25th September 2011 - Patriot Rally

17/18th June 2011 - Rally of the Midlands

 Picture taken by Mark Simms 

• Organisers: Streetley Motor Club   
• Venue: Argents Mead, Bramcote Barracks, Merevale, Arbury, Higham MIRA and Lindley MIRA. 
• Competitors: 92
• Stages: 24       Stage Mileage 82      Road Miles 124

The Rally of the Midlands is one of our favourite events, having led on two occasions and finished 3^rd overall on our first attempt in 2007. We were overnight leaders on the first day in 2008, then in 2009 we retired with a broken propshaft whilst leading. We missed the event last year (due to being in-between cars).

This year’s event was again a two day format, however the entry was far greater than we have experienced before on this rally due to it being a round of the REIS MSA Asphalt Championship.

Last years winner Damian Cole (Ford Focus wrc) led the field away from the town centre start in Hinckley for the first of six stages to be run on the Friday evening. 

The first stage was Argents Mead a very short blast or should I say ‘Autotest’ around the car park in front of the council offices. Two years ago we actually beat the bogey time here but this year’s course was much tighter but none the less we set a time of 37 seconds which to our delight was fastest so at least we were leading the event after SS1.

Stages 2 and 3 were around the barracks at Bramcote, again another of our favourite venues, and Gary didn’t disappoint the crowds as we attempted to stay on top of the times sheets.

The first run through included a few small errors pushing very hard with 5^th quickest time, then an improvement on the second left us in 4^th spot.

The next two stages were at Arbury, a stately home stage with the usual mix of narrow roads, speed bumps, cattle grids and a hump back bridge. With the changeable conditions we were very cautious and dropped to 7^th before the final run back at Argents mead where we again set the fastest time of 37 seconds.  

Unfortunately SS3 times were cancelled due to timing issues and as we had set a good time there we now dropped to 9^th overall.

Day two started at 06:50 as we left Parc Ferme and headed for a quick ten minute service before the mornings first pair of stages again at Bramcote Barracks.

The weather was looking again changeable so we opted to stay on the Inters we had used the previous evening. This first loop would see us out for nearly 4 hours, doing 32 stage miles, over 9 stages at 4 different venues, so tyre choice was a lottery with the unpredictable weather!

No reseeding for day two so we were still 7^th on the road, David Hardie was the overnight leader in his Subaru.

Gary and I wanted to try and close the 38 seconds gap so threw caution to the wind and really attacked the Bramcote pair, however the conditions there were much dryer than expected but we still managed a 2^nd and 3^rd fastest times.

We were only bettered by Steve Simpson who had now taken the lead from Simon Mauger. Hardie who had spun in the first stage was 3rd. Damian Cole forth, John Indri in his Darrian was fifth, Iain Pritchard who won this event in 2008 was next, then us.

SS9 and SS10 were at Arbury and again we attacked hard with a big jump over the hump back bridge, leaving the stages still in 7^th.

SS11 was a new 2 mile stage at Mira using the high speed straight and banking. John Stone in his ex works Skoda Fabia wrc unfortunately had his engine let go, possibly something to do with one of the straights being nearly a mile long, we ourselves were flat in sixth for over ten seconds.

Only 2 seconds slower than the leaders we jumped Hardie into 6^th.

Next up was a pair of 8.7 milers in Mira itself which included the handling circuit and again some banked curves. Two miles in we came across a chicane with a destroyed hay bale and then half a mile later saw the retired Darian of  John Indri who had damaged his radiator on said hay bale! This moved us up to 5^th.

When we finished the stage we then came across Simpsons stricken Subaru with a broken alternator belt. So now we had jumped to 4^th overall.

We were also in trouble as we had no rubber on the tyres left, whilst pushing hard in the earlier stages we had worn out our Inters. We had prayed for some rain to dampen the stages a little but the early morning sun and wind had dried everything up, and now with no grip we prayed that the rain would stay away, but no, on our way to the final pair of stages it rained. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for us as they were through Merevale, another stately home which is very tricky at the best of times. We lost about ten seconds a stage but still managed to remain in 4^th as we headed back to service for a well earned cuppa.

After only a 30 minute Service we were back on our way for the middle loop of 7 stages feeling good with our achievements and now with some new rubber this time soft Slicks we were hopeful of consolidating our position and maybe push for a podium.

Back to Bramcote this time the stages reversed and another pair of cracking times. We equalled 2nd fastest time with Cole on the first and then quickest on the next, one second ahead of Cole and three off Mauger!

No Arbury this time so straight into Mira with the short stage first and again we were quickest equalling Maugers time and taking 5 off Cole.  This was achieved despite taking an unintended massive jump over the 1 in 3 ramp and landing the Corolla heavily nose first. With no time to get out and check the car we went straight into the pair of 8.5 milers with one eye on the temperature gauges. Here Mauger and Cole were able to stretch their legs and increase their lead whilst we matched the times set by Pritchard who maintained a 50 second margin.

Two more runs through Merevale safely saw us again heading back to Service.

Our luck ran out here as the Toyota suddenly started to lose power and cough and splutter along the road section and with about 3 miles to go the Corolla stopped with the ‘read out’ saying low fuel pressure. We changed pumps fired it back up and got about half a mile before the same happened again.

We played around for a bit trying to work out what the problem was checking all the fuses etc.

I jumped out to direct the traffic around our stricken car as it was on a busy main road with Gary frantically trying to resolve the problem.

A faulty wire to the pumps in the rear near the fuel tank was to blame, and now we had a race on our hands to get it sorted and get back to service as we were already several minutes into our lateness. We clocked in at 14 minutes and 20 seconds; phew we had made it just in time.

