for the rest of the day, ending up 18th overall at the finish. Without our penalty we would have been 9th which I would have been happy with. Some of the lower cars had problems with the rougher sections of the route but as the Nova sits quite high my main worry was punctures. I didn't hear of anyone getting a puncture so maybe I was worrying about nothing.

I have a few things to look at before the next event. The engine felt a bit down on power, I'm not sure what was wrong but if felt a bit "flat". We turned down the fueling to pass the MOT emissions so maybe we went a bit too far. The handbreak wasn't as tight as I've been used to so I had to reverse a couple of times, not very tidy, or quick. Traction was also a minor problem, some new tyres might help or it might just have been that the lanes were greasy from lack of use.

I filmed the rally on my in-car camera so if I ever work out how to edit the footage I'll put up a link to it.

My Favourite photo is from Peespeed, I swear that's the way I meant to do it:
http://public.fotki.com/speedy/2011/qubmc-summer-lanes/img-4095.html


Results:
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20110723_QUBMC_SummerLanes_Results.pdf

Photos from the Pros:
Peespeed
http://public.fotki.com/speedy/2011/qubmc-summer-lanes/

Pete Moore
http://pete-moore.co.uk/?p=1514

MOT Pass

Brilliant news, the rally Nova passed it's MOT yesterday. All I need now is some road tax and I'm fully legal again. It feels like the car has been off the road for ages so it was great to take it for a drive. I love driving it, it's raw and noisy but I get a kick out of every mile I do in it. There is still plenty of work to be done to tidy the car up but at least I can use it again now. I have bought all the equipment that is needed to build the car up to MSA spec so I can get it log booked, then I can use it in any event I want.

I would never have got it finished without all the work that Niall has done on it. He is really enthusiastic about the rally car and he mechanics at 10 times the speed I do.

Engine Running Again

Got the engine fitted back in to the rally car on Saturday and got it all plumbed and wired. I was very pleased to see that it started first turn of the key and seems to running sweet. The radiator from the donor car has a leak so I picked up a new one today, £54 and they even had one in stock.

The four branch exhaust manifold got bent by the tie bar during the crash and it has closed off one of the branches by about 50%. It doesn't look like it will be easy to fix so I'll leave it as it is for now, I hope it doesn't cause any damage to the engine.

Nearly There

I had another great Saturday. Picked the Nova up from Nigel's workshop near Kilrea and was blown away by the work that he and Hargie had done in only two weeks. I was only really interested in getting the car straight and I wasn't that worried about how the car looked but it's good as new, all the panels have been repaired and there isn't a mark on it anywhere, amazing work. We got the car home and built it back up again from where it had been stripped for painting. Got all the glass back in, seats and harnesses back in, build up the "new" drivers door and other wee bits. Just need to get the engine back in and it should be ready to get back out on the road. Niall is servicing the engine this week and refitting it so when I get down on Saturday it should be all ready to fire up. It's great that Niall is so keen to help out, I wouldn't get anything done without him pushing me on, and also doing the work.

So to add up the costs of the rebuild:
New front panel, £123
Drivers door, £35
Nova saloon donor, £40
Hargie for the bench work, £170
Nigel for body work, £380
Service parts and oils for engine/gearbox, £80
Radiator, £54 + £20 coolant, added 06 June 2011

So a current running total of £902, not including diesel for towing the bent shell about the country, not too far away from my £1000 estimate. I think this was the cheapest option. If I had chosen to re-shell the rally car I don't think I could have done it for under a grand, and I would have struggled to find a shell as solid as mine.

The Nova is Straight Once More

I got the good news yesterday that the jig work is finished on the Nova and everything (well not everything, but the important parts) are back pointing in the right direction. I haven't seen it yet but my brother tells me that Hargie has done a great job with it, and for £170 I'm delighted. Niall and my Dad did me a huge favour last night by collecting the car and taking it round to Nigel's. He previously sorted out the bodywork and painted it last year, he did a great job in 4 days so hopefully he can work his magic again. There is a fair bit more work this time but I'm not in a rush so he can take as long as he needs.

Very Productive Day

Yesterday was a great day. I spent it down at my parents house helping my brother to make some progress on the Nova rally car. We removed the engine from the rally car and stripped all the parts that I need to fix it from the Nova saloon donor car. Everything came apart easily with no headaches so we has all the machanicing done in a few hours.

Bent chassis leg:

The donor Nova looking sorry for itself:

Unfortunately the man that we had lined up to do the pulling work had a heart attack around Easter time so he is out of commission for a while. We were given the number for another local man who has a good reputation so gave him a ring on the off chance. He said he had space this week so to bring the car round straight away, happy days.

