Skoda Rally Blog

So, last Sunday I was supposed to finish building the engine, to keep to my notional “timetable” to get the car done in good time and allow a decent amount of road-based mileage testing before WRGB.

However, I ate something dodgy on Saturday night (no, really, I wasn’t out on the lash, I stayed in) and spent half the night up, and was sick all day Sunday. G-reat, the Jones luck strikes again with another rally car build. Fortunately I was back on track by Tuesday and got the rest of the build done for the most part…

This weekend’s task is to get the car back up to scratch, check out what needs to be fixed/repaired/replaced and get the old engine out and the new engine in, with a standard gearbox for running in and dyno purposes while the LSD gets rebuilt. And at the end of play on Saturday, the following has happened:

Firstly the old engine and box are out, and split. I’ve found out that the box was leaking inside the bellhousing so we were lucky not to lose the clutch as it was quite oily! Could have been a lot worse.

The engine bay is much, MUCH cleaner than it was – it was disgusting, and frankly an embarrassment. I know it’ll get filthy dirty within 200 yards of being on the first stage the car sees this year, but that’s not the point. At the ceremonial start I intend to present a spangly-looking Felicia, inside and out.

Last year we had a couple of nose-dive jumps, which led to the front crossmember being damaged quite badly. This has now been repaired, strengthened, re-welded and painted. As this is where the sumpguard mounts at the front this is quite important, I think, as no doubt there will be more similar damage taken this year (although less so if we do the notes properly!), and the strengthening that I did do probably saved the front end from destruction as it was!

The new engine is built up and ready to install once the flywheel and clutch have been fitted, which is a quick job, and the rest of the car got a good clean off as well, as it’ll have to be MOT-ed before WRGB as well, but this should just be a formality, after all.

The engine mounting is a Skoda Motorsport one (with no voids in the rubber), but the gearbox and rear mounting have never been very sturdy, so I’ve beefed them up with some Sikaflex polyurethane. I previously tried doing this with silicone sealer which wasn’t very strong. If the difficulty of getting it out of the tube bears any relation to the hardness when set, then it’ll be brilliant – it took both hands on the caulking gun lever to get anything out at all.

Tomorrow’s task (to keep on track) is to put the engine in. However, this should only take a couple of hours at worst, so I can hopefully get a lot more done, re-build the driveshafts and get some work done on the engine management wiring – I’m hoping to be able to add a shift light, make the temperature gauge work (depending on the resistance of the standard sensor) and various other things, plus I have to make up a cool air box for the air filter.

Providing I don’t get ill again!

… So there have (typically) been many delays. But I’ve drawn up a schedule and I’m sticking to it, and this weekend’s task is to get the new engine built up. After all the delays with parts and machining, etc., actually putting the thing together is a reasonably fun task. First up, fitting the crank to the crankcase – only 6 bolts and fitting the bearings, but getting it all checked took an hour or so (checking all the clearances means it needs to be fitted more than once), and the end result was a crank that turns beautifully.

Next up, fitting the pistons to the conrods, which means fitting some very annoying wire circlips, a couple of which were a real pain to get in, but eventually they were done, and then the rings onto the pistons. The rings are standard Skoda items which is very handy, and they fitted without trouble. Having done many engines before, I had a piston ring compressor already, so getting the pistons into the bores is easy – plenty of oil makes it slide in without trouble – and then it’s just a case of fitting the shell bearings (which have been checked for clearances) and torquing up the big end caps. Four of these takes a while though, but the end result was a bottom end that turns as freely as you can expect for a freshly-built engine.

Next, some measurement and calculation – firstly checking that there was good clearance between the pistons and the cylinder head – the standard head is flat and the Group A one has machining to accomodate the domed pistons – which wasn’t a problem, but means fitting a head gasket, putting plasticene on the pistons and then fitting the head, and turning the engine over. Clearance between pistons and head was fine, so no problem there, thankfully.

Now, some measurement – for completeness’ sake, measuring the compression ratio, which involves measuring the volume of the piston crown and the combustion chamber, which takes a sheet of perspex, some water and a burette.

The end result of today’s work?

