Skoda Rally Blog

Usually I don’t sleep well when I’m rallying – I’m often a bit nervy but this year I was quite relaxed – everything was well prepared and the stages were all well known. So it was a surprise to me to wake up at 4am and not be able to get back to sleep for over an hour. Just the start I needed. But then it got worse – got a text from Paul saying he’d been throwing up all night and was very dodgy. Whether this was from the burger he’d had in service, or from the nerves of giving the ring to Clair, who knows. But it was a relief when he turned up at 8:40, and seemed at least able to sit in the car for a bit. We got to service with an hour to spare, said hello to everyone and then swapped to gravel tyres, and were ready to go. Totally forgot to remove the lamp pod, d’oh! This was pointed out on the control leaving service, but there you go. Just don’t crash!

Off to SS3, which is Ebblake, just a short drive from service. This is one of my favourite stages – it’s really good gravel, with some decent corners, a good thrash at the end, and a tight section in the middle (where I went off last year for a bit). While we didn’t go flat out, we did OK, and got to the end of the stage – at this point I was more worried that Paul would be throwing up (although we’d agreed to carry on until it was too much), so to find out that the stages felt better than the road sections was pleasing to me as well as him. On the road section afterwards it was a pity to see Geoff Bennett’s Escort by the side of the road, apparently with engine failure.

SS4 is Shannon 1, the section of forest south of Ringwood Forest, and is a tale of two different surfaces – it starts out with good gravel, but then develops into a long section of black, peaty soil which really grabs the car if you don’t tell it who’s boss. Each year I can see that I’ve improved as the first year here I found it quite scary in places with the car pulling all over the place. Now I just deal with it and get it to go where I want, and am making much better entries into corners, taking better lines and getting the car set up for the next straight. BUT there were some MASSIVE hits in this stage – really dodgy potholes that had the suspension going coil-bound and the sumpguard banging on the ground, so much so that the trip computer had a hernia and crashed. Oh dear, another ?200 on the bill. Saw a LOT of cars by the side of the road, including Gary Hayter’s Impreza, apparently with a dead engine. But the stage itself went better, carrying more speed through corners and trusting in my ability to get it back when it gets a bit lairy.

SS5 is Mount Ararat which at just over 10 miles is the second-longest stage on the event, and about 1/6 of the gravel mileage as well. It’s a real favourite of mine because it’s a chance to get into driving and keep a good rhythm, and the stage is nearly all good quality gravel with some interesting bits in it as well as some flat-out straights (which again this year I took without backing off, which is an improvement albeit a little one!). There are usually loads of people about on this, and it was no exception this year. Normally we get caught by whoever is behind us on this stage (indeed, 2 people on one run one year) but not this year – we made a really good job, with Paul calling the notes in his usual authoratitive and clear style (and pointing out any errors in them too!), and me driving the car harder than I had done before – there were a few moments where it was getting a bit too lairy, but I got it back every time, which gave me the confidence to push a bit harder. We got to the end and really felt it was a good job – the car was running well, and we were doing well, despite Paul still feeling ill.

SS6 was Somerley 1 – always good fun, this time in the “reverse” direction first, heading back towards Bournemouth from the rear of the estate. We had a fairly good run here, aside from me screwing up the acute right that is at the back section of the course, the rest went well. Heading through the main approach to the house is always a bit scary as there are logs on either side of the road, but this year I felt much more able to push on, and made good time through here. Paul reminded me of the decrease in grip on the tarmac section (reason being that I always forget I’m on gravel rubber), and we got through OK without any mishaps aside from a missed gearchange in front of everyone, apparently (thanks for pointing that out, Ian!), and off into the forest section again, which was great fun aside from the horrible “big chicane” towards the end of the section which I think is just a way for us to dig up a section of the grounds – it’s always a real trial here as it’s very cut up by the time we get there. The rest of the stage was just good fun.

