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MEMBERS PAGE - A PLACE FOR ANYTHING FROM YOU - THE CLUB MEMBER
| Malcolm Hague / Dave Read - Wydean Rally Report |
Malc Hague/Dave Read - Car 206 - Ford Escort 1400
This year we had the added problem of snow in our quest of getting to Chepstow for a weekend’s rallying in the Forest of Dean, with our reduced budget our accommodation would be my son Rick`s floor!
After surviving scrutineering we headed back to base for an evening of festivities and blowing up airbeds! but an early night!!!
There was talk of the snow turning to ice for the start! and it was!.
With the temperature at -8 in places, was the Forest of Dean ready for us, or more to the point were we ready for The Forest of Dean!
Stage 1 SwallowValets
We made the journey to the start, a bright clear morning, the stage was frozen solid, some even had trouble getting into the stage and with no room to pass anyone at the arrival control we had to be content to start behind a couple of cars slower than us!
We set off into the stage with no grip sliding all over the place, it wasn’t long before we came upon our first problem. Richard Sykes had gone off and was standing by the car laughing at us presumably coz we were out of control! Anyway, as I was hurling abuse back at him I forgot to control the car and spun 180 back facing him so had to travel WD to get speed up to flick it back round and off we went! A couple of miles further on we caught Clive Anstey who was struggling at 10 mph, although we let him know that we wanted to pass him, he had nowhere to go, so we had to sit behind him for the last couple of miles. It was a real bad start with around 2 minutes lost we were only 7th 1400. and 97th overall! The worst start to an event I can remember.
Stage 2 Speech House 1
We had to do better on this stage or we may as well go home! We managed to get our place in the queue at the arrival so shouldn’t have any hold ups with only Nathan Davies out of position in front of us!
I guess it was inevitable but the first tight corner on the stage was a hairpin left and there was Nathan! Blocking the road completely having spun! Well we managed to get round him, but it was more precious seconds lost. The rest of that stage was relatively trouble free if you accept that we were bouncing from one side of the road to the other trying to keep it between the trees with no grip it was going to be a long day. Although the car was holding together!
Now back to 3rd 1400
Stage 3 Serridge
This was to be the first stage that we were to have no problems on! We danced our way through bouncing from side to side and entertaining the spectators to the best of my ability at the same time trying to go as fast as I could without crashing! With only a half spin I could be content that we were in control, Just!
Still 75th and 3rd in class but more important 1st registered BTRDA crew and heading for maximum points to start the championship!
Stage 4 Peircefield Park or Chepstow Racecourse!
At last a bit of road that wasn’t frozen! We had a reputation for being quick around the racecourse so now was a good time to let our new friends (messers Middleton and Pinchin!) know that we were contenders for the championship and show them all the way! Well we did and we were 2 seconds quicker than all the other 1400s that felt good!
Service
We had no real problems to report , the tyres were still like new and the car felt good so check all the levels and off we go again
Stage 5 Chepstow Park
If there was an award for pretty then this stage would have won it!! But we started badly with a half spin on the very first corner then went off again losing about 20 seconds or so in total which although dropped us into the pack we were still holding on to 3rd O/a 1400 and with Mailscott cancelled we only had to get through 1 more stage to claim a moral victory!
Stage 6 Mailscott
Cancelled
Stage 7 Serridge 2
We had to drive well on this stage as 75% of it had been used already (Stage 2) but the other 25% was going to be virgin snow and ice! We left the start line and were going well until the left hand hairpin as it was still icy even after 180 cars had been through you just couldn’t predict where the ice was and where you could push as I found our another half mile in, it was a fairly straight section with deep snow off line we were doing about 50 mph and I caught the snow on the left which pushed me into the snow on the right head on, heading straight for a radio car on full right lock I just hoped it would come round, but if I missed the car there was a tree waiting, if I missed the tree there was a gate post, so it was going to hurt!