There had been a few stoppages earlier in the day so the organisers reduced this Service to 20 minutes, so everything was a bit of a rush to get us back out on time. The boys worked wonders with tyre changes and refuelling, whilst Rob checked over for any damage we may have done from our earlier flying experience. Penny and Tracy fed and watered Gary and I, and soon we were on our way for the final two stages back at Mira. A delay before the first of these allowed me to check the regulations to see if there was to be any penalties for our lateness. I then had to break the news to Gary that the lateness on this event was only ten minutes instead of the usual fifteen.

Our game plan was to carry on because of all the earlier delays on the event, we were hopeful that the road penalties would be scrapped. This happens on a lot of events and in any case you continue until told otherwise. We had a good lead over 5^th place and no real chance of catching the car in front so decided to just get through this pair without risking all and see what happens later.

We were 5^th quickest on the first run through, but half way through the final stage we punctured the rear offside tyre. It thankfully stayed on the rim and we managed the finish line dropping around 40 seconds. We changed the wheel before driving the final 8 mile road section back to the Ceremonial Finish.

We had finished 4^th overall, won our class and were 3^rd in the MSA Championship. We then headed back to Service and Rally HQ to await the official results; however our hearts sank with the news that we had indeed gone OTL.

A bitterly disappointing end to a hard fought tough rally, but the one consolation was that we left with the knowledge that we can mix it with the ‘big guns.

Our next event will be the Event Signs Mewla Rally over the Epynt Ranges where we again hope to perform well against our Championship rivals.

Paul Hollingham 

28th May 2011 - Launch Motorsport Stages

Picture by EDP Photography

• Organisers:  Enthusiasts Motor Club of Stonehouse (Emcos)  
• Venue: Down Ampney, Gloucestershire
• Competitors: 60
• Stages: 10       Stage Mileage 68

Back at Down Ampney Airfield for this years Launch Motorsport Stages, a venue Gary and I know well having won here previously. Last year however we broke the Celica’s gear box whilst leading so were back to try and regain our crown.

Early morning drizzle and low cloud was our only concerns as we went through scrutineering at 6am. By 8.20 we left the service crew to put on our tyre choice as we headed to pre event briefing. We were running at Car 2 so had little time to warm the car ready for our 8.42 due time.

Although it was constantly raining it was only fine drizzle which left the predominantly concrete surface damp and not wet so we chose very soft inters. From experience this venue is extremely slippery when went so a softer suspension was set before we headed of to the first stage. The stages were run in pairs with the first being 5.5 miles and one split junction.

Last years winner Matt Green in his Subaru led the field away with us starting 30 seconds later. A cautious start was planned as this event was really a shake down for the forth coming Rally of the Midlands and to see if the flat shift and water injections problems had been cured.

All was going well, until braking for a square left the car was slowing nicely down through the gears till about ten metres before the junction the car suddenly aquaplaned straight on into a one ton hay bale guarded by pallets and tyres. The Corolla just ploughed through this head on and stalled. It fired up and we were on our way again watching the temperatures but thankfully all seemed okay.

Once through the split junction we came out behind Rob Dennis in his potent mk2 Escort who was clearly struggling in the conditions with only rear wheel drive. With four wheel drive we were able to use our extra grip to go past Rob as he moved over to the left side to let us past, however we were already making a pass on that side and to avoid an accident we had to brake hard a swerve to miss putting the Corolla into a slide with the rear of the car in the bushes. Gary managed to hang on to it and both cars made the chicane intact. Rob graciously then let us pass before the next corner with no more dramas.

We obviously didn’t think we’d done very well on the first stage but were actually pleased to find ourselves in 2^nd place only two seconds behind Mark Ellis in his Subaru with Matt Green in 3^rd place one second behind.

The drizzle had stopped and started to wind dry the stage, so we opted for a safe option and stayed with the same settings and tyres. Again Mark went quicker this time by only one second to keep a slender three second lead. Matt was ten seconds slower, so looked as if it was going to be a two horse race. The next pair of stages were longer at seven miles each. Gary decided to have a push on the next one as it was much dryer. We stayed again on the inters which was a good choice as ¾’s of a way through the stage we had actually caught and over taken Car 1. The stage had gone really well everything was working on the car with the driver happy with the settings and the grip level, this was until the last set of corners a square right into a square left, hand brake into the first to set the car up for the square left and the car just went straight on, so had to select reverse. This allowed Car 1 to regain his position and with around 15 seconds lost and more importantly all our hard work had been lost. To our surprise we were still 2^nd fastest again and had only lost 4 seconds to Mark.

SS4 we tried again, this time Car 1  had opted to let us run first on the road, with not having to get past we had a good run and went fastest by nine seconds to take the lead of the rally by two seconds. SS5 and SS6 were again shorter stages at 5.5 miles the first of which was now totally dry so opted for slightly harder compound tyres but left the settings the same. This transformed the car with less roll and gave Gary much more control and confidence; so much so that we were again quickest but had taken a huge 15 seconds of our nearest rival.

As we finished the stage it had started to rain again, but opted for the same tyres as it only dampened the surface. As we got under way the rain started to come down heavier and didn’t take us long to work out we were totally on the wrong tyre and in this repeat stage went 50 seconds slower ! Luckily for us most other crews had done the same, the crews that got the choice right were too far behind to be any real threat.

With our lead now at 21 seconds we didn’t hesitate to put on the safe option of full wets for the next pair of stages the longest at 7.1 miles. Mark pulled out all the stops here as he stayed on inters and took 3 seconds back, however we were happy for him to do this as we again opted for the save option. SS 7 had actually dried more than we anticipated so Gary threw caution to the wind and drove the car sliding it around like it was an Autotest. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here entertaining the Marshals and actually took back the 3 seconds lost on the previous. Mark was complaining that his inters were going off whilst we destroyed our wets !

