Skoda Rally Blog

Got the car from Parc Ferme (started on the button), and did the 10 minute service, which is really just to load up everything, check it over and get to the start control. However, I did notice that the floor behind Paul was beaten up by about 2 inches and the blanking plug had come loose, so the inside of the car was a bit muddy, including, well, everything. Even the WRC tracker. I siliconed it back in place, and then used a hefty amount of gaffa tape, hoping we wouldn’t take on too much water. However, I forgot to put the camera in the car, which I would regret….

So, it was off to Crychan 1. The weather was good – some cloud, but mostly sunny. When we got there there was a nice surprise – Paul told me I had to go into the toilets on his return. They were the poshest portable loos I’ve ever seen,complete with turned wood hand basins, and Pot Pourri! Someone knows how to live!

On the start line Paul took a couple of snaps of the clock, start arch, etc, and then we were off.

Crychan was the only stage we just had the one run at, so we needed to take a bit more care than usual and make any adjustments necessary. The main adjustment should have been “put some sunglasses on, Darren” as there were some sections where we were running into the sun but the corner was in darkness. One of them led to a half-spin (nearest thing I’d had to going off, yet) but the rest of the stage was really, really good fun – the notes were spot on and well called by Paul, and I think I drove about as well as I ever have done (these things are relative, after all) – the car was running well and actually pulling 3rd gear up some of the hills, and aside from some rough sections the stage hadn’t cut up too badly (the places where it had were odd, too – not where you’d expect). I had one surprise – a fiesta appeared from nowhere behind us, and the first thing I knew about it was him being alongside us at the exit of a hairpin – I could see NOTHING out of the mirrors and wasn’t really looking as we were supposed to be last on the road… Anyway, we made it to the end and then pottered off to Epynt 1.

When we’d recce’d Epynt I’d enjoyed it apart from one section at the top which had a series of ‘fast’ right/left bends, where the track was cut into the ground by about a foot. It was very, very hard, rocky and bumpy when we’d recce’d it, so I wasn’t looking forward to that section. The first part of the stage was excellent – we knew that uncle Fiesta was coming at some point and let him go past without causing either of us too much trouble (although he didn’t zoom off as quickly as I’d expect a car with three times our power to do). Then there was the ‘nasty’ bit, which I knew wasn’t a problem as soon as we got to it – it had flattened out a bit and the rocks seemed to be gone (although being in the rally car probably helped), so I went relatively quickly through there too, and the notes seemed spot on again, and I was getting some confidence in them. This was how it was supposed to be, I think. OK, we weren’t setting any records (uphill, especially), but it was good fun, and everything seemed to be working as it should. Having sunglasses on helped too!

Next up was Halfway 1, and again because of the International timing the Fiesta had to start behind us, but we worked out roughly when he’d get to us, and I concentrated on driving while Paul looked out for him as well as read the notes. And the driving went well – it was a great stage – the first section where there is some logging is a bit slippery and rocky, but after that it was all systems go, and the corners seemed to flow nicely, even the fresh air bends and slightly dodgy sections. Towards the end of Halfway, you cross a road and then head into some crests, some of which are straight, some have bends on, and some have ditches inside or outside. We’d noted these, and I then promptly nearly drove into one. Idiot! The rest of the stage seemed to be uphill, and was pretty slow as a result, although the downhill bits were taken with some relish (especially the bridge at the bottom), and it was good, good fun. On the way out we saw the Fiesta again, and this time it looked terminal.

Back to service, and thre was little to do aside from clean the inside of the car and put the lamp pod on – always a good sign! Oh, and I put the camera and some tapes in, ‘cos I didn’t want to miss out completely.

Crychan 2 went smoothly, largely a repeat performance, aside from the stage having cut up and being a bit more slippery, meaning there were a couple of slidy moments, one of which was on an exposed section and could have been quite messy if it’d gone wrong.

Epynt 2 was run in the dusk, and proved to be good fun again, I felt I was getting in the swing of things now, and although it was probably slower due to the conditions, I enjoyed it a lot, although I took too much of a cut when heading on to the long tarmac section and the car took exception to that treatment!

By the time we got to Halfway 2 it was basically dark, and there were some rattles from the front of the car, so I just checked the wishbones weren’t coming undone, and that ths strut tops were tight – no problems at all.

Off we went into the stage, and about 1km in, hit some rocks, and bang-bang-bang-bang again, just like stage 2. Bugger. It sounded like it was the left front again, so out with the tools, off with the wheel, etc. Took about 5 minutes. Drove off….

