WACC SA Rally Championship Round 2 Robertstown 31st May
Because of the lack of ground clearance on “Bruce” (Becky’s rally car) it was decided that he would not appear in any more rallies until something was done to raise him. As “Bruce” would not be sweep car we (Phil, Becky and Henny Southam) did a road closure/SOS/spectator point. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and just a gentle breeze to top of an excellent day. We arrived early to the Robertstown Oval to meet with the Stage Commander Mark Fraser who gave all the officials an induction and then we proceeded to be led by one of the officials who knew how to get to the road closure point.
That would have been no problems if the said official knew where he was going. He took a wrong turn way before the required road junction and then when we were on the right road he went straight on past the road junction where we should have turned left. After we stopped at the road junction he just continued on his merry way without checking if we were still on his tail. We had to drive very quickly to catch up with him only for him to sheepishly tell us that maybe he had passed the road about 3kms back. We did a U-turn while he continued on as he knew the other way through to our point. We were soon at our point and set about getting acquainted with the ACRM officials who communicate between rally headquarters and start controls. We then set up ourselves as we had bought some meat and our barbeque. We were also supplied with a lunch from the rally organisers which consAisted of a sandwich, apple, piece of cake and a bottle of water. Lovely touch!
Our road-closure was also a spectator point and we had no idea how many would be there and were surprised to see an estimated sixty to seventy people rock up for the first of the two competitive sections. After about three cars had been through all the other cars were much slower and some crews had even taken off their helmets which was very confusing to all on this spectator point. It seems that the section was not given the green light to start before cars were let go so the stage had to be scrapped and relegated to a transport only stage. It was very disappointing for all the spectators. We only saw about ten spectators for the second time around!
We find that running a road closure point to be very relaxing with a chance to be able to chat to officials and spectators alike which is much harder when running a start control. I certainly needed the chance to relax and enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.
SDCC SA Autocross Championship/Autosport Clubman Series 8th June
With new springs which have lifted “Bruce” from ground zero to above sea level status I was quite certain that “Bruce” would not suffer. How wrong I was with an ever deteriorating track and the suspension still not good enough and bottoming out most of the Day/Night. That was only the start of it because I have never had to work as often on a car as I have with “Bruce”. The first thing to fix was ripping off both hand brake cables from the rear disc brake. Soon after Becky had finished her run we saw them trailing under the car. Secondly “Bruce” would not idle at all, so I looked at the fast idle valve and checked the small filter that is attached at one end of the hose. The foam filter was sucked into the hose causing a blockage. The next problem was a flat tyre which isn’t so bad if you have plenty of spares but as we only have some seventeen inch road rubber with low profile tyres we had to use them. Problem number four was the rear muffler wanting to part with the car. The rubber hangers are a bit soft and the previous owner (in Japan) had used cable ties, which works well until they inevitably break, which they did on this day. With all the pressure of a very heavy muffler hanging loose it caused the muffler pipe to fracture so even after cable tying the muffler back the rot had set in.
A few runs later, and the muffler had completely broken loose at the pipe (the cable ties didn’t break though) and a competitor helped with ripping it off. When starting the car the lost muffler made no difference to the noise output. With another three mufflers under the car it makes some sense. For the rest of the day it was nothing but flat tyres to contend with and one very bent rim. A trip to my brothers at Hackham had one fixed but at the end of the day with Becky driving that one went flat again. That flat was the icing on the cake for me. The deteriorating track conditions around the bowl caused the car to bottom out and the sump guard was taking the brunt of this. With every run a loud bang was heard but Becky was determined to keep her 1.8 second lead and gave it her all with the loudest hits of the day on the bowl and a flat tyre was the result. She did get a much faster time than me though! Some of my frustration was vented her way and I apologise for that. Phil changed yet another tyre so we could get it on the trailer as that was the end of the day. I have never seen our trolley jack work so hard or our toolbox used as much as this day.
There was a lot of great driving from the competitors but, as is almost inevitable in speed events, a rollover occurred. The Nissan GTiR of Dave Dimech came to a rather spectacular end with a two and a half sideways rollover on the exit of the esses. I only saw the last of the roll but looking at some photos by Scot Carter of “offwiththepixels” photography the car clipped the inside corner and flew high in the air as it rolled. Dave was able to exit the car and was checked by St Johns ambulance crew members and seemed fine by the end of the night. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for his car.
Patrick Hall and his brother Mitchell entered in Mitchell’s Subaru Legacy which Patrick now rallies. Patrick, who has only turned sixteen and is on his learners licence, showed the whole field up by coming first outright and taking home class, junior and outright trophies. Well done Patrick!
Phil came first in Class C and Becky was first Lady. Congratulations to both of them and also to all the officials who helped run the event. The event was very well run and with a smaller field of entries we had more runs during the day so the night runs were cut short much to my, and I would say most other competitors’, relief. We were not the only competitors to suffer mechanical problems as there was plenty of activity in the pits but I believe there were only two retirements including Dave Dimech’s rolled Nissan.
Henny
Download results from Monarto July 2008 on the links below
Motorkhana
Khanacross
