The Rally in the Hastings

[HMCA]

I haven't seen the results but I believe it was

The Fazz
Fro
Team Hyundai
Whitey

We had a pretty clean run just a little slow when it mattered. The rain had made the stages very slippery and I think everyone was supprised that there were'nt more DNF's.

The organisers should of called it after the first stage as it was the only time we were in front:rofl:

The Hastings Valley Sporting car club put on a great rally and the roads would of been absolutely fantastic if it hadn't been so wet. They stood up really well to the 2 runs and it was a top effort to keep the event on. Thanks Guys and gals.

I would like to thank my team of helpers that gave up their long weekend so Harv and I could have a giggle. Thanks Col, Jack, Eliza, Mel, Steve, Wayne, Hev, Emmitt, Sophie. They guys really make it easy for us to compete and are always on hand before to ensure we get the best car to an event.:clap::hail:

Thanks also to my ever suffering wife Kylie who I think would rather see me in the back yard paving. Its pretty difficult bring the two kids to events but I do appreciate them being here and much to her dismay they both like rallying. Little does she know all the work is just to get point to go rallying!!!

Thanks to Harv for both his incar work and his out of car preparation. I know I'm slow but we had a pretty good laugh:rofl:

Congrats to Fazz and Andrew for a top result and I predicted Fro for a fine 2nd so that was a good effort too. We had no answers to Fazz so the plan was to have as much fun as we could with our pants on. Who said Excels arn't fun!!! The up hill stuff in the mud was a bit of a struggle but the 4 wheel drifts everywhere else were cool.

Thanks to all the teams supporters that make it possible for us to rally. Frank from Caldwells Auto Body Condell Park, Pete Muir from Bond, Dave Lonie from Infomedia, Robert Van Os from Eibach, Performance Wheels, Lumen Australia, Mobis Parts Aust and the many people at Hyundai that support us both knowingly and un knowingly Cheers

Finally Thanks to Series Sponsors Matt Pearce and Kevin Gavin from Racebrakes, Gary from Gary's Motorsport Tyres and Dave Thompson and Jim from Motorgraphics.

See ya at Taree!!

Mick

[Latho]

Well done lads! Just seen the results, good on ya again Glenn, just outside the top 10! And the Froster, setting a top 10 time (9th) on stage 7! :clap:

[Glenn]

I'll get this in first.....bloody top time in SS7 Fro! A brilliant way to get an Excel stage win on the most difficult stage in a bloody difficult rally.


Hastings was a great event. Really challenging and a heap of fun too. It was a great introduction to the word of Excels for Andrew Crowley who was sitting in the Nav's seat for the first time in an Excel....we may just have coverted him :)

After Lithgow and Rally of Canberra I had a fair amount of work to do to the car and only 1 weekend free to do it in....but we made it to the start, just.

SS1 was Old Highway. 5km of quick, Excel-friendly roads. I remembered that the start of the stage was basically flat out. So I kept it nailed for the first couple of km and it resulted in some lovely 3rd-gear slides. Heaps-o-fun. 13th fastest and only a few seconds off 7th.

SS2 and SS3 were not so Excel-friendly. A bit tight and twisty and SS3 had quite a lot of uphill and it was SLIPPERY. We were back to first gear on a lot of occasions. Oh well, at least all of the Excels were in the same boat. Unfortunately, the tripmeter decided to go on the blink for these two stages, but Andrew was all over it like a fat kid on a Smartie and it hardly affected us. Top job mate. :clap:

Service: The tripmeter was miraculously working again so it was a basic clean and check.

SS4. A monster 41km of tricky, twisty muddiness...but it was still fun. The tripmeter got crook again...but again Andrew was up to the task. Had lots of big slides.

Service: As above. The tripmeter started working again towards the end of SS4 and was then OK for the rest of the day :confused:

SS5 and SS6. Basically a repeat of SS3 and SS4 with a few variations. Was slipperier and therefore even less Excel friendly....but still fun. The road surface was really hard to read in the dark, which made for some interesting, shrubbery-scaring moments Managed to stuff up the only spectator point that the service crew managed to get to....I better get that in-car camera installed so at least you can see what's going on out there.

Service: Nice and simple standard service and we were off for the last two stages.

SS7: A shortened version of SS4, only a trifling 30km. We took it a little easier this time as we had a lead of about 3 minutes in Excels and the road was even more slippery than the first time...and then, at about half way through, every time I hit the brakes and locked them up it got dark.....very dark indeed. Not the best thing when there's a !!!RGR up ahead. We were running on the alternator only and it was also stuffing up the tripmeter, maplight and intercom. But as before Andrew just took it all in his stride and it didn't cost us much time at all.