The final pair again at 5.5 miles each was the first to be completely dry with the sun shining for the first time. We decided to change back onto the harder tyres that had worked well in the morning. The car felt great, and over this pair we managed to double our lead by taking 25 seconds off our rivals in just 11 miles.

This was our forth win at this venue but our first win in the Corolla, hopefully the first of many. Our thanks go to Rob, Bill, and Andy for having to work in miserable conditions, and to Penny for keeping us fed and watered.

Paul Hollingham 

      ************************

13th March 2011 - Tour of Epynt

picture courtesy of Chris Harrison

• Organisers:  Port Talbot Motor Club
• Venue: Epynt Ranges
• Competitors: 100
• Stages: 7  Stage Mileage: 84  Road Mileage: 90 
• Overall position: 18th

The last few weeks since our last event have been hectic preparing the Corolla for what looked to be a hard start to the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, as 46 crews from the 87 starters had registered to do battle across the treacherous roads of the Epynt ranges. The whole team was looking forward to the Tour this year as we missed last year’s event being in between cars.                                                              Saturdays Recce started in a disappointment as the first passing was hampered with stop/starts due to meeting other conveys and also the Military were on manoeuvres with soldiers walking up the roads and slow moving army trucks. This was made worse as the chicanes were not yet laid out which made it difficult to note their exact locations and layouts.  The second run over was much better so we left the ranges feeling fairly satisfied with the task that lay ahead the following morning.  Overnight rain meant the first loop of two stages was going to be slippery and although the sun was out by the time we set off to MC 1 it was still bitterly cold.  We chose a very soft tyre with some extra cuts with a soft setting to cope with the damp conditions. Gary and I had not used these tyres before and were concerned with how they would last the 18 miles.                                                                                                                The first stage of this loop was 7 miles, with a tight and twisty start, passing through Dixies and over Dears and Devils leaps, (slowed this year by chicanes). Up the Burma Road, round two triangles on the main road and finishing at the Piccadilly hairpin.A stall on the first junction hand braking around a bale hindered us to 21^st quickest 3^rd in Class just 3 seconds behind Class rival Mark Worley’s Subaru.           A very short road section was no rest bite before being thrown straight into SS2.  Starting the other side of the hairpin at Piccadilly heading towards four ways junction avoiding the German village and ending on the New Road at just under 11 miles via a few more chicanes and triangles. 16^th quickest moved us 3 places into 18^th and jumping Mark Worley to 2^nd in class. John Stone was leading the Class in his Skoda Fabia wrc and was lying in 4^th place overall already over a minute ahead! A 25 minute road section back to service was plenty enough time to contemplate our efforts and to discuss how we should improve things. The tyres felt as though they had ‘gone off’ especially under braking on the fast down hill parts, so we decided to up the compound, especially as the sun had dried everything out and the temperature had warmed to about 8 degrees.                                                        Not everything has been resolved since our last event with the water injection seemingly not working resulting in power loss and the flat shift/gear change intermittently causing what can only be described as a chronic misfire. This misfire was to get worse throughout the day and hampered our advance up the leader board.  Into the second loop which was a repeat of the first pair of stages, now dryer we went 38 seconds quicker. The tyres took some time to get heat into them so we  were careful to start but once warmed up went well over the remainder of the stage. We finished SS4 dropping a place to 19^th because Mark Worley had got back in front of us.                                                    Coming into the arrival control at service the cable that allows you to select neutral broke. With only twenty minutes and other more pressing jobs to do we didn’t have time to repair/replace the cable, not a problem in itself but we could not select reverse gear so had to make sure no overshoots followed.                                 We decided to stiffen up the Corolla’s suspension as Gary was feeling the rear was lifting in the slow corners and this may have been why we thought the earlier soft tyres were going off. SS5 was the first pair of stages joined together at just under 18 miles.                     The handling improvements really transformed the Corolla and Gary was able to attack the Ranges with more confidence, but our troubling misfire was once again hindering our progress. We tried to resolve the problem mid stage by trying different FAS settings, switching fuel pumps and finally turning off  the flat shift. We only managed 21^st quickest here actually 13 seconds slower than the previous pair put together.                           A longer Service meant we could repair the broken selector cable and also gave us a chance to clean out the water injectors for the water spray as this was still not working.  SS6 was in the opposite direction and was 15 miles. This was our worst stage of the rally with the misfire/flat shift problem making the car difficult to drive and we were unsure whether or not we could even continue. We turned everything off and just drove through the stage. We still managed to catch up the car that started 30 seconds ahead of us but couldn’t get past so followed them for the last mile or so, with a bit more time lost. However due to our slow start in the stage the car behind had caught us up so the three of us finished SS6 nose to tail. Only 23^rd fastest saw us drop to 19^th overall. Another short service before the final stage, a repeat of SS6 saw us shuffling around in the time controls so no-one caught anyone. This was then our best stage of the rally, with everything switched off Gary just drove the nuts off the Corolla having to change gear by lifting and reverting back to right foot braking. We were 14^th quickest on this occasion.The stage ended at Dixies with a very long road section to Brecon for the final control before we found that we had moved ourselves back into 18^th overall and 3^rd in class.With such a strong entry we were aiming for a top 15 but were pleased with the result considering our problems.  

***********************

19th February 2011 -Kynaston Autos Stage Rally

Alot of pressure washing needed after this one!!

