Abingd-on and off

So now we'd got a taste for this rallying malarky, it was time for our second event! Things had been a little quiet since MIRA as the Heart of England Championship headed for Epynt - and we did not! Epynt has a reputation and I made the decision to steer clear of it for our second event, as the jump to pacenotes after only one single venue rally was a little ill-advised, particular over the challenging stages of Epynt. Hence we found ourselves at Dalton Barrack, Abingdon (nr. Oxford) for our second outing in the 205. Scrutineering and noise-test was on the Saturday and the actual rally took place on the Sunday. This meant we could set off at a sensible hour (early afternoon) on the Saturday and made a nice change from the usual 5 o'clock start. Our fun started on the way down, when one of the trailer wheels was inducing a lot of vibration to the trailer, particularly at speed on the motorway. Big Dan (who was towing) pulled over and we checked the tyre for any obvious problems - it seemed fine although the pressure was a bit low. We added a few PSI and continued on our journey - slowly! Unfortunately the few PSI made little difference and about 10 miles later, the right-hand tyre on the trailer exploded with great effect! Despite being a navigator, Big Dan employed his excellent rally- driving skills to immediate effect and brought the wayward trailer (and attached Freelander) so a controlled halt on the layby. After all converging on the trailer we discovered that the spare wheel to the trailer was actually lying back at the warehouse where the trailer is stored (don't ask me why; I don't know!). Ah. Errm. A problem. Well, it was until our team engineer Mr.Mikey Morgan suggested the spares from the rally car on the basis that the trailer wheels just *might* be Ford pattern. Would you believe it? It was! So we fitted two nice Peugeot 1.9 alloys, complete with brand new A032R's, to the trailer and we were on the way! It was one way of scrubbing in the tyres prior to the event, at least, and boy did that trailer stick to the road in the corners! So we finally arrived at Dalton Barracks and went straight through to noise & scrutineering. The new Powerflow exhaust from AB Motorsport proved to be spot on, seeing us through at a comfortable 94dB. Scrutineering was also a fuss-free affair, and we were straight through that and on to the main site to set up tents and drink a few beers. The atmosphere was brilliant, lots of fun and with a beer tent and barbecue too. In fact the only thing wrong with the atsmosphere was the pollen particles that were filling it and turning me into a dribbly-nosed, puffy- eyed ball of snot. Oh well. Sunday morning came and it was a relatively early start (for a Sunday, anyway) not helped by the fact that I'd slept bugger all with a stuffed-up nose and dry mouth. We set up service with good old Tomsport members George, Nikki, Laurence and Aron. We had a humungous marquee which we set up to cover both the cars, as the forecast was for rain and lots of it. There was little prep-work needed on the car, so the boys checked it over in readiness for the first stage. We ran our previous A032Rs from MIRA, which were slightly more worn on the front, but at the time the conditions were dry so we kept with them. SS1 was off to a good start and it was only a few corners before we found ourselves hung on the arse of the bespectacled Technical Editor of CCC, Dave Walker, running a 1600 Peugeot 205. He himself was having trouble with a Mk.II Escort but we found a nice bit to squeeze up the inside of him. The Mk.II hoofed it into a long sweeper a little too much, drifting wide on the exit, and we were up the inside of him too. Our car was now sporting some new Mintex F2 pads on the front. These are bloody expensive but work incredibly well when up to temperature, and I was out-braking myslf into pretty much every bend as I discovered the new capabilities of the car. The brakes meant we could really catch up some other cars going into the bends, and round them too, but the long straight at Abingdon meant that most cars in our class left us standing. It was a typical example of what everone says about the 205 - absolutely great in the twisty bits but lacking slightly on the straights (hardly surprising for 130bhp really!). Service before SS2 saw no real problems - the front brakes were binding (probably because of the heat we'd put into them) but that was about it. SS2 saw a repeat of SS1 and we made another 22 seconds on our previous time as I found my "level". SS3 and 4 were basically SS1 split in half, with a 5 minute road section in the middle (and some interesting grass sections). We started having some good fun with other cars, namely an Astra GSi 16v which came past us on the main straight