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.

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.

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…..

Looking at the calendar for the year’s events (this was way back in January), I noticed that there was a pretty big gap between Somerset Stages and Newton Abbot Audi, meaning I wouldn’t get much of a chance to play on gravel in the months between April and October – basically, 6 months off. So when I found out that the Tempest Rallysprint was on in August, I thought it was ideal to keep things going. However, it’s a cheap event too – ?99 for the day, and it doesn’t involve a navigator, strangely enough. And because I’d sold the Shogun, there was no trailer option either. So it’s a good job I’d got the Skoda up and running reasonably well, and I set off for Bramley camp (north of Basingstoke) on Sunday morning, bright and early. And it was bright – a really nice, clear day.

Got there OK, and set everything up in the service area, which was a massive, flat piece of concrete, with everyone’s spaces marked out in paint – ideal, and probably the best service area I’ve been in! Little or no servicing to do – not much in the way of spares, and I spent 10 minutes just looking under the bonnet and checking everything. All was well. Got scrutineered and signed on, and then it was time for the convoy runs. Because you have no navigator, there were two low-speed convoy runs, so you get an idea of the stage. As I had a spare seat, I took Tony (usually someone else’s Nav) round, as otherwise he’d not have seen the stage, and it turned out to be handy as he called the corners as we went round twice (at low speed), so it made them a bit easier to remember – most handy, that.

Then it was time for the two ‘practice’ runs. These were timed, but the times wouldn’t count for the final results. The 40 cars were split into 2 groups of 20, and each group run in what really amounted to reverse seeding, so naturally I was first in my group, and the only other guy in my class (Andres Claridge) was first in his. I had worried a bit about being caught, but it turned out there was no need – after all, it was only a 2.8 mile stage…..

The stage layout was great – you started off in the woods on some tarmac, and had many dips and turns, and it was quite fun and yet challenging at the same time – there were a few corners that you could easily get wrong enough to slow you down without ripping a wheel off, but having said that there were also bits of concrete and so on lying about that would definitely end the day if you paid them a visit. So I avoided that. About 1/3 of the way through, there was a 90 right which was right by the service area – the RWD boys had been putting on a good show, but I just understeered my way round there, and then down hill (into 4th), and then a tight 90 left, and over another brow that became a jump as the day wore on. Then there was a fun, slippy, muddy section that led over a small hump-backed bridge, and you could definitely get (a) some good air and (b) it totally wrong there – the road leading up to it would take the car off into the bushes, so you had to be careful there. Then it opened up some more, and became gravel, although the gravel was pretty hard-packed, and not the forestry-type open stuff that I was expecting. Still, managed to pull some good handbrake action, and have a good time in the process.

My times got better over the first three runs – 4:17, 4:11 and 4:08. That actually put me ahead of a 2 litre XR2i, a 1.6 205 GTi, a Sunbeam, a couple of Mk.2 Escorts and most importantly Andres! I had spoken to the photographers at lunchtime, and they told me they were at the bridge now, and so on the next run I decided to go for it on the places I’d felt I was slow and was sure I’d made some good time. I also got some good air on the bridge – it really hit the ground hard, although it was probably barely off the ground. I drew up to the finish control, convinced I’d nailed it and I’d be in the 4:05 area……. and I was slower – 4:09! I was convinced I’d gone better, but clearly not! So, I waited to see what Andres would do – he’d pretty much been 4 seconds slower than me all day, and the last run I waited to see his time – 4:21. It turned out he’d overshot the 90 left after the high speed run, so that was it! I’d won my class!

I decided after that I’d take it reasonably easy on the last run – not totally back off, ‘cos that would probably be more likely to make me bin it, but not go 100%. I had a good, smooth run, and even backed off on the jump. And managed a 4:06! That was good enough to get me back in front of a couple of the other cars, and within a second of a couple of much bigger ones. Great stuff. Packed everything into the back of the Skoda, and had to collect my award! Then drove home, hot, thirsty, and grinning like a fool. What a great way to spend a Sunday.