The front started to come round and we hit the gate post with the front wing and hit it hard! But it pushed us back onto the track we stopped and gathered ourselves together and set off again. Time wise I guess it was about 15 seconds before we got back in the groove, I felt I had to get those precious seconds back and drove like a man possessed for the rest of the stage pushing my luck on every corner using all of the width of the stage to keep the momentum going, we then came to a caution Pot hole should I back off or should I go for it! Don’t be silly anyway the result of not backing off was the alternator sheared off its brand new brackets and the ign light came on so off with any electrics that weren’t vital and hope we had enough battery to get through.
Towards the last part of the stage the gearbox started playing up, 3rd synchro cried enough and did not want to stay in and then 4th was very stiff coming back down the box but we struggled on and eventually made it to the end. All we had to do now was get back to Chepstow.
We left management service patched up and headed for Chepstow as we hit the main road the gearlever was stuck solid in 4th gear and wouldn’t come out. We had a similar problem on the Roger Albert Clark rally in 07 when we lost all but 5th gear in Kielder so I know the car was capable of making it those few miles but there were a couple of hills where we knew the clutch was hot but made it to the racecourse and finished !
So we achieved 3rd Overall 1400 (from 68 starters) and first of the Silverstone Tyred Championship contenders.
Thanks to Bob Tate & Paul Cox looking after us all day, Silverstone for the Tyres, Rallyschool.co.uk for their continued support.
Cheers
Malc Hague
And we now move on to Cockermouth to the Malcolm Wilson Rally on the 7th March so See you there!!! |
| MALCOLM HAGUE'S CAMBRIAN RALLY REPORT |
Cambrian Rally 2008
Car 201
We consider this to be our Home event and I just love the stages in Claocaenog and Penmachno. So to be the first competitive car on the rally was an honour, to win the 1400¡¦s would be fantastic! We have had 3 second places in the past so it was all to play for.
Stage 1 Clocaenog East
We were 1st away and I was really looking forward to waking the marshals up, this wasn¡¦t my favourite stage in cloggy but a great place to start. We left the start line not really knowing what the surface was like, with snow all over the place, we decided to take it steady, our problems started early as the screen on Dave¡¦s side misted up, he couldn¡¦t see to read the road! I was ok on right handers but was struggling to see through the corners on lefts. Then about half way through the stage the ignition light came on! I thought we were going to have a recurrence of the Roger Albert again so switched the screen off and anything else that would drain the Battery. We got to the end of the stage safely and sure enough the fan belt (Which was new, fitted for the event!) had gone.
Management Service
The top alternator bracket was broken. Ian and Bob fitted a new fan belt at management service but we only had 3 minutes to fix it, to try and get us through to main service after cloc main. As a result we dropped 3 minutes of road time. But we had a new belt on so fingers crossed we could get through to main service.
Stage 2 Clocaenog Main
We rushed into the control fighting with the belts and trying to get our helmets on and pushed to the front to get back to our position of first on the road and made it due to the stage not being quite ready thus giving us time to compose ourselves for what is my most favourite stage of the day! Every time I go through clog main I get to a place where I think I know and then it goes a different way and leaves me thinking I am going mad, so I decided from the start to listen to Dave, we still had the issue of the screen steaming up but would have to put up with it, we had a great run through and even thought the fan belt had come off with about 4 miles to go I really enjoyed myself, we had no drama¡¦s or off¡¦s, the car was crisp and handling well so we got to the end and now had a 30 second lead in the 1400¡¦s
Service 1
We had 30 minutes in service plenty of time to fix the Alternator bracket! Well actually we had to look at a heavy landing we had on the N/S rear then fit new rear tyres, fix the heated front screen, make a new alternator bracket, put fuel in, check all levels, plus front suspension amongst other things. So with all that done we set off for Penmachno!
Stage 3 Penmachno North.
This stage was run by Warrington motor club so I needed to put on a good show for all my Friends! We were fastest 1400 by 7 seconds and apart from cocking up the quarry (Duh!) we had a pretty good run through, I loved every minute of it! The screen was still misting, Oh and the belt came off again ļ I was starting to get used to it, the alternator was now sat on an angle and therefore the belt had no chance of staying on once we hit 9000 revs but as long as we put a new one one at the end of every stage we should be able to get to the finish! I hoped!
