Skoda Rally Blog

Some things only become ‘real’ when certain events take place. For me, doing the Sunseeker this year only really became ‘real’ when we were at scrutineering at the Littledown Centre – before that it just didn’t seem like we were going to do it, somehow. And I thought that would be the same for the 2006 event, but it’s not – the website has been put up in the last couple of days, and that’s made it very real. For the 21st anniversary, there are some changes planned, and it turns out that the order of the stages is the change. The bad news (well, I think so) is that Wareham Forest is running twice – first time is early on Saturday morning, and again after Service 2. Really super-rough last time out, I would hope that there will be something done to some of the tracks before the event, ‘cos otherwise they will be cut up to unbelievable levels.

Anyway, there are a few things to do before then. Firstly, I need to get the car fixed up. There’s not a lot to fix on it (although I still have to do that), but a new gearbox (1.3 this time!) and probably a new engine will be in order – I want the car to run as quickly as possible as I now think I’m getting to the point where I can push faster, and in straight lines there’s more to come.

Also, I’ve been out with Steve Colville and Kev Jackson (who will ne navving for Steve) mountain biking. 11 miles today, lovely. I’m much fitter than last year, so hopefully I’ll be paying attention at the end of the day. While we were out, I discussed the possibility of entering Wales Rally GB next year, and Steve seems up for it. Now that will be an adventure, for sure.

After the trials and tribulations of getting the car just in a running, driveable condition, I was certain that something would let me down. Totally underprepared. Maybe my ideas of what should be done to the car before the event have changed, but I’m sure this was the least prepared I’ve ever been – a real skin of the teeth job. But we got to the Tempest, and to my immense surprise, all my work paid off as it scrutineered without even a minor mention of a problem. This pleased me greatly, and we even had over an hour to wander about, and notice how rutted the arena stage was already getting. Before we’d run it once, let alone three times…….

After patching in a temporary intercom (the last thing I had to fix, and of course it was totally broken), and putting on some new stickers (from alink2.com), we trotted off to the start. And found out almost instantly that the Yokohama tyres on the car were useless. No grip at all at the front, just understeering hideously round the first couple of corners, and through the ruts which were already bad. Had a few weird calls (later found out Paul was reading SS1 from the international rather than SS6 which we were starting on), but it was OK. We’d done the first stage, albeit slowly (quite a few didn’t make it under the target time), and off we trotted to SS2, which was a new one I hadn’t done last year. A quick check of the car beforehand showed nothing loose yet, so we lined up and then were off. This was quite a different kettle of fish, and a bit like my first forest event, ‘cos the car was just yawing from side to side at speed, but it wasn’t horrible as it was still dry. Later on there were a couple of times I understeered off the track, but with nothing serious to hit, fortunately.

A slow road section (courtesy of some guy doing 32 mph in a 60 zone) wasn’t punished as there was a delay on stage 3 – someone had gone off and hit a tree, and apparently there was no OK/SOS board out. A quick stretch of the legs, and then off we went. Now this (Yately 1) was the first stage that I liked the look of – reasonably smooth tracks, and wide in places, and good calling meant we could get going, until I changed gear about half way through, and the gear level just moved about aimlessly. We were in neutral, coasting, and I couldn’t get any drive. Straight away I thought that the bolt holding the gear linkage steady to the box had broken (this turned out to be right), but I kept trying to find a gear and eventually found 3rd. We trundled on for a bit, and then I found that I could also get 1st with some jiggery-pokery. And it was needed as there were some tight sections. But we made it through, and the road section wasn’t too bad, but it was off to Warren. Last year Warren scared me a bit as the car was wondering all over the place, but it was good at the same time. We took most of the stage in third, and this was actually beneficial as it meant I had to take some corners a little faster, and it was OK – a learning experience. Another plus was that there is an 1100 yard straight on it, which meant we could keep our average speed up, which would be needed as the course closing car was getting close to us at the end (although they would have to wait up to 15 minutes for us, in fact). Did the stage in 11 minutes, which wasn’t the end of the world, although I wish there was some way for the spectators to know that we’re not that slow normally!

Into service, I started working on the car, and the twins – Ant and Chris – who were servicing for Gary Hayter – came over and Ant went into action, getting the guard off (with the help of another guy servicing next to us who I didn’t know), and trying to get the sheared bolt off. It wouldn’t come out, so the linkage just had to be cable-tied in place – it’s only side to side location, so we hoped it would hold. In the end it was done with 4 minutes to spare. Cracking stuff.

