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

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

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