Then it was back to service, which was a bit quiet due to Gary not being there and also Barry Purrett who’d withdrawn due to ill health – a real pity as Barry’s a really great guy and has been very handy to watch on the stages on the times he’s overtaken me – watching his lines into corners is very useful. Not a lot to do to the car, aside from clean the rear wheels out which had collected a lot of stones and were miles out of balance, check everything over and then find out that the air filters were splitting, and I didn’t want them to get sucked into the engine. A suitable replacement was sourced and fitted (a pair of Mr. Hayter’s finest socks, cable-tied to the bellmouths), and we were good to go. We found out that another B9 car had gone out, John Flippance (although he was behind us), meaning it looked like a 2-horse race for second in class awards between us and the Becketts in the other Skoda. At the moment we were ahead of them, gapping them on every stage, although the car still wasn’t running 100% – it has a flat spot at 6k and wouldn’t rev out consistently.

Off out to Wareham, firstly for Bere Wood, which is half good, half painful!

The first section is good forest track with great corners but demands care due to the amount of logs by the side of the road. The second section is much rougher and then develops into a tight farm track which means real precision, but it all went OK – it’s only about 1.5 miles so was over quickly, even in the Skoda! Well worth finishing as well due to the presence of Miss Pink at time card collection.

Next up, Lawson Clump, known as Gore Heath. This isn’t a favourite stage of mine as it’s SO soft, but this year the lack of rain made it a bit better; it still wasn’t great but at least meant we weren’t getting bogged down, and the last section of it is good – again, better quality track where the logging takes place and the road is actually maintained properly. All good so far…

There’s a short crossing of the road (with a policeman waiting there, no doubt to catch people who haven’t removed their helmets to cross the road) and then into Wareham, which is marshalled by my car club, so always means more chatter at the start and end controls. The stage itself had again benefitted from the lack of water in the area, meaning it was far more driveable than it often is – there were a few cars off here and there, but nothing to worry about, and a few people wondering about despite us being much louder than usual and hitting the horn a lot – crazy! At the end it was really rough, and the car was taking a LOT of hits underneath. We got to the finish control OK and drove off, and then BANG BANG BANG underneath. I was certain there was something loose, and when we got to time card collection I got out to find that the exhaust had broken all three mountings and was just banging about, despite being still connected. Mare. I cobbled something up quickly with the tow-rope holding the silencer in place and got to the next arrival control, and then made a more permanent cable-tie fix for the tailpipe, and set off while still settling into the car – it was that tight for us not to lose time. The stage went OK for the most part but was HIDEOUSLY poor condition. We’d been warned that there was a car off at one point, and to slow and avoid the water. And this was no joke – what looked like a normal puddle on the racing line now contained a Fiesta, sunk up to the half way mark. This was the same place that someone had a nasty accident last year and the stage was shortened as a result. The FC really should do better as this was a dry year – with the money that is taken for rally entry, they should be putting more into making sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen, I think.

But this soon faded into the distance as suddenly our universe became a very LOUD place. The front exhaust joint had slipped off, meaning we were running with just the manifold on, and it was too loud to hear anything – the intercom picked this stage to stop working, so I had to drive slowly and rely on hand signals from Paul. Disaster – we got to the end of the stage in the loudest car in the universe, but carried on to time card collection (up the road), and decided to carry on unless we were stopped – I felt I could refit the exhaust before the next stage. Paul begged to differ, as he was sure he’d seen the exhaust section fall off!

We got to a petrol station to put fuel in and discovered… Paul was right! The middle section of the exhaust was completely missing. No chance of a fix, no way of sorting it today. And the police up the road pulling someone over. Still, time for Somerley 2, I thought. We got there without the Police (amazing as I felt they’d hear us from Bournemouth) and when we got to arrival the marshals just said it sounded a bit sick. Which it was – it wouldn’t rev much above 5k, and sounded HUGELY loud. THe intercom only worked when I held the cable in one position so I had to use the velcro overstrap on the helmet to keep it in place, and we made a fair crack of the stage despite all this. There were a few cut-out moments where I couldn’t hear what was coming, typically where I didn’t know the stage too well, but we got through and then did the road section back to service.