SS8: A blast up Old highway in the reverse direction. Much fun, but I was aware that a spin and stall would end our day, so was keeping it a bit tidy.

A great day. One of the best!

Congrats to everyone who finished. It was an achievement to get to the end. Commiserations to Andei. It seemed that he had a minor drama at the start of SS4 that stopped him. Bummer.

Huge thanks to all of the officials who stood out in the rain all day so we could have some fun. I hope you got some good entertainment.

The service crew did an amazing job and their committment is astounding. Cruising up from Canberra to hang out, twirl spanners and organise some free accommodation! Thanks Aaron and Matt. What a team!

Thanks to Wayne for his relentless support! Doing this rally thing would almost impossible without the countless hours he puts in to help us and lots of other people too.

Thanks to Matt and Kev at Racebrakes Sydney for your continued support. The Excels are really getting noticed and your support is helping raise the profile of the series and rallying in general.

Finally, thanks to Jess and Aurora for all your love and support. That was a loooooong weekend for everyone :)

Bring on Taree.......Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....Knodingbul!!!!!!!

Cheers

Glenn

[Glenn]

Provisional results here (taken from Kam's post on BMSC).

[Whitey]

:clap:Congratulations to Glenn on a fantastic drive and also to Fro, who saved his good driving for the stages... after a dodgy hand brake turn at the start control of SS 5 put him into a ditch.:oops:

I think everyone who went to the rallyschool.com.au practice day last month benefited at PMQ from the experience greatly.

As for my event, started off pretty well with a nice blat down the old Highway. Hit the red clay on the fish line and went into the scrubbery briefly much to the delight of the controllies.

Had a pretty uneventful day, but never really felt confident, however felt like i did inprove my speed with every stage.

Had one big spin where we ended up going backwards down the road at about 60km/h and a number of huge drifts and sideways moments from which somehow there was enough lock and power to recover.

However it all came undone on the last stage.
:slap:The last corner before the turn onto the old highway, i must have been thinking about the beer already:cheers: and came in a bit hot and ended up with a stump embedded in the front of the car nicely under the lightpod. Thankfully the Automotive Gadgets patented sump guard had taken the bulk of the impact.

Fortunately my service crew and other spectators were on hand to extract the car. Somehow the radiator didn't get holed and we were able to continue to the finish, a little embarrassed.

Thanks to Hamish, Craig & Jason for Servicing and Paul Bailey for Naving and words of czautiona/encouragement.

[fro]

Well, I think I've found the lurve.

Had a good run, I don't really count the results from the last two stages, but to be getting close to Fazz on SS5 (one second behind) gives me some hope that the improvement is coming.

Had a couple of goose moments as Whitey mentioned, but had a good run, and am loving the camaraderie and friendship within the Excel circles. It's great to be competing with all the guys here in NSW, all friendly and helpful and full of good cheer.

Fazz is still a bit down the track... the gap is now narrowing to 1.3 secs/kilometre. The battle with Mick and Harc was great fun, and the guys are great to be around.

Got some "upgrades" being planned, but really just looking forward to competing against you all again at Taree. I'm hoping that we see the re-emergence of Crazy Dave, that Haggers is back in form, and that everyone else is there and ready to bounce off the rev limiter.

And as mentioned in other releases, thanks to Race Brakes Sydney for getting behind the series, and Gary's Motorsport Tyres for their support, as well as Hyundai Australia.

[Limping Lantra]

Hi guys

We have some photos of the rally of the excels. Let us know an email address if you're interested in a copy

[Whitey]

Hi Bruce,
Do you have any Pics of car 29 or nice action shots of other Excels i can use for an event report for the news page.

[Andrei]

Some people don’t believe in numbers. Lucky them. I do.
In 2006 we had a DNF at the third round of the season.
In 2007 we had a DNF at the third round of the season.
PMQ was a third round of 2008. On top of that, it was my 13th rally overall.

That is why I was not surprised when car failed scrutineering with “excessive play in the strut top, strut and wheel bearings”. At least the tyre did not have a play on the rim :mad: We had until the next morning to rectify the issue. With the help of mighty Harv, all was done in less than an hour in a very efficient manner :clap:

First three stages went OK, I was driving very cautiously and only left the road once with the minor hit to the rear bumper. Service as usual, and to the start of long stage.

About 1k into the stage we passed Cullens with the front wheels bogged. We only went 200m or so past them and the engine lost power on uphill. It was idling OK, on low and high revs, but unable to move the car a bit – even a smallest clutch release stalled it. We removed the fuel pressure regulator to confirm the fuel rail was getting the fuel, which it did. The pressure regulator itself was possible cause – looked like pressure was too low, or possibly one of manifold electrics failed - MAF sensor disconnection did not change the symptoms and was the suspect #2. Fuel pump was excluded from list, and that was a mistake…

Cullens finally recovered and whizzed past, we ran out of late time, and the engine died completely, now unable to start at all.

