Skoda Rally Blog

After the trials and tribulations of getting the car just in a running, driveable condition, I was certain that something would let me down. Totally underprepared. Maybe my ideas of what should be done to the car before the event have changed, but I’m sure this was the least prepared I’ve ever been – a real skin of the teeth job. But we got to the Tempest, and to my immense surprise, all my work paid off as it scrutineered without even a minor mention of a problem. This pleased me greatly, and we even had over an hour to wander about, and notice how rutted the arena stage was already getting. Before we’d run it once, let alone three times…….

After patching in a temporary intercom (the last thing I had to fix, and of course it was totally broken), and putting on some new stickers (from alink2.com), we trotted off to the start. And found out almost instantly that the Yokohama tyres on the car were useless. No grip at all at the front, just understeering hideously round the first couple of corners, and through the ruts which were already bad. Had a few weird calls (later found out Paul was reading SS1 from the international rather than SS6 which we were starting on), but it was OK. We’d done the first stage, albeit slowly (quite a few didn’t make it under the target time), and off we trotted to SS2, which was a new one I hadn’t done last year. A quick check of the car beforehand showed nothing loose yet, so we lined up and then were off. This was quite a different kettle of fish, and a bit like my first forest event, ‘cos the car was just yawing from side to side at speed, but it wasn’t horrible as it was still dry. Later on there were a couple of times I understeered off the track, but with nothing serious to hit, fortunately.

A slow road section (courtesy of some guy doing 32 mph in a 60 zone) wasn’t punished as there was a delay on stage 3 – someone had gone off and hit a tree, and apparently there was no OK/SOS board out. A quick stretch of the legs, and then off we went. Now this (Yately 1) was the first stage that I liked the look of – reasonably smooth tracks, and wide in places, and good calling meant we could get going, until I changed gear about half way through, and the gear level just moved about aimlessly. We were in neutral, coasting, and I couldn’t get any drive. Straight away I thought that the bolt holding the gear linkage steady to the box had broken (this turned out to be right), but I kept trying to find a gear and eventually found 3rd. We trundled on for a bit, and then I found that I could also get 1st with some jiggery-pokery. And it was needed as there were some tight sections. But we made it through, and the road section wasn’t too bad, but it was off to Warren. Last year Warren scared me a bit as the car was wondering all over the place, but it was good at the same time. We took most of the stage in third, and this was actually beneficial as it meant I had to take some corners a little faster, and it was OK – a learning experience. Another plus was that there is an 1100 yard straight on it, which meant we could keep our average speed up, which would be needed as the course closing car was getting close to us at the end (although they would have to wait up to 15 minutes for us, in fact). Did the stage in 11 minutes, which wasn’t the end of the world, although I wish there was some way for the spectators to know that we’re not that slow normally!

Into service, I started working on the car, and the twins – Ant and Chris – who were servicing for Gary Hayter – came over and Ant went into action, getting the guard off (with the help of another guy servicing next to us who I didn’t know), and trying to get the sheared bolt off. It wouldn’t come out, so the linkage just had to be cable-tied in place – it’s only side to side location, so we hoped it would hold. In the end it was done with 4 minutes to spare. Cracking stuff.

The next stages were more of the same – rutty arena, and some other stages that were a long drive away but well worth it. A few slidy bits, but mostly just working on driving a bit quicker, which seemed to be getting there. The next service was a total contrast – nothing to do on the car, just pack our gear up ready for when/if we finished!

The last three stages were a real contrast. By this time the Arena stage was terrible – the ruts were beyond a joke, and a real car destroyer. Took it slowly rather than break the car for no real gain, and then it was off to Yately 2 and Warren 2. These were my favourite stages of the whole rally. A real chance to drive the car properly, get it sliding about a bit, and have some fun. I’m never going to be Tommi Makinen, but I’m definitely getting better, ‘cos I really enjoyed these two. If I’d set up the spotlights properly they would have been even more fun, but there you go – getting the car going was an achievement in itself, but it finishing the Tempest with just one broken bolt (and a bit of noise from under the car after the rough end of Warren 2) wasn’t bad going at all. Got quite a few things to do to the car before the Sunseeker, but at least I have 3 months to do them in.