So, having sent the rally car away with Scott after our recent test, there was some frenzied activity to ready the car before this years Azimghur Stages at Colerne near Bath.
Apart from being absolutely filthy inside and out, there was damage to most of the lower panels so sills, front and rear bumpers were repainted along with one front wing which had split.
There are two schools of thought with using cars this hard - one is to leave or patch any cosmetics during the season and catch up in the winter. The other is favoured by both Scott and I, so the car always goes to scrutineering spotless. This does mean that in between events is a bit of a stress and so I found myself cutting new graphics for the car on Thursday night and fitting them at Scott's on Friday afternoon.
All credit to SG Motorsport, the car looked and sounded the biz as we loaded it on the trailer for the journey to our digs near Colerne. As is to be expected with our British summer, by the time I'd made the 25 mile trip, monsoon conditions had broken out and the car was plastered.
The evening fun was provided by Jack when he got stuck in the shower and had to be rescued by Dad. Tony and I then realised simultaneously that we had missed a trick by not using our phone cameras to record the moment for the website
Mike then told some spooky Welsh tale about finding two 'big cat' paw prints in the bonnet of their road rally car when they crashed in a dark forest in the small hours. Tony then announced that they were undoubtedly imprints from the front feet of a sheep..........
Saturday morning dawned drizzly and the Colerne tarmac was covered in standing water - intermediate tyres were called for and we lined up at the start for what was to become a 'character building' day.
The first stage was a slippery 6-miler and I was trying very hard to make sure that I left my braking late. This is one of the best bits of the car but approaching one of the 90 rights from 100mph plus I scared the spectators by leaving it far too late! I scared myself and made a mental note not be be that daft again. Somehow we somehow scrabbled round but by the end of the stage, we knew that we had a serious problem as on the finish line the car filled with smoke and we smelt the unmistakeable smell of gearbox oil.
In the service area there was discussion as to whether the oil level was too high and the box was blowing out the excess - the sumpguard was removed and the amount on the guard put paid to any of those ideas [smilie=icon_thumbdown.gif]. The oil was forming a puddle just below the exhaust manifold and there was talk of retiring there and then with the risk of fire. We decided that, as Colerne is very smooth, running without the guard would be ok, allowing the oil to escape. Scott topped up the level, a job that he then did after every single stage of the day...
Try not to do this without the sumpguards!
After the next stage, another problem arose, I started feeling sick! Not too bad on-stage but as soon as the adrenaline stopped I felt crap.
After 2 more gearbox top-ups, we were 34th overall - 1 good stage in the top 12 and two where we struggled to stay in the top 40. I've never been so inconsistent and it was everywhere. Braking too early, too late on the power after corners and too cautious in the long fast sweepers.
At the lunch break I had a word with myself and by Stage 6 we were inside the top 20. We know the car is quick as we can leave the older WRC cars (Escorts etc) on the straights and we had been quicker than one of the Metro 6R4's on 3 stages. Then I warped a disc!
Back in service we changed the front pads as the inner ones were worn to nothing - not what we expect running a car at this level. The pads were so hot that they promptly melted the groundsheet - the disc was already past its best but only two stages left before a finish.
The gearbox had now started playing up with all sorts of problems engaging gears on the upshift from 1st to 2nd and I suspected one of the dogs had sheared off as has happened so many times before. Not using the paddleshift all day, I now gave up the flatshift as well and changed gear like a road car to try and make it last.
One stage to go and...... I got a bloody migraine. Christ what more do we have to do to get a finish? I spent the next 20mins with wet rags on my head and neck to try and get me to see straight on the last stage. We headed out and the car got jammed in 5th so, very sensibly Mike said "That's it, keep out of everyones way and drive it to the finish" So that's what we did, dropping from 18th to 23rd on the last stage.
So, here's the smoky view that most people saw as they caught us:
Back at SG Motorsport here's the view once the 'box was out:
Now take off the flywheel and clutch and.......
It seems that the seal has been nicked, either in its assembly or when the 'box was fitted. Despite all this oil everywhere, the clutch never slipped all day so, apart from the psychological effect on me, the problem didn't play a part in our result. More worryingly, many of you will know that the transmission has been the achilles heel on the car and has contributed to to our downfall on virtually every event. The problems at Colerne were just the same and yet another gearbox rebuild is needed. This will be my fifth and it can't go on
However.
