Rally of Lithgow

[HMCA]

This is my first dnf Bugger!!! Bugger!!! Bugger!!!

I'll start with the thankyou's

Most importantly the Scary Cannary and his entire band of helpers that put on a event that was by far better organised than the ARC events that have been run in this state over the last few years, well done and thankyou!!!:clap:

Harv, Wayne, Col for the pre-event preparation which saw a few late nights in the garage giving the Excel a bit of a birthday.

Wayne, Col, Steve and Jack for servicing on the weekend at probably the coldest service park, great job and thanks for coming and getting us out of the forest:clap:

Our respective families that allow us to play and keep us fed and look after the kids.

The notes bit

This was the first time either of us had done notes and when we hadn't taken notice of the changes in Bindo it looked like this was totally out of our league but once we got back on the program and delected the page and a bit out things were back on track. The poor Trashcan copped a hiding in the tough stuff including the transports. Its quite fun being sideways in 2 tonne of 4wd.

The fast bit

Stage one went OK, how good was the first couple of Km's in the fast stuff.

Stage 2 started pretty funny with us going in pretty deep at the spectator point and sending rocks and a few spectators flying. Harv thought is was pretty funny that I was looking at him going "how good was that!!!" as we ran up the gutter out of the corner. We also snapped the bolt on the back of the bash plate after hitting a big rock.

Stage 3 was going well, had a bit of a tank slapper that Harv missed and though we had a flat. I told him it was just me having a moment.

The boys changed the lower control arm bracket that we use to mount the bash plate at the long service and we headed off to stage 5. Things were going pretty good and we were commiting more the the 8's and 9's and not backing off. About 16 kms in we had a bit of a heavy landing over one of the jumps and lost power, the car would crank but no spark. Then the battery went flat and in the dark with no torch our rally was over. When the boy's arrived in the light they found that the ECU wire that runs through the battery cutoff switch at came off (we probably would of found that if we had some light but at least its an easy fix)

The funnist thing I was on the rally was after walking to the top of the hill to try and get service on the phone I walked back to see Harv sitting on top of the engine(Bum on rocker cover-feet on radiator) trying to keep warm. fark it was cold!!!

Congrats to Glenn on a fine result- becoming a father has just made you quicker:mad::rofl:

Cheers Mick

[Matty C]

Congrates to Glenn!:clap:

Commiserations Mick - I know what it's like to stop in the Lithgow with no battery power. :headbang:

I had a fairly good run - though fark it was rough. I have to get a filling replaced tomorrow!

Had an absolute ball on the notes. I was a little concerned after recce, with a cut left front - thought I might have gone through a few more tyres in the rally.

1st stage was only 4 seconds off Whitey, lost some time with an off on stage 2 on a 3 right, and some more time on stage 3 with a pirouette on a 6 left.

Ben on the other hand got lost a few times, where the notes seemd to 'not be there' - might repay the favour next week at ROC for him :potstir: But we were not the only ones to experience this. :confused:

Heading into the night stages, buttoned off & went into conservation mode, still I managed to bend my sump gaurd on stage 8 on a bloody big rock at the top of a hump. Managed to finish 14th outright and 4th excel, though the amount of cars that did not finish, that was half the battle.

Thanks to Ben for helping with the car prep and telling me where to go occassionally, the scary cannary for putting on a good event (i am already praying to the rally gods for a smooth one next year!) and to all the officials who braved the warmth of Lithgow.

[haggers]

I will put up various video footage on the www.thebeastofbondi.com in the next day or two.

I arrived at the Gum Valley Road speccy point as Fro approached at warp factor 20. Speccies scattered . Fro got round leaving two long tram tracks from the fahsionably late braking.

Haggers

[Whitey]

After a last minute scare when my Nav bailed on the Wednesday before the event, Paul Bailey agreed to jump in, which was fantastic given his experience on notes.

Arrived in Lithgow on Friday and went to have a look at the media day. I signed my life away and went for a ride with The Guillotine. It was interesting to observe the difference in car setup and driving style.

Recce'd the two smooth stages on Friday. Finished recce on Saturday. Pretty happy with the notes.

Lost a lot of time on stage 1, just wasn't committed to the notes. Managed to hit a huge hump way to fast burying the front of the sump guard in the dirt. Lost about 40 seconds to fro and Guillotine. Fazz had already blazed off into the distance.

Got into the swing of it better on stage 2 taking a bit of time back off fro and not far behind the factory car.

Stages 3 & 4 i felt like i was getting into the swing of the notes, no real dramas except a massive overshoot on a THL downhill and managing to avoid big lump of log that had been dragged onto the road in stage 3.

Stage 5 saw Mick & Harv stopped after the killer hump with electrical drama. Bummer Guys. Near the stage end I went into a left 3 with a gutter a bit quick, bottomed the suspension & popped the strut top spherical bearing which made the steering very heavy.

Stage 6 attacked it a bit and took some time back off Fro. We had managed to pull the gap to Fro back to 28 seconds.

We decided (as Brocky would have said) to have a red hot go on stage 7 to see if we could continue to claw back some more time. All was going well unti about half way thru, we ran wide, riding up a wall of death, knocking over a couple of pine sapplings. Fourtunately nothing bent and we continued on. The scare had its effect and we cruised to the stage end. Fro was now 45 seconds in front and out of reach with one 10km stage to go.

On stage 8 my heart wasn't in it and we were cruising for a finish, That didn't stop us hitting a couple of large rocks. One which split a wheel between two spokes (somehow the tyre stayed up) and the second passed under the car, hitting the floor under my backside so hard i expected to find the rock in the car at stage end. It did manage to rip the muffler off the rubbers as it passed out the back.

In summary;

I loved pace notes and the greater commitment you can make using them. All state rallies should use them.
Enjoyed swapping times all day with Fro, but look out Fazz and Crazy Dave when he gets a twin cam.
There were some fantastic roads but also some crap ones with giant rocks dragged onto the line.
I was very happy with my speed at night relative to day. Probably the notes helped.
The rally luv returned after Thursday Recce.Thanks again to Paul Bailey for calling the notes, Craig for servicing and Haggers for loan of the incar. (if i could just remember to turn it on.)

[Crazy Dave]

found some photos. will post more when i get more time

http://picasaweb.google.com/Dave.rally/Rally?pli=1&gsessionid=lS7IqZObc9BoTiVjwkUTRA#5248305498385254 690

edit: didn't work, dam wil get back to it soon