Well since the Dukeries, not much has happened really, which is a huge shame.
I did a road rally at the end of October, which was huge test of my strength and navigational skills..and the pressure really got to me. It had been 2 years since I had done a road rally, so the technique was a little rusty and we were running as Semi Experts.
The night started well, with using not having any problem or me making any mistakes, then I let myself down, and made the simplest of errors at a Cross Roads. With myself, frustrated the night just seemed to get worse, I mad silly little mistakes (nothing major) just time consuming. Anyhow, it was a long night, a little too long, and I cant remember much due to tiredness. We made it to the finish in 25th place which I was happy with.
I also did the G-O-N Cambrian Rally, based around Llandudno on the 3rd November with Paul in the 205. We were once again seeded last 1400, and going for the finish. We started at about 9:15 from the center of Llandudno, from here we had a 30min run too Pemachno, on this run out both myself and Paul, heard a weird grinding noise, the same one we heard on the Humberside. Thankfully, this noise soon disappeared, and we could concentrate on the stage.
Stage one, was a steady start which allowed Paul to get back into the swing of things since its over 7 months since his last event. We were pleased to get through stage 1 after seeing many cars off, some mechanical and some in sorry states. Stage 2 was alot better, we got into a good flow in the first half, but this was halted when we came across the rolled car of Gemma Wheeler, who was blocking the stage, thankfully she was ok and were ok to carry on. After this we got back into a good swing once again and started to get back on time with the cars around us.
Stage 3 was another good one, which again was halted when we had to do a 3 point turn to get round a very very tight hairpin left. This cost us around 20 seconds, which meant we had dropped another chunk of time to the cars around us.
Stages 4 and 5 we really enjoyed, the forest of cloceanog suited Paul alot more and he managed to get used to the car alot more, and started to carry more speed, and started to trust the tyres. We had no problems through these two stages and we headed of to 2nd service.
Stage 6 was a repeat of stage 1, this meant it was fairly rutted in places, but on the whole the stage was very smooth, and very grippy. This meant Paul really started to get going, and used alot more road and speed. Unfortunately there was steep hill halfway through the stage, and the small power of the car meant we lost time up the hill.
Overall we were happy with our rally and our finish. And as for next year, who knows....
Saturday 10 November 2007
Saturday 30 June 2007
Long Time
After not posting for nearly a month now i thought i best update things.
First of all ill start with the Dukeries. Well what an strande and difficult event it was. We set off on Friday afternoon in torential rain, and as we arrived at Southwell racecourse we noticed that the surrounding fields were very sodden and muddy. It didnt cross my mind on how bad thing were until we got to signing on and we were handed an ammendment stating that stage 5 had been cnacelled due to flooding and that were going to have a longer service.
The morning of the event, was a bitter morning with a little drizzle, and didnt put the best of starts on the rally. As we arrived at the race course, we noticed alot of cars in one field instead of being spread out on to the hard standing, our suspicions were comfirmed as we saw that the race course was under water and that there was very little space that was still hard standing.
We started the 1st stage very steadily as it was Ians 2nd ever event, first on gravel and 1st on notes. He slowly increased his pace over the 1st stage and turned into the Ian i had met at swinderby, very quick, committed and fluent. we set a fairly respectable time on the first stage. But it was on the second stage that we really got going, although we had a few woes when we could hear the rear suspension knocking hard we managed to keep the hammer down and get a good time through the stage. With having no road section between stages 2 and 3 we couldnt check the rear suspension, we then took the decision to back off slightly but not enough to loose much time.
After looking at the time sheets after stage 3, we noticed we had actually pulled 15 seconds out of the more experienced and quicker crews around us. After stage 3 we had a chance to check the rear suspension, and we noticed a bolt was coming loose, but with little time we couldnt repair it and decided to continue with caution. Stage 4 was tighter and twistier than the 3 previous stages. We realised this when we cut a tight HRP R too tight and went onto two wheels which meant we couldnt make it around the hairpin and had to reverse. The rest of the stage passed without problem.
At service we managed to repair the suspension and re-new all our confidence.
Stage 6, was the longest of the rally (stage 2 and 3 joined) and was very rutted due to the previous use. We discovered how bad the ruts were when we hit a bad rut at about 80mph, launching the rear into the air and making the car unstable, we then crossed over the ruts (were we previously turned Right) and the car jumped again and landed in the grass at the side of the road, but with Ians calmness he mange to recover it with very few seconds lost.
The real dramas started after stage 6 and on the way to stage 7. As we pulled up to a set of traffic lights, the car juddered, then as we went to set off we could not select a gear. As we were tight on time the andernaline started to pump, we managed to direct the chase to us, and with some fetteling (thanks Paul) we manged to get some gears, but as we had shattered one clutch plate, we could not stop (if possible) as we would dmage the car more getting going.
As we had lost time fixing the car, we were running last car on the road and therefore with slower cars infront of us. After receaving a push start on ss7 startline, we got going well into the stage and passing another car and managing to end the stage.
The road secyion after this stage was awfully nerve racking as we were unsure if the car would last and with more noises starting to come from the engine we were very relieved to get to the finish.
First of all ill start with the Dukeries. Well what an strande and difficult event it was. We set off on Friday afternoon in torential rain, and as we arrived at Southwell racecourse we noticed that the surrounding fields were very sodden and muddy. It didnt cross my mind on how bad thing were until we got to signing on and we were handed an ammendment stating that stage 5 had been cnacelled due to flooding and that were going to have a longer service.