prior to the tight complex around the out-buildings. We came into the tight, twisty road sections and the little 205 was planted on his bumper all through it. Words like "Come on, shift your poxy Vauxhall out my way!" were heard across the intercom, and Big Dan started on the air horns, much to my amusement. We left the complex on the main straight and Mr.Astra must have thought "Right, let's say goodbye to these guys!" and opened up the Vauxhall - and BOOOF! A big white smokescreen! I jinked left (so I could at least see where I was going) but the Astra carried on with a particularly poorly looking engine. We left him at the split, but it was good fun for a while - hope it didn't turn out too expensive! SS5 and 6 where repeats of 3 and 4 but now the rain had started. At service, prior to 5, we swapped the tyres front to rear so we had slightly more tread on the driving wheels. The grass sections had now turned to a muddy mulch which, coupled with tarmac tyres, basically meant you tippy-toed your way over them with next to zero grip. It really was hilarious fun, the car being completely unsteerable while you was on it. Thankfully the grass sections were literally 30 metre long straights that joined two tarmac roads, so no damage done (not to us, anyway). The standing water out on the runways gave us some interesting understeer moments coming out of fast corners as the car felt to veer off towards the green stuff. But once through it, the car regained grip and we were fine. The swap of the tyres gave us some fun moments coming out of the tighter bends, particularly at the start of the stage when the tyres were still relatively cold. But the 205 makes for a finely adjustable car and tail-out moments are easily caught with the quick steering and grippy front end... looks good, feels good, totally wastes time on the stage. SS7 and 8 were reversals of 5 and 6, as per usual on single venue events, but the corners now came in completely different directions so it was basically a fresh learning curve. We also had a rather nasty sounding noise coming from under the car which seemed to come and go at the same place around the stage. It sounded worse that it was and a brief check during the road-section confirmed that nothing was amiss in terms of suspension, wheels or brakes, but it was nonetheless very disconcerting. I slowed to maybe 85% until we could get to service and check it out. In turned out to be nothing - rubbing exhaust and tank guard - so we picked up the pace again on SS9. Damn shame we did, really! SS10 (re-run of 8) and coming into the far complex after the (fast) main runway, we came through the merge and I applied the brakes - and the car just locked up and aquaplaned over a load of surface water. I came off the brakes but it stayed locked (presumably because the engine had stalled and was holding the wheels locked). In the seconds that followed, I didn't think to put the clutch in, but leapt for the handbrake in a desparate attempt to get the car to turn sideways and hopefully slow down. This achieved bugger all so, as we slewed straight-on towards a row of rather solid looking Army transport trailers, I muttered the words "Hold on" to Big Dan and, as Captain Picard would have cautioned, 'braced for impact'. It came pretty hard - an estimated 30 to 40mph according to Big Dan - and when you go to 0mph from that speed it tends to come a bit sharp. Having said that, we were fine (apart from Big Dan who had a few cuts and bruises) and the marshall nearby was at my door before I'd finished unbuckling my harness! We were out in no time, got free of the car and checked number of limbs - we appeared to be all in place. The Peugeot, unfortunately, wasn't in the same state and seemed to be running a new prototype shortened chassis. Bent subframe, bent shell.... bent (well and truly). So that was it for us at Abingdon. SS12 was cancelled due to timewasters like us, so we only had one more stage to go and we'd have ended up around 45th overall and pulled a 2nd in class for the Heart of England Championship. But hey, I didn't like the front end anyway - at least now I have a chance to re-shell the car and make it look a bit nicer! The car will be reshelled in time for the next tarmac HOE event (fingers crossed) at which point Big Dan and myself should be over the whiplash. A big thanks goes to all that crewed for us - Mike, Trev, Chris Karen Larr, Becky, Marjike, Simon (and mini-Dan!) and even a last-minute unofficial helping hand in the form of old University buddy Tim Wyatt. Not to forget, ofcourse, my trusty co-driver who I can only apologise to for the slight 'off' we encountered.... and to fellow club members Tomsport who helped drink beer with us - always handy.... See you all at the next one (fingers crossed)!