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Border Counties 2010 - GMSC Stories
The second round of the Scottish Rally Championship 2010 was won by Dave Weston Jnr, out for a warm-up before the start of the British Championship. Shaun Sinclair was second, and David Bogie third.
There were 115 entries, 74 finished.
The hot news from the GMSC point of view is that Colin Hay and Arlene Reid (Escort Mk2) are currently leading their class in the SRC.
It was found after the Snowman that the pump for controlling the diffs was u/s, which maybe accounts for the bad run in the snow as John usually goes well in these conditions.
Onto this weekend Finished 10th o/all.The day was spent getting used to the new Dog box and the new big front brakes.
A very smooth drive with no hairy moments but very enjoyable all the same.
Peter
10th Overall.
Stage One
This was a really good stage with lots of predictable grip, however bearing in mind the crash at the Snowmans we backed off a fair bit and finished the stage in a lowly 32nd place.
Stage Two
This was a tricky stage and quite technical in places with adverse loose corners and was very rough in places, Lot of cars off in this stage, We Started to get a rhythm going but still only made 24th place,
Stage Three
Lot of fast straights with deep ruts, rebuilt parts of the road were very rough, On one fast straight with a dip the car bottomed out very bad and flattened the exhaust and damaged the centre diff we continued to the stage finish, and was 22nd in that stage, however after service on the way to stage four the centre diff disintegrated and blew a hole in the gearbox casing and lost all the oil…….. Rally Ended Prematurely For Us Again.
We have only managed to finish two of the last five rallies.
Mcrae Stages Perth, ..Finish
IRC Rally of Scotland .... Driver Error Crashed Out
Galloway Hills ... Finish
Snowmans Inverness .... Driver Error Crashed Out
Border Counties ... Mechanical Car Broke
I suppose were due a run of bad luck we finished a straight run of over 9 Rallies in a row 2008 / 2009
Gordon
Gordon Murray and I were running car 30 and things were going well for us, no real moments up to stage 3 where a bad dip in the road nearly caught us out and knocked the wind from me so notes were a slight problem for a short time, but soon managed to recover!
Unfortunately the car fared a bit worse and something decided to start making a noise from the gear box area. Got to service and had a look but nothing obvious was showing so left for the 4th stage. Only made it a mile down the road when whatever was making the noise decide to make an appearance from inside the gearbox!!!!!
End of what was shaping up to be a really good event for us!
Gordons son Scott in car 35 didnt fare so well, snapping a drive shaft in the gear box off the start line of ss1!
Cheers, Danny Small
This Rallying game keeps throwing up new hurdles.......or is the Irish car we''re competing in???
Having had a honeymoon of two good results on Tarmac, you''d think a forest conversion and a couple of slow starts would be easy enough - but not so.
Our soft off without a spectator for 10 miles on the Snowman was bad enough - damaged pride and a passenger door mirror being the only damage, but last weekend, we set off slow and steady on soft wet stages and ''old'' tyres - under pressure from our benchmark competitors who were all around 20 seconds better - so we stuck on softer compound new tyres at service to get stuck in ''maybe'' on the 14 mile long SS4.
Less than half way through, wir driver says ''sha boy sur, ma haunbrake''s jist blewn up or ma parrich his jist taen effect'' , ......then ....''eh, whoars ma fit brake gaun noo''
Translated, we''d burst a rear brake flexi and the ''Irish conversion'' to the master cylinder was to make the reservoir ''common'', so we lost all the fluid and all the brakes. It was a frustrating distance to travel with only the gearbox to slow us, but we got out and met our crew for a roadside new pipe and brakes bleed.
Unfortunately, it took longer than our road penalties allowed, and despite all sorts of bribery and offers of two nights B&B in a 4 star hotel with unlimited sensual gratification - I could only mooch 5 minutes from the marshal, and we went OTL.
We did the stage anyway, but can you believe we burst the brake pipe on the other side and for 4 frustrating miles, we limped oot the last stage as well.
Who says ''thats rallying'' - it would drive ye tae drink. I''m away for a gin and look forward to the Granite - surely a finish is on the cards.
JR
Round 2 of the Hankook Scottish championsip saw us head south to Jedburgh for the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally.
With stages on both sides of the Border in Kielder forest the organisers had set a compact route over five stages.
Looking at the weather report on Thursday the sun was to be shining but Graham who yet again made his way down from Burghead to service had looked at Fridays report which stated rain. Convinced the sun would shine i opted for new yokos on the rear but didnt go for a cut in the tyre for it wasnt to rain.
