Skoda Rally Blog

Last time I attempted Abingdon, it didn’t go well. I’d only had the Ibiza up and running for a few months, and I’d never finished an event in it, a pattern which was continued when it expired about a mile into the event with a shattered inner CV joint.

This time I wanted it to be different. I’ve not done much on tarmac, and that has mostly been because in a fairly low powered car it’s not that much of an adrenaline rush – forestry is much better for that in a slower car. But far more importantly, I wanted to do what I’d originally planned, which was to complete an event with Tammie as my co-driver. Not because I think she’d ever be interested in the sport, but just so we’d have done it together at some point. So I’d cajoled her into it again this year, and it would also mean we’d have a second “trial run” with our trailer tent before we set off on a major trip in the summer to the south of France. Two in one – ideal!

We set off after lunch on the Saturday, and it took a couple of hours to get to Abingdon, and by the time we got there it was HOT. The bad weather we’d originally been promised had been and gone, and now it was a lovely summery day. The site was already really busy as there is a sprint on the Saturday, and we dropped off the trailer tent and Tammie and 3 kids went shopping while Sennen helped out with the rally car. Already unloaded, we went and bought some numbers, stuck them on and then went to noise, which went as well as ever (90dB, 10 under the limit) and scrutineering which I always detest no matter how nice the scrutineers are. This one was nice and friendly, and signed the car and camera off without incident. Time to relax!

Except, of course, it wasn’t because it was time to set up the trailer tent, which has a HUGE awning on it. Everyone was back with food and water, and 90 minutes later we had a place to stay for the night.

We went and got signed on which was straightforward, and later on dinner consisted of some pizzas cooked on the Safari Chef stove we’d bought. Had an interesting chat with some guys running a golf who were interested in the Ibiza as it shares so much with their car, so they had a good look around and went away with a few ideas of what to do with their car – they’re in a similar situation to me, running on a shoestring, so every little helps. The Ibiza is a really well built car with a lot of neat touches, and I know from previous experience how useful it is to see how others have approached a car’s build. Later on we went for a wander around site and caught some nearby fireworks, but everyone was pretty tired and it was time for bed – by 11pm on a Saturday night. Rock and roll!

Sunday dawned perfectly clear and bright, and it was clearly going to be a hot on. I got the van down to the service area and got a nice spot, and then took the car down with Eddie sat in it. He said it was really fast – mostly because it’s bumpy and he couldn’t see out of the windows, I think!
Back to the tent for breakfast, and then it started to kick in. Rally nerves. I’ve not had them for a while, and certainly not this badly. I was getting really anxious, but then I think it was because I didn’t want to suffer the same kind of short trip as last time. The kids were instructed with safe routes around site and then set up watching the complex, and we watched the first few cars through (the field was about 50 minutes’ worth so we had plenty of time), and then got the belts adjusted properly for Tammie and we were pretty much ready to go. Check everything over – all was well – and then suit up, and head off for the start of Stage 1.

There was a bit of a delay, which is always a bit confusing for a first time Navigator, as she had to get out and check with the control that we wouldn’t be penalised…

.,. but eventually we lined up on the stage start.  Tammie was watching the oncoming traffic for the merge – there was none – and then 5…4…3…2…1…GO! We were off! I took it easy off the line as I don’t see that much point in nailing it and breaking something, but we soon got up to speed. Tammie called the corners clearly and precisely, and the first thing was to get the brakes and tyres up to temperature. We headed into the complex, and she called everything OK, and soon we’d got past where we’d broken down last time, which was a start! Off out of the complex and onto the main airfield and the car went pretty well – it’s far easier to make sure you’re in the right gear when you’re on tarmac as you can consistently wring the engine’s neck until the redline; on gravel the revs are far more “up and down” as you lose traction, so the peaky nature of the engine wasn’t the handicap it can be on gravel. With the brakes and tyres up to temperature, they could be worked far harder, and really started to earn their keep. I didn’t trust them 100% yet, buy they certainly slowed us down OK.

It takes time to get the approach and exits to corners right, particularly in a new car (as it were), and also a new surface. When the maps are a little less precise than detailed pace notes it’s even more so, so some of the corners were a bit over-cooked (overspeed on the entry as DC would say), and others could be taken faster. Mental notes made, we headed off into the one section I didn’t remember from before, which took us off the main runways and onto some broken tarmac and concrete sections. On the maps they were just large looks but they were actually much more complex in reality, with some rocky hazards and potholes to try to avoid both to minimise damage and keep the speed up. In reality I’d spend the rest of the day trying out different lines to improve this section, and only come up with the “best” solution just before we reversed directions and therefore the knowledge became useless!

