2009 George Derrick Rally

[Jimbo]

Hi folks,

Noticed there's a few excels running tomorrow out at Avoca!

This is a last minute plea, as we still neet 7 more road closure officials.

If you have anyone that could lend a hand and spare the day in the forest, I would really like to hear from them.

I can be reached on 0438 277 305.

Thanks, and good luck!

Jimbo
Officials coordinator
09 GDMR

[Mooa42]

I've donated my service crew, so fingers crossed I don't need them.

[Grumblebum]

Dont worry Tony I'll be at a road closure somewhere on stage 4 look for the Hyundai flag and remember to toot!!!!!![The honourable Mayor of Trafalgar will also be present.]
Thanks for the R/C Jimbo hope its a good one and to anyone out there please come and assist its great fun and you get the chance to have a good laugh as the field goes by.
Cheers Peter

[John C]

Grumble bum I have offered jimbo my services to mann another R/C on stage 4 to help out with numbers
the Mayor

[Grumblebum]

There you go we've split so that another official will be available otherwise a stage may have to be canceled So Come ON and have a fun day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John C]

Congratulations to Tony and Nikki :clap::clap:

Once again all Excels finished in another event with quite a few DNF's

Well done Simon on 3 rd sure showed that stump a thing or two

18 Tony Moore(2)(E)/ Nikki Moore(2)(E) Hyundai Excel 82:1619 Brett Mackieson(2) /Julian Ong(2) Diahatsu
Charade 82:40
20 Sam Johanson/Brad Sanders Mazda Familia 84:33
21 Peter Morrison(2)( E)/Susan Wasson(2)(E) Hyundai Excel 86:31
22 Simon Landrigan(2) (E)/Tim Stuchbery(2) (E) Hyundai Excel 87:18
23 Aaron Watt(2)(E)/Georgie Gallacher(2) (E) Hyundai
Excel 87:5924 Joe Wilson(#)/Martin Warneke(#) Triumph 2500 PI 88:25
25 Kimberley Barson(2)(E) /Sandra Cuttle(2)(E) Hyundai
Excel 109:31

[Grumblebum]

Ok fellow official how about posting those pictures you took? Well done to all-- Tony sorry I missed you at Avoca but your car sounded on the money when you went through and you were the only one to Toot the flag!!!!!!

[ernysp76]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/SimonTim.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/Moores2.jpg

Obviously AWD checkout the rear wheels spitting out mud!

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/PeterSusan2.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/Watty-1.jpg

[ernysp76]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/BasonCuttle.jpg

Bason & Cuttle

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/AllanBros.jpg

Allan Bros

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/Snooks.jpg

Not an Excel but a great car. Snooks

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/ernysp76/Moores.jpg

thought the winners deserved a second shot

[johnd]

And some night pics..............

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel07-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel03-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel02-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel04-1.jpg

[johnd]

and.............

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel05-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel06-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/lancerjohn26/Excel04-1.jpg

[Mooa42]

:clap:2009 George Derrick rally run in Avoca about 2 hours North West of Melbourne.

Finally a rally that all the 2009 Hyundai Excel crews could drive to and home from on the day, not that they did, but they could have. After Bega and East Gippsland it was a welcome relief to be so close to home and the pocket enjoyed it too.
Arrived about 8:30 on the Saturday morning to wonderful sunshine only to exit the car to freezing temperatures. It was like being at the snow on a sunny day, lots of time between book in and starting so we had heaps of time to chit chat and try and clam Simon’s nerves given it was the first rally he had ever been to and his first as a driver, Excellent!

So after what seemed like an eternity we were finally underway. Stage 1 was a quick 3 ½ k jaunt around some trees and along some typical farmland roads a good stage to get rid of the nerves and good visibility to see what was coming up, seemed good and felt happy with the car from the get go and was quite surprised at my time when I saw the stage times later.
Stage 2 started tight, twisty, up hill and down dale in wet, rocky trees close to the road tracks, struggling for traction up some parts. We managed to squeeze past a Bluebird stuck trying to get up a muddy hill. Not long after the road changed into fast 4th gear dry blue stone gravel lined roads. To fast for this little black duck but overall I thought I nailed the first tight bit so I could back off a bit in the faster stuff, not sure why but bluestone gravel lined roads scare me, but they do.

Stage 3, was tight, dirty and hard to read as the roads blended into the bush. Tree bark and small tree limbs scattered on the road, I don’t actually remember much about this stage:) I'm sure it was fun though.

Stage 4, well an interesting stage, I finally got the onboard camera sorted, (thanks Col) and fired it up just before we took off only to find that the ‘you beaut’ remote mike which we had hooked up was feeding noise into our headsets!! We had all the noise from the mike, (somewhat foolishly mounted under the glove box) sending us amplified stones hitting metal along with some induction noise fed into our ears! It was like having a stethoscope on the sump guard, we could hear every little groan knock and clunk from everything; poor Nikki had to yell into the mike for me to hear anything at all. This aside a good little stage, bit rough in parts and some biggish rocks in the middle of the road now and then. We hit one of the rocks giving us a puncture about half way through the stage. It didn’t really make that much difference, just more tailey on left handers. Lots of Excelian groupies on that stage, Carnies on one corner with big smiles and waves, and then Grumblebum on the next with the Hyundai flag and waving so hard I could have sworn he had 4 arms. The hardest bit was getting out of the stage, gee-zuz! 10ks over lumps gutters and rocks, hard work.