Pip, who was doing the time control and stage check, towed us to the nearest road closure and we went with him in his Rodeo to the absolutely fascinating show called “Shoo cow, shoo” to get rid of the cows in preparation for the stage re-run. There have been six cows reported, we quickly found five of them wondering along the road. One escaped to the bush, but the remaining four were driven along by shouting, smacking with the stick and honking. Pip looked like the Indian chasing the buffalos and was right on the job. Then the road went downhill and the cows started galloping. (Just like in excel, downhill performance was brilliant). How I wished I had a camera! We followed them to the next big road closure and sent them on their way home. Then we got back, found a fifth cow, got her onto the road, but she turned out to be limping, all attempts to get her move faster were fruitless, and we all had 15 or so bothering minutes idling on second low gear following her to the intersection. Two more runs along the road did not bring the sight of the last animal and we went back to the stage start, where Pip towed dead Excel back to the start control. In the process we snapped our tow rope, which should have been able to tow much bigger car, but has not been used for a while and must have rotten. Pip’s one was short, but strong and did the job.

We spent next two hours chatting to Pip and Paula and their kids, continuing to troubleshoot the dead Excel and watching the SS7 start. Then Brad and Anthony came to rescue with a trailer and took us back to the farm.
“Try to start it tomorrow” they said. I sure will. Battery was charged overnight and it was back in the car at 7 a.m. I put power straight to the fuel pump and tried to start the car.

It started.

It worked for 10 seconds or so, just enough for me to say all swear words in Russian. Then it stopped. I let the fuel pump to run a bit and started the engine again. Same story – worked 10 seconds and stopped. Check engine light was not coming on so must be fuel pressure. Pulled the pump out – it had supply pipe broken, hose held against the hole by the bracket, so some fuel was getting to the engine, but barely enough to keep it live for a few seconds. Quick sprint to the town, where Whitey kindly donated his spare pump, and Excel was back to normal before our checkout time.

Barry the farm owner was very supportive (not to say distractive) through the whole repair process. He then proudly showed me his 1919 Bentley in the garage. Which, I admit, looked much more presentable then the excel! (Wikipedia says first Bentley was made in 1921, but who cares. The car was almost a century old, and I doubt any excel can survive that). Farm duties do conflict with restoration process, but the car is driveable and Barry is using it occasionally.

It was a time to fill up excel and go back home. As we retired early, both cans returned almost full from the service. Cans were exactly where we left them last night – between the garage and rubbish bins. The bag with nozzles was nowhere in sight though.

-Barry, did you see the white plastic bag around?
-I put it in the bin for you, mate. You must have dropped it last night.

This is not what I want to hear. The bloody rubbish truck left just 10 minutes ago. The bin was sure empty. Kiss goodbye to two nozzles. Lesson learnt.
Luckily, there was enough petrol in the Excel to get to Kew.

End of story.

Thank you to rally organizers and officials, excellent job and very smooth running. Great effort!
Special thanks to Harv, Wayne and Colin for mechanical help, Mick and Co for barbie,
Pip and Paula for recovery, coffee and entertaining, Brad and Anthony for towing and Whitey for lending a spare pump.

Until next time.

[shabby]

Ahh Andrei was that Pip Slade, if so you have met a local rally legend. Great guy and a brilliant driver, has made many a $WD look crap, take in what he said he is a champ.


Bugger about the DNF.

Shab

[haggers]

Some people don’t believe in numbers. Lucky them. I do.
In 2006 we had a DNF at the third round of the season.
In 2007 we had a DNF at the third round of the season.
PMQ was a third round of 2008. On top of that, it was my 13th rally overall.

That is why I was not surprised when car failed scrutineering with “excessive play in the strut top, strut and wheel bearings”. At least the tyre did not have a play on the rim :mad: We had until the next morning to rectify the issue. With the help of mighty Harv, all was done in less than an hour in a very efficient manner :clap:

First three stages went OK, I was driving very cautiously and only left the road once with the minor hit to the rear bumper. Service as usual, and to the start of long stage.

About 1k into the stage we passed Cullens with the front wheels bogged. We only went 200m or so past them and the engine lost power on uphill. It was idling OK, on low and high revs, but unable to move the car a bit – even a smallest clutch release stalled it. We removed the fuel pressure regulator to confirm the fuel rail was getting the fuel, which it did. The pressure regulator itself was possible cause – looked like pressure was too low, or possibly one of manifold electrics failed - MAF sensor disconnection did not change the symptoms and was the suspect #2. Fuel pump was excluded from list, and that was a mistake…

Cullens finally recovered and whizzed past, we ran out of late time, and the engine died completely, now unable to start at all.