Tammie called the split – this was the one thing that I’d always told her was crucial, and round we went for lap 2. By this time all the other cars were well into the stage (we were 8 from the back), and we took it just like before, but a bit faster now we were in a rhythm. Everything went well, and on the next lap lines were improved a bit and confidence came back. I wasn’t thrashing the car, but it felt good and we went over the finish feeling like the job had been done well. Or more to the point, I did. I had a poorly navigator who was feeling pretty car sick and needed most of the service time to get over it. Not good.

What was also not good was that the catch tank was already full of oil – about half a litre of it – which I needed to drain out, and then top the engine up. This issue only presented itself on saturday morning, and I thought it was just a cumulative thing, not that it was a sign of impending mechanical failure. The car’s previous owner said that they had trashed the tuned head originally fitted to the car as it had breathing difficulties, and it looked as if that was back. There was no real way to fix it, and I just hoped the oil consumption would be consistent and mean we didn’t run out of oil, but either way I’d see how it went. I didn’t want a broken car, and nor did I want a broken girlfriend – either situation would mean a planned retirement for me. Sennen checked all the things I’d asked him to check (tyre pressures, wheel nuts, water and power steering fluid levels), and indeed did so for the rest of the day as well as helping with the drain procedure each time.

Fortunately by the time Stage 2 was due, Tammie had recovered, and we set off again. It went better than before, and we took about 30 seconds off the time of SS1. Tammie was again excellent, calling each corner with precision and authority, and reminded me not to go crazy on the rough section with just the right balance of control and competitiveness. But alas, as soon as we were out of the stage she felt terrible, and needed to lie down. She found this funny as she said she wasn’t scared and felt fine in her head, but felt sick and was shaking a bit by the end of the stage. I said to try to separate reading the notes (head down, so you can’t see the scenery) and looking out of the car (not reading the map at this point), and hoped that would help.

What had also not changed was the car’s drinking habit – the catch tank was full again, and there were signs of it coming out of the air filter.  Once more it drank half a litre. At least it was the same as before.

SS3 was upon us around the time Tammie started to feel OK, but it was a shorter stage layout, missing out on the section going down to the far end of the stage. Despite this, the timings meant we didn’t see anyone throughout it, other than right at the end of the first lap when someone else was splitting to go to the end and we went round again. Being a shorter stage, the car used a bit less oil (although still 350ml or so), and fortunately that combined with either getting used to it or travel sickness tablets meant Tammie felt OK-ish at the end.

SS4 was the “opposite” of SS3, removing the run through the complex and instead having two runs down to the far end of the airfield. This was a fair bit quicker, and off the line I could see Norman in his 205GTI on his second lap, so I thought I’d see if I could catch him. I got close, but never close enough to overtake, but could see his car had decent acceleration and most importantly really hooked it up out of the corners – the Ibiza is a bit lacking in bottom end and it really showed here. On the brakes we were way better, making up loads, but again never enough to be held up much, so I thought better of trying to be a hero/moron and just waited until the second lap to go as fast as I dared. Other than that, things were going well – tyres felt good (particularly amazing as they were old when I bought them in 2012!), and Tammie was good – didn’t miss a thing at any point. At the end of this stage she seemed fine straight away, which was even better.

There was a slightly longer gap between SS4 and 5, so I quickly got a “lunch” of a bowl of Sugar Puffs, once the car had been drained of the oil it had used this time. The consumption didn’t seem to be getting worse, so that was a bonus.

Into SS5, and another new layout. At the start we’d seen a yellow Escort Cosworth which Tammie said looked like it was made of Lego, and so it became known as the Legomobile for the rest of the day. It was putting out a LOT of smoke off the start line, and didn’t seem happy. We went into the stage soon after, and passed a few cars and saw the sick Legomobile towards the end of first lap, when we were catching it hand over fist. He went off (I assume to take a maximum) and we did lap two without too many issues. Once more back into service, repeat the draining procedure, but everything bar one thing was fine. And that thing was fuel. We had used a LOT – nearly the full tank I’d put in as I didn’t want too much messing about – so rather than use the (I think 2 year old) fuel in the Jerry Can, I decided to go to Abingdon to put some fuel in. Fortunately traffic was light, but it was HOT in the car, particularly waiting for the person in front to fill up, who then took a while browsing in the shop before paying. Still, I was back with about 10 minutes to spare before SS6 which was good

