Skoda Rally Blog

Today was always going to be a decisive day in my rally ‘career’. Since I can remember I have always wanted to do rallying on gravel. Any other form of racing just hasn’t captured my imagination like rallying has, and tarmac hasn’t been on the same level as forest/gravel events. And my previous attempt was a disaster – really demoralising. But Steve Colville persuaded me to enter the Tempest, and to get the car sorted as he was sure it was a problem with the car that made things bad. Two changes were made – the tracking was set up with a bit of toe out to calm things down, and a set of kumho Mud & SNow tyres were fitted, replacing the worn Dunlops that were there before. In addition, a set of four big (but cheap) lights were fitted to a makeshift light bar on the car, and a map light too, as well as moving the fusebox and fixing some other electrical bodges. So the car was about as good as it will ever be without serious expenditure. After last time (and as I was going on holiday the next day) we took a trailer for the first time ever.

Scrutineering went well (as ever), but there was some serious equipment around, and this was just in the clubman rally – the international competitors were already done, and in far more serious kit – WRC cars abounded. We got to service and were pleased to find that we were being assisted by some friends of Steve’s which was really great. We didn’t get going until 11:58, running last on the road (at my request), so we had time to watch the first stage, which was the spectator stage in rushmoor arena. We got going, and unfortunately the car bogged down on the first turn to be seen by the crowd. That aside, it was going well – Kev was reading pace notes for the first time, and he made a good job of it. It gave me a lot more confidence knowing what was going on, and strangely the practice on the Xbox paid off – I didn’t really have to think about listening to it much, it just made its way in.

Stage 7 (which was our first) was short, and not really much of a test. The following three were longer, and ‘real’ forest stages. And here was a very nice discovery – the car behaved itself, and I _could_ drive on gravel after all. I’m not quick, but not desperately slow, and having reminded myself of David Higgins’ tips (which I had bullet-pointed on a sheet and read before the stages), I found myself driving the car properly – braking properly, and using the power to drag the car round the corner, and using the width of the road. This was going well. Probably too well. We got through the first 4 stages without and serious incidents, just a couple of dodgy moments when the back got a bit loose, but the car felt good, despite running in large ruts from the other 100-odd cars in front. It wasn’t quick by any means, but it was damn good fun. Even on one stage where the gravel was slippy, it was still not the terror of Newton Abbot, just a bit loose. The pace notes were excellent, and we were having a great time.

The first service just consisted of checking the car over, although the guys jacked the car up and cleaned the wheels and arches, which was cool. But with only 20 minutes to service, it was all go, even on a simple car like the Favorit. I’m sure it’s pretty tight on a ‘proper’ car. ##

The next four stages went well too, although the ruts were getting deeper, particularly on the arena stage. It went better this time, althought he bumps meant the car felt as if it was cutting out. It wasn’t, which was cool. Each stage saw things coming together better, with the car going well, although some really heavy bumps (and I mean heavy – wincing car-breakers, it seemed like) left the car feeling a bit sorry for itself, although I think this was more me than anything else. Poor little Skoda! It kept going though, and was back to service in what seemed like next to no time. The only problem was a rubbing if I was braking and turning left, although this seems to be a general clearance issue – nothing is broken or bent. My solution: DOn’t brake and turn at the same time!

Out of service, and on to the last four stages, but this time with the lights on, as it was getting dark quickly. Stage 15 was the arena again, and the ruts were RIDICULOUS. Seemed like the car was just running along on its sumpguard, although it wasn’t really.#

Stage 16 would go a bit differently though. It was another re-run stage, but the rutting was unbelievable in the tight hairpins, and about half way through the car got beached on one, and pulled the exhaust out of the front-pipe. It seemed as if we were driving the Blitz on four wheels – even with the intercom on it was hard to hear a word that Kev was saying, but we couldn’t stop now. We got to the end of the stage and I killed the motor to avoid deafening the marshals, and headed off to the next stage. When we got there, we were told that we could keep running as it was November 6th so there would be firework displays all over the place anyway. Which was good news – I’d have been gutted if we’d had to stop. So noisily (and I mean the loudest thing I could imagine) we set off down the stage, and saw a few more cars broken down along the way, although all with “OK” signs on them, which was a good thing. I found that Kev’s calling was actually clearer now, which was making things even better. The car was going OK, despite losing some power from the lack of exhaust, and everything else seemed good – the lights were working well, and removing most of the ‘doubt’ from driving at night. There was one wrong call (a left instead of a right) which led me up a dead-end, but aside from that we went well. And on to the last stage. I wanted to try to put the exhaust back in place, but we didn’t have a torch, so I couldn’t see what to do. So we started the last stage with full noise, but were told that a hairpin later on in the stage would be best taken very wide as two cars had rolled there – it turns out that Steve was one of the victims of it. This was a repeat of the gravelly stage that had some grip issues at the beginning, and the car got a little loose for a while, but never got scary, just waved about a bit. We got to the dodgy hairpin and avoided the massive rut that had claimed a couple of cars, and then just afterwards saw a Skoda Fabia that had rolled nastily, although everyone was out and OK. We carried on up the stage, and saw a couple more broken cars, including a 206 buried in the trees – it looked serious, but again the “OK” board was out, so we kept on going. And got to the end of the stage! I was amazed! We’d finished the Tempest Rally, which is probably my greatest car-based achievement to date. It was a tough rally, and had hurt the car a bit, but not terribly badly. The noisy exhaust meant we were slow to get back to the final control, and got some time penalties, although I dispute the times that were put down on the card. But that’s just snivelling – we finished, and we had a damn good time! And I _can_ drive on gravel, which is a great boost to me. We won’t be rallying for three months, and the next event will be my “home” event, the Rallye Sunseeker on the 25th/26th February. This will be a similar event, but more challenging. And I think we’ll be up to the challenge. For sure, we’ll give it our best. And I’ll be achieving a dream that I’ve had since I first watched it when I was 17. And that’s got to be a good thing.