Classic Adelaide Tarmac Rally, South Australia.

[nadg63]

Entered the TR7V8 in the above event next week for it's debut run, so fingers crossed it makes it to the finish!

http://www.classicadelaide.com.au/ca09/index.asp

[Phillip G]

Neil,

That Adelaide  Rally is well known - famous - and to be competitive in it will be impressive.  Best of luck and let us know of the results.

First goal is to finish!  Simply being allowed to enter the event is a great accomplishment.

Keep them on the track.

Phillip G.

[nadg63]

Hi Phillip,

Have taken part for the previous 2 years, but in an 1971 Aussie Ford Falcon GTHO Phase 2 and in a different class, this is the first year at Comp level and first time for the TR.

After this event, we are then entered in another event called the Mount Buller Sprint, basically a 16km hillclimb with around 130 corners, but it's a hillclimb with a navigator and pace notes!

Here's a link to an incar video from last year, taken from a V8 Ford Perana, (Capri!):-

http://www.mountainmotorsports.com.au/incar_mbs08_fog.html

Neil.

PS:- Understand all to well the 'first goal is to finish' syndrome, here's one we prepared earlier:-





The 'red' car is the result after sorting this .................................. !!!!!

[Phillip G]

Neil,

Is that the very same side-damaged TR8 that you will run in the Adalaide Rally - after repairs ?

Keep them on the track,

Phillip G

[nadg63]

Pretty much Phillip, a lot of repairs and mods have occurred since!

[nadg63]

Got through the Prologue OK today without any hassles; didn't set out to set any records, just set a time and get it back to Parc Ferme in one piece!

Waiting to go:-





Forecast for tomorrow is now 43* - DAMN! Was bad enough today at 39*, could hardly get the t-shirt off I wore under my race suit it was so wet - and that was after only an hour and a half!

[Moderator]

That sure is a nice looking car - great color! - and the Leyland helmet decal really suits the car perfectly.

Give 'em hell!

[nadg63]

One day down, nothing major to report except a burst clutch hose after the last stage!

Last stage was a renowned car killer, lots of first/second gear stuff, very bumpy surface, rocks etc; we did the stage fine, but while at time control waiting for our time it would seem the heat from the exhaust caused the hose to blister so as soon as the driver put his foot on the clutch the pressure just burst it open spewing clutch fluid everywhere.

Anyway, we'd officially finished the day, so started the car in gear, managed to get in a couple of up-changes and drove it back like that. Took it to Ian Wilson's place, TRS, and fitted a new clutch hose, (with heat shielding), and even managed to get it into Parc Ferme before the 10pm cut-off! So all ready another go tomorrow.

[Phillip G]

Neil,

The Ford V8 Capri incar video is awsome !

The passes of the several slower competitors on the mountain road is most thrilling.  

The Adelaide Rally really lives up to its fame.  I remember back several decades ago when Road and Track and Car and Driver  
( U S magazines) used to give huge coverage of the event.  Wish they still did.

Thanks for the reports from down under.

Keep them on the track.

Phillip G

[nadg63]

Day two finished, no dramas to speak of.

Weather went from 43* yesterday to early showers, (meaning unsure if stage was wet, dry or somewhere inbetween), then full on rain, to dry in the afternoon - just took the damp ones a bit on the steady side, (meaning we dropped a bit of time, but the plan was to get to the finish and have a good day), then try and get some time back in the dry stages.

Two days to go ........................... !

Neil.

PS:- Didn't mention it in yesterday's report, but a Porsche 911 had a major crash in one of the day's stages killing both driver and navigator instantly - very sad ..............................

[Phillip G]

Neil,

Awful news about the  crash of the Porsch 911 and the death of the navigator.  The Denis Jenkinson's are not supposed to be endangered.

Go safely and take good care of your navigator.  He is probably the bravest of all.

Keep them on the track,

Phillip G.

[nadg63]

Phillip, I am the navigator in the car, I'm a hopeless driver, whereas Craig, (the driver), is just as hopeless as a navigator, (also, he fits in the drivers side of the car as I am 6'1" and find it a bit of a squeeze on that side with the steering wheel etc in the way). As in most good combinations, he is the firey one whereas I am the chilled out one that keeps all things calm, so we work well together this way round!

Anyway, third day is now done and dusted, and again all is well. The day started off with heavy rain, and as you have to stick with the same set of tyres for the 4 days everyone was running/skating around on 'road legal' race tyres - Yoko Advan AO48's in our case.

Knowing conditions were bad we just kept it on the black stuff and aimed to finish the day; quite a few didn't! After the morning rain it became more intermittant so you never really knew what to expect and by the final stages it was almost dry, but still with 'wet' spots waiting to catch you out - but it didn't. Only minor drama we had was on a notorious section called 'Gorge Road'
which has a lot of very hard braking points into very sharp hairpins, by the last one the brakes got a bit spongy, but a bleed and top up of fluid at service sorted things out.

Have now moved up to 20th spot, (from 29th Thurs, 25th Fri), which we are more than happy with first time out with basically a stock 3.9L Range Rover engine up front!

One day to go, again think we will be just looking to get to the line.