• Organisers: South Hams Motor Club
• Venue: Upottery Airfield, Smeatharpe
• Competitors: 48
• Stages: 8 Stage Mileage: 45
• Overall position: 2nd

It dawned damp and misty and having had heavy overnight rain the early stages looked to be very slippery, especially since the old airfield is storage for several large piles of dung !We chose full wets for the first stage; being seeded at car 1 is always tough as everyone else watches what you’re up to.The tyre choice was a good one, as half the stage had running slurry across it.However this was not our main concern, as the Corolla was misbehaving with the engine electronics cutting in and out and a time consuming stall on the start line. We struggled through the stage finishing only 7^th quickest and in just 4.5 miles had lost 19 seconds to the leader, Martyn England in his Mitsubishi EVO 9. We had similar problems on SS2 but not quite as bad but only managed 4^th quickest, 9 seconds behind the leaders. This doesn’t sound much but its 2 seconds a mile which in rallying terms is a life time. SS3 was much better after we decided to switch to No. 2 fuel pump and this seemed to alleviate the problem but at the finish we turned too early around a line of hay bales which meant a quick spin round on the handbrake before we slotted into the correct line of bales. Another stall during this manoeuvre just added to our time and frustrations of a bad morning. Our only saving grace was that several other crews also made the same error at this point as the stage diagram was confusing. This 6.5 miler was repeated again before the lunch halt, and with a dryer line we opted for soft rubber with extra cuts. Now pushing hard to make up for lost time Gary had to make a huge save when we ran wide on some slurry when braking from 6^th gear in a long right hander narrowly missing a large pile of dung covered in tyres. We set equal fastest time on SS4 with leader Martyn England and 2^nd place Mark Ellis (Subaru) and had at least done enough to push ourselves up to 3^rd at this half way point.                               With the afternoon stages now drying out and the pace increasing, most crews had a few hairy moments on the parts of the stage that were still very slippery. The changes made to the Toyota’s handling were certainly being put to the test and seemed to be working well as Gary turned in through the chicanes with confidence, and was getting quicker as the day went on. SS5 we were again equal fastest with England, taking three off Ellis. Going into the final pair we were only 3 seconds behind Ellis and determined to make amends, but he was equally determined to keep us behind as we matched his times on the penultimate stage. Into the last with a real push we emerged winning the stage and set a time eight seconds quicker than the Subaru moving into 2^nd place overall.        Congratulations to Martyn and Ian England who never put a foot wrong all day. Second is a really good result for a hard day, the best so far in the new Corolla and if we can start next months Tour of Epynt in the same way we finished here then we can hope for good things ……………… can’t wait !

Paul Hollingham

***********************************

28th September 2010 - Patriot Stages Rally

Picture courtesy of EDP Photography

• Organisers:  Forresters Car Club
• Venue: MOD Training Camp - Caerwent, Wales
• Competitors: 100
• Stages: 7 Stage Mileage: 70
• Overall position: 3rd

PATRIOT PODIUM 

Since our last event on the Epynt ranges the car has undergone more suspension tweaks, such as lowering the rear trailing link bars and having David Appleby Motorsport setting up the wheel alignment to try and improve the Corolla’s handling.

However an off on the very first corner of the first stage nearly ended our chance to find out how well the improvements had been!!

Cold brakes, cold tyres and carrying too much speed was the cause of our straight on into an earth bank. Not really the start we had in our game plan and we both thought that was the end of our rally. Luckily the Corolla has a strengthening bar just behind the bumper that protects the intercooler and radiator, consequently this then took the full impact which allowed us, (to our relief) to carry on. Continue we did, now a little more cautiously and watching the temperature gauges we still managed 7^th fastest time.

Back into Service we found the lower bar to be bent but no other signs of damage apart from the obvious bits of bumper missing! We thought the cars handling was good so made no changes in Service and stayed on the soft rubber as the morning was still quite cold.

The next pair of stages was again just over 9 miles and included 93 of the 130 junctions of Caerwent! SS2 we were 3^rd fastest, then 4^th fastest on the next after changing to medium compound tyres. This moved us up to 5^th place overall.

SS4 and 5 varied slightly around the countless junctions but also included the infamous quarry road, a narrow tight twisty lane that threads its way along the old quarry face, a real co-drivers nightmare as the road books scale is too big to show all the detail, so the driver has to work extra hard for this ¾ mile section. We lost some ground over this pair, probably due to the tyres being very old now and not wanting to repeat our stage 1 antics.

Dropping briefly back to 7^th again on ss4 we soon gained a place back on ss5 when event leader Peter Lloyd in his old car (Subaru S12b ) retired with gearbox woes. In Service we decided to go back on the softer tyres for the remaining pair of stages, the longest at just under 10 miles and again using the quarry road. SS6 went well with 4^th fastest time which gained us another place when last years winner Steve Leonard also retired with a failing gearbox.

So we headed off into the final test only 3 seconds behind class leader Steve Hollis (Mitsubishi evo9) with us now in 5^th place overall.  It looked as though we were going to have to push really hard if we wanted to make any further progress up the leader board as 2^nd to 5^th was only separated by only 16 seconds.

Push we did, (maybe a bit too hard) as a half spin early on avoiding a rock that had been dragged into the road, was followed by a big slide coming out of the quarry, narrowly missing a telegraph pole! We kept it going though and ended the stage setting joint fastest time with Adrian Brown who remained in 2^nd place overall.

To our surprise and delight we had jumped up 2 places and finished the rally 3^rd overall and winning our class. Event winner Simon Mauger was too far ahead for us to mount any sort of challenge but we did  get a consolation prize as his co driver wasn’t registered for points, so I took top honours and maximum points in the BTRDA / MSA Asphalt Championship with Gary taking 2^nd placed driver.

A really tough rally and our best result so far in the new car, and certainly one of our best results to date.

 Paul Hollingham

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 29th - The EventSigns Mewla Rally 2010

Picture taken by Martin Taylor

• Organisers:  Epynt Motor Club
• Venue: Epynt Sennybridge Ranges
• Competitors: 104
• Stages: 8  Stage Mileage: 85 
• Overall position: 17th

Testing Times!

