Skoda Rally Blog

Many rally teams (probably most of them), including the guys we’re servicing next to are doing some testing before WRGB. This usually consists of renting a bit of forest or private track and then driving the car at competition speeds to get the hang of it, and set the car up. This, like just about everything else when you do rallying properly, is expensive.

Yes, you guessed it, no testing for us! So instead I’ve just been trying to make sure the car is reliable, and everything’s working properly. Which has consisted of using the car for work this week! It’s been a bit unusual turning up in the Skoda, but created some interest here and there. It has also given me a chance to get a bit more used to the diff, which has gone well, and the car hasn’t missed a beat all week. I’ve also been able to calibrate the fuel gauge a bit, so I know how much fuel I have left at each point, and what the car does to the gallon in “competition” trim, which is useful for calculating how much fuel we’ll use on road sections, something that’s vital as we don’t want to run the car too heavy on the stages, but we also don’t want to run out!

So, that’s gone to plan. Tomorrow I have the day to do all the little jobs that I’ve written on my sizeable list, but most of it is small, bolt or clip-on stuff, so I might even get half of Saturday ‘off’.

The recce schedule has been altered by the organisers which is a bonus, as it now means we ‘only’ have to maintain an average of 50kph to fit into the time windows on day 2. Oddly you can make the times on day 1 even with a 35kph average. We’ll see if 50kph is possible…

One last thing – two people today have asked if I was on Fire. As in the radio station, not in a state of combustion. So clearly someone listens!