[Phillip G]

Neil,

Thank you for sharing with me that you are the navigator.  Boy does that change everything in your reports of the Adelaide.

I can't see how you do it.  That in car video was frightening - and that, to me, was from the driver's point of view.

Now to learn that you are experiencing that speed (especially on the down hill part of the mountain course !) trusting the driver not to screw up.  

I don't think I could ever navigate.  It is much less scary doing the driving.  

Hats off to you and tell the driver .... well, tell him I wish him much safety and good luck.

Keep them on the track,

Phillip G

[nadg63]

Classic Adelaide is now over for another year, and glad to report we got to the finish line - just!

After having a virtually trouble free run for most of the 4 days, (apart from the clutch hose), 2 stages from the end the car decided to give us a major scare. Sitting at the clock waiting for our time to tick over, with about 30secs to go the idle suddenly dropped from 900rpm to about 300rpm and did not sound good; anyway our time arrived so had to go, and the car just kangaroo hopped away missing, stuttering and generally performing like crap - OH NO!

Somehow Craig managed to get it through the stage and once out of Time Control we pulled over for a look; what we found was that the air inlet/intake pipe had a big split in it after the Air-flow meter so it was sucking in extra un-monitored air sending the fueling mad. Quick rummage in the boot for the 100mph tape, a quick wrap around the pipe and things immediately sounded better.

All we had to do was get to the start of the final stage as it's only 2.5kms long and once away you can pretty much roll to the finish; as it happened it ran pretty well apart from the last 3 corners and we got down in a fair time. After getting our time, all that was left to do was cruise into the finish area, hand in our card and collect our medals.

At the finish, we were 19th out of 46 in our class, (and as a bonus we were the top finisher of the 3 TR7V8's taking part, horse-power isn't everything - the other 2 had a lot more than us!), we were pushing for 18th but the problem put paid to that, still very happy with the result though seeing as it was a debut for the car and ourselves at Competition level, also being the first time of reading/running to pace notes.

I'm ready to go again already!

Playing in the rain:-

[Phillip G]

Neil,

Great congratulations on a good finish !

Simply being a starter is a huge accomplishment - to finish is really everything.

Wouldn't I love to someday experience the Adelaide Rally - behind the steering wheel - for I am not brave enough to be the navigator.

3 cheers and,

keep them on the track,

Phillip G.

[nadg63]

Bonus!

Got a phone call Monday morning from the organisers asking when we were going to collect our trophies! We actually won our class, which I was aware of, but didn't realise we got anything for it!

Well chuffed!

Found a couple more action shots via the net:-











Still working on the videos, but they will come .......................... !

[Phillip G]

Neil,

Thank you for the great reporting and the perfect finish - especially in a right-side driver TR8 !

Looking forward to another in-car video - AWESOME !

Keep them on the track,

Phillip G.

[nadg63]

Found a couple of Youtube videos of Ian Wilson's car in action:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV8C1P0vFfo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuel_qivDXw

[WedgeWorks1]

Neil- You Aussies do play hard with your toys........so jealous!

[nadg63]

Finally got the in-car videos up on YouTube; have included a link to one of them, from there just click on the 'more from nadg63' link and it should come up with the rest ........................... !!??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUdEHkcoeGw

Happy Christmas all.

Neil.

[nadg63]

Bad news, was on the local News last week that the Classic Adelaide organisers have severe financial problems and have closed up shop!?

Seems the office was locked last week, phones disconnected, and the main man had done a bunk owing plenty of people money, this includes service providers from last year and people/competitors that had already paid their fees/deposits for this years event, (not us thankfully).

At this point of time there have been a few suggestions of various people/organisations taking over the running of the event but no-one really knows if it will run this year, (or in the forseeable future!?)

So we will just have to 'watch this space' as they say and see what occurs.

[WedgeWorks1]

That's not fun at all.......well be thankful you have the opportunities to take part or have right to have these events. Here in the US/North America we have a few but nothing just wide open go crazy that are real rallies or targa events. I consider some of them to be drag race events with some right and left turns here and there. The last Targa/Rally events are the Lacarrera Panamericana and the Targa Newfoundland. Have you thought about Targa Tasmania?

[nadg63]

Hi Mike,

We are looking at doing Targa Tasmania next year as it happens - major financial exercise tho!

There are also a few other events down here, but like yourself in the USA distance to the event is a big thing.

Classic Adelaide might still happen yet, failing that we will look at doing a couple of 2 day events over in Victoria as they are closest to us, (800km away), as they are around the same time, Oct-Dec.

Next outing is a local 2.5 day event in late May.

[WedgeWorks1]

Neil,

Not to sound like a dumbass, but how big across is Australia? I will chack it out online with Google Maps, but it looks massive. I know going to the west coast from my house is about 2700 miles. I will get the intake drawing done this week hopefully.

[nadg63]

I'm not sure!?

Being in Adelaide, I am basically bottom-middle, (South Aus), and the next major city from us is Melbourne, Victoria, and that's approx 10 hour drive.

To go to Perth say, Western Aus, it's rated a 32 hour drive non-stop! (hence why we haven't done Targa West)

Just found this:-

http://www.anbg.gov.au/maps/aust-usa-map.jpg