The next stages were more of the same – rutty arena, and some other stages that were a long drive away but well worth it. A few slidy bits, but mostly just working on driving a bit quicker, which seemed to be getting there. The next service was a total contrast – nothing to do on the car, just pack our gear up ready for when/if we finished!

The last three stages were a real contrast. By this time the Arena stage was terrible – the ruts were beyond a joke, and a real car destroyer. Took it slowly rather than break the car for no real gain, and then it was off to Yately 2 and Warren 2. These were my favourite stages of the whole rally. A real chance to drive the car properly, get it sliding about a bit, and have some fun. I’m never going to be Tommi Makinen, but I’m definitely getting better, ‘cos I really enjoyed these two. If I’d set up the spotlights properly they would have been even more fun, but there you go – getting the car going was an achievement in itself, but it finishing the Tempest with just one broken bolt (and a bit of noise from under the car after the rough end of Warren 2) wasn’t bad going at all. Got quite a few things to do to the car before the Sunseeker, but at least I have 3 months to do them in.

Before I get to that, I think I’ll just document the immensely stressful car week I’ve had. The car failed it’s re-test, on emissions only. So I thought I’d have to bite the bullet and buy a new catalytic converter. Which I did, although I was a bit surprised that it was ?90+VAT from the local exhaust place, compared with ?200 from the ‘Skoda Spares Specialists’. Hardly impressive. However, the car was gutless, and I thought this was down to it not having the MPi head, which looks the same but flows a lot better as standard. And as I had one, I thought I should fit it. So I did, having cleaned all the valves, the ports, etc. Turned out Skoda gave me the wrong valve stem seals, so I had to rob one off the 1.4 Fabia engine I had lying around – a taste of things to come.

Put it all back together (11pm on Wednesday night), and then drove it the next morning. Ran like a dream, and went so much better, despite having a cat on there, whereas the old one was just a piece of empty tube, hence the poor emissions figure. Took it to the garage to get it checked, and it would be OK for the MOT next day. Driving home, heard a massive rattle, and then it started running on 3 cylinders. OH GOOD! Got home, and found that a valve spring had broken. I’ll cut a long story short, but no-one had any bolts or a head gasket (Pratco ordered the wrong one), so I had to rebuild the head again, using a valve and spring from the Fabia, and the old gaskets. And it was another 11pm job, with Paul fitting ‘his’ seat and fixing this and that. And it passed the MOT. One minor disappointment – it’s the new computerised MOT, and the certificate looks really rubbish! I know that’s irrelevant, but it just looks like a gas bill.

But still lots of things to do, like wiring the pod up properly (thanks Kev), but got everything done and the car on the trailer about 10pm. But I was pretty sure something would go wrong……

Before August, I was generally a pretty slack person – had plenty of spare time to get on with this and that, etc. But then I took on a fair bit more work, and I’ve basically had about 1 day in the last couple of months that was free. And I had the last 4 days off, and thought that would be enough to get the Felicia done and MOTd, ready to go.

How wrong I was. Firstly, as the Fav had to go, about half a day was taken up with getting it ready to sell. And then the next couple of days solidly working on the Felicia. Reason? Well, where do I start? Firstly, the driveshafts. Anyone who’s read much of this blog will know that I’ve had driveshaft issues in the past, so I’m keen to make sure they’re tip top. And these were anything but! 3 of the 4 CV boots needed replacing – an outer one that was split, and had been for some time (grease everywhere), and two inners that were completely screwed – one was totally the wrong type, and the other was split. Both the inner CVs fell apart when I went to pull the hubs off, so I was lucky not to lose the large rings or the needle rollers. Later I found that there were lots of bits of needle roller knocking around one of the joints, so clearly this car had been maintained by a moron.

Next up, the front brakes. When driving the car, they seemed a bit poor, and it was no surprise when I saw how rusty the discs were – they were totalled. And the guy who sold it to me told me it was running on EBC greenstuff, but given what I’d seen I was expecting to see some standard pads, but pleased (for once) to see a nearly new set of 1144s instead. The first bit of good news. But split boots on balljoints, rusty bolts, mis-matched bits here and there, the list just goes on and on. I mean, this is a bloody rally car! You’re supposed to look after the thing, aren’t you? I know some people are a bit anal about them and make them look immaculate where there’s no need, but they need to be mechanically sound, don’t they?

Doing that, and replacing the (utterly screwed) top mounts for the struts (which are another set of HP racing ones, oddly, not the Spax ones I thought) took most of the time, as well as fixing the handbrake lever (bodged badly meaning it needed a good hammering to get it working), and then re-fit the seats, and so on…..