Now, the pistons are a source of some issues – I have been told by a reputable tuner that they are complete junk, and I should go for forged pistons (which would cost around ?800 or so). Aside from anything else, I don’t have the money to do that at the moment, but the manufacturer says they’re good to 8500rpm (and I’ll only be using 7200), and I’ve heard other reports that they’re OK, so I hope they’ll be fine, but I guess I’ll only know when they’re in the car and running. We’ll see…

Preparation has been slow this year. Most of the car is OK – there’s some work needed on the sumpguard and front crossmember and general tidying up, but certainly nothing like the hell that was the case last year. But I’m determined to do it in a car I’ve completely built myself, and that means new engine and hopefully C/R gearbox.

Gearbox: Despite a lengthy phone call and many promises, no progress.

Engine: 3 weeks (and a bit) waiting for the crank and flywheel to come back from being balanced. I finally picked it up yesterday, but unfortunately can’t do any work on the engine this weekend, but next week it should start coming together – a dummy build for clearances and so on will be done, and then hopefully I can look at installing it and getting it properly set up; it possibly won’t be as quick as the current engine, but it should run well, and have a good, wide powerband. The plan is to have this done by the end of October as I’m off for a week then and can devote that time to the car.

Regulations for Rally GB came out today, so entries are open. It’s become real once more!

Is it a monster? No, it’s Wales Rally GB. And there are changes afoot:

First up, a new engine. Last summer I bought an ex-works engine from Tony Simpson that needed rebuilding, but getting pistons took too long. This year, I have a reasonable amount of time to do it in, so the pistons have been machined to suit the cam/engine setup, and the rest of the build is progressing slowly but surely; annoyingly no-one does pattern engine bearings for the 136 engine so I’ve had to order them from Skoda! I already have most of the bits I need to build it, and then it should just be a case of get it mapped properly and it will be spot on… simple, eh?

Secondly, I’m still trying to get my near-mythical close-ratio gearbox from Chris Bennett – this has been over 18 months coming, and was a source of much wailing and gnashing of teeth last October when it turned up and didn’t work. However, I’m not banking on that happening – I’m going to fit a standard box with no LSD to get the new engine up and running and see what turns up….

Thirdly, things that are the same – we’ve managed to rent the same house as last year, so that will make things very pleasant, and we should also have the same van. I’ve promised the trailer that I’ll rebuild it, so hopefully it should be a little less shonky than last year (although it does the job perfectly well, it does look like it should have a bangered Mk4 Cortina on it, not a rally car!).

So, hopefully this year’s preparation will be less fraught than last year’s, the car should be fast and reliable, and it should be fun. Although the homologation doesn’t run out until 2010, the FIA in their infinite wisdom have said that HANS devices have to be worn by all competitors in International events as of 2009, and that would mean a minimum of ?1500 spent between me and Paul (?500 per “sport” HANS, ?250 per helmet), and possibly new seats as well. Unless I win the lottery this seems unlikely. Which is annoying.

This weekend was a bit odd. As you may know, Canford Arena (the place used for servicing on the Rallye Sunseeker) is just down the road from my house (just over a mile away), and this weekend it was host to the Outdoor Lifestyle Show which featured a variety of activities, including Rally Car Rides. Gary from Ebblake was organising that side of things, and the promise of being able to get a bit of time in on gravel was tempting, so I said I’d do it.

It meant firstly sorting out the exhaust on the car, which wasn’t too painful – a bit of TIG work on the new stainless pipe I’d had made up (one of the angles was wrong) and about a day’s work meant I had a running car once more, and sounding sweeter than ever. Even looks shiny!

Friday was the first day of the show, but I was working, so I went on Saturday morning to see a neat course set out in what it usually the service area, and as well as Gary’s Impreza there were a couple of BMW E30 cars there, a Mk.2 and Kev Rowledge’s lovely N4 Impreza, which he’d never driven on gravel before. You’d never know from the way he was driving it though, for sure. I had a few laps as practice, and then spent the rest of the day taking people round – I even made pace notes up for some to read if they fancied it, but few did. One girl who did was excellent, she read it spot on all the way round, all 4 laps!

