RMV 2010 , NSW round 3

[ae86trueno]

What a fantastic rally, but gee the little Excel felt like a snail going up the hill. Mathew drove well within his limits as we knew we had to at least get a result after our gearbox failure while leading at Lithgow put us well and truely behind the 8 ball in the Excel series. SS1 was cancelled due to the rain but
SS2 was fantastic still and one of the best roads in the country, we really needed more legs to set a good time. We lost a little time as we caught Adrian with a couple of K's to go. SS3 was very slippry with a few moments and a small off in the slushy stuff, but we didnt hit anything and were able to continue with only 15 seconds lost, an open diff was not fun.
SS4 was back to the fun stuff again a nice stretch of flat out road, with SS5 a quick run down the hill, with all the rain the grip was still fantastic.
The repeat of SS2 showed there was really nothing left in the Excel as we were only 4 seconds quicker on the rerun, but still a fantastic bit of road, we just both wished we had the power of the Evo.
With SS7 and 8 canned It was a bit hairy on the last stage as there was a delay and the weather opened up while we were waiting around, and it bucketed down for most of the stage, I made a nav error and missed a call , but Mathew backed it in to wash off speed and a 3 point turn to get going cost a bucket load of time but fortunatly no car damage done. We had built enough buffer to the other Excel's as to not loose any spots but did give away one overall spot from it.

So the Excel's finished with Mathew and I winning, 1st P2 and 8th outright :clap:
Dave and Kate second and great drive by Ryan McShane in third in only his second rally, Kornel and Lila finished 4th, with Adrian struggling for grip in 5th.

Thanks To RallySchool for their support of the NSW Excel Rally Series.

Ben.

[kornel]

Congrats Matt&Ben! it was great driving!
For us it was a bit different:
SS2: slow slow slow with my typical problem - too early braking on the straights.
SS3: better but still not much fun - we need new set of lights or different globes...I think we collected there a small concrete(or plastic?) pole with the side of our car - not even a scratch!
SS4: we hit a rock when cutting corner, I wasn't sure about the wheel and the tyre, drove last 4kms slow and lost confidence.
SS5: great stage! loved it! unfortunatelly we met car 18 on the roof and had some emergency stuff - as far as I know guys are OK but it looked scary!

after this we had service break when we couldn't find our service crew - I think they were hunting some squirrels in the forest but they saying sth different:)

SS6: second time this "lovely" stage - a bit slippery and I drove way way too careful and we lost so much time there.
SS9: finally I got upset about my driving and pushed hard and enjoyed it so so much-looks like I like stages without straight roads, just corner to corner action - time was good but McShane was quicker and to be honest I am so happy we have someone new and so quick! for me it is a big motivation!
Lila done a great job - no mistakes but we lost her light inside the car, couldnt fix it so she had to use a torch... - poor Lila:)
And for sure we need the HOLE in the roof - had to use an air con few times bcoz couldnt see a thing!
Very nice rally, not much time to get from 1 stage to another one (luckily we didnt meet anyone there going opposite way on the gravel...), I loved David Roberts face when he tried to understand my accent when we spoke in the tavern:) .
Another lesson this time: get a pro lights and be brave on the straights:)

Cheers
Kornel&Lila

[mcshaner]

So its my turn...

The week before: Spent installing the new brake system. We made the splits go front and back, and put in a hydraulic handbrake, didn't get a chance to test it.

That morning: Was up at 5.30 to finish off the car, then Murphey's law dictates that the stupid car wouldn't start, we literally pushed it onto the trailer, got to the event with 30 mins to push the trailer into scrutineering. Then had to get it running, a big thanks here goes to Chris Giddons for giving up his prep time to help us get the car started.

SS2: After setting the bias for the brakes in the first transport it was a little taily, but went really well, i could actually turn the car in with the brakes this time. Had fun but the long hills were draining...that little excel was on the limiter in second the entire way up. Had no torque...

SS3: Holy hell was it wet and unpredictable...just drove to get to the finish...good fun and very technical, but so unpredictable...

SS4: I remembered about the very slippery bridges when i hit one (i think it was the second one, during a right hand turn) and went along this bridge at 90 degrees to the bridge, and off the other side...around the next left and there was a commodore that did the same thing, but it has a bit longer wheelbase than the excel, poor guy...

SS5: Was the first car to get held up because of the roll...it was going well until i nearly didn't make a corner, then Shannon got a little nervous watching the posts next to the last cattle grid coming very close too him...

SS6: The skies opened up and made the roads unpredictable...but it was good fun.

SS9: I don't know what happened in this stage but god damn...we just had grip everywhere and everything just worked...we pulled into the finish and got told to roll back and forth a bit...our discs where glowing red...we just pushed so hard in that stage, it was unbelievable.

Congrats to Matt and Ben for winning...well done, you guys are just so fast.

Shan and I were so ecstatic with the result...we couldn't believe it.

Kornel...thankyou, but i still have a lot to learn...i need to get more confidence in 3rd and 4th gears...having only done khanacross's before, there is a lot to learn...

[Adrian Coppin]

A rally i would rather forget:( well done to the Cullens top drive very fast:clap:

Struggled all night with grip and then a mystery vibration, so decided to just make sure i brought it home in one piece, mission achieved, well done to everyone one else good to see a good showing of excels.

Thanks to my service crew who came along and did the 1400km in 72hrs :clap:

See you all at Narooma

[Automotive Gadgets]

I went up and serviced for Kornel and Layla as well as Rob Inall in the Commodore. For the 1st time in ages I went spectating and as a result ended up turning up late to service. Sorry Kornel! Managed to see Crazy Dave and Matt Cullen through the spectator point (80km round trip from Mt.George) both looked clean, tidy and fast. Thanks to Rick Gray who helped Kornel out with the re-fuel in my absence.
I spent a considerable chunk of my night in the forest recovering Ari's Commodore after axle failure so didn't make it back to the pub till stupid o'clock in the morning. This meant I didn't get to catch up with an of the Excel people so hope to see a few of you at the Rallyschool training day in July.

Bean