Had a nice chat with James from Motorsports News, and was waiting to be stopped, something that wasn’t helped by the law turning up in a car, and I just hoped they’d pass before I needed to book in. Again the marshal raised an eyebrow, but we booked in, and that was that! We checked the car over, all well, so decided to pack everything up. I was convinced we’d be stopped from competing. We were loud – certainly not as loud as Chris Atkinson’s Impreza WRC was on rally GB, but as Paul said – if it was a Subaru, no-one would question it, but as it’s a Skoda…..

The service out control was where I was expecting an issue, due to the seniorority of the staff there. I was amazed when I was just asked if it was going to get any louder, and we passed on and out of service! We were going to get a crack at the last two stages, great news. Arrived at Plumley Wood with plenty of time to spare and took a picture of the Skoda ready to give it a last crack!

Again, this is a great stage, a near-total reversal of SS5, but a great chance to get into it at nearly 11 miles long. And it went well – really well considering the car was well down on power and Paul wasn’t feeling at his best at all – it had been a long, tiring day and he’d not slept and felt terrible as well. No major dramas, and nothing too scary to report – not many cars that I noticed off, but plenty of people still in the forests cheering everyone on (or waiting for an accident!), and a real feeling of achievement to get to the end. Just one more stage to go….

Just a quick hop across the road for Shannon 2, and again more raised eyebrows from the marshals and start crew when we rolled up with our little bundle of noise. The car wasn’t too happy about starting, but did so and off we went, although the intercom was really playing up now – I think about 50% of the calls needed repeating, but only a few were absent, fortunately not at dodgy moments. The stage seemed smoother this way round, the bad dips weren’t a problem where they had been before. The soft peaty section was very bad this time through, and there were a couple of moments popping out of the ruts and potentially into the trees, but it didn’t happen. The end of this stage is great as it’s good gravel and a last chance to give the car some, although it really wasn’t keen, poor dear!

And we’d done it. Well, the stages anyway. I was fully expecting to be told that a trip into Bournemouth wasn’t an option given the noise level of the car, but it wasn’t even mentioned. We waited in the holding control for about 30 minutes and then off to town – this had been done to reduce the queue on Richmond hill, and actually worked quite well. Glad to see some friends at the bottom of the hill (which I could handily coast down to save on the noise), was interviewed by the Echo and Rally Results magazine, and photographed a lot. As ever, some kids wanted the road books and a few pics inside the car, and unusally we had quite a few cars behind us! Finally got onto the finish ramp and was interviewed by Alan Hyde who does WRGB as well as the Sunseeker. The noise went down well with the crowd, which was handy as it REALLY sounded loud in the square….

So that was it. We’d finished the Sunseeker in R477 KRU, despite the lack of an exhaust (and power) for half the event. Back home, get the stuff, pack up and then off to the awards ceremony, only to find that because of a “clerical error” we wouldn’t be getting the award in the ceremony or mentioned in the results. 5 starters in B9, we were second, but there you go. Fortunately the awards weren’t presented by Jimmy McRae, otherwise I would have been gutted to miss out on that opportunity, but I guess it’s not all bad. The car’s a bit damaged, but not too bad, and we have a LONG time before Rally GB. Hopefully I’ll have all the issues ironed out by then, ‘cos that is definitely the last chance to do anything of that scale I’ll ever have.