As the crews lined up ready for the start at the Royal Welsh Show Ground in Builth Wells the weather was steadily getting worse. It was dry when Car 1 left the line but by the time we left eight minutes later it had started to rain. We had a 40 minute road section which took us through the Service Area on Mabians Way where most crews including us called in for a quick tyre change. We chose intermediates as we didn’t feel it was wet enough for full wets.

To be honest by the time we had finished the first loop of stages totalling 20 miles there wasn’t really a correct tyre to be on because the weather went from dry, to drizzle, to full on rain. The SS1 was a very slippery eight miles and mainly used the top part of the ranges which is more technical and twisty than the main stage through the new road. The car was under steering badly as we struggled to get heat into the tyres and Gary was finding it hard to keep the Corolla under control, unable to use Anti-lag and not wanting to push too hard and throw it all away early on.

We finished Stage One with no time to reflect on our progress as within three minutes we were off into Stage Two, 11.21 miles over the faster and flowing ‘new road’. The standing water, dry areas and very slippery damp parts made for an interesting ride, but we escaped without incident just happy to be on our way back to Service for some much needed head scratching on how to resolve the handling.

We had realised that the front anti-roll bar was on a hard setting, which probably contributed to the under steer, so it was adjusted to medium. And the low speed and rebound were both softened up and set off to Stage Three on the same tyres as it had stopped raining and started to dry out.

Stage Three was SS1 and SS2 joined together with a distance of 19.75 miles, but when we reached the arrival control there was a delay due to a couple of accidents on the previous loop. Whilst waiting, the heavens opened again but at least being on inters it   wasn’t so bad for us, some crews had opted for slicks!

The first half of SS3 again was extremely slippery but with the changes made the car was handling much better, albeit with no grip from the tyres! On our way back to Service we were handed results for the first loop at passage control and were surprised to find ourselves in 23^rd position.

Back into Service the rain had now stopped and looked like drying out so we opted to keep the same settings and tyres and headed off to SS4, (a shortened version of SS3) at 13.34 miles. It was much dryer in the stage and we had a good run but did hit a pot hole half way through which knocked the steering out, so in Service a lower arm had to be changed.

The afternoon stages consisted of two loops of two stages in the opposite direction. SS5 and SS7 were 11.26 miles finishing just after the German Village at Piccadilly. With a short road section to SS6 and SS8 at 3.79 miles (a horrible stage which finished near  Llandeilo hairpin, over a nasty jump into a gravel chicane, down to a very tight junction and finished on a gravel road), followed by a 13 mile road section back to Service through the forest.

The first run through was good, the car was handling better in the drying conditions and we felt we could possibly have used slicks on SS5 but then SS6 was more slippery and the inters proved to be the right choice.Moving steadily up the leader board we were now heading and aiming for a top 20 spot.

With the sun shining for SS7, we reverted back to the dry settings and put soft slick tyres on and headed off to complete the final loop. This felt much better and we could now push really hard and actually use the Anti-lag for the first time all day (as it had been too aggressive in the wet) and we set a top ten time.

On the final stage Peter Lloyd in Car 1 (the rally leader) had a wheel lock up and spun backwards sliding off into a ‘bog’ so yet another delay meant we were in the car on the last loop for over two hours once we’d completed the long road section back to the final time control at the showground.

Epynt is always very fast in the dry but treacherous in the wet and although we struggled in the damp conditions we learnt alot about the car. We came away happy with 17^th overall and an added bonus we actually won our class against similar WRC machines. At the awards ceremony Gary was also awarded the John Horton Motorsport Management award for ‘star drive’ for his achievements with the new car, after all it was only our 3^rd event with it.

Paul Hollingham  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14/15th August 2010 - RICHARD BURNS MEMORIAL RALLY

A puncture SS2 puts the presssure on!

• Organisers:  Kings Lynn Motor Club
• Venue: RAF Marham
• Competitors: 135
• Stages: 8  Stage Mileage: 105 
• Overall position: 14th

This two day event is a must for any rally fan whether competing, marshalling or spectating, there’s something for everyone.                                                 Apart from fantastic viewing areas for the spectators with live commentary there’s also fly by’s including an RAF Tornado which starts the rally on Saturday morning to the Lancaster which ends the event on Sunday afternoon. In amongst the service areas there are also static displays to amuse the young and old. A BBQ is laid on for Friday night’s scrutineering and a party on Saturday evening so the marshals and crews can chat about the heroics of the day over a drink and the hog roast and maybe spend some money in the auction for the Richard Burns Foundation.

With the flat lands of Norfolk being notorious for rain (with no warning) always makes tyre choice a nightmare. Into the first stage then with inters on seeded at 5, start the stage in 3^rd and finish the stage 1^st. This happened because cars 1 and 3 who started before us both punctured and had to stop and change due to the RAF not allowing you to run on a flat so not to damage the runways. Sixth fastest was a good start as we had not had a chance to resolve the flat-shift and water injection issues from the last event. However the car was not handling very well in the slower and tighter parts of the stage with the rear of the Corolla acting more like a gravel car, and the front under steering. In Service, we had time to bleed the brakes and clutch and make some small adjustments to the suspension but noticed the front right was a bit loose, possibly a bearing but we had no time to change so headed off to Stage 2. The front wheel held okay but our luck run out half way around the stage when we also punctured and had to stop and change the off side rear .............This was a new experience for Gary and I, it’s something neither of us has ever had to do before!  The wheel change itself went pretty well but we then lost another minute or so getting back in the car because you must be buckled back up before you set off again, (not easy when you’re exhausted). This was not helped when Gary couldn’t get his intercom re-connected and with still 7 miles to go we didn’t want to lean on the rear corner and chance another puncture. We lost around six minutes and ended the stage in 68^th overall.

