Unfortunately the Circuit of Down navigation rally rally didn't run on Friday night. Again the reason was a lack of entries. I thought that this one might have ran, there seemed to be a bit more movement towards people entering on Monday but it still wasn't enough. I've been putting posts up on Really Mean Sounds about the rallies so I think word is getting out, very slowly though. Not much we can do but keep plugging away in the hope that things will pick up again. There is a nav rally section on this years Circuit of Ireland Retro so if people enjoy it then they might think about doing a purely navigation event, we can but hope.
Really Mean Sounds
Newry and District Motor Club
Circuit of Ireland Retro
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Sunday, 4 September 2011
September Trial 2011
Some friends of mine were going down to the September Trial organised by the Four Wheel Drive Club NI today so I tagged along to see what the craic was. I've never been to a 4x4 trial before so it was pretty interesting. The trial is set out on the side of a hill and there are a series of gates that have to be passed through in the correct order, the more gates you pass through the fewer penalties that you receive, simple. The vehicle of choice seemed to be the small Suzuki SJ/Jimny with quite a few in action today. I was amazed at the hills they could climb and the amount of abuse they were able to take without complaint. A good mornings fun and we got away just before the rain started properly, happy days.
The photos don't really do the slope justice, it's actually much steeper than it looks here.
The photos don't really do the slope justice, it's actually much steeper than it looks here.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Moonraker Nav Rally 2011
I'm not supposed to be in front of the computer right now. I should be out competing in Dungannon Motor Clubs Moonraker Rally but unfortunately it was cancelled due to lack of entries. DMC usually get a good entry for their rally as they run a popular rally school, so the fact that even they couldn't get enough crews to make the event viable is a very bad sign for Navigation rallying in general.
Entry numbers were down towards the end of last years championship and it was decided that if 2011 was also a bad year then there would be no championship in 2012, which looks very much like it is going to happen. I have been talking to Davy McElroy who runs Newry and District Motor Clubs Circuit of Down Navigation Rally and he didn't seem optimistic about the chances of it running either. Bad times ahead for Navigation rallying.
The Moonraker being cancelled is even more disappointing because I've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks getting the Nova ready for it. Got some new spotlights fitted and my rally timer installed, all ready to get stuck into the second half of the championship. I'm now left in the situation where the championship that I built my car for doesn't exist anymore, not sure what I'm going to do. There are a few more Lanes rallies popping up on the calender so I can do those as the car is now, but to do anything else I'm going to need to get the Nova log booked. That's not a big problem because I have most of the bits to get it up to spec but it's the extras that will require a bit of money. I'll need to upgrade my competition licence and get a rally suit and helmet. I think that will have to wait till next year.
Entry numbers were down towards the end of last years championship and it was decided that if 2011 was also a bad year then there would be no championship in 2012, which looks very much like it is going to happen. I have been talking to Davy McElroy who runs Newry and District Motor Clubs Circuit of Down Navigation Rally and he didn't seem optimistic about the chances of it running either. Bad times ahead for Navigation rallying.
The Moonraker being cancelled is even more disappointing because I've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks getting the Nova ready for it. Got some new spotlights fitted and my rally timer installed, all ready to get stuck into the second half of the championship. I'm now left in the situation where the championship that I built my car for doesn't exist anymore, not sure what I'm going to do. There are a few more Lanes rallies popping up on the calender so I can do those as the car is now, but to do anything else I'm going to need to get the Nova log booked. That's not a big problem because I have most of the bits to get it up to spec but it's the extras that will require a bit of money. I'll need to upgrade my competition licence and get a rally suit and helmet. I think that will have to wait till next year.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Lurgan Park Rally 2011
Rachel and I went along to the Lurgan Park Rally yesterday, it's only 2 miles up the road so it would have been rude not to really. I've been going to the rally since I was a child, my Dad would take us every year so it's almost a family tradition. As you would imagine the weather makes or breaks the event so we were lucky this year with some lovely sunshine, it's not often we got two sunny Saturdays in a row to enjoy some motorsport.
We got there on time to see the first stage which was just as well as I wanted to see Clive Latimer and Davy McElroy in action and they broke down in their Mini Clubman on the second stage. At least we got to see their only run of the day.
The highlight of the rally as far as I was concerned were the retro machines that Slowly Sideways Ireland had brought along. Beautiful looking and sounding cars, and the drivers were really going for it. I love how they all sound different, from the V6 of the 6R4, to the in-line 5 of the Audi, to the flat 6's in the Porsche's and the V8's in the TR7 and Jimmy McRae's 5.0 Firenza Can-Am, brilliant.
This Avenger rally car even had an Avenger service car to complete the period look:
Nicely turned out Nova engine bay:
Results:
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20110730_NAMC_LurganPark_Results.pdf
Slowly Sideways Ireland:
http://www.slowlysidewaysireland.com/
We got there on time to see the first stage which was just as well as I wanted to see Clive Latimer and Davy McElroy in action and they broke down in their Mini Clubman on the second stage. At least we got to see their only run of the day.
The highlight of the rally as far as I was concerned were the retro machines that Slowly Sideways Ireland had brought along. Beautiful looking and sounding cars, and the drivers were really going for it. I love how they all sound different, from the V6 of the 6R4, to the in-line 5 of the Audi, to the flat 6's in the Porsche's and the V8's in the TR7 and Jimmy McRae's 5.0 Firenza Can-Am, brilliant.
This Avenger rally car even had an Avenger service car to complete the period look:
Nicely turned out Nova engine bay:
Results:
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20110730_NAMC_LurganPark_Results.pdf
Slowly Sideways Ireland:
http://www.slowlysidewaysireland.com/
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
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
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
Sunday, 26 June 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 6 June 2011
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.
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.
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