Ti Motorsport

Champions Again

Congratulations to Rob Russell & Lee Baverstock who took the 1400 crown at Sweet Lamb at the weekend, commiserations to Andy Chalmers who is runner up for the umpteenth time.

The following is Rob's e-mail informing us of his result - he seems quite pleased really!!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Hi Dave and Co.

Just to let you know we had a very successful Sunday at Sweet Lamb.

We managed to win the class which of course bagged us the championship as well !!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww!

It all ran like clock work really, Andy Chalmers gave us a rood run, right up until the last stage.
We took 5 seconds out of him on the first stage, while being very cautious, so thought that pace would be enough, but Andy upped his game and took 4 from us on the 2nd stage and another 5 on the 3rd. After finding this news at the service we decided to push a bit harder, which went well on the 4th stage until we caught the car in front (it was a well sorted sunbeam, so what they were doing to loose a minuet over about 6 miles I'm not sure!) unfortunately it was a 7 1/2 miles stage and either he didn't see us or decided not to let us passed, suffice to say we lost another 7 seconds to Andy, But we reckoned the sunbeam cost us at least that, so decided to carry on at about that pace ('the safe side of flat out' as I once heard it described!).

It worked and we got 5 seconds back on the 5th stage and another 4 on the 6th, then the organisation turned slightly strange. It was getting dark and in an attempt to close up gaps they decided to cancel any early penalties for the last two stages (a good decision and well communicated so everybody was aware) we headed off to the 7th stage and then into the nearly completely dark final stage, we knew we were ahead of Andy on the road so just had to go for it, which we did, the last stage was a repeat of the 6th and we managed to go a second faster than our time in the light!
Meanwhile Andy had burst a water pipe on the road section before the last service, so he used all his service time plus five minutes of his penalty free lateness before he arrived at the 7th stage start, only to find that they had already sent in the closing car! The decision was made to give him the same time as us (fair in the circumstances we both agreed), but it did leave him 2 seconds up going into the last stage.
We had already finished and could only wait. We were rather anxious, but we needn't have worried, he was 21 seconds slower and the win was ours!

Like I say it all went like clockwork really (all-be-it, rather muddy clockwork!).

I'd just like to say a huge thank you for your support through the season. I hope the Safari is as successful, and I'll give you a call when you're back in Blighty.

Cheers,

Rob.

Early Days

After a clutch change before the start, the first stage of the rally between Vipingo and Bamba[73.9k] turned into a disaster when Gogi ripped the near side front strut off on a rock. The service crew eventually managed to find the crew reversing down the stage to try to speed things up. A quick strut change saw them on there way again but the time loss was enormous. For the rest of the first day we were playing catch up rectifying the damage the broken strut had caused. 2 more stages followed the first between Bura and Shelma [52.62k] and the second a super special at the Portland Cement site a mere 12.3k

The 2 hour service at the end of the day took place in Nairobi & was made even tougher when the car came in with a chronic misfire. Investigation revealed that 3 of the new Bosch plugs fitted in Mombasa had burned out so back to the used NGK's until we could find some genuine NGK's[lots of the stuff over here comes from China in genuine boxes]. The broken Proflex had been straightened during the day and was refitted.

Total mileage for the crew for the day 713.07k 138 stage 574.25 road

Perhaps now things would go a little better

Stage 1 of the day [69.56k Ngong View to Suswa]& no problems but no sooner had we got to our service point at Liboi than we were on our way back stage two of day 2 [Ol Ng'arua to Liboi 65.64k]and the repaired strut failed again. This time we were a bit more on the case & lost lots less time but still had penalties.Later investigation showed that the steering arm had not been rehardened after straightening.The final stage of the day a 45.65 test from Kimwarer to Tenges also passed without incident. By the evening service we had managed to climb from the lowly 54th of the first day to 42nd.

Total mileage for the day 657.83k 180.85 stage 476.98 road

From the team in Mombasa

The service crew flew out to Mombasa overnight on Thursday night and had a number of jobs to do on the car before scrutineering. They were able to test of the first stage of the event and after the test has to change the clutch.

There has been no news since and the event is now on day 2.

The car battery is dead after 3 months at sea. The temperature is very hot & lots of the cars are overheating hence the request for an additional electric fan.

Took the first of the anti malaria tablets today so actually feel in the safari spirit, a little at least. It is amazing how quickly the 2 years since the last event have gone & I think that, like all rally people I know, there are always doubts that you have covered every eventuality. The next couple of weeks will tell.