So today (MOT day) I only had a bit of time to check everything over, and then look at the back wheels. Both wheel bearings were loose, so I greased ’em up and adjusted them, and hoped it would be OK.

Wrong-ola, Jones! The list of failures wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was more than I was expecting. Firstly, he failed it because the front hoses can touch on the inner arches on full lock. Well, here’s some news, Mr. MOT tester, they do that on my Focus. Both of them, indeed. They are protected by plastic, as are mine. But somehow the Skoda fails and the Focus doesn’t.

The handbrake was a bit sticky, so it failed on that, so new handbrake cables are on the way, as well as new wheelbearings and cylinders as then I can get the whole bloody job done in one go and forget about it, hopefully forever. I hate drum brakes!

The exhaust was “excessively rusty” – it doesn’t leak, and wasn’t holed, so I have no idea what that was about. So I’ve bought a new system, which according to Group N rules you can remove the internals from the second silencer, so that will be Friday evening taken care of.

Finally, it failed because it was running too rich! CO and Lambda readings were too high. Not sure why, so I’ll put the wideband on it and see what gives. Clearly it running rich isn’t a good thing for power, so I’ll have to get it right. Where’s my megasquirt when I want it? I just hope it hasn’t had some crappy eBay resistor bodge to “give it an extra 10bhp” – I’ll never find the bloody thing if it has.

So, I’ve got to go pick up the rest of the bits for the car. Which means I can tear a strip off the guy who sold it to me – he totally lied about the condition of the car, and I don’t like that. Well out of order, as he just said he’d lost the fail certificate but it only needed the handbrake lever doing. Hopefully it should all be done by Sunday and then ready for a re-test.

However, I still have to get it taxed, which could prove difficult as I don’t have the logbook for it, as it was an old one, where you don’t keep a receipt. Damn – this could still scupper my plans for the Tempest, and cost me ?400 into the bargain.

Well, thanks to the wonder of eBay, I’ve sold the Favorit. It’s just trotted off on a trailer, along with a whole load of spares (I had no idea I had 30 wheels!), and I feel a bit sad! Had a lot of good times in the Fav, and certainly I’m glad I bought it, but now that leaves me with a practical problem. The Felicia. Or more to the point, the Tempest. It’s next Saturday, which means that I need to get the car MOTd and up and running in just over a week. I’ve made a good start on it today, sorting out most of the wiring issues (the cutout now actually cuts out the whole car, rather than just part of the wiring), and removing the seats and fixing the handbrake lever. But removing the front offside suspension showed a couple of things.

Firstly, there was no way that this car had been through a legit MOT. Both driveshaft gaiters were split, and had been for some time. And the disc was totalled. This is not good, and I have the MOT booked for Thursday. Fortunately I’d bought a whole load of bits recently, and that included new driveshaft boots, which should fit the driveshaft – certainly the outer is looking OK now, but I need to pull part of the inner out of the gearbox to see if that will fit – if not, I’m in the doo doo. But I need to buy new discs, and this could be a problem. Also, the flexible hoses for the front brakes are too long and have been looped and cable tied. Shoddy. So, I have my work cut out if I’m to get the car up to scratch before the event.

And I have to fix the trailer too! Looks like it’ll be a long week for me!

I’ve always known that this was a bit of a laugh and nothing more. People have been saying “get something quicker”, but I can’t see the point, ‘cos I can’t drive the wheels off what I’ve got already, so having a fast, expensive car to have bigger accidents in doesn’t really add up to me.

But, I did want a newer car. The Fav is a great, great car, and I’m really glad I bought it, but I have some plans that really mean I need a homologated car, and that horse has long bolted for the Favorit. So, I did the maths on how much it would cost to build a new Fav or Felicia. And the sum was ?4000. That was basically to build a new version of the car I already have – nothing fancy, just with an MPi engine, new suspension, cage, seats, harnesses, sump guard, etc. ?4000!

And then I saw a nice ex-challenge Felicia on eBay. It wasn’t too far away (Andover, about 60 miles), so I went to have a look. And I managed to get it and a trailer at the right price. It’s Group N, so it’s still got carpets, door cards, back seat, headlining, etc., and it’s mechanically standard. This means it’s heavy, and therefore slower than the Fav. But I’ll have to live with that, for reasons that may be revealed in good time.

Anyway, just thought you might like to see my new car. Here are some pictures.