… bang bang bang bang bang. It was the right front! Took another 5-6 minutes to change it, and off we went. Handily the course closing car was behind us, and their lights made it much easier to change the wheel in the dark and rain. Thanks guys! It took a bit of time to get back in the swing of things, but it went well after a while, and this was a stage I really liked, apart from the seemingly endless uphill runs. Over the road, into the crests, and got them right this time. A few more turns, and up to a crest where you turn left onto a section of tarmac, and BANG! Hit it really, really hard. And the steering was incredibly stiff. I’ve never driven with a diff and a puncture, so I wasn’t sure if that was the problem or if it was something worse. We made it to the end (passing Fin McCaul’s stricken Polo right by the finish), but very slowly as turning the wheel was very hard work. We had a while before going to cardiff, so I got out in the rain and tried to take a look with the help of someone’s torch. All I could see was mud, so there wasn’t a lot to see. We got going and stopped at a Petrol station where several of the others were (Fin appeared in a bit), and jetwashed the front end off (underneath) so I could see what was wrong – there was nothing obvious, no bent wishbones or arm, so I figured either the front subframe had bent and was putting the rack under tension, or the rack itself was bent. Either way it was going to mean trouble, but I wanted to at least get to Cardiff – it was a fairly long run so we set off and the sight of the stadium’s white support steelwork was a welcome one. However, when we stopped at lights, I could smell gearbox oil, and feared the worst. When we got to the holding control there was another jetwash stop and the guys kindly cleaned under the car when asked too as I could see having much work to do in the service, and maybe using the restart rule to keep us in. There was some leaking, but I couldn’t see where from, and the steering was still very heavy.

We watched the MPH show, which struck me as being very badly lit (it seemed nearly dark in there) and the sound was terrible, but that’s just me having a busman’s holiday. It was OK, but seemed more “Matchams Raceway” than WRC. Maybe that’s just me. Then the cars started the stage again and I took the opportunity to get a chinese takeaway after Paul Heath came back with one for him and Kate, which was a good call – not missing out on dinner would keep us going for the long service that looked to be ahead. However, I missed Stuart Jones putting on a good show removing his rear bumper on the barriers, but didn’t miss car 88 (I think) losing his exhaust and dragging it behind him for half the stage – that was most amusing. I was amazed how many people left, which seemed odd, but there you go. I caught some spectators taking the mickey out of the Felicia at the back of the queue, but I doubt their cars would make it as far as it had.

Finally it was our turn to get into the stadium (later than it should be, surprise surprise), and as if by magic, another problem appeared. The alternator light was on, so the changed alternator looked to have packed up. I was trying to plan ahead at this point, so thought the best thing to do would be to get a bump start at the beginning of the Millennium Stadium stage, and then see how far we could get with sidelights on. So we did this, and did the MS stage as well as I think could be expected. Paul didn’t need to call it as I’d seen enough already to know what to do, and instead he was on handbrake duty. I got it wrong first time, but second time went well, and we went over the flying finish and onto the stop ramp and I just HAD to get out of the car and give it the two-armed salute. I applauded the crowd to thank them for staying to the end (good sportsmanlike conduct instruction from Paul), and then off we went, hopefully to Swansea.

On the way there I noticed something – the dashboard lights were bright. I mean, really, really bright. So I put the (usually dim) headlights on, and they, too, were bright. We might be OK, apart from the horrible smell of hot electronics. I just hoped Skoda had over-engineered the ECU to deal with this sort of situation, and got Paul to disconnect the in-car camera in case it fried that, and the WRC tracker too. We made it back to service with plenty of time to spare, although the wind was getting up in a big, big way – the arrival control tent was looking ready to take off. But we had other issues to deal with

Service was quite frantic, as we needed to remove the steering rack ball joints to see if the rack was the problem and didn’t have one, so Paul managed to go and get one, and then we could see it was the rack. It now made sense – I’d hit it hard with a lot of left lock on, so the right hand end of the rack was extended at the time, and therefore bent when we hit it. Now turning onto right lock was really tight, but it was tight throughout as well, and I remembered I’d been told about the subframe bending and tightening the rack up, so I got Anthony to loosen one end of the rack clamp up and this helped. We couldn’t leave it like that, so it was just washered to space it out and bolted up. In this time, Chris had changed the alternator, and 40 minutes had expired, but we got back into service without any penalties. I had no idea how long it would last – in this trouble, the gearbox leak had been largely forgotten, although I now suspect it may well have been from the rack as topping it up didn’t take much at all.