(In the style of David Bowie)

Well, everyone has a right to change their mind, don’t they? The Fabia engine conversion has been put on hold. This was initially because I’d got the sump modified, and everything ready to go, and only had one more thing to do – put the bottom pulley from the Favorit engine onto the Fabia engine so I could use the alternator and water pump (with the uprated mounting). The Favorit crank that I bought from eBay had a multi-ribbed pulley on it, which fitted the Fabia crank, so I assumed that the single-V pulley from my Fav would also fit. And you know what they say about assume meaning ‘make an ass out of you and me’. Because the Fav one is the same OD, but different ID. So it wouldn’t fit. Which then meant getting a new water pump and alternator. And then I found out that the driver circuitry I’d need for the coilpacks on the Fabia engine wouldn’t be in the country for a couple of weeks. And then to cap it all, it turns out that the wasted-spark software for the Megasquirt is buggy, so it wouldn’t be a great idea yet!

So, a solution was needed. And it was found in the shape of a Felicia MPi engine. It solved the problem of getting a new alternator and water pump, and also meant that I’d have an engine I could just put a distributor on; the Felicia MPi engine is normally run with a wasted-spark coil pack (like the Fabia engine), but being based on the Favorit block and so on, it means that it’s possible to put a dizzy on it, which meant ‘all’ I’d have to do was fit it and map the fuel for the Megasquirt. Oh, and make up a new wiring loom. And replace the missing engine mount, which meant drilling and tapping the block.

So, I was just about to fit the new engine and thought I’d clean the engine bay. Good job I did, as I found a huge crack in the front subframe, on the left-hand side! Seems I’ve been a little hard on the poor thing, and it might explain the driveshaft issue – it’s probably 5mm wider than it should have been!

Luckily I had a spare one (which will suit the kevlar/carbon sumpguard I have, so maybe that will be going on the car), and it’s actually really easy to get off if there’s no engine in the way (otherwise getting to the steering rack mountings is a little difficult, but it’s only 10 bolts anyway – half an hour, and it was changed!

Hopefully the engine will be wired up by the end of today, and maybe even running later in the week – I’ve got new wishbones and other bits coming, and I don’t want to try to start it until all that is fitted so things don’t flail around (like driveshafts and stuff – I’m quite old fashioned like that….)

…. after all the crapness of recent.

First up, I’ve got over the defeat, and now have a plan. I’m getting a couple of low-mileage Fabia 1.4 8v engines, so I can put one in the car and run it standard for a bit (using Megasquirt ‘n EDIS to do the ignition), and get everything going. This means I will have more CCs (so more grunt), and a better-flowing head. It also means I’ll have a spare engine which I can rebuild and tune without having to take the car off the road/events. Nice. Hopefully.

Anyway, as you, dear reader, will know, Paul is my new navigator. He’s a good mate, and an all-round good bloke. He’s one of these really annoying people who is lucky, and good at everything. He’s good at Pool (which is how I know him, really), good at Diving (he taught me, which was nice), he’s good at Poker (regularly getting seemingly impossible hands), a hit with the ladies (basically, everywhere we go he’s either worshipped by an ex, or I see women nudging each other and pointing him out), he has a fantastic town-centre Penthouse apartment (flat does not do it justice) – complete with rooftop balcony and hot tub, he does alright money-wise, and so on. Basically, if he does it, he’s good at it. He took to navigating quickly, and will no doubt get better once I get the car able to drive for more than half an event at a time.

However, I have finally (after much searching) found something he’s not good at: Putting stickers on! Whenever he has to do this, it’s a total mess. At Caerwent, we had to put high-visibility numbers in the rear windows for safety reasons. Here’s my side:

And here’s Paul’s best effort (in twice the time, no less!)

Aiiiye thankyou!