When people get fat, they do so slowly, without noticing, and it’s only when people who haven’t seen them for 5 years see the sudden change that what’s happened becomes clear. And I had that sort of thing happen this weekend. When I first started out on gravel (Newton Abbot Audi stages, 2004), I was terrible, hence falling off the road at zero mph. But I’ve stuck at it (thanks Steve), and although I may not be quick, I’m OK now. But when you get someone sat in the passenger’s seat who’s never done this sort of thing before it becomes clear just how out-of-the-ordinary what you do for fun is – I’d expected people to say “that was slow. You’re rubbish”, but everyone who got out of the car loved it, and there were several comments (including from one woman who said she was a ‘speed demon’) about my driving, being able to control the car like that (i.e. a bit sideways), and after a while I was thinking that maybe I had got it together. Not great, but not rubbish. What was funny was seeing people’s reactions – one woman was constantly reaching for the navigator’s footrest, trying to push an imaginary brake pedal – it was great watching her down the back straight, as we got to the end I could see in the corner of my eye her right leg extending involuntarily, trying to stop the car! One girl videoed the whole lot, and chuckled, and one man asked questions for most of the time, meaning my answers were punctuated wherever a tight corner came up.

What was funny was the Skoda actually went round the course quite quickly. Gary’s Impreza was running on tarmac tyres (to avoid wear to the gravel and also to avoid tyre wear, ‘cos he only has soft tyres that wear quick and cost a lot), but he was lapping in 24 seconds. I did it in 22 consistently, which is something he’ll never hear the end of!

I also got a chance to drive Gary’s Subaru – I’ve never even driven one on the road before (never even sat in one), and once I’d done a lap to warm things up a bit, gave it some. It was a revelation – having that much power is wonderful, being able to steer the car predictably on the throttle, and have it do exactly what you tell it to was just fantastic. The car felt far more competent and smooth than the Felicia (no offence, Skoda!), and I think I could really have some fun in one of them. But given that Gary’s gearbox alone cost more than building my car AND entering Rally GB then I think it’ll have to wait until at least hell freezes over, alas. Nice to know I could drive a 4WD car OK though.

On Sunday it was more of the same, but overnight rain and the day’s use left the track very cut up and we’d moved it as many times as possible, so the last runs were a bit more ‘improvised’ than before – nothing dodgy, just making your own lines. The last few people loved it (one woman said she couldn’t walk!), but then the old bugbear of the left front strut-top coming loose reared its ugly head, and given how rough it was getting I thought discretion was better than destruction; We didn’t get paid anything significant for doing it, so the money I did get wouldn’t have covered even slight damage, so I quit around lunchtime.

The show was hit by bad weather and therefore poor attendance, and I think it was a real pity as those who did come had a great time, and for ?15 got a chance to go in some real rally cars – everyone was surprised at how rough and visceral an experience it was (and we were hamming it up a bit, getting over-sideways for fun), so hopefully when they watch rallying on the TV in future, they’ll see it in a different light…

Today was the Mini Tempest Stages 2008, at Longcross, the great test track near Bracknell (just next to the M3), in Ray Read’s Audi Quattro Turbo – me nagivating for him as his regular nav, Stuart, couldn’t do it. Did the 78 mile trip to there in an amazing 1 hour 5 minutes, handy as I’d realised my made-up lead to path my intercom into his was wrong, so I thought I’d have time to do it when I got there. Unfortunately Ray was a bit delayed so we didn’t get to the service area until about 8am, got everything set up and I sorted the problem once we’d scrutineered (nice to have NO worries about the car at all when scrutineering – the joys of being a navigator) and done documentation.

The entry today was strong – there was some quality machinery there, including some ex-works F2 cars (FWD, lots of power, wide bodied, such as Maxi 306 and Nissan Sunny), and the usual selection of Escorts, Cosworths, Evos and so on. A real novelty being seeded at 33, much less waiting around, although Ray wasn’t happy being “that far back”! We got to the arrival, and got everything ready for the stage. Ray was a bit nervy as he’d not driven the car in anger since 2006, but once we were ready at the start line he seemed fine, and off we went – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!!!!