Stages 4 Penmachno South.
We started this stage now in the Zone I felt as though I was driving as well as I could and relaxed knowing that we had a 37 second lead, hit something very hard on landing, it was on the left rear and the car felt a little unstable after that but it was confirmed at the start of stage 5 when Jamie Burton informed us that the car was crabbing badly. But we were still 15 seconds quicker than Jamie on that stage the lead now up to 52 seconds
Service 2
We had another go at the alternator bracket and looked at the rear suspension put fuel in had a bacon butty and off to Cloggy again.
Stage 5 Clocaenog East 2
This was the same stage as in the morning and I thought with no snow that we didn¡¦t have to take it easy but it didn¡¦t quite work out that way and we had a poor run, not that we did anything wrong, we were just slow. And Jamie took a couple of seconds back off us, in saying that he must have driven well on that stage so we could not afford complacency!
Stage 6 Clocaenog Main 2
The last stage and we were ready, the belt had stayed on and the screen was now working fine so we had no excuses! We had a small moment on this stage at the place where Jamie went off this morning and the pictures show us with a wheel in the air but the in car footage shows no drama¡¦s inside the car!! That really was the most scary it got! And with another 7 seconds off Jamie we won the event (1400¡¦s ) by 57 seconds and it felt Fantastic! I have veen trying to win that for some years and had finally done it!
Thanks
Dave
Ian
Bob
Coxy
Silverstone tyres
www.rallyschool.co.uk
The Roose's
Andy Roose for the piccys
Anne and the rest of my family
Thanks to all for your support
Malc |
   
| CAMBRIAN RALLY |
Warrington motor Clubs marshals visit Penmachno for the Cambrian Rally. Some odd looking characters about on Saturday
but the guy on the left seemed like a nice chap |
 
| IAN MACKMAN - BSB & TT events |
Ian Mackman joins PRF Racing for 2009. For More Details see
http://www.prfracing.com/ |
| IAN MACKMAN'S 2008 TT YEAR |
| Ian Mackman has had a very good season on hise motorbikes including a trip to the Isle of Man TT Races. Here is his race report from the event |
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Isle of Man TT Race Report
2008 marked my second competitive year at the Isle of Man TT races. After such a successful debut last year I was looking forward to getting stuck in. Having been forced to scale down my racing calender for financial reasons the TT is my main focus of the season.
I arrived on the Island on friday night before practice began on saturday evening. Myself, wife Joanne and Mother-in-law Ann got stuck in and got everything setup ready for Saturday. Practice didn’t start amazingly well as a minor misfire on the Suzuki GSXR1000 meant that I pulled in after the first lap. The Triumph Daytona 675 , kindly provided by Quill Exhausts, also had a problem with a leaking suspension seal, not really the start I was looking for. At least both faults were fairly easily sorted during Sunday. The remainder of practice week went well the only fault was a starter motor clutch problem on the Triumph. Quickly sorted after borrowing a part from a fellow competitor. I was happy enough with my lap speeds all through practice but friday evening went especially well, a few changes to the gearing on the 1000 worked well and I finally beat the magical 120mph average lap speed with a 120.6mph. I was so pleased to have improved on my personal best time prior to the beginning of the races and finally I could say that I’d done 120mph, as opposed to nearly 120mph!!
The first race of the week started in fine conditions on Saturday. My start position had been brought forward from 42 up to 29 as a result of my practice times. I started off well, over practice I had found a few different lines over the course, sometimes the conventional racing line on the TT course puts you straight through the bumpiest section which isn’t always the fastest. I caught the rider in front of me around half way through the first lap, it took me until the Mountain section to make an overtake stick. We were then stuck together for the next lap and a half, he had a faster first section of the course and I was better in the last section, I think we were holding each other up more than anything else. We both stopped for fuel after the 2nd lap. My Dad, Tony, filled the tank and a quick visor change by Jo and I was away. Holding a position in the low 20s I was pleased enough as my bike is prepared to Superstock spec, the Superbike class allows much more tuning. At the end of the 4th lap I stopped for fuel and Steve, mechanic for the week, did a very fast wheel change, which he had been relentlessly practicing the night before the race. The last couple of laps I had clear track and made some good lap times once again obove the 120 mph mark. Crossing the line I was happy enough and on seeing the result sheet I’d finished 23rd, a personal best, but the rider in front had only beaten my by 0.09 of a second and 21st place was on 0.18 of a second ahead of me too. A shame that only 0.2 of a second to faster would have gained me two places afer nearly 2 hours of racing.