There have been several disappointing moments in my life – finding out that I’d never marry Sarah Greene (when I was about 10), realising that I’d never be an astronaut (at 15), realising I’d never play Glastonbury Festival (actually, that was only a couple of years ago, but you get the idea). And not finishing the Somerset stages was one of them. So, I’d done a fair bit of work on the car to prevent another driveshaft breakage this time out. I’d replaced the water pump/engine mount with an uprated one, and also the engine steady bar, and this meant that the engine wouldn’t move a great deal, even under the harshest of acceleration and braking, and therefore not stretch the driveshaft to its limit, and stop the problem happening again. To not finish once because of a problem is one thing, but it happening again is simply unacceptable to me.

This weekend, it was time for a return visit to Caerwent, the army training facility in South Wales which offers (as far as I know) the closest thing to closed-roads rallying in the UK. It’s a great venue, offering some really varied, exciting road layouts, and as it’s tight and twisty with some very large kerbs, you have to be precise, and being in a small car isn’t the massive disadvantage that it is on large airfield-type events. It’s quite a trek, but we thought it was worth the effort as it gave good stage mileage.

First up was scrutineering on Saturday. Now, I know it’s a bit infra-dig to moan about scrutineering, but the one thing I find annoying is inconsistency – there were several (extremely minor) things I was pulled up on by the scrutineer that other people weren’t. One of them led to me spending ?140 on new front tyres, so to find out that a couple of other competitors were running on tyres that were far more worn than the ones I’d been forbidden to use was a little annoying.

However, Sunday came, and we got set up. And the car started reasonably well, but running down to the stage start it ran horribly. I’d tested it the day before, and it’d felt really good – revving strongly, lots of power, and no problems with knocks, bangs, or the engine moving about; in fact it felt better than it ever had done. So this wasn’t good news. I hoped it would clear out, and just be the result of a fouled plug or two from ticking over too long. The stage started, and we were off! Reading from the map was tough for Paul as it wasn’t detailed enough to show some of the corners – local knowledge of Caerwent is an important thing, especially when you come over a blind crest and cross a railway track you had no idea was there. However, crossing this, the left front suspension felt ‘loose’ – there’s no other way to describe it. I hoped it would hold together. As we went round, we passed an RS200 kit-car which had already broken down. And then the engine started to run really roughly – not wanting to rev above 4500rpm, and not pulling at all well. Over some more rough tarmac, and then it felt loose again. Another couple of turns, and then the engine died and came back. And BANG!

The driveshaft had gone. And when I revved up (from the shaft being broken), the engine let out a huge plume of smoke and also blew up. We coasted to a halt, and I, er, vented my anger, shall we say. I just couldn’t believe that the same problem had happened again, and only a couple of miles into the stage, if that. Got out, had a look, yes, same shaft broken – the inner joint had pulled out, and the front suspension wasn’t right any more – there’s some play there.

So, we had to sit around while Stage 2 was run, and got to see everyone else going by – some looking smooth (especially those at the front, or in modern 4wd machinery), some looking a bit lairy (mainly Mk.2 escort drivers!), some looking to be taking it easy (which is never a bad idea at Caerwent), and a couple really going for it. Unfortunately one guy in a Nova (who was really going for it, and had the car well sideways into the bend before the Skoda’s final resting place) was going too much, and side-swiped the kerb, meaning he’d bent the rear beam on the Nova – he got going again, but the wheel was around 10 degrees from vertical, and rubbing on the wheel arch – I don’t think he’d have got far.

So, the now-familiar routine of being towed back to safety, and then loading the car up, and buggering off. I’m really not sure what to do with the car now – it needs a new engine, and the driveshaft issue needs to be sorted, or else it’s curtains for my rallying, really. I felt really bad for Paul as he’d had a short rally because I’d not sorted the problem 100%. So that all sucks. I guess I need to put a nice, reliable engine in there, like a Felicia MPi one, and then find out whatever is causing the problem with the driveshaft, and fix it properly, once and for all. I don’t expect to never have a problem, but I don’t expect to retire from three events in a row. I took this up to enjoy myself, not bankrupt myself to drive single-figure mileages…..