This car is quick. I’ve been in some fast road cars, but you can’t really give a car anywhere near this amount of beans on the road. Ray was going for a finish, so he wasn’t snapping the car around, but it was still a very quick, smooth drive. The stage was a bit damp so it was a bit slippy, and we did the first part of the stage (there are two splits per lap, making for intense traffic situations) including the run up the steep hill really well – everything was going OK. The next time round Ray missed the split where we should have turned left, braking a bit too late and taking some cones out in the process – we later found out we got a max for that, which was a pity as it wasn’t the best laid-out split in the world, but ho hum….

One the next time round, we were going down the back straight (about 600 yards) when BOOOF! A puff of what looked like steam came from under the bonnet, and the car stopped. We’d blown an Intercooler pipe off, and Ray had to get out to disconnect the air flow meter (which would now be seeing no airflow) to allow the car to run back to the start. We did the rest of the stage at a “crawl” (Although still quicker than the Skoda, I think!), and got a time of 10:43, much quicker than the maximum we thought we’d avoided. Alas, no!

Once in service it was fairly straightforward to sort the intercooler pipe problem (although if it would hold was another matter as the flexible pipe was a little on the short side), and time to go back out again for a re-run, SS2. This time we were far less nervous – no problems, hopefully, on this run.

This time, things went better. A LOT better in fact – everything went to plan – we didn’t catch any traffic at any point, although there was an Escort Cosworth we thought we’d catch, but he was finishing as we went round for another lap. There was a mega-quick Corsa (car 20) which was as fast as the Quattro. Which wasn’t slow – I saw nearly 110 on the speedo on the back straight, but it felt faster. Ray was driving smoothly and in a really controlled manner, and it felt good; there was the odd clunk here and there (apparently from the springs on the spring seats when unloaded), but mostly just speed and grip. Going round the snake was interesting – there is a crest which is more like a flat-topped hill, and going over that the car got airborne, with the front going very light – you couldn’t see anything for a fraction of the second, and each time I hoped there’d be nothing to see but road when vision returned. All the splits went fine, all the merges were clear, and a chicane had been destroyed which helped us at one point – the Quattro is very wide which demands precision and care when going through, slowing us considerably. Still not slow though.

With everything going OK, our time? 8:18. 22 seconds off the fastest, which was good considering the controlled and safe way Ray was driving – at no point did it seem hairy (apart from the brute speed) – there were no dramas, just acceleration and braking which was always powerful but never out of control. Brilliant.

Back to service, nothing to do really. Well, not for me – I don’t know much about the car, and the guys all had their routines, so it was out of my hands.

SS3 was a small change from 2, with part of the track altered and run in the opposite direction, but mostly the same. Once more we got a good start, and saw a few cars off, some of them looking really messy. Around half way through the stage, there was a noise from the back of the car – it sounded road-speed related, as if the diff was complaining, and only happened on load. In addition as we “crawled” round to the end of the stage to avoid a maximum (which the car was so quick elsewhere would still mean around 6 minutes of loss if we took one) the engine seemed to be losing power, and becoming noisier and hotter. Dammit.

Once back in service, the back of the car was inspected and seemed OK, but would only really show up under load. Stu got in the car to listen and we noticed the exhaust seemed noisy at the front, and the car was smoking a lot. When they got back, we had another look under the bonnet and I noticed that one of the bolts that holds the exhaust part of the turbo in place (the housing that goes round the impeller) was missing, and it looked like another one too. It turned out I was right – the housing was actually loose, explaining the loss of power. There wasn’t a lot of time left, so Stu bolted it back up, and put a new bolt in as best he could. We set off to the SS4 arrival, and got there just in time. We’d have to suck it and see…

5, 4, 3, 2, 1… GO!

No boost.

No power.

No point.

We limped round and short-circuited the stage, getting a time of 1:30, as we’d done very little of it – best to save the car as it seemed to be losing a lot of oil.

Back in service, we found that the turbo had in fact seized completely. Game over.