We do think that we have now found the problem. Steve at SWR, the Sadev agent, has taken a bit of undeserved stick following these failures and all along he has consistently said that the broken 'boxes show signs of the gear cut being wrong.
For those of you that don't know, the gearbox is a 6-speed sequential unit with no synchromesh and a flat-shift. That means no clutch once you are moving and don't let off the accelerator on the upshift. On the downshift, just shove the lever forward and it changes down. To allow this to happen without mashing the 'box, the engine management "cuts" the engine for a fraction of a second on the upshift and "blips" the throttle on the downshift.
When we bought the car, Steve told us the transmissions were pretty strong and in the first few events, that proved to be the case. Then all hell broke loose. The common denominator was not the 'box but our change to MoTeC! Originally, the Magneti Marelli system was developed by Renault and the engine cut was part of the electronics. Changing to MoTeC meant that the cuts were set up by trial and error by Scott's MoTeC man. Initially this was done at Owens rolling road and with no load on the transmission and we now think that we got it wrong. The cut time is only 80 milliseconds so where it occurs is critical.
Now, MoTeC themselves are involved and we are having another session to try and sort it. We are also looking at whether to use a WRC-type strategy, at least on the first three gears. This means that after the cut occurs, instead of giving 100% power straight away, we will feather the power back in - 70, 80, 90 and then 100% across perhaps another 40 milliseconds. Hopefully this will give the 'box an easier life.
At the end of the day, there are two ways to look at this.
The first is that after 12 months and a huge amount of both work and expenditure, I managed to finish 10 places LOWER than I did last year. We had "preparation failures" with the gearbox leak and low brake pads and the driver was crap on the day. Whilst the car is cheaper to run than a WRC, I know that I could have hired one for the two events that we have done this year and I'd still have change in the bank.
The alternative view is that the suspension work has been a huge success, we think that an end is in sight for the gearbox woes, we know that the car is competitive and amazingly, out of the top 25, there were only 2 retirements. Normally I can rely on a bit of attrition to improve our position, but not this time.
So, everyone has a bit of improving to do but it's still the favourite in my stable [smilie=cool.gif]
Apart from being absolutely filthy inside and out, there was damage to most of the lower panels so sills, front and rear bumpers were repainted along with one front wing which had split.
There are two schools of thought with using cars this hard - one is to leave or patch any cosmetics during the season and catch up in the winter. The other is favoured by both Scott and I, so the car always goes to scrutineering spotless. This does mean that in between events is a bit of a stress and so I found myself cutting new graphics for the car on Thursday night and fitting them at Scott's on Friday afternoon.
All credit to SG Motorsport, the car looked and sounded the biz as we loaded it on the trailer for the journey to our digs near Colerne. As is to be expected with our British summer, by the time I'd made the 25 mile trip, monsoon conditions had broken out and the car was plastered.
The evening fun was provided by Jack when he got stuck in the shower and had to be rescued by Dad. Tony and I then realised simultaneously that we had missed a trick by not using our phone cameras to record the moment for the website
Mike then told some spooky Welsh tale about finding two 'big cat' paw prints in the bonnet of their road rally car when they crashed in a dark forest in the small hours. Tony then announced that they were undoubtedly imprints from the front feet of a sheep..........
Saturday morning dawned drizzly and the Colerne tarmac was covered in standing water - intermediate tyres were called for and we lined up at the start for what was to become a 'character building' day.
The first stage was a slippery 6-miler and I was trying very hard to make sure that I left my braking late. This is one of the best bits of the car but approaching one of the 90 rights from 100mph plus I scared the spectators by leaving it far too late! I scared myself and made a mental note not be be that daft again. Somehow we somehow scrabbled round but by the end of the stage, we knew that we had a serious problem as on the finish line the car filled with smoke and we smelt the unmistakeable smell of gearbox oil.
In the service area there was discussion as to whether the oil level was too high and the box was blowing out the excess - the sumpguard was removed and the amount on the guard put paid to any of those ideas [smilie=icon_thumbdown.gif]. The oil was forming a puddle just below the exhaust manifold and there was talk of retiring there and then with the risk of fire. We decided that, as Colerne is very smooth, running without the guard would be ok, allowing the oil to escape. Scott topped up the level, a job that he then did after every single stage of the day...