Woke up at 3am feeling i was in a tent as the rain bounced of the velux window above my hotel bed, it was going to be wet very wet.
Thankfully new relays had been installed leading up to the rally to ensure the heated windscreen was operational, which it was before we reached stage 0ne then it packed in and the windows duly steamed up.
The first three stages ended up with a couple of minor moments as i tried to wipe the screen during the stages and had a major brown pants moment when distracted by a couple of cars that had gone off. I was conviced the road was straight on but heard the left 6 call only to realise there was no road and i was flat out in fourth. Arlene was thinking we were off but somehow we got away with it, goodness knows how.
Service consisted of a fuel and oil top up and a clean of the wheels and a cup of tea for the driver. We found that we were lying 3rd in class and 7 seconds down from 2nd in class so leaving service the decision was to push for 2nd in the 14 mile Redesdale stage.
The weather had brightened up and we could see clearly now. The stage has many flat out sections but unfortunatly the second time I went for 5th the box selected neutral. With the car screaming in 4th for long sections i was surprised the engine held up.
On exiting the stage we found that our time was equal with 2nd in class so we went into the last stage still 7 seconds down thinking we could still claw back.
5,4,3,2,1 go into first, into second? Nae second, back to first then select third the chase was up.
We were well and truly beaten by Sam Orr who took second in class but to be fair he put in a really good last stage that i wouldnt of matched even with a fully working gearbox.
Still chuffed to end the day 36th overall, 3rd in class and now leading the class in the championship albeit for a short time no doubt as we visit Aberdeen for the Granite city Rally on April 17th.
Gearbox out this week, an indicator lens to replace and a couple of relays capable of switching on Blackpool illuminations to fit and we are ready to go.
71st on SS1, 64th SS2, 63rd SS3, 48th on SS4, 52nd time on SS5
Finished 47th Overall, 4th of the 205s.
A much more sedate run from Lachlan and Stuart this week as they arrived in Jedburgh for the second round of the Scottish Rally Championship and their second gravel event.
"Our main aim was to pick up the pace throughout the day which I feel we managed to do after service, with much more confident in the car by the end of the last stage."
The overnight rain made the conditions in stage one slippery causing the back end to slide out at almost every corner. "It was very hard to get settled into a rhythm so we decided to back off and get at least one stage under our belt."
A few set up changes in-between stages helped for stage two and the pair started to become more comfortable with the notes and the car, picking up the pace slightly but suffering with window misting issues for most of the stage.
Stage three had a few very rough sections and the exhaust took the hit fracturing behind the catalytic converter making life a little noisier inside the car. "We were very lucky to get away with a puncture after running over a massive rock, you could feel the shock all the way through the car but the Hankook tyres held up perfectly."
Still very much on a learning curve Lachlan was lacking in confidence on the fast straights un able to keep the car in a straight line with the famous Kielder ditches beckoning on either side. This meant the times suffered in favour of gaining time in the car, however this season is all about gaining experience for the young crew with the aim of being on the pace by the end of the season.
The jack stands were savaged with help from the Rintouls service crew to make a plate to hold the exhaust together during service as well as raising the front to try and clear some of the large rocks which were scattered over the stages.
With the rain off the screen stopped misting up and the confidence started building in the car. At the end of stage four Lachlan was much happier with the grip on offer and driving on gravel and started to pick up the pace. "Andrew Wood promised me there was loads of grip under braking but I wouldn''t know it was there until I tested it. As the day went on I was testing it more and more and coming from an all tarmac back ground its amazing just how much grip you can get."
The last stage was drying out when the crew reached it and the grip was there for the taking. The speed increased as the stage went on, with a brief moment cutting in to tight seeing Stuarts side of the car disappear into the bushes, meaning he couldn''t see for the last 2 miles with the muddied windscreen.
"I was honestly devastated when I saw the flying finish boards! It felt so much better at the end of the last stage, I knew what the car was going to do and I felt I was just getting faster and faster, hopefully I can start feeling the same at the next round!" Thanks to Alan Cowan for servicing, Gordon and Bill for letting us use the area they had set up and Anne and Gordon for letting us stay on the Friday night.
Lachlan Cowan/Stuart Bell 55th O/A 9th in Class 4
Next event will be the Granite as budget restrictions mean we wont make the second round of the STRC.
90th on SS1, stage maximum and therefore 90th on SS2, 68th stage time on SS3
Went off on SS4 and failed to finish. Ralph doesn''t want to talk about it, but Colin Hay says "it was very soft there, if it wasn''t you it would be somebody else." Burst wheel and suspension damage, but the car isnt totalled.
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