After the disappointment had worn off (I kept it quiet, but clearly I was gutted as it’s not often I’ll get to go in a car as quick as this), it was time to pack up and go home. As I said to Ray – “no-one died”. Obviously it was a massive disappointment as we’d only really got one full stage at speed, and 2 full speed stages in total (half of SS1 and SS3), but he had a lot more to worry about than I did – I could just go home and wash my suit and that was largely it. Ray’s got to fix the mighty beast before his next event, in 5 weeks’ time. I hope he gets it all sorted, as he and all his crew are nice guys, and the car is amazing. Hopefully I can get another ride in it in the future, as it was brilliant while it lasted.

So, R477 KRU is a bit tired after WRGB and the Sunseeker. Nothing major, but the front panel of the “reinforced” bodyshell on later Felicias is nowhere near as strong as the older model; the lower section is just single thickness steel, and mounting the sumpguard to it and then doing a few front-heavy landings on WRGB and some big hits on the Sunseeker has meant the front needs fixing – it’s a couple of inches back from where it should be and obviously needs to be stronger. In addition the engine is a bit tired (and let’s face it, given the state of the cars owned by the guy I bought it from, it needs to be looked at as a matter of urgency!), and the box needs the diff sorting out as it’s really not locking up any more.

Which isn’t major work, but the problem is that since the intense part of the build of the car the garage has become somewhat of a dumping ground – there are all sorts of bits in many boxes, and also I stripped a LHD donor car when I got the new shell as well, so it’s a real nightmare. Add to that the fact that the garage hasn’t really had much done to it in 15 years, and it was time to get serious. If you’re going to build an engine, it needs to be done in the right environment if it’s going to work well. And work well it must! So I’ve spent the last week clearing out, sorting things out, fitting new (yes, NEW) cupboards to the wall, etc. I’ve got to wait for the paint to dry on the walls before putting the shelving back, because it took 5 coats to cover the oil – it’s really that bad there. But it’ll be worth it in the end as there will be a nice clean room to work in so I can do a top job on the engine.

But something far more exciting than that has happened. I’m the webmaster of my local car club – Bournemouth and District Car Club – and got an email on Monday which was saying that a member needed a navigator for a one-off event at Longcross. This, it transpired is a Quattro Turbo, and a quick one at that. I told Ray (the car’s owner and driver) that I’d done a season navigating as well as some other stuff and also drove a bit, and went to see the car last night. It’s awesome. Ray’s a really nice guy, as is his navigator Stuart, so I’m really looking forward to April 20th at Longcross. It should be fantastic. Pictures will definitely follow as this is a really awesome car – it snarls and chatters, and goes like a rocket. Wonderful.

Usually I don’t sleep well when I’m rallying – I’m often a bit nervy but this year I was quite relaxed – everything was well prepared and the stages were all well known. So it was a surprise to me to wake up at 4am and not be able to get back to sleep for over an hour. Just the start I needed. But then it got worse – got a text from Paul saying he’d been throwing up all night and was very dodgy. Whether this was from the burger he’d had in service, or from the nerves of giving the ring to Clair, who knows. But it was a relief when he turned up at 8:40, and seemed at least able to sit in the car for a bit. We got to service with an hour to spare, said hello to everyone and then swapped to gravel tyres, and were ready to go. Totally forgot to remove the lamp pod, d’oh! This was pointed out on the control leaving service, but there you go. Just don’t crash!

Off to SS3, which is Ebblake, just a short drive from service. This is one of my favourite stages – it’s really good gravel, with some decent corners, a good thrash at the end, and a tight section in the middle (where I went off last year for a bit). While we didn’t go flat out, we did OK, and got to the end of the stage – at this point I was more worried that Paul would be throwing up (although we’d agreed to carry on until it was too much), so to find out that the stages felt better than the road sections was pleasing to me as well as him. On the road section afterwards it was a pity to see Geoff Bennett’s Escort by the side of the road, apparently with engine failure.

SS4 is Shannon 1, the section of forest south of Ringwood Forest, and is a tale of two different surfaces – it starts out with good gravel, but then develops into a long section of black, peaty soil which really grabs the car if you don’t tell it who’s boss. Each year I can see that I’ve improved as the first year here I found it quite scary in places with the car pulling all over the place. Now I just deal with it and get it to go where I want, and am making much better entries into corners, taking better lines and getting the car set up for the next straight. BUT there were some MASSIVE hits in this stage – really dodgy potholes that had the suspension going coil-bound and the sumpguard banging on the ground, so much so that the trip computer had a hernia and crashed. Oh dear, another ?200 on the bill. Saw a LOT of cars by the side of the road, including Gary Hayter’s Impreza, apparently with a dead engine. But the stage itself went better, carrying more speed through corners and trusting in my ability to get it back when it gets a bit lairy.

