Moneyglass Rally

I'd heard about the Alltrak/Rallysport rally events but I hadn't taken the time to go and find out what the craic is with them. So when my wee brother Niall and my cousin Con said they were going to do the rally on Saturday 15th September I went down for a look.

Con had bought a tidy but unfinished Corolla Coupe rally car and also a rough Corolla rally car that he was going to use for parts. But when they got it home the rough car was actually that bad so they wanted to take it out for a run without having to worry about it getting a wee knock. Alltrak is the perfect place for that as the can do a dual entry, it's close to home, and it's much cheaper than a stage rally.

By the time I got down the boys had been out for a run each and were full of stories after they both had crashed and damaged the car. Con was out first and had a big slide, hitting a bale with the passengers door and then Niall had hit a different bale with the front of the car and bent the bonnet. But that wasn't what they were fixing when got there. I car hadn't been used for a while and probably due to that the a union on the  rear brakes has started leaking. They tried to fix it and went to get some spare parts but couldn't quite get it repaired. The only option left was to blank off the rear brakes completely. I don't think losing the rear brakes is that big a deal, just need to be a bit more careful on big stops (not that I would really know, I'm just guessing).

From chatting to the boys it didn't really sound like they had leaner anything from their previous crashes so I knew full well that the car wasn't going to finish the day in one piece, and so it proved. The boys both managed to get another clean run each before Con hit the same bale he had side swipped on his first run but this time he did a proper job of it and went in very heavy, head first, destroying the whole front of the car. Both driver and navigator were unhurt which is the main thing.

I'm in two minds with the Rallysport Association events. They fill an important gap in the market that for some reason the MSA don't seem interested in filling. I think it was 6 stages for £75 which is hugely cheaper than proper stage rally and they allow dual entries which halfs the cost of getting a car ready. But coming from MSA events the safety does seem to be a little bit lacking. They seem to start cars at only about 10 second intervals which I would be very worried about. Also the cars don't have plumbed in extinguishers and to compound that they don't require fireproof overalls for the crews. Having said all that I was only there a few hours and I wasn't actually taking part so the things I didn't like might be different at tracks/events. I plan do try a few out next year when I get the Nova built up a bit more but I will be wearing a proper FIA approved rally suit and I will have a plumbed in extinguisher.

Rallysport Association
Results

Hovercrafting!

The day after the Springfling I found myself changing from 4 wheels to no wheels! My sister had bought my brother, my brother-in-law and myself a session on the hovercrafts down at ODD.ie in Co. Cavan for Christmas. Driving a hovercraft is a pretty weird experience, you aren't really in control of it at all. You just hold the throttle full open and use your body weight, more than the steering, to "guide" you in the right direction. For me the best bit was the transition from land to water, it was totally seamless, I couldn't feel any difference at all, it was very impressive. At the end of our timed runs I came out the fastest over the lap but it was very close between everyone, it was definitely good luck rather than good judgement that had me the quickest.

I really enjoyed the hovercrafting experience but I don't think I would like to have paid the full €85 that our session would usually have cost, luckily we had some discount vouchers.

http://www.odd.ie/



MGCC Autosolo 2011, Videos

Just a couple of videos to compare Niall's and my fastest runs on Test 1 and Test 3 of the auto. Pity I didn't have the camera on for Test 2 where I beat him because on just this video evidence I beat me every time.

MGCC Autosolo

I've never done an autotest before so when I heard about the MGCC's autosolo I thought it sounded spot on as there is no reversing. My car is pretty hard to see out the back off due to the bucket seats so forwards only suits me great. As you were allowed dual entries I asked Niall to come up to have a spin too. He built most of the car so really it's about time he got a run in it.

The first test we were to do was Test 2 and it was pretty complex. For a couple of people who had never autotested before it was very difficult just trying to remember where we were going, never mind concentrate on trying to drive the car. Once we had our heads round the correct route it became very clear very quickly that traction was going to be our biggest barrier to quick times. We weren't that bothered though as we were only there to race each other.

During the day we both got a few penalties and a few failed tests but it was great craic. The weather stayed good so that makes any motor sport day much more enjoyable. My nice new Quatrac tyres didn't enjoy the day much though and they were pretty torn up by the end, I'd say they are down to half their tread depth already.

Unbelievably in the final results we both finished up with the exact same total time, a joint 7th in class!

There were some real nice cars there on the day, I'm a big fan of the Sebring body kit on a MGB GT.

Suz Graham's video of me:



And Pete Moore's video of the event:


Costs:
Entry fee £17
Petrol £23, it wasn't all used.

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

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.

Niall's Corolla Rebuild

My brother has finally got his Toyota Corolla coupe restoration finished. He has put a lot of time, effort and money into it and it really is a credit to him, it look brilliant, factory fresh. I don't know what he's going to do with it now though as it's too nice to drive.

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.

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.