Pip, who was doing the time control and stage check, towed us to the nearest road closure and we went with him in his Rodeo to the absolutely fascinating show called “Shoo cow, shoo” to get rid of the cows in preparation for the stage re-run. There have been six cows reported, we quickly found five of them wondering along the road. One escaped to the bush, but the remaining four were driven along by shouting, smacking with the stick and honking. Pip looked like the Indian chasing the buffalos and was right on the job. Then the road went downhill and the cows started galloping. (Just like in excel, downhill performance was brilliant). How I wished I had a camera! We followed them to the next big road closure and sent them on their way home. Then we got back, found a fifth cow, got her onto the road, but she turned out to be limping, all attempts to get her move faster were fruitless, and we all had 15 or so bothering minutes idling on second low gear following her to the intersection. Two more runs along the road did not bring the sight of the last animal and we went back to the stage start, where Pip towed dead Excel back to the start control. In the process we snapped our tow rope, which should have been able to tow much bigger car, but has not been used for a while and must have rotten. Pip’s one was short, but strong and did the job.

We spent next two hours chatting to Pip and Paula and their kids, continuing to troubleshoot the dead Excel and watching the SS7 start. Then Brad and Anthony came to rescue with a trailer and took us back to the farm.
“Try to start it tomorrow” they said. I sure will. Battery was charged overnight and it was back in the car at 7 a.m. I put power straight to the fuel pump and tried to start the car.

It started.

It worked for 10 seconds or so, just enough for me to say all swear words in Russian. Then it stopped. I let the fuel pump to run a bit and started the engine again. Same story – worked 10 seconds and stopped. Check engine light was not coming on so must be fuel pressure. Pulled the pump out – it had supply pipe broken, hose held against the hole by the bracket, so some fuel was getting to the engine, but barely enough to keep it live for a few seconds. Quick sprint to the town, where Whitey kindly donated his spare pump, and Excel was back to normal before our checkout time.

Barry the farm owner was very supportive (not to say distractive) through the whole repair process. He then proudly showed me his 1919 Bentley in the garage. Which, I admit, looked much more presentable then the excel! (Wikipedia says first Bentley was made in 1921, but who cares. The car was almost a century old, and I doubt any excel can survive that). Farm duties do conflict with restoration process, but the car is driveable and Barry is using it occasionally.

It was a time to fill up excel and go back home. As we retired early, both cans returned almost full from the service. Cans were exactly where we left them last night – between the garage and rubbish bins. The bag with nozzles was nowhere in sight though.

-Barry, did you see the white plastic bag around?
-I put it in the bin for you, mate. You must have dropped it last night.

This is not what I want to hear. The bloody rubbish truck left just 10 minutes ago. The bin was sure empty. Kiss goodbye to two nozzles. Lesson learnt.
Luckily, there was enough petrol in the Excel to get to Kew.

End of story.

Thank you to rally organizers and officials, excellent job and very smooth running. Great effort!
Special thanks to Harv, Wayne and Colin for mechanical help, Mick and Co for barbie,
Pip and Paula for recovery, coffee and entertaining, Brad and Anthony for towing and Whitey for lending a spare pump.

Until next time.


Andrei

That's a Pulitzer Prize winning story !! Pity about the fuel pump.

How wet was it? I had the impression from comments on BMSC in the lead up that they'd had some rain but it was just "dust settling" Sounds more like a quagmire.

Haggers

[Andrei]

I had the impression from comments on BMSC in the lead up that they'd had some rain but it was just "dust settling"
Haggers

That was a marketing trick to lure people in :)
After 3 stages door numbers were unreadable.
I will weigh my wheels before washing them to see how much clay (and it will be dry clay!) we had on them!

[Ned's Perspective]

That was a marketing trick to lure people in :)
After 3 stages door numbers were unreadable.
I will weigh my wheels before washing them to see how much clay (and it will be dry clay!) we had on them!

We had that much mud in the rims or the Carey Evo that it bent one of the brake nipples over!!

[fro]

I know I wasn't alone in thinking we had a flat or tyre going down, only to get back to service to take quite a few kilos of mud out of the rear rims.

Still, those sort of events you learn heaps about driving the car (as Fazz pointed out I would). Bring on Taree. Cowboy.

[Andrei]

I will weigh my wheels before washing them to see how much clay (and it will be dry clay!) we had on them!

A pair of real wheels is 3.5kg lighter after removing DRIED mud. And we only did 3 stages...
Two fronts had just under 2 kilos.