SS5 is Mount Ararat which at just over 10 miles is the second-longest stage on the event, and about 1/6 of the gravel mileage as well. It’s a real favourite of mine because it’s a chance to get into driving and keep a good rhythm, and the stage is nearly all good quality gravel with some interesting bits in it as well as some flat-out straights (which again this year I took without backing off, which is an improvement albeit a little one!). There are usually loads of people about on this, and it was no exception this year. Normally we get caught by whoever is behind us on this stage (indeed, 2 people on one run one year) but not this year – we made a really good job, with Paul calling the notes in his usual authoratitive and clear style (and pointing out any errors in them too!), and me driving the car harder than I had done before – there were a few moments where it was getting a bit too lairy, but I got it back every time, which gave me the confidence to push a bit harder. We got to the end and really felt it was a good job – the car was running well, and we were doing well, despite Paul still feeling ill.

SS6 was Somerley 1 – always good fun, this time in the “reverse” direction first, heading back towards Bournemouth from the rear of the estate. We had a fairly good run here, aside from me screwing up the acute right that is at the back section of the course, the rest went well. Heading through the main approach to the house is always a bit scary as there are logs on either side of the road, but this year I felt much more able to push on, and made good time through here. Paul reminded me of the decrease in grip on the tarmac section (reason being that I always forget I’m on gravel rubber), and we got through OK without any mishaps aside from a missed gearchange in front of everyone, apparently (thanks for pointing that out, Ian!), and off into the forest section again, which was great fun aside from the horrible “big chicane” towards the end of the section which I think is just a way for us to dig up a section of the grounds – it’s always a real trial here as it’s very cut up by the time we get there. The rest of the stage was just good fun.

Then it was back to service, which was a bit quiet due to Gary not being there and also Barry Purrett who’d withdrawn due to ill health – a real pity as Barry’s a really great guy and has been very handy to watch on the stages on the times he’s overtaken me – watching his lines into corners is very useful. Not a lot to do to the car, aside from clean the rear wheels out which had collected a lot of stones and were miles out of balance, check everything over and then find out that the air filters were splitting, and I didn’t want them to get sucked into the engine. A suitable replacement was sourced and fitted (a pair of Mr. Hayter’s finest socks, cable-tied to the bellmouths), and we were good to go. We found out that another B9 car had gone out, John Flippance (although he was behind us), meaning it looked like a 2-horse race for second in class awards between us and the Becketts in the other Skoda. At the moment we were ahead of them, gapping them on every stage, although the car still wasn’t running 100% – it has a flat spot at 6k and wouldn’t rev out consistently.

Off out to Wareham, firstly for Bere Wood, which is half good, half painful!

The first section is good forest track with great corners but demands care due to the amount of logs by the side of the road. The second section is much rougher and then develops into a tight farm track which means real precision, but it all went OK – it’s only about 1.5 miles so was over quickly, even in the Skoda! Well worth finishing as well due to the presence of Miss Pink at time card collection.

Next up, Lawson Clump, known as Gore Heath. This isn’t a favourite stage of mine as it’s SO soft, but this year the lack of rain made it a bit better; it still wasn’t great but at least meant we weren’t getting bogged down, and the last section of it is good – again, better quality track where the logging takes place and the road is actually maintained properly. All good so far…