Bent car, straight bonnet:

As I don't have my trailer test yet I had to wait for my Dad to get home from work so he could tow the car round for me. It's a weird feeling being a fully grown man but still having to get my Dad to drive me places, it's been a long time since that's happened. I'll have to try to find the time over the summer to sit my trailer test. I'm planning on doing a lot of events in the future so being able to tow will be essential.

Nova Saloon Parts Car

Being off work on Friday for the Royal Wedding was great, it gave me a chance to finally pick up the Nova saloon that I'm going to use to repair the rally car. The saloon has a rally history of it's own as it was campaigned with success in the NI nav rally championship by Neil Anderson and Andy Hughes. It's last event was the Dawnbreaker Inter-Association Rally in 2004 where it took a class win. It was then parked up in a garage in Ballywalter until I dragged it back out so that, at least some of its parts, can hopefully go on to future class wins. The saloon wings are different from the hatchback wings but they will do for now to get her back on the road.

It's still wearing its competition numbers from its last rally.

A big thank you to Richard Swanston for giving up his day to tow the car home.

Just out of interest these are the results and report from the saloon's last outing.
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20041112_NIMC_DawnbreakerRally_Results.pdf
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Blog.aspx?b=210

Bone Shaker Rally 2011

Omagh Motor Club had their Bone Shaker rally on Friday night. It was a great event and we managed to come away with 1st in class, which is a huge relief after our poor result on the previous round of the championship. Last years Class 2 Champions Neil Anderson and Andy Hughes were competing for the first time this year and were debuting their new rally car, however their recently purchased enduro spec 106 was almost their downfall as poor quality wiring meant that the car wouldn't start again after a stall and it cost them over 15 minutes getting it going again. We had a pretty clean run and Rachel had thought the instructions were easier than they had been in Enniskillen but it turned out to be a high scoring rally for everyone. Luckily for us Davy McElroy and Clive Latimer made a few errors to finished 3rd so we were able to take a few points back on them in the championship.

My Passat estate daily driver was once again called upon to double up as my rally car and it performed fairly well. I've removed the rear window tints and added a rear wiper so for the first time I could see where I'd been and I'd added uprated headlight bulbs to help me see where I was going. The new bulbs are some 130/90w "Ring Sport" jobs that I got from eBay for £15 and are a great improvement, especially on dip. The bulbs produce a lot more light but it doesn't travel any further so I still felt like I couldn't see as far as I needed to, but the junctions were easier to spot. As well as lighting the other main car issue on the night was a major lack of grip. It stayed dry for the rally but it had rained fairly hard about an hour before we started so the roads were wet. It seemed like every time I touched the brakes they locked the wheels and as a result I had to be extra cautious. Maybe that was for the best though as I managed to stay out of the fields this time.

That is us into the Nav rally summer break and the next event isn't until the 2nd September. I hope to have the Nova rebuilt by then so hopefully the Bone Shaker was the Passat's last rally. I'm pleased that it got to go out on a high, Passat estate - class winning rally car.

http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20110415_OMC_BoneshakerRally_Results.pdf

Nova Accident

There it is, looking sorry for itself. Unfortunately I had an accident while driving the Nova last week and it's put my plans for the year back a good bit. There was a fair bit of damage done and every panel has been damaged to some extent. I plan to rebuild her as it's still a solid shell underneath and solid Nova's are very hard to come by these days. I think it will take about £1000 to put her right so it will be beans on toast for dinner and no nights out for the next few months. I have just recently bought the parts that are needed to upgrade the car so I can get it MSA log booked, but now I have no rally car to put the new parts on, and no money to fix the car, not a very good situation.

Couple of new parts have been ordered. New complete pattern front panel (GM 90 320 506) from a shop on eBay, £123, and a new genuine thermostat housing (GM 90 234 805) because the original one got broken in half in the crash, £35.98.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Crash-Repair-Parts?_trksid=p4340.l2563
http://www.vauxhallworldparts.com/partsearch/partdetail.php?partid=1878

Erne Safari 2011

The final result wasn't what I had hoped for but I had a good time none the less. It took me a few sections to shake off the rust from not having done a nav rally for what seems like a long time, but once I got back into the way of driving again it was really good. The Passat isn't the most suitable car but it performed well. The route wasn't overly tight so the Passat's size didn't cause any problems.

The main issue on the night was a lack of lights and that's an area I hope to have a look into before the next event in Cookstown on the 25th March. I just couldn't see far enough up the road to feel safe about trying to push on to get back on our minute. Some conventional uprated bulbs will be a good start, but I also have a HID kit that came with the Passat that I could refit.

