Bovington

[jerseypug]

Just put an entry in for Bovington. 3rd time lucky. 1st time in a Subaru the big end went on the 3rd stage. 2nt time I was nav in a m3 compact and had a big one. Always had fun, anyone else going? 2 BMWs from jersey so far

[notax]

Yes, we'll be there Be great to see you see you, I vividly remember your accident - a massive credit to the strength of a Compact, it would have been a very different outcome in a Darrian or probably even a Mk2. Look forward to seeing you and Steve if he's there

[jerseypug]

that was my first and last time as a navigator, it was a nasty crash and took a long time to recover, Steve was at Bovington this time as well navigating, how come you didn't make it? are you still coming to the jersey rally?

[notax]

I hope you've made a full recovery? That was the second worst rally accident I've seen. Not surprised it marked the end of you co driving. Sadly I had to pull out of Bovington at the last minute with a family problem. As a result of missing the first round of my championship, crashing on the second and missing Bovington I've decided just to compete in odd events this year. I'm also building yet another M3 compact, so the funds and time that could have gone to Jersey are now going into the new build... and plenty more besides! New car is LHD to make a change. Hope to catch up at another event this season if you make it to the big island again

[Moynesyt5]

I will be there in my 328 coupe.... did the event years ago in my old Sunbeam

[jerseypug]

I'm planning on going again so will see you there

[notax]

Look forward to seeing you both! Pop over and say hello, I’m as useless as ever at posting photos of my car, but it is a white, LHD, E36 compact (in spite of the below photo of my previous car which I’m now considering selling...)

2018 hasn’t been a good year for us rallying - the first event of the year was the smallest event I have entered, only 30 entrants and tragically both members of one crew sadly died at the event.

The next event at Bovington was cancelled due to snow (just as well really as I suffered a bad DVT in a ski crash just before and couldn’t use my left leg...)

Then off to the fantastic Down Ampney venue, where we came 1st in class and 6th overall in my red compact some years ago. This time the handling in the new car was all over the place, couldn’t understand it at all, but was in the mid 50s after first stage! I learnt to drive around the issue but was still conscious not to hold up front running crews - we were seeded 9th. I pulled over onto grass to let a car past (by which time we’d recovered to about 19th) and hit something very substantial buried in the grass. Not sure what, but it buggered the car badly with body damage, smashed wheels etc

Thought I’d trashed the Proflex remote canister shocks too, had them checked and found the reason for poor handling - shocks were fine, but canisters had lost all pressure before accident. Car was good when built, but air had seeped out with use - the shell was standing for some time during extended build.

Anyway, this will be the first time I’ve used it for months...fingers crossed...

[jerseypug]

Great, looking forward to it

[Moynesyt5]

Hi all
Well I had a great day Bovingdon yesterday....never driven the car before and we got 26th overall and 3rd in class.
The car held up well and gave me confidence to push more in the afternoon. The diff mount bushes started to break up, so that’s the next job!
Cheers
Dave

[jerseypug]

hi dave, well done, i had no idea they were having a rally before christmas. I'm coming over for the march rally

[notax]

I just wrote a really long post but it has disappeared The previous one came up with our old friend Hacker X but still got through. This time it said something different and is no more...

[notax]

Back to where I was...well done Dave! Which car were you driving? I hoped to be more sociable but we had a stressy day. Got to the venue in good time, arrived at scrutineering, opened bonnet and saw we were missing the oil cap not ideal. A friend’s bad luck helped us - his Audi Quattro’s water pump died at scrutinizing so we borrowed his cap. Phew

[notax]

Next stress was at the start line for stage 1 and 2. Marshalls in a mess and my nav hadn’t even been given the timing card when our start light went green! I waited and was started 30 secs later, same thing happened on stage 2, this time I did start even though a 3 second delay - which would turn out to be the least of our issues...

[notax]

The engine started miss firing, which cost us a fair bit of time and then cleared up. Just as well as we didn’t have time to investigate before the next stage, where the engine was far worse. We felt it may be a coil pack but didn’t have spares with us. Another compact crew offered to help (Rallyprep on here I believe) and lent us their coil packs. Sadly they had pulled out after hitting a stray cone and smashing their waterpump. We found their 2.8 packs were too short but helped us diagnose and fix what turned out to be an earthing problem. Thank you

[notax]

With the car now working we took 30secs out of the Subaru WRC in front of us and were 11th fastest on the stage. Stage 4 we caught them even sooner and were having fun reaching over 130mph in various places (one scare when I left my braking very late, lucky to get away with a near miss slowing from top speed for a chicane...) then, chasing the Scooby the handling suddenly went to crap, steering all over the place and smoke pouring from the car. Turned out to be a failed rose joint, front wheel pushed wing back into the door and burned through the mud flap - at least we had a good time spectating for the rest of the event... not sure when next event will be, due a foot op!