With the front wheel bearing replaced in service we put in a good time for stage 3 with the under steer now cured, however the rear was still loose so some more tweaks were made for stage 4. This the last stage of day was good with the improvements we had done and even got away with another puncture when we hit a pot hole at speed which broke the wheel but thankfully the tyre stayed up.

With day two being reseeded we had clawed back 22 positions in two stages and were lying 46^th overnight, so day two was going to be interesting!! Sunday was dry so the plan was to press on and try and get the car handling properly. We had sorted out the high speed handling so needed to concentrate on the low speed. The two morning stages at 12 miles each we recorded 4^th and 3^rd fastest times, looks like our adjustments had worked, and not bad considering we overtake 11 cars to achieve this.  SS7 was not so good as the tyres were getting very worn and the brakes were suffering with the long stages. Our charge up the leader board was hampered then when this stage was abandoned due to an accident.

In service we went back to our previous settings to conserve the tyres and this seemed to work very well as we posted 2^nd fastest time on the final stage and ended the event in 14^th.                                                                               Although not the best result we left happy with the advances we have made and are looking forward to our next event over the Epynt ranges in a fortnights time, and hopefully we can resolve the other issues and have the car up to full power.

Paul Hollingham

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

31st July 2010 - Fat Albert Stages

photo by EDP Photography  

• Organisers:  Tavern Motor Club
• Venue: Keevil
• Competitors: 90
• Stages: 10  Stage Mileage: 80 
• Overall position: Retired

COROLLA DEBUT 

The start of the week was spent with some final ‘Running in’ procedures but the car felt too hard for Gary’s liking so some softer springs were fitted. Then Wednesday having the car aligned and set up at Dave Appleby Engineering after which Gary felt  much happier with the way it felt.

Myself and Andrew arrived on Thursday to assist in final preparations for the weekend and my first chance to ride in the car. 

After spending the day calibrating the fuel levels with the trip, fitting the intercoms and adjusting belts amongst other jobs, we managed a few more road miles for Gary to try and get used to the sequential gear change and being left hand drive. This was more important as the flat shift was not working properly and we were awaiting a new gearbox control box which hopefully would arrive in the morning to allow us to refit and use on our test session booked for Friday afternoon at Llandow Circuit.

Friday morning was mainly spent packing the service van and sorting tyres, putting on decals and awaiting the new control box, but as this hadn’t arrived by 2pm we made the decision to cancel our trip to Llandow as logistically we couldn’t get from Somerset to Cardiff – test and then back over to Keevil all by 6.30pm! So an alternative location was found nearby at Westonzoyland and although it was only big enough to get up to 3^rd gear it was a great opportunity for Gary to try out starts and see how the car braked and turned. We set up a small loop of corners and a chicane using road cones and had a very successful hour spent seeing what the car would do.We then headed off to Keevil and as the car had not long been Log Booked we had no real dramas at scrutineering so headed back home ready for the car’s debut the following morning.

Over night rain had left the airfield damp in the morning and we probably could have used slicks for the first stages, but decided to be cautious with our first time out and use some very soft intermediates. Into the first stage then, off the line well, 200 to a square left onto a narrow lane, 40 ‘K’ right over a nasty bump, 100 down to a handbrake hairpin right through gates. Approaching nicely knocking down the gears into first, apply handbrake but not enough revs and the electronics cut the engine !! Hit the starter but she wouldn’t fire back up, struggled to select neutral and try again and finally after nearly 30 seconds it fired into life and off we went. Not the start we were hoping for! Another stall again later in stage which cost a few more seconds but at least the car restarted straight away this time.

Into service with relief that at least we had finished the first stage in one piece, we had thirty minutes to try and work out what was going on. We think the stall was due to the flat shift problem and Gary was going to have to learn to drive around the problem, be brave and give it more revs when hand braking. Other apparent problems were that the car was under steering badly, we think possibly down to the tyres, so we changed to medium compound slicks and reset the front roll bar to a harder setting.

Stage 2 was a repeat of the first 7 miler and we emerged smiling, the adjustments at service had really improved the handling and as the miles ticked away Gary was growing in confidence all the time. We were 55 seconds quicker !!!  We bled the brakes in service as we felt they were a bit soft and adjusted the bias slightly, and headed for stage 3. Not a bad time but the car was sliding around a bit so decided to change the front tyres for another pair of part worn Pirelli’s. Again this was a repeat stage, but Gary was now experimenting with pushing the car to see what it would do and after shall we say ‘a lively stage!’, we went 6 secondss quicker.

My job was also to monitor fuel consumption as well as watch water and oil temperatures, which went a bit higher for some unknown reason on that stage. I had also noticed that the water level was not dropping. We were concerned that the water injection or spray was not working, so a quick phone call to the people that know confirmed this was okay as we were not using the anti-lag system.

Gary now wanted to see what it was really like, so he decided it was time to bolt on some brand new BF Goodridge’s and push the brake balance further forward to see how far we could brake into corners and chicanes. We clocked a very good stage time of 8.46 for this 8 mile stage and emerged very happy with the progress we had made.

Two of our service crew had been monitoring the noise levels and reckoned we were one of the quieter cars, especially over the escorts and the three wrc Suburu’s that were popping and banging on gear changes. So for the next stage we decided to use phase 1 of the FAS unit. This allows the water injection to work and therefore gives more power but isn’t as aggressive or noisy as phase 2 or 3 which we certainly couldn’t use at Keevil with the noise limits. We really enjoyed this stage, probably our best so far; it transformed the car as it wasn’t now being ‘held back’ and the Corolla was happier being driven this way. We went 16 seconds faster on this repeat stage!