There’s a short crossing of the road (with a policeman waiting there, no doubt to catch people who haven’t removed their helmets to cross the road) and then into Wareham, which is marshalled by my car club, so always means more chatter at the start and end controls. The stage itself had again benefitted from the lack of water in the area, meaning it was far more driveable than it often is – there were a few cars off here and there, but nothing to worry about, and a few people wondering about despite us being much louder than usual and hitting the horn a lot – crazy! At the end it was really rough, and the car was taking a LOT of hits underneath. We got to the finish control OK and drove off, and then BANG BANG BANG underneath. I was certain there was something loose, and when we got to time card collection I got out to find that the exhaust had broken all three mountings and was just banging about, despite being still connected. Mare. I cobbled something up quickly with the tow-rope holding the silencer in place and got to the next arrival control, and then made a more permanent cable-tie fix for the tailpipe, and set off while still settling into the car – it was that tight for us not to lose time. The stage went OK for the most part but was HIDEOUSLY poor condition. We’d been warned that there was a car off at one point, and to slow and avoid the water. And this was no joke – what looked like a normal puddle on the racing line now contained a Fiesta, sunk up to the half way mark. This was the same place that someone had a nasty accident last year and the stage was shortened as a result. The FC really should do better as this was a dry year – with the money that is taken for rally entry, they should be putting more into making sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen, I think.

But this soon faded into the distance as suddenly our universe became a very LOUD place. The front exhaust joint had slipped off, meaning we were running with just the manifold on, and it was too loud to hear anything – the intercom picked this stage to stop working, so I had to drive slowly and rely on hand signals from Paul. Disaster – we got to the end of the stage in the loudest car in the universe, but carried on to time card collection (up the road), and decided to carry on unless we were stopped – I felt I could refit the exhaust before the next stage. Paul begged to differ, as he was sure he’d seen the exhaust section fall off!

We got to a petrol station to put fuel in and discovered… Paul was right! The middle section of the exhaust was completely missing. No chance of a fix, no way of sorting it today. And the police up the road pulling someone over. Still, time for Somerley 2, I thought. We got there without the Police (amazing as I felt they’d hear us from Bournemouth) and when we got to arrival the marshals just said it sounded a bit sick. Which it was – it wouldn’t rev much above 5k, and sounded HUGELY loud. THe intercom only worked when I held the cable in one position so I had to use the velcro overstrap on the helmet to keep it in place, and we made a fair crack of the stage despite all this. There were a few cut-out moments where I couldn’t hear what was coming, typically where I didn’t know the stage too well, but we got through and then did the road section back to service.

Had a nice chat with James from Motorsports News, and was waiting to be stopped, something that wasn’t helped by the law turning up in a car, and I just hoped they’d pass before I needed to book in. Again the marshal raised an eyebrow, but we booked in, and that was that! We checked the car over, all well, so decided to pack everything up. I was convinced we’d be stopped from competing. We were loud – certainly not as loud as Chris Atkinson’s Impreza WRC was on rally GB, but as Paul said – if it was a Subaru, no-one would question it, but as it’s a Skoda…..

The service out control was where I was expecting an issue, due to the seniorority of the staff there. I was amazed when I was just asked if it was going to get any louder, and we passed on and out of service! We were going to get a crack at the last two stages, great news. Arrived at Plumley Wood with plenty of time to spare and took a picture of the Skoda ready to give it a last crack!

Again, this is a great stage, a near-total reversal of SS5, but a great chance to get into it at nearly 11 miles long. And it went well – really well considering the car was well down on power and Paul wasn’t feeling at his best at all – it had been a long, tiring day and he’d not slept and felt terrible as well. No major dramas, and nothing too scary to report – not many cars that I noticed off, but plenty of people still in the forests cheering everyone on (or waiting for an accident!), and a real feeling of achievement to get to the end. Just one more stage to go….

Just a quick hop across the road for Shannon 2, and again more raised eyebrows from the marshals and start crew when we rolled up with our little bundle of noise. The car wasn’t too happy about starting, but did so and off we went, although the intercom was really playing up now – I think about 50% of the calls needed repeating, but only a few were absent, fortunately not at dodgy moments. The stage seemed smoother this way round, the bad dips weren’t a problem where they had been before. The soft peaty section was very bad this time through, and there were a couple of moments popping out of the ruts and potentially into the trees, but it didn’t happen. The end of this stage is great as it’s good gravel and a last chance to give the car some, although it really wasn’t keen, poor dear!

