Ti Motorsport

Into the Top 10

While Rob Brookes & Dominic Hodge were battling it out in the Rally First section of the Quinton Rally Richard Phillipson & Rob Richards were in a battle of their own in the 'main' category. Richard is chasing WAMC glory in the National section of the championship and was looking to grab another bag full of points this time out.

As the BTRDA events allow chase or management / auxiliary cars I looked after the Rally First boys & left Len Davies to tend to the needs of Richards Honda & Robs 106.

Quote from Richards e-mail

."We are getting back some speed.

After the first stage we were 1 second behind 2nd in class man Alain Desbois; and I have been 1 second a mile slower. On the 2nd stage he had a spin and we were up to 2nd. On the 3rd stage the class leader, Roger Taylor in rocket powered Escort, crashed out , we lost a few secs to Alain so wereleading the class. On the 4th stage I put Cyril up a bank to lose 2 mins 50 secs to Alain; I looked at the bank and went there. Doh.Len saw us later in the day and thought we were trying. We beat Alain on stages 5 and 6 but not by much and then broke a drive shaft at the very end of stage 7 to lose a few seconds. I hope the trip up the bank was connected to this shaft breaking because we did not hit anything when the shaft went, not off hairpin or anything obvious"

4th in class for Richard means he still retains his lead in the class as well as leading the 2 wheel drive class but more impressively moves into 8th overall in the championship amongst all the WRC cars. Some performance for a 1600 Gp N car well done Richard.

Rob Richards had another good run in the 106. The only problem I am aware of being gear selection problems before 1st service caused by a heavy landing forcing the sump guard up & interfering with the linkage.

Our service crew Andy Tearle & Vince Norris soon fixed it  restoring 2nd & 4th gears. Quite useful really.

Rob finished one place behind Richard 5th in class.

Championship Positions after Severn Valley

As suspected Richard Phillipson has increased his lead in the class as well as consoladating his 2 wheel drive class lead and lies 11th overall in the WAMC Nastional Championship after the Severn Valley Stages.

Next round is the Quinton on the 5th of July where we will also have the Rally First boys out

Severn Valley Success

After weeks of being messed about we finally got our close ratio gear kit & Gripper diff to talk to each other and, although a bit noisier than our MG kits [gear forms a little different according to Quaife] we were assured that it was acceptable.

The event was based at Builth Wells show ground & scrutiny & documentation took place on Friday afternoon no problems there so we were able to get to our hotel early enough for a beer before a very pleasant dinner. After dinner it turns out that the hotel owner had been to us when we ran a rally school at Finmere back in the 80's. Small world.

With a start time of 8.46 we even had time for breakfast before leaving.

Format for the event was 2 stages followed by 30min service then Radnor at 17.99 miles  followed by 40 minutes service.then another 4 stages.

The WAMC events allow management vehicles so as I was on my own for this event I was going to have a busy day.

The opening stage Esgair Dafydd 1 at 5.57 miles used to be used for rally sprints & I haven't been there for years. There was no emergency service between stage 1 & 2 but the management route was the same so I saw them through & headed for the end of stage 2, 9.5 miles of Crychan West. Richard came into emergency service beaming. Obviously something was OK. With a 30 minute service at the show-ground it was time to change hat from management to service.

The gearbox was working well & although taking a little while to come to terms with the ratios & shift points Richard was looking forward to the longest stage of the event. One positive from stage 2 was that in similar circumstances to the last event the new Gripper diff had pulled the car around with no problem so no rear end damage. We upped the shift light to 7200rpm and sent them off to Radnor.

With management hat back on I was able to see the cars on Radnor or at least see the dust trails, also noticeable were the increasing number of gaps in the field. Running last in the national field did give me the chance to watch all the top cars though & eventually Richard & Brian appeared. Richard was even more enthusiastic after Radnor having thoroughly enjoyed the stage.

The 40 minute main service gave me the opportunity to give the car a good check over. Apart from some uneven wear on the nearside rear brake disc everything else seemed OK. Richard had upped the shift point another couple of hundred revs and now seemed happy with the shift light although the control box fixing needs sorting as it came undone on the final stage.

