Skoda Rally Blog

If you’ve been arsed to read any of this, or if you know me, then you’ll know the reason that I started rallying is that I’ve always wanted to enter the “Rallye Sunseeker”, which in various forms I have watched since I was 17. I remember going to Bournemouth Gardens one winter morning with Mugsy and watching the cars fly by. And watching the cars last year prompted me to start on my rallying journey.

And today two things have happened that are going to let me make that happen. Firstly, I’ve sent off my old licence (Stage Rally National ‘B’) to get it renewed and upgraded to National ‘A’ which is the correct status for the Sunseeker. To get that I had to finish 4 rallies, but I’ve somehow managed all 6. Excellent

The other thing is that I’ve sent off my application form to enter the Sunseeker, plus the “Shakedown Stage” which is on the day before (the Thursday), and is a 2 mile stage which you can run 6 times. And it’s a good chance to shakedown the crew as well as the car! As I’ve only driven 56 competetive miles on gravel, this will mean adding an extra 20% of experience. And the Sunseeker will double what I’ve already done and then some – it’s 75 miles of stages, plus 150 road miles. Should do that on a tankful.

I’m hoping to get the throttle-body injection on the car before the rally, but it’s looking a bit tight. I need to get the manifold made up, which might be a problem. I’m not going to run it unless I’ve done at least 500 miles with it to prove the reliability, so we’ll see; I think it’s probably not going to happen, but I’ll give it a shot.