Jersey Rally
This was the first time anyone other than Kaz had used the car & we were anticipating some different feedback from Dave who has loads of experience in many different cars.
I have to say that some of the organisation was a little chaotic and there seemed to be a general lack of information particularly if you were new to the event. Luckily for us Dave has done the event for the past 4 years so was invaluable.
Scrutineering was a bit of a nightmare with both police & DVLA checking vehicle log books, Vin plates & all sorts of other bits & pieces. We were in a spot of bother as we are still waiting for our proper 2007 reg but managed to convince the that all was well in the DVLA world.
Running on Hankooks for this event & 15" as well made deciding on ride height & suspension settings a bit of a mare but we finally got the C2 off to the start.
While all this was going on Martin Heads MG ZR was sailing through its scrutiny & for once had no problem meeting the noise requirements. [The C2 was noisier on tick over than at 4500 ????????]
The event started from the centre of St Helier on Friday afternoon & then did 2 stages before going into service at Gorey this being repeated 4 times before service moved back to St Helier for the night stages
Service At Gorey Bay
Day 1 action from Dave & Dom
St Helier Night Service
The C2 obviously took a bit of getting used to and during the day we made changes to both ride height toe settings & tyre pressures before Dave pronounced himself happy with the set up. As the evening progressed Dave got quicker & quicker & was closing in on 3rd place in the class. Then just before the start of the first spectator super special the clutch cable broke & all the good work went out of the window. Luckily Dave was able to drive the stage in 2nd gear after a key start and get back to service where we were able to change the cable.
Unfortunately the final stage of the night was cancelled which meant no chance of making time back so Dave & Dom remained in 4th place overnight.
An early start on Saturday morning saw Dave on a charge. Feeling comfortable with the car the crew set about making up some of Fridays lost time. A similar format with 3 services at the granite quarry & then moving back to Gorey for the final stages.
The Escort of Jon Denny Mallen which had been holding second in class was first to go when the unforgiving walls claimed the off side front and we were soon up into 2nd place though we dropped back to 3rd again when an incorrectly posted time for the Toyota Corolla of Ray O'Donoghue was put right. 2nd was still well within Dave's grasp though as he was consistently taking time out off the Toyota and starting to match times with the flying Dan Corner. We were shortly to get our second place back when the Corolla died [reason unknown].
When Dan Corner had a massive accident [no one was injured] first place was ours provided we could keep the car going as cars seemed to be dropping out all over the place. With time running out for the road closures the last stage was cancelled and a police escort took the crews back to the ceremonial finish on the esplanade at St Helier.
After 31 stages we finally got to the podium 20th overall & 1st in class. What a tough event. We seemed to be on the go the whole time with 10 to 15 minutes most of the time with just the longer lunch time service.
Martin is already talking about going back next year & I would love to take the C2 back as I think a top 10 is a definite possibility.