The remaining 4 stages were looked after by the management car first up 5.69 miles of Gwibedog followed by Halfway, shortest stage of the day 5.49 miles. Still no problems except a bit of a squeak developing on that near side rear brake . Esgair Dafydd 2 was a rerun of stage 1 and again there was no management but I saw them through the link road and the made my way to the final emergency of the event following the 15.53 sting in the tail of Crychan Main.

Back at Builth results showed the boys were 30th overall and second in class. The whole team felt we were starting to make a bit of serious progress and are now looking forward to the next round The Quinton in July. 

Well Done Richard

Despite only doing 2 of the 3 rounds held so far Richard is currently leading the 2 wheel drive class as well as the B10 class on the Pine Lodge National Championship. He is also 11th o/a.

Lets hope we can carry on in the same vein nexttime out on the Severn Valley stages

Red Dragon Rally

With the event not starting until 10 o'clock the team had a fairly laid back start to the day. Scrutiny & signing on posed no problems though the scrutineer did comment on the fact that our Proflex canisters in the back should be boxed. No one has ever commented on this before so we will check it out before the next event.

Three stages faced the crews before returning to Walters Arena for service. The first stage, Walters 1 at 8.49miles in the arena complex was also the longest of the 3, this was followed by Rheola 1 at 4.9 miles & Rhondda 1 at 7.27 miles.

No dramas in the 30 minute service just a wire hanging down which turned out to be the radio aeriel, a left over from the original plan to run the car in the London Himalayas rally where a radio would have been a god send on the long road sections. Because some of the sections had been rough we gave the car a really good check over & I think everyone was glad that there was a smallish entry so second usage wouldn't be too rough.

At this time Richard had been running a strong second in the class so all to play for.

On stage 5 Richard ran wide clipping the bank & getting himself a puncture for his lapse as well as a bent lower rear arm. 8 minutes lost and a dop to 5th in class but they made a point of finishing and as far as we are able to tell will probably take maximum championship points.

The teams next outing will be at the end of May on the Severn Valley Stages.

Red Dragon Rally

Next outing for Ti will be this weekend at Swansea for the Red Dragon Rally where Richard Phillipson will once again use his Honda Civic.

We are still waiting for our gearbox to be sorted by the makers neither at present able to do anything but deny responsibility.

Wyedean Rally

Plans for Richard Phillipson to use the newly acquired Quaife CR gear kit & Griper diff on the Wyedean went out of the window when we had problems fitting the kit. Not helped when we rang Quaife for some guidance only to be told that the assembly drawing was possibly wrong. So the original box was refitted while we resolve the problem.

Scrutiny went off without a hitch and with our start number of 103 we had the opportunity for a laid back start to Saturday. The event had 7 stages 2 before auxillary service followed by 2 before main service [1 hour] back at Chepstow racecourse then 2 to auxillary service & a final stage before returning to the racecourse.

The first 2 stages Chepstow Park & Serridge 1 went off without any problems Richard & Brian both all smiles at the auxillary service point. Swallow Vallets was followed by Piercefield but this time when the car came into service there were a couple of issues, a detatched front bumper was easily sorted but the clutch had caused a problem at the start of stage 4. The pedal had stuck down and when Richard freed it the clutch still slipped as they went off the line. From the point when the clutch did bite everything seemed ok and despite a really good check we could find nothing wrong.

Stage 5 was Speech House followed by a second run through Serridge and again no problems, the mysterious clutch trouble hadn't resurfaced so the boys headed for the final stage Mailscot.

Back at Chepstow and Richard & Brian had bagged 4th in class which was above expectations given our standard gearbox & bodes well for later events.

Roger Mustoe in his 1400 Polo won his class & Gary Barlow who was equal leader at on point in the 1400's was encouraged by the performance of his car despite blowing a water hose & dropping down the order.

Wyedean Rally

Richard Phillipson will open his 2008 season on the Wyedean Rally this weekend [9th] running car 103. The car now has a Quaife CR gear kit together with a Gripper LSD, so something else for Richard to get used to but will prove invaluable if the stages cut up as is expected. Brian Cammack will again co drive.

Also out on the event is Gary Barlow who is now using a Nova. Gary will start no 207, 6th in the 1400's. I believe this is his first outing with this car.

It looks like the weather may play a significant role with lots of people forecasting snow, me I favour another day like last weekend at Goodwood where we were blessed with sunshine