I am hoping that I will be able to keep this up to date by phone always dependent on mobile signals of course.

Running in

With everything up & running we have started to put a few miles on the car before letting Kaz loose with it. It will be left to Mike & Jamie to put the finishing touches to the car and sort any last minute panics as I shall be trying to start the 504 which has a flat battery, which is hardly surprising after 3 or 4 months at sea.

Rockingham

December 8th9th will see Martin Head & Neil Billingham out for the final time this year. A 2 day event at Rockingham could be an opportunity for Neil to improve his overall position in the co-drivers table. We don't think that Martin can improve on his position.

I am led to believe that the night stages can be a bit difficult due to the way the stages are laid out but we will find out in December.None of us have competed there so it will be a whole new learning curve

The MG will once again run the 5 sp dog box before we set about our winter program with the sequential box.

Preparations

Quite a busy time for the Ti team getting the C2 ready & final preparations for a trip to Kenya.We have now got the rebuilt engine installed together with the new Sadev gearbox and hope to put a few miles on the car tomorrow. For this event we are able to retain the backing of Edmunds Exhausts & Tyres and the Reading Chronicle have even started taking an interest although the reporters phone call to Kaz for an interview was a no hoper.

For this event Mike Tucker, Jamie Birch & Jim Daniels will be looking after the car while Dominic Hodge will act as team manager in my absence.

Early indications are that the conditions will be awful, so bad in fact that the co-drivers are being allowed to wear other than FIA boots for when they need to get out to go to controls or maybe push.

The team will go to Swansea on Wednesday morning to set up service so anyone wanting to meet the boys or driver will be welcome

Update from Mombasa

Latest from Gogi who flew out last week is that" all is well but bring an electric fan if you can".More 'hand baggage' I suppose. The last minute 'did I send that' means that we are amassing quite a pile of extras.

New year new challenges

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were making plans for this year & here we are 11 months later starting plans for 2008.

The interest in our Citroens both R2 & 1400 has been great and we are currently talking to drivers about the BRC & the new BRC Challenge. Dominic Hodge will use the 1400 on selected rounds of the Cotswold Championship with Tony Simpson using the car on the BRC Challenge. Our aim to make everyone aware of what a super little club car the 1400 is without going to the mega budgets of some of the 16 valve 1400 C2s We are still looking to run Gordon Nichol in the C2R2 on the BRC subject to agreeing a budget.

Once again we will run a 205 in the 205 1400 Challenge in our own car and are looking for a driver. This will be a new car to the 2008 rules.

Martin Head will again campaign the MG ZR 1400 while we continue to develop our paddle shift sequential box. Proposed high light of the year will be an entry on the 24hrs Ypres which has been on Martins wish list for a long time.

Sadly we shall say goodbye to Jamie Birch who has landed himself a job with the Bridgestone F1 Test Team. He has however expressed a wish to help out with servicing when F1 duties allow. Return to the real world for periodic reality checks maybe.

Latest News

With the rains finally having stopped reports are coming in that the roads although drying out are very rough. Some UK teams used the recent Mombasa Rally as a shakedown some like Ian Freestone in an Escort ran into mechanical problems & failed to finish. 2 of the Datsuns also ran into problems.

Gogi flies out tomorrow[Friday] and will collect the car & service van, the rest of the crew & supporters, about 15 in all fly out next week.

We are hoping that we get a Thursday slot for scrutiny so that we can use Wednesday for testing on the practice stage.

Just a week today the crews will be at the Ceremonial Start in Mombasa

2008 750MC Stock Hatch Championship

In 2007 we have prepared  Stock Hatch 205's for Andy Muggeridge & Andy Barnett. For 2008 Andy Muggeridge will continue to campaign his 205 while Andy Barnett will use a newly built Citroen Saxo.

The Saxo is currently having its cage welded in before going off to the paint shop. Our plan is to use BAD development suspension but the provisional 2008 regs have effectively banned any form of inverted strut [Bilstein type] where the body of the insert fixes to the car. When I rang the eligibility scrutineers to check this out  the implications of their trying to ban Ohlin type shocks hit home. I was told me to ring back next week. mmm. There are some other detail changes which might mean a few people will have to replace their valve seats as multi angle seats are banned unless OE. Still getting around these things is what makes life intereting.

We hope to start testing in mid Jan prior to the opening race in March