And if anyone is interested, the Fav will be up for sale in the next couple of weeks. It comes with a massive amount of spares – doors, boot, bonnet, bumpers, lights, loads of wheels and tyres (tarmac and forest), new brake discs and pads, a gearbox (good), and a whole bunch of other stuff. It’s got a 1.3 MPi engine in it, and a Megasquirt, and is a perfect first rally car as you’ll spend your time driving and enjoying yourself, not playing mechanic. It’s MSA logbooked (obviously), and a well sorted little car. It’s MOTd to February and even has some tax on it. ?1500. If you’re interested, mail me – darren (at) darrenjones (dot) com.

Well, this was a bit of a strange one. Firstly, the event was moved from the relative nearness of Newton Abbot to Newquay, which is around 160 miles away from my house. Which means about a 4 hour drive, and in the gas-guzzling beast that is the diesel pajero, about ?110 of fuel. Oh dear. That, and hiring a trailer means that it’d cost me ?200 just to turn up. Add in ?300 entry fee, and ?88 to stay at Hendra holiday camp, and ?50 of fuel, and suddenly it’s not such a cheap weekend. We will not speak of this again…..

So, got to Hendra pretty quickly (3h 27m), and it was a lovely day. Paul was off in Hong Kong, doing passport things, so that meant I needed a nav, as mentioned before. So I met Chris for the second time ever at Hendra, and then off we trotted to scrutineering, which went well – we managed to get done before it had even officially opened, and documentation too. So we were all set. An evening out in the normally rammed Newquay was odd enough, as it was like a ghost town, and I got the biggest mixed grill I’ve ever seen (seriously – I didn’t eat the next day!), and then off to bed. We got to the start a little early (well, 1h 45m early!), and stood around while everyone else turned up, and indeed left – we were near the back, and most of the field had already gone before we even needed to start the car up.

We’d seen one of the BMWs come back after going, and then head left, then right, then zoom off again, and wondered why. Turned out it was ‘cos there was a bit of confusion over the tulips, although really it was just our rally nerves – if you read the distance between one instruction and the next, it’s pretty obvious where you have to go. By this time it was raining heavily, so stage one was a bit slippy, and not too fast. SS2 was a rerun, and I went a bit quicker, although the vagueness of the maps made it hard for Chris to call, but we got to the end OK, despite seeing an impreza already out (and slowing so as not to hit him!). SS3 and SS4 were just over the way, and a bit more tricky – the first part was OK, but there was a run at the end over some black, loamy soil, and two cars had already fallen victim there, maybe one in sympathy of the other. It was quite slippy, but really not too bad – the stages were as smooth as promised, and with some confidence (lacking, for sure) would have been quick & fun. SS5 went OK, and then a long run down to SS6 and SS7 – a 30 mile road section in the pouring rain. These stages were tough – the calling was hard, but the ground harder – like a volcanic landscape. Really tough on the tyres, etc, and we got caught both times. The end featured a long straight and flying finish, and then a 90 left almost straight after. First time I said “you’d have to be brave/mental to do that flat out”, and second time the 205 that just passed us showed I was right! He was in the bushes having not made it round the corner, but he did it OK. Worth seeing, that.

Then, service, a full hour to wonder around and check out what others were up to. Steve Colville’s new car (clio with R5 turbo engine) had a problem – the steering column had come un-welded leaving him with “a bit of play” in the steering! Thanks to Ant Wilmo’s service crew, that was welded up ASAP, and off he went, as did we. Here’s his car…..

SS8 was tough, particularly as we had driven past another car that had gone off without seeing them – this was the cause of some concern for us, but thankfully the crew were OK after being checked over in the hospital. It sounds unbelievable, but even second time past it was hard to see where the car was.

Then things got better from SS10 onwards. The sun came out, and the drying stages meant that at long bloody last I could drive again and get a bit of confidence. Things got better as we went on, and I really started enjoying it, and even had a few sideways moments (one in front of a cameraman).

The last service of the day (well, I say service, basically we didn’t do anything as we filled the car up in the morning and left it all day!) preceded the two last stages which were dark enough to need lights on. Saw the crew from the BDCC who were manning this stage (as they were on SS1 and 2), and went better, it would seem. The last stage of the day was a half-rerun of one of the earlier ones, and meant we got a good run at it. We’d been told the finish was slippy, but it wasn’t bad at all, and overall had a good time. Chris seemed to be converted to doing forest events in the future, so that’s a plus too. Now onto the Tempest……

This weekend was to be a 2-day event, the Newton Abbot Audi Stages 2005. However, in its infinite wisdom, last weekend NATO denied access to one of the bases that the tarmac stages on the Sunday were to be based on, so it’s been revised quite a lot, and now it’s a one-day all-forest event, with more mileage instead. Because of this hiccup, not a lot of information has been sent so far – basically it looks like we’ll get everything else when we turn up on Friday. Despite the name, it’s not based in Newton Abbot, it’s based in Newquay, so it’s a long way away. Trailering the car will take about 4 thousand years, and I’ve also spied a new rally car that I’m interested in which means I need to come back on Saturday night, so I can go see it on Sunday. Busy weekend again…….. And possibly the last outing in G241 JCY?