Try not to do this without the sumpguards!
After the next stage, another problem arose, I started feeling sick! Not too bad on-stage but as soon as the adrenaline stopped I felt crap.
After 2 more gearbox top-ups, we were 34th overall - 1 good stage in the top 12 and two where we struggled to stay in the top 40. I've never been so inconsistent and it was everywhere. Braking too early, too late on the power after corners and too cautious in the long fast sweepers.
At the lunch break I had a word with myself and by Stage 6 we were inside the top 20. We know the car is quick as we can leave the older WRC cars (Escorts etc) on the straights and we had been quicker than one of the Metro 6R4's on 3 stages. Then I warped a disc!
Back in service we changed the front pads as the inner ones were worn to nothing - not what we expect running a car at this level. The pads were so hot that they promptly melted the groundsheet - the disc was already past its best but only two stages left before a finish.
The gearbox had now started playing up with all sorts of problems engaging gears on the upshift from 1st to 2nd and I suspected one of the dogs had sheared off as has happened so many times before. Not using the paddleshift all day, I now gave up the flatshift as well and changed gear like a road car to try and make it last.
One stage to go and...... I got a bloody migraine. Christ what more do we have to do to get a finish? I spent the next 20mins with wet rags on my head and neck to try and get me to see straight on the last stage. We headed out and the car got jammed in 5th so, very sensibly Mike said "That's it, keep out of everyones way and drive it to the finish" So that's what we did, dropping from 18th to 23rd on the last stage.
So, here's the smoky view that most people saw as they caught us:
Back at SG Motorsport here's the view once the 'box was out:
Now take off the flywheel and clutch and.......
It seems that the seal has been nicked, either in its assembly or when the 'box was fitted. Despite all this oil everywhere, the clutch never slipped all day so, apart from the psychological effect on me, the problem didn't play a part in our result. More worryingly, many of you will know that the transmission has been the achilles heel on the car and has contributed to to our downfall on virtually every event. The problems at Colerne were just the same and yet another gearbox rebuild is needed. This will be my fifth and it can't go on
However.
We do think that we have now found the problem. Steve at SWR, the Sadev agent, has taken a bit of undeserved stick following these failures and all along he has consistently said that the broken 'boxes show signs of the gear cut being wrong.
For those of you that don't know, the gearbox is a 6-speed sequential unit with no synchromesh and a flat-shift. That means no clutch once you are moving and don't let off the accelerator on the upshift. On the downshift, just shove the lever forward and it changes down. To allow this to happen without mashing the 'box, the engine management "cuts" the engine for a fraction of a second on the upshift and "blips" the throttle on the downshift.
When we bought the car, Steve told us the transmissions were pretty strong and in the first few events, that proved to be the case. Then all hell broke loose. The common denominator was not the 'box but our change to MoTeC! Originally, the Magneti Marelli system was developed by Renault and the engine cut was part of the electronics. Changing to MoTeC meant that the cuts were set up by trial and error by Scott's MoTeC man. Initially this was done at Owens rolling road and with no load on the transmission and we now think that we got it wrong. The cut time is only 80 milliseconds so where it occurs is critical.
Now, MoTeC themselves are involved and we are having another session to try and sort it. We are also looking at whether to use a WRC-type strategy, at least on the first three gears. This means that after the cut occurs, instead of giving 100% power straight away, we will feather the power back in - 70, 80, 90 and then 100% across perhaps another 40 milliseconds. Hopefully this will give the 'box an easier life.
At the end of the day, there are two ways to look at this.
The first is that after 12 months and a huge amount of both work and expenditure, I managed to finish 10 places LOWER than I did last year. We had "preparation failures" with the gearbox leak and low brake pads and the driver was crap on the day. Whilst the car is cheaper to run than a WRC, I know that I could have hired one for the two events that we have done this year and I'd still have change in the bank.
The alternative view is that the suspension work has been a huge success, we think that an end is in sight for the gearbox woes, we know that the car is competitive and amazingly, out of the top 25, there were only 2 retirements. Normally I can rely on a bit of attrition to improve our position, but not this time.
So, everyone has a bit of improving to do but it's still the favourite in my stable [smilie=cool.gif]
