Skoda Rally Blog

On Saturday something happened that I said never would. Today I sold R477KRU. To be fair, it had been coming for a while – not only when I’d made the decision, but it had been clear since buying the Ibiza last year that one or the other would have to go, and despite N194DKE’s rather poor reputation (3 starts, 3 DNFs, two due to mechanical failure, one due to sister failure), it has shown itself to be potentially a far better car than the Felicia ever could be; without major surgery (i.e. a replacement engine and gearbox) the Skoda would never be able to match the Seat on power, and many other factors were in its favour. But I loved the Felicia, partly because I built it (and since I was a teenager I always wanted to build a “good” car, the definition of which really became a car that would finish a long rally), and partly because of the memories it held; while WRGB 07 was an unpleasant experience in some ways, 08 and 10 made up for it in droves. But it had to go.

First up on the day, getting everything ready to go. This was no mean task in itself – there were a LOT of spares that I’d collected over the last 7 years of running a Skoda, with loads of wheels and tyres making up the vast bulk of it, but in addition lots of spare parts which I’d bought at the right time or when I’d been bored on eBay of an evening. Either way, there were boxes of parts, alternators, pipes, starter motors, hubs, wishbones, all sorts. All of them needed to be sorted out and boxed, which took a couple of hours, and meant the garage was pretty full, and there were five stacks of wheels and tyres in the back garden. On the upside, the shed where I have all the bits had shelf space available for the first time in years.  Makes you think how much time, effort and money you’ve put into something when you see such a massive amount of stuff, though – nearly every eventuality was catered for with the amount of parts there.

I then needed to get the car started, and it hadn’t been for a month or so. It was a bit reluctant to start, but fired up in the end and was ticking over nicely in a couple of minutes. Lewis (the buyer) was unable to come and pick it up, but sent his friend Ian to do all the hard work instead, so when he arrived around lunchtime he had a van and a towing dolly and a fair bit of work to do. I wasn’t sure that everything would fit in the van, and as it turns out, I was pretty close – boxes of lightweight parts needed to go in the back of the Skoda, but we filled the van with the massive spares package (over 30 wheels and tyres) that came with it, and it took an hour or so of solid work to get it all done and loaded up.

Finally it was time to get the car loaded up onto the dolly to be towed away, and it went on without any major fuss, reliable and straightforward to the end. I put the keys back in the ignition and stepped out, the last time I’d ever drive it, quite a sad moment when I thought about all the other times I had been behind the wheel, but I guess that’s progress for you! Ian strapped the car in place safely, sorted out the tail board with lights on, and then it was time for him to set off. I stood in the front garden, looking a -bit- like a mad man as I watched the car go, taking a few pictures as it went:

Bye Bye, Old Friend.

And that, as they say, is that. A 5 year long ownership of the car (the longest of any car or bike that I’ve ever owned) comes to an end, and hopefully it’ll be off to do some more interesting events in the future – certainly if Lewis’ plans come to fruition then it will see some more interesting events. In the meantime, here are some final pictures of the Skoda on Rally GB, courtesy of Jon Suter – www.jmsphotographic.com.

Rally GB 08. Airborne, if not quite like Loeb!

Rally GB 08 – going for a swim!

Rally GB 10

Rally GB 10 – a bit sideways.