Stage5 Noice! Back into racing around farmers boundaries; nice easy to see roads, patches of trees and more predictable corners and yumps! Now I know what a yump is; a short mound of dirt designed purely for photo opportunities in rallies (take a bow Simon http://www.pbase.com/hubblehubble/image/115147387 )
PS: I think we need some more rebound dampening in our shocks.

Stage 6: bloody great fun, again like driving around your uncles farm at night, (if you had an uncle with a farm; I didn’t, but I’m guessing that’s what it would be like) in and out clumps of trees, through gates, along cattle tracks, just good clean fun.

Stage 7 Wow, what a way to finish, left home at 6am it’s now about half 8 at night and just to test us a nice 29 odd k stage, (might have been less) down the side of a mountain with massive drops off one side and massive gutters and banks on the other, all topped off with bracken just high enough so you couldn’t see where the corner went or where the apex was. After a few corners of understeering we soon worked out it was one hand on the steering wheel, other up and down on the hand brake, wee wee wee all the way home. Got to capture a lovely bit of navigator driver banter on the incar on the way down, after about 20 minutes in a meek nav voice says, “I don’t like this stage much” which was met with an ever understanding husbands roar of laughter. Apparently all Nikk got to see was, bracken; side of mountain; bracken; side of mountain (rept for 20 min) as we slid sideways down the mountain, lots of concentration and, as usual, a massive relief to reach the finish of the stage and the rally.

After having a number of little off’s in the first rally of the year, (EGS) it has been good to go through Bega and George Derrick without any oopsies and not any cold sweat moments either, so on that note I’m happy that we seem to be getting better and taking less risks. Overall on the day we thought the rally was pretty rough and some long delays dragged the day out, but it is all forgotten once you finish. A massive well done to all the Excellians, especially to Simon on his first foray into the rally world, I’m sure all our thoughts are with him as he comes down from the high of the weekend and sinks into the inevitable depression that follows when he realises he has to wait a month before the next one!!

Also like to thank Nikk of course plus all the Excellians and Bendigo members who braved the whether to man closures and time controls so the rally could run.

Thanks to Jimbo for organising all the officials, well done!
Great pics John and John, they really did give you guys some good photo ops, love the reflections in the water, great work.:)
Tony

[Mooa42]

Just what was on the board at the end of the rally, (took a pic with my phone)
Not sure what happened to the rest of Kimberley's times

If anyone has any pics or vids they are happy to share please send me an e-mail
mooa42 at gmail dot com
cheers
Tony

[Mooa42]

Found this on youtube. A nice wrap of the Excels through the 3 speccy points


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSfykV3rWiA

[Mooa42]

Footage from a road closure towards the end of stage 3, not sure what happened to Pete n Sue's video; I gather they were either to fast or to quite.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epJ0jlADLyw[/QUOTE]

[simesays]

What a great way to spend a Saturday! I must confess the nerves were a little frayed with this being my first rally and all but as soon as we started all the nervousness disappeared and it was more about keeping it on the road and out of the trees which we did - until stage 4! :splat:
Everything up until that point had been good - some reasonable times and the car running like clockwork (unlike the 2 Escorts that expired on SS1!) and just enjoying my first rally! We managed to clip a fairly solid tree stump cleverly hidden under some brushy limbs - didn't expect that! One second we were facing the right direction and the next we were facing off into the wilderness stopped in the middle of the road... A quick inspection of the (cosmetic) damage and away again with the car and confidence a little dented... We managed to bend it in front of the Excel contingent buried up in the mountains - happy to provide the entertainment!
It was good to put the next stage in shortly thereafter, 'getting back on the horse' so to speak... Drive more smoothly, feels slower, was actually faster...Go figure!:wtf:
Back to service with plenty of interest in my panel modifications and then onto the night stages which thankfully, were pretty much incident free!
Now all we need to do is replace a couple of doors and repair a sill that are a little worse for wear before Begonia - car booked into the panel shop on Monday!
A big ThankYOU to all the Excel people who helped me get through my first rally, another big ThankYou to Tim Stuchbery for navving for a novice, another big ThankYou for John C for some more doors (I'll try to look after these ones!) and to Tony for picking up aforementioned doors and final Big ThankYou's to Terry and Matt for their work behind the scenes!
The Final Word!
Anyone with an inkling to get out there and have a go - just do it! No rally experience neccessary - I read this forum for far too long before making my competitive debut - get your car up to scratch and add improvements as you go! It really is the best fun you can have with your clothes on!:clap:
Begonia here we come! (hopefully)
Cheers Simon

[DaveTrees]

Drive more smoothly, feels slower, was actually faster...Go figure!:wtf:

You have just learned the most important rule of rally driving !!