Today has been very odd – a number of things have changed, making it quite unusual. Firstly, the scrutineering time and so on, and then preparation for the evening. And suddenly it was time to go down to Canford Arena and get going, but it was still really quiet there – a lot of people missing (including Gary Hayter – we were later to find out he’d had ECU failure earlier and spent the day sorting that out!) and it just didn’t seem “right” somehow, but we got into the car and ready to book in when…. a 15 minute delay. Apparently a spectator had fallen over and broken their leg meaning we’d have to wait while an ambulance retrieved them and the stage could go live. Which gave us a chance to adjust the harness straps, which was handy, and then off to Bournemouth. One of the demo 6R4s was broken down outside my house, so he’d made it all of 2 miles – nightmare. When we got to SS1 start queue, it was time for Burley to give Clair the engagement ring he’d picked up earlier, in front of a big crowd! Nice to see old and new faces, and give an interview for Globecast, again like a big kid, I was as ever OTT, no doubt!

And then into the stage. We’d been told it was a bit wet and sandy and it certainly was. VERY tight in the chicane coming onto the pier, and then very sandy and wet there and all the way along the seafront. The chicanes were as tight as ever, and a marshal in a high-vis jacket hiding in a shelter made it very difficult to judge one of the faster corners accurately, which was a real pain. The car wouldn’t quite ‘clear’ but went OK. Time wasn’t great – 2:01, but I didn’t bin it. Back round to the start of SS2, and then into that again. There was an Evo in front of us on the start line which put out a hideous cloud of crap when it went from the line, and we were off again! This time I got things closer to being right, which made us an extra 4 seconds, doing it in 1:57. However, a messy bit of writing from a marshal has meant we’ve been given a time of 2:17. As always, problems on SS1/2 with timing. Grrr!!!! I know marshals give their time to help, but they really should make sure they write clearly – for us it just means a bit of a target for tomorrow, but for some it might mean real issues. Anyway, at the end of SS2 I saw the Evo pulled over after the finish with steam coming out of the front, bonnet open. Oh dear.

Coming back was a bit tight for time – we needed to stop for fuel at a petrol station, and dawdling drivers elsewhere meant we could drive straight in. And leave everything for the morning – we have a 9:51 start time, so we may as well do everything then, only wheels to change anyway, and check everything over. I found out after getting home that one of the B9 cars (#92, a very quick Peugeot 106) has retired already, so there are now 4 in class, and second place is looking a possibility if we keep it together. IF.

Scrutineering at the Litledown is a really pleasant experience, despite still being scrutineering! It’s a really well-organised affair, and there’s lots going on there, and people are encouraged to come down to see the cars being checked over. Had the pleasure of being photographed by a couple of my students (Rob and Sean), so no doubt there will be some embarrassing photos of some point passed round school. Lovely.

Scrutineeering, no problem. Documentation, no problem – we’re well on the case there. Even managed to get my car parked next to the doddmobiles, not between them as I’d wanted but this is the next best thing!

… usually on the Sunseeker as a local crew, I have an early scrutineering time, meaning we have to get down to Canford Arena early (usually just as the crew are getting there, in fact), noise test quickly and then get down to the Littledown Centre for scrutineering. But this year it’s different – we’re in the last-but-one slot of 14:30, meaning a leisurely start to the day, but it also means that I have to sit around and wait for scrutineering and anyone who knows me will know I’m not exactly Mr. Calm at this time. Never mind…

There are big, big bonuses to doing the Sunseeker. One of the major ones is it being local – the event is much cheaper for me to enter as I don’t need to trailer the car anywhere, get accomodation and all the other stuff. The service area is 1.5 miles from my home, which is great. If anything goes wrong (and thankfully in the last 3 attempts nothing terminal has happened) I’m near home. But there’s one thing I’d forgotten about, and that’s seeing the ever-lovely Jemma Pink to get my stickers from. Unfortunately I had no excuse to make any more than a moment’s conversation. Perhaps next year I’ll feign a serious injury or something.

Anyway, the car passed noise test (at 95dB which is nice and throaty!), and I then came home to put the stickers on the car. Unfortunately my ordered-up stickers of “Jones/Burley” for the rear windows haven’t arrived, so at the moment I’ve left the big “Jones” in the rear window, but if Burley’s not happy with that, they’ll be coming off later!