I guess that sometimes you think things aren’t meant to be. Last year’s trip to Caerwent was a simple affair – drive there, drive around a bit, see lots of people crash or blow their cars up, go home. However, this year’s attempts seemed harder. Lots harder. The first event in March ended up with a pulled entry due to loss of Navigator, and the second entry involved driving all of a mile and then death of car. So, despite me having done lots of road mileage and the Tempest Rallysprint, and trailering the car to the event, I was still very nervous. Not about the driving per se, but whether or not the car would pack up, embarrass me further, and mean I’d have to kill myself.

So, after a rather later night than I would have wanted (thanks Juliet!), it was time to go back to Caerwent. We got there late enough to have to park in the smaller service area, but got everything set up, the car ready, and went to the drivers’ briefing. I mention this only because it was a chance to pay our respects to Michael Park, following his tragic death a week before on the Wales Rally GB. A minute’s silence is something I’ve often observed, but it seemed particularly poignant at this event.

Off we went to stage one, and the first thing is that the scale of the maps at Caerwent means that a lot of the detail is…. er…. missing! You get an idea of where you’re going, etc, but you really need to know the place to be able to be quick right out of the box. And we were anything but. It wasn’t because of Paul, it was because there was NO GRIP WHATSOEVER! The car was all over the place – the tarmac was really slippy in places, and others OK, but there seemed to be little way of telling until you slid off the road. Had quite a few minor moments, but fortunately didn’t hit anything nasty, just the odd kerb or two, but not in a bad way. Made some notes of dodgy areas (basically the entire map!), and changed to the wets that I’d brought – although it wasn’t that wet, I thought they’d grip a bit better. And I was right – much, much better, although me missing a junction and going straight on lost us probably 30 seconds, and we ended up with a similar time to the first time out, alas.

The next few stages were a right mixture – dry, then torrential rain, and then getting progressively dryer. More and more cars went out, victims of kerbs, over-exuberance (in the case of the ex-Steve Colville Swift), or just plain bad luck (Glen Williams’ broken engine mounts leading to a stripped cambelt). There were around 100 starters, originally, and as the day went on, we moved closer to the front, although by virtue of the demise of others, I’m sad to say. Probably my worst performance as a driver as I really was lacking confidence – both in the car and in myself after the first stage. But we kept going, and went back onto dry tyres, which was the right choice until the last minutes of the stage when it rained again and it got slippy. But we stuck with the tyres and things got better for stage 6, and finally on stage 7 I got my act together and got things close to right – braking harder and later, and not screwing up in the twisty bits.

I must say I’d heard lots about “the Quarry” at Caerwent. And with good reason. It’s a really tight section, with very little visibility ahead – you have to rely on knowledge and trust your co-driver, and if you got it wrong in there it would be very messy indeed with a big kerb and buildings on the left, and a rock face on the right. But it is excellent – it really is. I’m sure I was at a snail’s pace compared to nearly everyone else, but it felt good! On the last stage, we made up two places, to finish 41st of 46 finishers. So over half the field had broken down (including the ‘big boys’ in the WRC subarus and a 6R4), and we’d beaten larger cars too. No mess, no fuss, just good fun. A long drive home, but well worth it. I’d rather do that than watch Eastenders Omnibus.

And I’ve found a navigator (and a good one too) for Newton Abbot Audi. No idea what he’s going to make of being in the Skoda at impulse speed, but there you go…….

One thing – I know quite a few people read this site, so here goes…

I’ve got an entry in the Newton Abbot Audi Stages – website here – but I don’t have a navigator for it. I’m trying to find one, but so far no-one is free. Yes, it would mean riding in the Skoda, with me. I’m under no illusions, I’m not a quick driver on gravel, but I’m getting better. And this is an ideal opportunity for a first time nav or someone who’s only done SV events and wants a cheap taste of the forests. If you or anyone you know has (or can get) a navigator’s licence, helmet and overalls, and wants to nav for me, then get in touch – djaychela (at) triac (dot) freeserve (dot) co (dot) uk. I’m open to offers…..