Ti Motorsport

After a little bit of a late night, [we didn't arrive at our accommodation until 1.30 am, the van turning up at 2.00 o'clock] & by the time we had had a nightcap, my notes said we hit the hay at 4.00. 

As the road up to Llanerchindda Farm had been icy when we arrived, I decided that we should leave at 6.00 am. As it turned out, it was much easier to get out than it had been to get there.

For the final day, there was just the one service area at Walters Arena. It was much less crowded than I had expected but just as bad a surface as usual. The rain didn't help either. We eventually found a patch with no large craters or lake sized puddles and set up for service.

Richard & Stefan had had a bit of a lay in, so were fashionably late. After a bit of discussion, we opted to fit 4 new tyres and with that done, we were all set for the final day and also time to draw down the curtain on Ti Motorsport.

The first stage of the day, Rally Collection UK Walters 1, to give it it's full name was a 7.12 blast giving us a chance to see the crews in action.

The next stage was a little 3 mile run through the Coopers Tyres Glasfynydd, before the 10.47 mile run in Crychan 1. In one of those little quirks of fate, at the end of the second stage, Richard came through just in front of his old Opel Kadett, so I was able to follow the last two cars that I built, running together.

Next stop, the service area. and a couple of jerry cans of fuel

The last leg consisted of just 2 stages, a rerun in Walters, imaginatively named Walters 2, followed by the Galway Mini Centre/C Sport Crychan 2.

The first of the two passed with no issues, so here we were sitting at the end of the final stage, just waiting to congratulate the crew when the tracker showed them stopped in the stage.

Been here before, Last time it was with Miles Johnston on the Network Q, Margam Park and that time my Peugeot 106 burnt for hours, so lots of swearing and several flashbacks.

Then suddenly the tracker showed them moving again but very, very slowly. Some relief but that question of why were they going so slowly.

The answer to that soon became apparent when they finally came into sight. The drivers wiper arm had gone awol. Throughout the event, it had been the co driver one that had been the issue. The fix had been so good that they hadn't been able to change it over when they stopped.

At least we were able to sort that before heading to the finish in Carmarthen, a journey hampered by a level crossing failure in Llandovery.

Just as the last time we did the event, the finish was a TOTAL SHAMBLES. 10 or more minutes on the ramp while every man and his dog joins in to be photographed may be OK for the first cars but it does mean the later crews having to wait hours for their turn. Richard & Stefan opted out, so no podium pictures for us.

At least we signed off with a class win

 

 

 

Croeso i gymru or more commonly, Welcome to Wales

After our unexpected day off, the rally was restarting as scheduled in Welshpool. As the first car wasn't due to be flagged away until 12.00, we were able to have a spot of breakfast before leaving and heading for the absolute chaos that the restart venue presented. Bang in the middle of town and half full of shoppers, the  Berriew Road car park was far from ideal, they could have held the cars elsewhere and had the drive to the car park ready for their due time. Not rocket science, other events do it.

Originally 3 stages were scheduled, before a 30 minute service in Dolgellau. The stages would then be repeated with the overnight service in Machynlleth. Sadly the second and fifth stages, Gartheiniog 1 & 2 were cancelled  due to damage caused by Storm Arwen.

This meant the first stage 11.02 miles of Dyfnant 1, traversed by our crew with no reported issues was followed by 13.29 miles of Dovey 1. Once again, no reported problems, so into service. So far our calculations on fuel usage had been a little on the light side, we had worked on 4 miles per litre, but were actually getting closer to 3 mpl. Our tyre usage was going the other way, the car was being very light on tyres. We did have to do a precautionary change as one of the rear tyres had a slight nick in it. I am sure it would have been ok BUT we were taking no chances. We also gave the alternator belt another tweek. 

With service complete, Jonathan & Jamie headed off for Machynlleth, Andy & I headed back to our management point after the second pass of Dyfnant. Interestingly, for me at least, Richard was now running immediately behind his old Opel Kadett , so the last two cars built by Ti were running just in front of Andy & I on their way to Dovey 2.

Once again a trouble free pass of the stage and we were soon heading for our evening accommodation. It was 10.00 pm by the time the crew arrived in Machynlleth , so we had decided that as there were no major issues with the car, we would put it straight onto the trailer and head for the hills. Once again we were not starting too early, so we would do our prep at Walters Arena in the morning.