Unfortunately on the stop line with the clutch fully down the car was creeping forward, and I had to jump out at the passage control so Gary didn’t need to stop. He went straight into service and luckily we had 45 minutes to try and rectify the problem. We could only make adjustments to the clutch and after attempting SS7 it was apparent we were not going to go any further, so decided to retire rather than risk any more damage.

After our bad start that left us in 24^th position we had steadily improved and were currently lying in 6^th when we pulled out. 

Overall we had a mixed day and were expecting teething problems, but left happy in the knowledge of doing 50 stage miles and had learnt an awful lot about the car and the whole Team is excited about the next event Richard Burns Memorial Rally in two weeks time. 

Paul Hollingham

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

29th May 2010 - Co-OrdSport Stages

                                    

• Organisers:  Enthusiasts Motor Club of Stonehouse (Emcos)  
• Venue: Down Ampney, Gloucestershire
• Competitors: 65
• Stages: 10 Stage

The team was hoping to use this event as a shake down for their new Corolla, but sadly news filtered through from Holland that the car was not going to be ready in time.

Rather than pull the entry it was decided to dust off the Celica and use it once again. This decision was made to get back out rallying again after a six month break, especially after having just received exciting news that the team had been invited once again to compete in this years Festival of Speed at Goodwood.  

Whilst preparing the Celica for the rally it was found to have some play in the rear wheel bearings, so some last minute preparation was needed including the fitting of a new clutch just to be cautious. The car was given a good road test on the eve of the event and this put paid to any worries and the car felt good. 

Saturday morning started early, leaving the hotel at 6am we headed straight to scrutineering which was completed with no problems. We then set up our service area and awaited the 8:50am start with only our tyre choice to be made.

Light rain had been falling and although the conditions were wet it wasn’t that heavy. I suggested to Gary that we went on inters, but that was quickly over ruled as he wanted to take the safe option of going out on full wets!

Into the first stage and with the venue being mainly concrete and extremely slippery, it was soon realised that Gary’s choice was spot on as we emerged seven seconds clear of the field.

SS2 was even wetter as the rain fell harder, but with the knowledge gained earlier  our time was 12 seconds quicker than our first run, again setting fastest time by four seconds over our nearest rival Matthew Green in his Subaru Impreza. Third place was last year’s runner up Ben and Alice Williams in their Mitsubishi another 27 seconds behind.

Off the line on stage 3 the Celica developed a loud knocking noise, a driveshaft, or diff maybe ? We weren’t sure so took the first part of the stage quite cautiously and to our surprise we were still quickest by 11 seconds doubling our advantage in one stage.

But our dreams of a 4^th straight victory were soon dashed as the service crew diagnosed the problem to be the gearbox. ( drop gear missing a tooth ) , so the decision was made to retire rather than risk doing further damage.

Congratulations to Matthew and Louise who continued were we left of to take a well deserved victory by 40 seconds over Eric Weaver’s Darrian.

We shall have to return next year and try to regain our crown !      

Report by co-driver Paul Hollingham

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 22nd November - Carfax Stage Rally

• Organisers:  Oxford Motor Club
• Venue: Longcross Vehicle Test Track, Surrey
• Competitors: 70
• Stages: 10 Stage Mileage: 55 
• Overall position: 4th

CARFAX CHAOS

When the Finals arrived we were shocked to see that we were heading the field at Number 1!

This rally is always very demanding and challenging in the wintry conditions and with the last two stages run in darkness, this year was to be no exception!

The organisers had decided not to honour last years winner with the top spot, so Richard Edwards was seeded at 3, with Simon Gudgeons 6R4 between us. Mark Ellis’s (Subaru) at 4, Rob Dennis (Escort) at 5, and then Guy Wigley back in his old 306 Maxi. A late entry by Tim Wilson in a brand new Escort left us one short in the Service Crew as Andrew was called up for navigational duties.

With us running first car on the road it meant a cautious start tip toeing through the leaves on the infamous snake section and although the outside perimeter roads were damp, the infield area was extremely wet with lots of standing water.

Tyre choice would then be critical and would play a major factor in the result of this event, so we opted for a soft compound with cuts, whilst others chose inters or full wets.  To be honest, I don’t think there was a correct choice!!

Perhaps they should have put Edwards at one because he and Ellis set equal fastest time on SS1. Gudgeon, Wigley and Wilson all 5 seconds behind with us another second slower in 6^th.

A dry line now on SS2 saw Edwards again quicker, but Tim Wilson got over excited bouncing his new toy over one of the bus stop chicanes, getting a tank slapper and then hitting a kerb breaking the front left strut and steering so they limped out of stage taking a maximum.

Service was hectic for the Escort crew but they managed to straighten the components and sent Tim and Andrew back on their way.

Although just starting to spit with rain we stayed on the same rubber, however once we’d booked into the arrival control for SS3 a 20 minute delay saw the venue being hit by a mini typhoon. The deluge would be our downfall, clearly on the wrong tyres we lost 18 seconds. Edwards once again took a big advantage being 10 quicker than everyone else.  

We didn’t hesitate to bolt on the ‘wets’ for SS4 and we went 27 seconds quicker as a result !  Gudgeon was quickest this time, taking 6 back from Edwards.

Wilson completed the stage but decided the earlier damage too dangerous to continue and retired. This meant Andrew could now revert back to servicing the Toyota.

The organisers were having troubles with their timing equipment on SS2 and SS3 in the atrocious weather conditions and as a result co-drivers were busy trying to sort out who was where on the leader board.