Other issues that don't have such an easy fix are the brakes and the suspension. I could feel on a couple of occasions that the brakes were getting too warm so I had to look after them for a few miles until they cooled again. This was possibly only a problem due to there being no relaxed section on the rally so the car didn't get its usual half distance break to cool down. On the suspension side there were no real issues, I just felt that the car was sprung a bit soft for what I was asking it to do, I had to be careful of the sump and the front bumper was grounded out a few times.

As can be see from the results link below we were classed as DNF, which is very disappointing and not actually correct. Unfortunately just after TCH I got distracted, didn't notice a corner coming up and took the "safe" option of going a few meters through an open gate into a field. The field turned out to be very wet and we got stuck for the rest of the rally. Thankfully a local farmer towed us out and there was no harm done. We went to the finish at the hotel to hand in our time card and then went home. There was no point staying as we wouldn't be getting any trophies on this occasion. We were due to finish at TCJ so we had visited more than two thirds of the controls and should have been classes as finishers but the regulations weren't followed correctly. I've sent an email about it so I hope to get it sorted out, class 2 is going to be very competitive this year so we need all the points we can get.

Erne Safari Results:
http://www.enniskillenmotorclub.co.uk/es11/ESResults2011.pdf

CMC Donaldson Fuels Rally regs and entry form:
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/Regulations%20permit11.pdf
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/Entry%20Form11.pdf

Finally getting started!

Tonight will be my first event of the year and I'm really looking forward to getting back out competing, it feels like its been a very long time coming. Unfortunately I damaged the Nova this week so I wont be able to use it tonight which is big let down. It looks like the rally car will be off the road for a few months as the damage is quite substantial so my Passat estate daily driver will be called into action to make its rally debut. I installed all my rally equipment last night and it makes the dash look a bit like a space ship from the 1980's but hopefully it will help keep me on time tonight when I don't have the agility of the Nova to fall back on.

Tonight's event is the Erne Safari and is organised by Enniskillen Motor Club. It starts in Irvinstown so it will be a bit of a rush to get down on time but hopefully the rally will be worth it. We missed the first round of the championship so have no points on the board as yet, a good strong finish will be needed.

Getting the Nova ready 2011

With January over it's about time that I started getting the Nova ready for the year. There are a few small jobs that I need to take care off, nothing that would stop me starting a rally, just things that need tidying up.

First on the list is a blow in the exhaust. I have a full Ashley Exhausts system and it's always had a slight leak round the joint between the 4 branch and the centre section. There was no mention of it when I bought the system but there should be a gasket on the joint. It's a standard Vauxhall part (9044 8071) so I picked one up today and it only took a few minutes to get it fitted. So a nice handy job to get me back into the way of things, lets hope the rest are as straight forward.

Not the Boxing Day Rally 2010 +33 days

Well that was unexpected. It all came together at the last minute but I found myself navigating on last Saturdays "Not the Boxing Day" rally. I hadn't intended doing any navigating this year but as it's been a while since I've been out on an event I took the opportunity to guide Denis Bell round. Denis is a gentleman driver and as he delighted in telling me he is now in his 7th decade of competitive motorsport. He had managed to borrow his wife's car for the day and as it had to be returned at 6pm to do the shopping run we weren't going to be setting the stages alight.

The event itself is of a format that has become quite popular in NI over the last few years and involves using private lanes and yards for timed tests. Some are like mini rally stages and others are like open autotests. There is no restriction on cars or licences so its open to everyone and I can see more events like it springing up and being very popular in future.

Denis and I had a great day. We didn't make any mistakes, didn't do any damage and got on well in the car. Denis has plenty of stories about rallying in the old days and from his time selling Toyota's he has been lucky enough to meet a good few of the driving legends that I will only ever get to see on video. It was really interesting to get the chance to talk to someone from a different generation who has the same interests as I do.

Our "rally" car for the day:

Queuing for Test 2:

Start line of Test 2:

Interesting double car transporter:

The rally Nova

It's about time I introduced you to my rally car. Actually calling it a rally car at this stage is a bit of a stretch if I'm honest. It's really just a stripped out road car with some safety gear added for my own protection but it puts a huge smile on my face none the less.

The glamour shots:

These photos were taken on the hill climb section of the Knockalla stage of the Donegal International Rally 2010 (the day before the real rally cars got there). At this stage I'd owned the car in its component parts for about 4 years but the build had stalled quickly after the initial burst of energy. Finishing up my University course and then trying to build up some money after getting a proper job meant that I hadn't looked in the direction of the "rally car" for nearly 3 years. But with a flurry of activity brought on by a week off work for Easter my brother and I (well mostly my brother, hes the mechanic of the house, I hand him tools) started into the Nova and got the new/other engine fitted and the car back on its wheels. So with a lot more small jobs done, a cheap respray and a pass from the nice MOT man the rally car was finally out on the road where it belongs.