And we’d done it. Well, the stages anyway. I was fully expecting to be told that a trip into Bournemouth wasn’t an option given the noise level of the car, but it wasn’t even mentioned. We waited in the holding control for about 30 minutes and then off to town – this had been done to reduce the queue on Richmond hill, and actually worked quite well. Glad to see some friends at the bottom of the hill (which I could handily coast down to save on the noise), was interviewed by the Echo and Rally Results magazine, and photographed a lot. As ever, some kids wanted the road books and a few pics inside the car, and unusally we had quite a few cars behind us! Finally got onto the finish ramp and was interviewed by Alan Hyde who does WRGB as well as the Sunseeker. The noise went down well with the crowd, which was handy as it REALLY sounded loud in the square….

So that was it. We’d finished the Sunseeker in R477 KRU, despite the lack of an exhaust (and power) for half the event. Back home, get the stuff, pack up and then off to the awards ceremony, only to find that because of a “clerical error” we wouldn’t be getting the award in the ceremony or mentioned in the results. 5 starters in B9, we were second, but there you go. Fortunately the awards weren’t presented by Jimmy McRae, otherwise I would have been gutted to miss out on that opportunity, but I guess it’s not all bad. The car’s a bit damaged, but not too bad, and we have a LONG time before Rally GB. Hopefully I’ll have all the issues ironed out by then, ‘cos that is definitely the last chance to do anything of that scale I’ll ever have.

Today has been very odd – a number of things have changed, making it quite unusual. Firstly, the scrutineering time and so on, and then preparation for the evening. And suddenly it was time to go down to Canford Arena and get going, but it was still really quiet there – a lot of people missing (including Gary Hayter – we were later to find out he’d had ECU failure earlier and spent the day sorting that out!) and it just didn’t seem “right” somehow, but we got into the car and ready to book in when…. a 15 minute delay. Apparently a spectator had fallen over and broken their leg meaning we’d have to wait while an ambulance retrieved them and the stage could go live. Which gave us a chance to adjust the harness straps, which was handy, and then off to Bournemouth. One of the demo 6R4s was broken down outside my house, so he’d made it all of 2 miles – nightmare. When we got to SS1 start queue, it was time for Burley to give Clair the engagement ring he’d picked up earlier, in front of a big crowd! Nice to see old and new faces, and give an interview for Globecast, again like a big kid, I was as ever OTT, no doubt!

And then into the stage. We’d been told it was a bit wet and sandy and it certainly was. VERY tight in the chicane coming onto the pier, and then very sandy and wet there and all the way along the seafront. The chicanes were as tight as ever, and a marshal in a high-vis jacket hiding in a shelter made it very difficult to judge one of the faster corners accurately, which was a real pain. The car wouldn’t quite ‘clear’ but went OK. Time wasn’t great – 2:01, but I didn’t bin it. Back round to the start of SS2, and then into that again. There was an Evo in front of us on the start line which put out a hideous cloud of crap when it went from the line, and we were off again! This time I got things closer to being right, which made us an extra 4 seconds, doing it in 1:57. However, a messy bit of writing from a marshal has meant we’ve been given a time of 2:17. As always, problems on SS1/2 with timing. Grrr!!!! I know marshals give their time to help, but they really should make sure they write clearly – for us it just means a bit of a target for tomorrow, but for some it might mean real issues. Anyway, at the end of SS2 I saw the Evo pulled over after the finish with steam coming out of the front, bonnet open. Oh dear.

Coming back was a bit tight for time – we needed to stop for fuel at a petrol station, and dawdling drivers elsewhere meant we could drive straight in. And leave everything for the morning – we have a 9:51 start time, so we may as well do everything then, only wheels to change anyway, and check everything over. I found out after getting home that one of the B9 cars (#92, a very quick Peugeot 106) has retired already, so there are now 4 in class, and second place is looking a possibility if we keep it together. IF.

Scrutineering at the Litledown is a really pleasant experience, despite still being scrutineering! It’s a really well-organised affair, and there’s lots going on there, and people are encouraged to come down to see the cars being checked over. Had the pleasure of being photographed by a couple of my students (Rob and Sean), so no doubt there will be some embarrassing photos of some point passed round school. Lovely.

Scrutineeering, no problem. Documentation, no problem – we’re well on the case there. Even managed to get my car parked next to the doddmobiles, not between them as I’d wanted but this is the next best thing!