The weather would once again play another big role in this event, it was still raining when we left the Service area, staying on wets we headed for SS5 only to find history repeating itself. Another delay this time longer saw the sun break out and the wind blowing the stage dry, more time lost. This stage saw Ellis quickest 10 faster then Edwards and Gudgeon, with us 9 Behind. At only the half way point we were realistically too far behind the leaders who were now only 14 seconds apart. Our only hope would be they would hit trouble.

SS6 and now on the correct rubber we set a competitive time, Gudgeon now quickest in the dryer conditions, as Edwards had indeed hit trouble with a bent strut, although this didn’t seem to slow him much.

SS7 also saw us happy to be on the pace and Gudgeon once again being fastest saw the Metro man take a slender 1 second lead

Because of the lost time earlier, the organisers took the decision to cancel Stage 8 and set up for the two finals stages, a pair of 3.5 milers set to be run in darkness. With the light-pod on the Celica for SS9 we set 3^rd fastest time of 2.43 minutes, however this rally would throw up another twist!! The bogey time was set at 2.48 so we, along with the top 2 all beating the bogey time Gudgeon retained his 1 second lead. Unfortunately this spoilt the fight a little, as long as the bogey was beaten again, Edwards nursing his suspension had no chance of taking the win.

We actually set fastest time on the final stage but this was a just a small conciliation prize for a hard day’s rallying although 4^th overall and second in class is still a great result. 

Well done to Simon Gudgeon and Ashley Trimble for taking the win and commiserations to Richard Edwards.

Thanks again to all who helped on the day, especially Rob and Bill having to service in such terrible conditions.

Report by co-driver Paul Hollingham

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

25th October - UTS Cheviot Rally 2009

photo by CMWI Photography  

• Joint Organisers:  Whickham & District M C and Hadrian Motor Club
• Venue: Otterburn Milatary Ranges
• Competitors: 81
• Stages: 12  Stage Mileage: 102  Road Mileage: 90 
• Overall position: 14th

With no chance of winning the BTRDA championship and only an outside chance of finishing on the podium, we went to Otterburn to gain more experience of the ranges in readiness for next season.

Saturday morning was spent doing some last minute changes to the Toyota, then onto the recce. The weather had closed in overnight which made it very difficult to check the notes in fog making it almost impossible to see any distance. Fortunately it was only on the high hill tops that it was causing a problem and for the most visibility was okay. We finished the recce feeling confident with our notes and were looking forward to the following day’s event although a little apprehensive as Gary had started to go down with a bad flu type virus.

On the morning of the event he was feeling less than fine and with the weather only slightly better than the previous day, we set off to do our first loop of stages a little under 18 miles. In damp conditions a good tyre choice was made and we were making good progress until the heat from inside the car along with the heater to demist the windscreen made Gary feel very unwell.

By the end of the first loop it was uncertain whether we would actually carry on but after an emergency dash from the service crew to locate some cough mixture we soldiered on. With a driver coughing his way round every bend and co-driver repeating every command, surprisingly we were actually making good, safe progress.

The afternoon loops were very long and demanding, each containing 4 stages totalling 30 miles, with similar road mileage it was tough on even the fittest crews.

We did make the finish at 14^th overall, and had succeeded in our task of gaining more knowledge, but felt a top ten would have been possible.

Paul Hollingham   

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

29th September 2009 - Patriot Stages Rally

• Organisers:  Forresters Car Club
• Venue: Caerwent
• Competitors: 100
• Stages: 7 Stage Mileage: 70 
• Overall position: Retired

   TO FINISH FIRST, FIRST YOU HAVE TO FINISH 

How true that statement is.

After our win last weekend the whole team was excited about the penultimate round of the BTRDA championship, the Patriot Stages held at Caerwent.

Extremely demanding venue, with seven 10 mile stages held entirely around the military base. Lots of kerbs to catch out the unwary and an awful lot of junctions joined by short straights means it’s very tough on car and crew. 

Stage 1 started badly, we arrived at the first junction just 150m from the start, popped the Celica into 1^st and bang, there’s goes the drive shaft (or so we thought).

The Toyota was making horrible noises but didn’t seem to slow our progress.

Then on only the 5^th corner we arrived at a square left that tightened up a bit and maybe still on cold tyres the back slid wide and we clobbered the rear off side wheel very hard into a kerb, the tyre thankfully stayed up but unbeknown to us had badly buckled the wheel but again didn’t affect our pace. 

Now this is where I would normally get out my co drivers book of 101 excuses and blame the driver, but have to say that I over cautioned a square right into immediate junction right. Gary followed my exact instructions but turned too early into an entrance way that wasn’t shown on the map. (Apparently we weren’t the only ones to do this). We struggled to find reversed so instead drove forward into the yard, spun it round and out we came losing around 20 seconds.  

This wasn’t the start we had planned on, but to our surprise we had set 6^th fastest time, equalling championship rivals Adrian Spencer and only losing 15 to Mark Welch, both of which we needed to be ahead to keep our championship alive. 

Into service and some head scratching to find out what was making the noise, it was soon apparent that it wasn’t the drive shaft but probably knocked a tooth off first gear.

We changed the drive shaft as precaution anyway and headed of to stage 2 with a plan of not using first gear, but truthfully expected not to make it through the next 10 mile stage, and all those junctions in 2^nd! 

We did make it through that stage and in a good time as well, moving up to 5^th overall beating Spencer by 13 seconds, but lost another 4 to Welch. However we were now confident that the gearbox would last and we could push a bit in the next stage and keep the pressure on Mark. 

Stage three was going really well, Gary was learning to adapt his driving style to get the most out of the Toyota without using 1st gear, but after about 8 miles on a square right junction I watched our front left wheel disappear across a field and into the undergrowth, the Celica came to an ungraceful stop with the front side of the car now dragging on the ground. 

A failed front hub was the cause, and a very disappointed end to our rally and championship. 

Paul Hollingham 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------