We Reach de Stage
Because of the last minute problems which had the car arriving untested close to the supposed start time I had no idea what to expect from the car as the first time I would have been driving it properly would have been on the first stage. As I started it up it was sounding weird, but we couldn't do anything further at this point so we headed to the start. 2 minutes to go… we put on the helmet and check the intercom "microphone checka…" as Justin and I continue to wait Justin looks to me and says "We finally here…how you feeling?" I answer "I'm cool actually, I expected to be a lot more nervous that this, how bout you?" as we continue talking and catching some kicks Justin stops and says "aye yuh think we should pray?" to which I reply "yeah cool" So we pray for a safe and enjoyable rally and that we doh look like bakes… we might as well ask
. 40 seconds or so to go I ask Justin to start counting down when the timer reaches 15 secs, at this point I'm still surprisingly calm. As soon as Justin said 15 though, my heart began to beat like drums at an Indian wedding and my left foot begins to shake like a tambourine and I'm thinking "but what de hell is dis? Jes so?!"
Stage One
15...10...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, And we're off!
300 into 90 right caution culvert
As I launch the car, the car is feeling dead and sounding like a constipated goat, I'm thinking "ok then". As I reach the spectator loop the car is feeling dead as ever and I'm thinking "bess I had run".
As I exit and hit the straight away the car comes to life in the higher gears. It was all good though; being our first rally getting a feel was more important that having the perfect tune or putting down fast times.
Stage Two
Because of the problems in the first run we plugged in the rich/lean controller to the Engine Management System and leaned out the air/fuel mixture a little.
On the second run we dropped 12 seconds which was within 7 seconds of one of the more seasoned competitors in a tent next to ours so that was encouraging.
Stage Three
After stage two we realised that the oil temp shot up. After some investigation we realised that we had a leak in a thumb hose. We were forced to cut the thumb hose at the crack and put it back on as a temporary measure, as if that wasn't enough, the fuel pump decided to give trouble so the car refused to start for a while, when it did start we realised we were getting blow by. At this point I'm getting very frustrated and thinking "as it is we'll have to rebuild the engine so fire…let's go. If we kill it we kill it".
As we get to the line we go through the normal routine, check helmet, count down.
300 into 90 right caution culvert etc.
Half way through the run I'm feeling more comfortable
200 into slight left over crest into left keep in
50 into 90 left
500 into sweeping right to finish
As I enter the final stretch I'm pushing a lot harder than I should be as a beginner on a corner that I should know very well is slippery. As I drop to 3rd and turn in with the intention of cutting the corner the car goes into a full drift which definitely was not the plan. As I correct the car lines up for the exit and I'm shouting "woohoo!" with my foot still on the power and then suddenly at the absolute worst time the front tires bite and I'm heading for the bush on the left. As I pull right to avoid the impending run off I take my foot off the gas and let the car spin and come to a stop. When she was finished with her little show I turn around and headed for the finish. Justin and I are real cracking up now. As we reach the finish Jackie says "I doh know what kinda dance that was yall put down for us there...what was that hip hop or something? lol"
All part of the learning process.
On the way back to the pit the car shuts down in the middle of the road and I'm thinking "commoooooooon". After Justin, and a man from the nearby bar pushed the car to the side we waited on our crew to come down and help us get the car started and we headed back to the pit.
Stage 4
The same hose that we fix burst again but no one had a hose like what we needed so we made one with an open hose a half inch nut and a hose clamp. We had problems starting again but at least we got to the start in time.
300 into 90 right caution culvert
200 into 90 right caution culvert
100 into 45 right into slight right into left
into left around loop; I took the corner wide, but it allowed me to exit better
into left in right tightens
straight 200 to jump into 200 to tight left
straight 300 into slight right into left…
here is where things started to go wrong… because of how the slight right into left was I cut it straight on my previous 3 runs. Tyre tracks showed I was not the only one. This time though I was slightly more left than on the previous runs but all I saw in my way was bush so I didn't take it on too much,
then all of a sudden a HUGE rock jumps out of the bush and send the car up on the two outer wheels. As the car lands I realise something is wrong on the left front but the adrenaline is still pumping so I throw it in 2nd gear and mash...nothing, 1st gear...nothing. I turn to Justin and say "aye, see if your wheel still there" He looks out and says "yeah" and I try again...nada. By this time the marshals are on the radio frantically trying to slow down the next car coming so they call for a yellow flag then decide to stop it so they call for the red instead.
As the wrecker picked us up and deposited the car out of harms way we checked only to realise that impact had caused the axle pop out. Because we had forgotten our jack and jack stand in the rush we had to try to borrow, but seeing that we were now into the service break and everyone was using there tools and our tent partner was home trying to swap engines as he blew it on his first run, we were in a scene. After a while we decided not to bother and called it a day.
Although we did not get to finish and the car frustrated us, we had fun.
Now to see if we could get everything ready for the next event on September 20th.
