924Board.org

[Andrew NZ]

Ok, lots of comments about the spammers dominating this section, so thought I should let you know what I'm up to!

I'm doing the Taupo Classic 2wd rally again next weekend. This is a fun rally based at the Taupo race track, with 4x 20km long stages using different layouts and directions of the track. It's a fun rally, but I'll be totally out classed by the twin cam Escorts in my class! Even so I can't wait.

They've even used my car as their profile pic on the face book page!!
https://www.facebook.com/taupotarmac2wdRally3Aug?fref=ts

My wife and son will both be there in their 205GTi's, making up our 3 car team.
_________________
Andrew
1977 RX924 race car
12a bridgeport supercharged
www.race4-dcup.co.nz

[Andrew NZ]

What a weekend! We headed down in convoy on Saturday morning. I was a couple of km's back along the road with the service van when the call came across the radio that there was a van on fire on the side of the road. When I got there Bron had already used her 2kg extinguisher on it and we ran up with the 4.5 kg one from our van. They made no difference and the van was well and truely a blaze by that stage and the fire engine wasn't far away, so we made the decision not to use the others we had. Just as well, as it turned into a real mission trying to find replacement extinguishers on a Saturday afternoon so that we could start the rally the next day!

Another 100k's or so further down the road I heard a bit of a rumble coming from the back of the 924. It start to get worse (at first I thought it was just more of the "marbles" coming off the tyre, as that had been happening all the way down) so I radioed ahead to get them to look for somewhere to pull over. There was a town just up the road, so I eased off and coasted in. Just as I pulled over and hit the brakes things got really interesting, and it sounded and felt like the wheel had fallen off!!

It turns out that a bolt had come loose and eventually fallen out of the right rear calliper, and the calliper flicked out and jammed against the wheel when I braked - very luck that didn't happen at speed in the rally! No major damaged and we had a spare bolt in the service van, so the crew had it sorted and back on the road in about 10 minutes.

This was very embarrassing - the car has been so reliable this year that I'd gotten lazy and forgot to do a spanner check before we left - lesson learnt! No more problems on the way down, and we had a quick team meeting when we got down there to plan for the rally the next day.

I'll continue the story about the rally and the return trip later today when I get home from work.
_________________
Andrew
1977 RX924 race car
12a bridgeport supercharged
www.race4-dcup.co.nz

[morghen]

please do
_________________
Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com

[Andrew NZ]

Up early the next morning to find ice all over the cars, as it was -2 degrees! All the cars started first try, which was a surprise, so we headed in for documentation etc, and to set up our pit garage for the day.

We were all seeded well down the order and were starting a few minutes apart from each other, which worked out nicely for the crew as they could watch us all from the grandstand directly above the pits.

The first stage started well for us in the 924, and we actually managed to overtake one of the faster cars as soon as we got on the track. It was as slippery as could be, even on the second lap once the brakes and tyres warmed up, which made the whole thing a lot of fun - opposite lock on just about every corner. It did get a bit more difficult as the slower cars gradually joined in (1 minute intervals on the start line in the pit exit), as they tended to get in our way around some of the tighter corners. Talking about tight corners, the stages were brilliant this year with lots of extra tight chicanes and esses added in - great for flicking the back around under power, which was definitely the quickest way around for a change.

Unfortunately our luck ran out early when a misread note brought us in a lap early, earning us a penalty time of the slowest cars time plus 30 seconds, which put us about 3 minutes behind where we should have been. It wasn't going to be easy to make that up with only 3x 20km stages left, but we decided to give it a try anyway.

The two Peugeots did well - Ian put up a good time despite a small spin, and Bron had a steady start after a big crash into a tractor tire had ended her last rally here 3 years ago.

We launched into the second stage as hard as we could and pushed the little 924 to the absolute limit. I need to get an lsd for this soon, or much wider tyres! 2nd gear seemed to be getting further away every gear change, which was later diagnosed as a flogged out bush in the gear linkage - this was the only mechanical niggle we had all rally, so I was quite pleased after the brake issues on the way down.

We posted a good time on that stage, and pulled back about 30 seconds on Ian. The next 2 stages went just as well, with lots of passing (and a bit of being passed) going on. All in all it was probably one of the most enjoyable rallies I've done, and the past season of circuit racing has certainly paid off with car (and driver) setup.

Now for the results:
Bron was second lady home, with 3 others behind her.
Ian was a fair way up the field, and had a ball.
The 924?...well it pays to keep pushing through because you never know when some of your competitors will make the same mistakes...we were 3rd in the up to 2.3L classic class! We even beat one of the BDA Escorts!!

The day went down hill rapidly from there though. We were allowed to take the service crew out for a couple of laps after the rally. Cold tyres and no concentration aren't a good combination with all the extra chicanes out there, and rumour has it I may have slid into one of the tyres while showing off to my crew. No major damage, other than my pride.
Then on the way home (ironically in the same town as on the way down) my rear brakes seized on and caught on fire!! We managed to bleed some fluid off and back the bias right off to get them freed up, and then drove most of the last 200km without using the brakes at all. This really was an adventure I'm not going to forget in a hurry!
_________________
Andrew
1977 RX924 race car
12a bridgeport supercharged
www.race4-dcup.co.nz

[Andrew NZ]

Unfortunately my camera didn't work, but another competitor has just put up some footage following me around.

This one was stage 3 (reverse direction, short track) and I catch and pass him about 2 minutes into it. He then tries to hang on the back of me for the next 6 minutes or so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2503MsVOqo

This is stage 4 (reverse direction, long track), and I get him about 2:40 into it. I catch Bron in the little pink Pug a couple of laps later, and then this guy follows her for a while before she lets him past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-2F1PlbONQ
_________________
Andrew
1977 RX924 race car
12a bridgeport supercharged
www.race4-dcup.co.nz

[morghen]

Thanks for sharing !
Always a good read
_________________
Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com