Skoda Rally Blog

Last time out (proper) was at Caerwent. And as you will know if you read it, it was a bit of a short one – about a mile, and certainly my most annoying and humiliating breakdown (and for the car too!). This weekend, we hope to address that. On Sunday it’s the 2005 Patriot stages, and we’ve got an entry, running at 67 of 92, running in front of quite a few bigger, faster cars. I love Caerwent. I’ve said it till I’m blue in the face, but it really is a great place, like driving round a town rather than the usual SV airfield/cones stuff. Until you’ve driven or navved there I don’t think you can appreciate how cool it is. A-n-y-w-a-y……

We’re all set for Sunday. I’ve driven the car a fair few times on the road, and it’s behaving well; the new MPi engine definitely hasn’t got the top end that the old one did (although it does rev fairly well, to about 6200 rpm), but it’s got a lot more grunt, and it has impeccable manners compared to the old setup – it’ll tickover at 500rpm without complaint, which can’t be bad at all. And it doesn’t mind sitting in long queues either – traffic is not a problem, so that should mean we can just get in and drive. I’ve even changed the slightly worn wheel bearing, so we really should be 100% this weekend. However, I am trailering the car anyway, at immense cost (?75!).

Plans are afoot to build the next Skoda, however. I want to make a new car from a really tidy shell, and fix all the little things about the car that aren’t wrong as such, just things that I’d have done differently. So I’m starting to collect parts. The plan is to use G241JCY until the Tempest, and then keep it until the new car is built; I’d love to get the new car build in time for the Sunseeker, but I know that is quite a tall order, although I’ve got about 3 weeks off at Christmas, so it’s a possibility. But it’s dependent on me getting rid of the Focus I bought the other month, so until that goes I’m stuck. However, I have been looking for parts, and I’ve found some fantastic suspension, New Old Stock, that’s ?600, but it’s all alloy, looks amazing, has roller top bearings and uses Bilstein inserts, and is fully height adjustable, so it could mean a real improvement in the next car’s handling – here’s a pic…

I’m still undecided as to whether to build a Favorit based on a late shell (which if I found a tidy one would be great), or to go for a recent Felicia – I’ve heard differing opinions on which are better, but the merits of using a 5 year old shell are quite persuasive. Either way, I’ll have my work cut out as I’ll need to really strengthen the shell (seam weld it), and also fit things like sill stands and strong jacking points, etc. I plan on the car lasting me 3-4 years of 5 forest events a year, so I want to make sure it’s good and strong.

Anyway, I’m off tomorrow morning as I have scrutineering in Newport at 2:30pm, so that’s basically the whole weekend taken care of. Lovely.