Skoda Rally Blog

Here’s something I didn’t think I’d be writing today – I have a sponsor! Yes, it’s true. We have a sponsor for the Rallye Sunseeker – it’s Alink2.com, which is a site that is a hub for all sorts of information and makes finding official sites easy. Their livery will be on the car for the Sunseeker, and they’ll also be handling our press releases and getting some great photos of us in action on the event, which is a great thing. Take a look at the site if you get a chance…..

Well, since the last entry, I’ve done a fair bit of work on the car. Firstly, getting it MOTd, but that’s by the by. The important work has been getting the MegaSquirt ECU up and running. Doing any project like this it’s always easy to under-estimate the amount of time it takes to do little things to get it all running, and I think I’ve done that in this case. Anyway, first up was getting a fuel return plumbed it – the system that I’m using requires a constant flow, meaning that a new return had to be plumbed back to the tank. As it’s a rally car, this needs to go inside the car (not under the floor) to stop it being ripped off on a forest stage. And that means that it needs to either be braided hose (with no joints inside the cabin) or solid metal. As the other pipes were like that, that’s what I’ve done. A high-pressure pump is waiting to replace the current one – thanks to German, Swedish and French it only cost ?55 for a new pump, rather than the ?200+ I had been quoted by some people…..

The wiring of the MS is made easier by having a relay/connection box under the bonnet, and then an umbilical connection to the MS ECU, which is better off inside the cabin of the car. This is now done, although soldering 18 connections to the ECU end while inside the car (this has to be done as the plug is too big to cut a hole for in the bulkhead to be safe for fireproofing) took a while. And again, getting the power and ground wires connected took more time than I thought they would. But getting it in the car (at the bottom of the dash), and having it power up was a great moment. And then connecting the sensors that I could do – a signal from the coil so the ECU knows how fast the engine is running, the coolant temperature sensor, and the tube for the Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor meant that I could run the car and see the MS react as it would do if it were running the car! At last, it all seems to be making sense.

Next up was making the wiring loom, which I wanted to make as professionally as possible, so I made sure it had all the right colour coding on it, and was taped up, etc. It looks pretty good – not home-made, for sure.

And then, fitting the oxygen sensor to the exhaust. I had planned to use a new downpipe, but this turned out to be short (because of having a catalytic converter on it), so instead I’ve got a suitable bit of threaded pipe, and welded that into the downpipe. The wiring for all this uses the standard Skoda/Bosch connectors, so that looks good.

And once again, running the MS with that on and seeing just how off my mixture currently is (with the carb on it) was a good feeling – it finally feels as if it’s going to work. I’ve painted the manifold today (quite a few coats of satin black Hammerite), and hopefully should get it bolted up tomorrow. I’ve made up the bracket for the throttle cable (although I’ll have to make a stop for the pedal as it’s short travel at the moment, and making it longer travel would be too much work at the moment), and I think that it’s all ready to go – obviously there may be a few minor ‘gotchas’, but it should all be running (at least ticking over) by Sunday morning. Which admittedly only leaves me three days to get the mapping right, but given how wrong the carburettor is, I’m hoping that even that will be better than what I have!

The documentation for the Sunseeker has arrived, in the form of the competitor’s bulletin, and I’m in at…. Number 110. I asked to be last again, as I’d still rather be looking forwards than in my mirrors, so that’s a good thing.

This must be short though, as I need to go work on the car. I’ve done some of the wiring for the new ECU, but now I’m off to sort out the return for the fuel, and maybe get some of the wiring put onto the car. Unfortunately, Maplin didn’t have the resistors that I need to power the injectors, so I’ve got to order them and hope they turn up in time. But it looks like the car won’t be running this weekend, for sure. Damn!

I’ve been putting the injection off for a long time. This was mainly because of the most difficult part to manufacture. There are some manifolds available for the Skoda engine to fit side-draught carbs (like DCOE and DHLAs), but they won’t help if you’re fitting motorbike throttle bodies. So the only option there is to make your own. Which sounds simple in principle – after all, it’s just four tubes, isn’t it? Unfortunately there’s a fair bit more to it than that – firstly there’s the issue of spacing – the ports on the head are in two pairs, which need to go to four reasonably evenly spaced ones. This makes things difficult. On top of that, the throttle bodies I have are 34mm I.D. and the ports are more like 25mm, so the pipes aren’t just off-the-shelf items, they’re tapered. Which is a pain to make. And finally (for now), the manifold needs to be strong; the mating faces need to be 5mm or so thick, and the tubes need to be thick enough to be strong, and also be capable of being welded to the thicker plates without problems.