SS6 was the penultimate stage layout, and a reverse of the previous layouts saw a bit of a delay and some confusion with car positions as the lanes have to cross over (cars coming out of the stage start out on the right-hand of the road, but needing to be on the left hand for the passage control. Still, after a short delay, in we went… it was going fine until the car lost power. Gauges all looked OK, but I looked in the mirror and there was a huge plume of smoke behind us. I thought the engine had died and said so to Tammie, but it kept going OK and cleared in 100 feet or so, so I carried on, keeping a weather eye on the gauges, all of which seemed OK. This stage had a transition over grass which was a bit slippy but good fun, and the last time round I was catching a Micra right at the end and thought I heard an odd sound. I hoped it was him, not me, but as we split towards the end I knew it wasn’t. One of the marshals said the sump guard had dropped off (which seemed unlikely), but as we went down the road there was a road-speed related whirring noise, so something was clearly not right. The Passage Control people said they could smell burning. Oh dear.

Into service, and the problem was soon revealed. This was stuck in the back of the sumpguard and dragging on the road (and thankfully hadn’t damaged the front tyre):

Once removed, I went for a quick test drive and all was well. We might make it yet. Standard procedure (drain the oil tank), and off we went once more.

SS7 was the last new layout (SS8 is a re-run), and we went into it pretty positive. Tammie was now feeling OK throughout the stages, and while going in reverse led to her only mistake of the day (getting a bit lost at one point), she regained it quickly and did a marvellous job again. We overtook a fair few cars (some being lapped, some legitimate) and it seemed to go well, aside from another “Dick Dastardly Plume of Smoke” that was released at one point, and the oil pressure getting a bit low towards the end. As ever, drain the tank, top the engine up, check everything over, and hope for the best.

We headed into the last stage – SS8 with some hope that we’d actually finish. I wanted to do all the stages and get a proper finish, but didn’t want to kill the car doing so – being able to drive the car afterwards would be very useful, and seeing the cars waiting to be recovered out on stage meant there would be a fairly long delay before getting back, so that was also in my mind. But all these things get forgotten as soon as the lights go green and off we went. The first lap went OK, but I noticed some liquid on the screen at one point, and it wouldn’t wash off easily with the wipers. But the car went pretty much as before, so I kept going, but kept an eye on the oil pressure gauge. Towards the end of the second lap, just heading into the complex and having just overtaken a Micra, the gauge wasn’t reaching the pressure it usually would, and there was clearly a problem. I told Tammie and decided to take it easy for the last couple of miles – I put the hazards on in case anyone caught us, but really took it very easy on the engine, watching the pressure gauge as much as the road. It never got to zero, but it got close a couple of times. When we pulled up at the stop control there was smoke pouring out from under the bonnet, and at the Passage Control I stopped the engine and hovered over the extinguisher button, just in case. Once the damage declaration had been signed, I started up again and parked at the side of the road.

I got out and saw a complete mess – the car had lost a lot of oil, and it was over the bonnet, bumper and wings.

I suspected a failure of an oil pipe, but opening the bonnet showed that what had happened was the oil filler had come off! I guess this was my fault – I put it on last – and it meant the engine bay was a complete mess. The oil was dripping off everything, and thankfully looked mostly to be confined to the sumpguard, and my arm.

I got the trailer, got back to the car (which Sennen said had a couple of visitors saying things like “ooh, that’s a mess!” etc…), and got it loaded up. By now, oil had made its way into the cabin, so it was messy all round, but it was never going to be easy to clean up after that little episode…

Then it was off to pack up the trailer tent, which took about an hour, and we finished putting the cover on just as it started to rain. And it rained with a vengeance – I foolishly thought I’d get it hitched onto the car before putting my coat on, which was a big, wet mistake. Soaked in about a minute!

Still, that was that – Abingdon 2014 was done, and Tammie has finished a rally. The only one she’ll ever need to, but at least when I babble on about it in future, she’ll really know what I mean.

Having spent all of Monday packing away and cleaning up, I can see that the car will need some surgery; I put some oil in to allow me to move it about and it has decent oil pressure (4 bar straight away), but it was usually more like 6, so clearly that and the ‘heavy breathing’ issue means that it needs some work on it. However, I have a list a mile long of things to do, and money is tight at the moment. It’s looking pretty dubious that the car will be back out any time soon – in my mind I think that making the Sunseeker is the earliest possibility, and that would probably have to involve a secondhand bottom end; to build a decent bottom end would involve at least £1000 worth of parts alone, so it would probably be £1500 or so, and I just don’t have the money for that. Time for a lottery win, or a cheaper hobby.