The morning of the event, was a bitter morning with a little drizzle, and didnt put the best of starts on the rally. As we arrived at the race course, we noticed alot of cars in one field instead of being spread out on to the hard standing, our suspicions were comfirmed as we saw that the race course was under water and that there was very little space that was still hard standing.
We started the 1st stage very steadily as it was Ians 2nd ever event, first on gravel and 1st on notes. He slowly increased his pace over the 1st stage and turned into the Ian i had met at swinderby, very quick, committed and fluent. we set a fairly respectable time on the first stage. But it was on the second stage that we really got going, although we had a few woes when we could hear the rear suspension knocking hard we managed to keep the hammer down and get a good time through the stage. With having no road section between stages 2 and 3 we couldnt check the rear suspension, we then took the decision to back off slightly but not enough to loose much time.
After looking at the time sheets after stage 3, we noticed we had actually pulled 15 seconds out of the more experienced and quicker crews around us. After stage 3 we had a chance to check the rear suspension, and we noticed a bolt was coming loose, but with little time we couldnt repair it and decided to continue with caution. Stage 4 was tighter and twistier than the 3 previous stages. We realised this when we cut a tight HRP R too tight and went onto two wheels which meant we couldnt make it around the hairpin and had to reverse. The rest of the stage passed without problem.
At service we managed to repair the suspension and re-new all our confidence.
Stage 6, was the longest of the rally (stage 2 and 3 joined) and was very rutted due to the previous use. We discovered how bad the ruts were when we hit a bad rut at about 80mph, launching the rear into the air and making the car unstable, we then crossed over the ruts (were we previously turned Right) and the car jumped again and landed in the grass at the side of the road, but with Ians calmness he mange to recover it with very few seconds lost.
The real dramas started after stage 6 and on the way to stage 7. As we pulled up to a set of traffic lights, the car juddered, then as we went to set off we could not select a gear. As we were tight on time the andernaline started to pump, we managed to direct the chase to us, and with some fetteling (thanks Paul) we manged to get some gears, but as we had shattered one clutch plate, we could not stop (if possible) as we would dmage the car more getting going.
As we had lost time fixing the car, we were running last car on the road and therefore with slower cars infront of us. After receaving a push start on ss7 startline, we got going well into the stage and passing another car and managing to end the stage.
The road secyion after this stage was awfully nerve racking as we were unsure if the car would last and with more noises starting to come from the engine we were very relieved to get to the finish.
Tuesday 12 June 2007
DUKERIES PREVIEW
Seventeen year old Joe Cruttenden will partner Ian Bainbridge for the second time in the Dukeries Rally this weekend. After their somewhat memorable debut together, this will be the first time they have competed together in the forests and is also the first time Ian has competed in the woods himself. Joe said;
"We plan to take it steady over the first couple of stages to get usedto the conditions and then hopefully build up the pace over the finalstages"
The crew predict it will be a big learning curve and aim to reach the finish of the event with no incidents.
Picture courtesy of James Redman Iamges
And report written by Jon Jackson
Friday 13 April 2007
Next Event Confirmed
Yesterday (12/4) I confirmed my next event, Owen Developments Stages 2007. It will take place at Down Ampney (Cirencester) on the 5th May. I will be navigating for Charlie Robinson, in his 106, it will make us one of the youngest pairings (both 17).
Wednesday 11 April 2007
MY BLOG
I have created this blog to keep people up-to-date with my rallying. Here is how my year has been so far:
End of 2006: Ended the year with some good results (1st O/A, 3rd in class and 1st in class). Also ended with some good news, I had agreed to do the 2007 F1000 forest championship with Paul Martin (Peugeot 205).
Wyedean 2007: This was my first multi venue event and also, my first event on notes, tulips and SNOW. It was also Pauls first EVER event. We got off to a good start, we made it through SS1 (race course) with out a problem. This is where our rally really started, we had agreed to take it easy and make sure we finished and gained the experience. Into SS2 we went, thick with snow it was very difficult to both see where the road was and where the road wasn't. We had a few moments where the car understeered on the snow (sometimes towards signs), but on the whole I think the car and the crew did well to make it through without any problems. Stage 3 was a big test for us, the longest stage on the rally would show our metal. As we entered the stage were given a warning about how slippy the conditions were "oh great". Well we made it out of SS3 (passing 3 stranded cars) and out of SS4. Then the rest of the day passed with out us having any problems and gradually picking up the pace.
Both myself and Paul really enjoyed the event, and would like to pass on our condolences to David Williams family.
HUMBERSIDE 2007: This was our first 'proper' forest rally, which we knew would be both fast and tricky and therefore decided we would go for the finish again. We started Stage 1 steadily, getting use to the speed and surface, this was going well until around a mile from the finish, the car spun into a bank, luckily we only lost the bumper and around 15 seconds.
The rest of the morning past without trouble, UNTIL we were driving back to service and awful squealing came from the front left wheel (or gearbox (undecided)). Our initial thoughts were the thrust bearing on the gear box, as it started initiallty when the clutch was pressed, but this was quashed when it squealed both with and without the pedal pressed. When we got to service, our amazing service crew (Tim), got to work, he had play with the wheels and decided it was muck on the brakes, so after a little clean and fiddle, the problem disappeared (thank god for water).
The rest of the day passed without a problem, which made it 2/2.
Our next event will be Quinton, but im always looking for rides ;)
(Thanks to Kieth Commons)
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