Cutting the plates out proved to take a LOT longer than I initially thought – the two plates that fit to the head took about 3 hours. I gave up using the jigsaw in the end, and used a cutting disc on an angle grinder, and then grinding these rough shapes down to size. And then there was the big plate for the throttle bodies to bolt to (via GSXR1100 carb rubbers), and so on. I won’t go into the details, but it took a lot longer than I thought, and it’s definitely a “Mk.1” version; I think it will be functional, but there are some allignment issues which isn’t fantastic, but it’s the best I can do considering I was cutting the holes out with a hole-cutter mounted to a drill. Next time I’ll find someone sympathetic to make the plates up with a mill – perfect accuracy.

But it’s finished – there’s no vacuum tapping for the servo done yet, or inlet temperature sensor mounting, but that aside it’s just in need of some dressing and a paint. So here it is!

So, now I guess I need to get the fuel return sorted out, and get wiring! Can I really get this done in time?

Well, I made a big mistake in going to Switzerland. Not that it was a bad time – it wasn’t – just that it’s meant my back is really bad. Ended up being flown home rather than driving. Hopefully that won’t be a long-term issue.

A-n-y-w-a-y, I got my new National A licence back from the MSA. Same number as before, all confirmed to the Sunseeker, so it looks like we’re in.

The Skoda needs to be MOTd, which means a couple of small bits of welding at the end of the sills – everything else is OK, so it should walk through that. That should get done this week, as I’m getting it done by a garage as I don’t have time at the moment, and also I want to give my back a good chance of total recovery!

The next thing is that there are now four cars in B9 (my class), including Mr. & Mrs. Colville. So I think there’s no chance of any honours there – we’ll just be aiming for a finish. But I still want to get the injection working. And I’ve been working on it – I’m about half way through making the inlet manifold which is quite a task – making the plates to bolt to the head took around 3 hours as they’re made from 5mm steel plate, and cutting them takes a long time. And then I’ve had to make pipes that taper from 35mm to 25mm ID, and then weld it all together, which is quite tricky as there’s a lot to juggle. Hopefully I should get it all finished today. After that there’s plumbing in the fuel return which the injection system needs, and replacing the exhaust downpipe with one with a fitting for the oxygen sensor (which needs looking at anyway as I have to make the exhaust more secure to avoid any repeats of the Tempest/Blitz incident), and then the wiring. Oh, and then setting it all up. I reckon it’s a solid week’s work to get it done, and I think it’s just about possible. We’ll see, I guess. If I was totally fit, I’d feel a lot better about it all…..

The entry list for the Rallye Sunseeker has been updated, and number 24….. is me! Just like the Tempest, seeing it in writing is suddenly way more scary.

This is increased because for the last two weeks I’ve been laid up having hurt my back, and I’ve been unable to do anything to the car – the MOT is out, and it needs a bit of welding doing to pass. And of course I can’t do anything on the injection front either, which is depressing, and there is some more work needed to the exhaust before the sunseeker to stop a repeat of the recreation of the blitz that we did on the last two stages.

And I’ve still not had my licence back from the MSA…..

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.

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.

… to the Tempest. I’ve done a fair bit of work on the car’s electrics – there were a few things that had been added with fuses or relays just strung along the bottom of the dashboard, and I’ve never been happy with that. And the fuse/relay board was above Kev’s feet which I didn’t think was great either – easy to damage, and difficult to get to. So I moved it into the glovebox, and fitted a new fuseboard for the other additions and the new spotlights, which are nearly done. They are bright, for sure. I’ve got a couple of other things to sort out, electrically, and I must get the trip-meter working, ‘cos that will make a huge difference to us on the next rally.

One bit of good news is that we will be running last on the road. This is a Good Thing.

But the thing is, I saw my first set of pace notes last night. Kev’s bought them, and we’ll hopefully be working off them. This is really big boys’ stuff. It makes the stages sound scarier because there are all sorts of cautions and so on in them. I’ve done my usual thing of thinking that it’ll be the hardest thing in the Universe, so I’m pretty scared about the whole thing at the moment. And I’ve still got to sort out the new tyres and steering geometry today as well as drop the rear of the car to calm things down.

Better get on with it, then…..

Er, just checked this on the Tempest Rally site.

For some unknown reason, we’ve been seeded as 38th of 46! In front of a 2.8 XR 4×4, a 1600 Mk2 and a 2 litre 306! Er, anyone for tennis?

Spotlights are being fitted to the Skoda today, if I can find enough metal….