Hirstglen Sprint

[kelvin]

Just posted my entry for the Hirstglen Sprint. Hope I'm not the only Excel. Entries close Wednesday.
See y'all Wed. night.

[rally_toy_excel]

i plan on takin the excel, just goin to fit some tyres and a rear sway bar as i only picked it up yesterday

only prob is i need someone to drive it out there as i takin the xr6 as well

free drive to whoever can help us out (subject to the f... it u fix it rule of course)

[rally_toy_excel]

anyone

goin to have to leave the excel at home if someone doesnt want to come out with me on saturday for the practice day?

[MSA77]

i would love to but i can cant find a baby sitter for the kids while the wife's at work :splat:

Greg did give it some thought maybe a phone call to twist his arm !!!

[kelvin]

Had a great time at Hirstglen. Sort of like a loose, soily surface with underlying rocks to hold it together. Speeds vary from 1st gear to 4th gear. Bit of uphill, bit of down hill. Throw in a few trees and it could be a typical rally stage.
All going well til one of those "I thought YOU tightened that" moments. Well worth the visit. Will go back again.

[rally_toy_excel]

is always fun out there

saturday could of started better when the tow truck offered to me to take the excel out turned up late

i drove the xr6 ute and met the tow truck with the excel at gatton, he asked how far to the sprints i said 40 k he said hmmm should of got fuel but should b ok

famous last words

got to hirstglen and he declares truck is nearly empty so i say well i going to track you go find diesel and i meet you there. i head of to the track only to find its not signed so chase after tow truck as i know that he wont find it later

we ended up travelling to cliftin, another 30 k to find its only weekend service station closed 6 months ago, i drive 10 k to nobby to see if they have fuel but they dont have diesel, then drive 30 k to allora to find they do have diesel. drive back and get tow truck which has now done 50 k on empty. we make it to the service station by some miracle and truck takes 10 litres more than its tank is supposed to be. leave there arrive at track at 230 (practice goes from 12 to 4) change tyres, register, scrutineering, do 2 laps in xr6, starts to rain, do one lap in excel (first ever run in a fwd on dirt for me). they close the track and thats it......... the joys of motorsport

change wheels back over and drive excel home

sunday leave at 7, running late, miss driver briefing, get told off haha

25 cars all up from 1.3 charades to GT4 celicas to 5.7 litre commodores

do 6 laps in each direction in each car. the xr is much quicker now with its revalved rear shocks, play around a bit with alignment settings and tyre pressures, best of 2 min 29 sec but as track gets 'loose' times dont improve (as a rule track gets 2 sec a km slower as day goes on)

the excel........... what a blast........ had it 5 days, fitted some rally tyres and an adjustable rear bar and took front bar off, thats it. its like driving a underpowered RWD, for most of track u just hold it flat to floor and steer it will lift of oversteer like the ute so turns in no worries, just needs about another 50 kw to get it out the corners. played with tyre pressures and on the long corners will just drift the rear out enough to make it fun. understeer wasnt a huge prob as it doesnt have enough power to make it silly.

problems:

gear shift is woeful...... like a shovel in a bucket of porridge so need to sort that and probably half used the front tyres and i thought i wore the utes rears quickly

had to drive excel with one hand in bits as other needed to hold me in the seat

times:

10 cars retired

the ute was 1st in class and 6th outright after 4 4WD turbo cars and one of 6 cars to go under 2:30

the excel was 10th outright, 4th in class and had a best lap just 1.5 seconds slower than xr6

verdict:

excel is much more fun to drive and easier to be quick. you constantly need to be thinking of the throttle in the ute with the excel u can just go flat to floor everywhere.

whats next:

was goin to start the build of the car over xmas but with the chance of a well preped car comin onto the market before the end of the year i might buy that instead