Monday brought the Superstock race, probably my best chance of a great result. My start number had once again been brought forward to 19. An impressive number and credit to my great results and lap speeds. Again I pushed hard, with the mountain section enveloped in fog I didn’t expect that the lap speeds would improve greatly as visibility was down to around 400 yards. But my first lap was my best, again a personal best at 121.5 mph. Obviously I knew nothing about this until the end of the race. I find at the TT it is better for me not to be told in the pitstop how the lap times are, it just makes me put pressure on myself. The race went well and I pulled in at the finish to be told that I’d finished 16th. What a result, a top 20 had been my goal for this years TT but I had no idea that it would come so soon in the week. I also earned a Bronze replica (awarded to riders finishing within 110% of the winners time) only missing out on a Silver replica (awarded to riders finishing within 105% of the winners time) by 12 seconds.
The following race was the first Supersport race, on the Quill Exhausts Triumph. I’d competed in a couple of meetings on the mainland on the bike before the TT and found it was one of the the best handling bike I had ever ridden. The TT would be a major test for it, after having ridden 4 laps of the Superstock race an hour before, another 4 laps on the 675 would be a test for me too!! 300 racing miles in a day certainly takes it’s toll. I got a good start and caught the rider in front of me as we entered Kirk Micheal Village. I quickly made an overtake, as I went by I noticed that it was Jamie Robinson, a newcomer this year but he was riding a Padgetts Honda (the same team as 14 times TT winner John McGuiness). Surely enough on the next straight he dragged back past me. This routine repeated itself for the whole of the following lap and a half. We were also joined by the rider behind who got into the mix. With 3 of us slipstreaming each down every straight the race turned into more of a short circuit battle than the time challenge of the TT. It was good fun to be involved with but was slowing all of us down. I exited the pits after lap 2 at exactly the same time as Jamie and once again the battle continued! The Triumph was handling superbly and has a fast engine, tuned by RLR Motorsport, and drives excellently out of the corners.A gainst the might of the Padgetts Honda though it just quite hadn’t got the top speed. I could hold in the slipstream but as soon as I pulled out into the wind I couldn’t pass. I made a couple of mistakes, trying too hard in the waterworks section out of Ramsey in the 3rd lap and lost the slipstream, fair play to Jamie Robinson he had upped his pace and I was unable to keep with him now that he wasn’t pulling me down the straights!! I crossed the line, 22nd place and a fastest lap of 117.5 mph. The Triumph had done me proud and credited me with the fastest British Rider on a British bike. This earned me a huge Trophy which is worth so much money that I was allowed my photo to be taken with it, then it is whisked away for safe keeping by to organisers, they will engrave my name on it though.
Wednesday brought the second of the Supersport races. I altered the gearing in an attempt to make the Triumph pull faster down the straights. I had a good run, although first lap over the mountain there was a huge head wind. I was pleased that I had altered the gearing as I don’t think the bike would have pulled the gearing used in the first race with the wind so strong. Another 23rd place and matching lap times of the first race was pleasing given the conditions.
The finale to the fortnight was the Senior race on Friday. Another 6 lap 225 mile race. The conditions were great although rain on Thursday had washed all of the rubber from the surface causing a lack of grip over the course. Again I caught the rider in front of me and passed him over the mountain section, he stuck with me and passed me back on the run to Bray hill early in the lap. We continued to battle until the first pitstop, the tyre change went really smoothly again. I was pushing hard and think maybe I was trying too hard and making mistakes. Every one of my flying laps equalled my new personal best 121.5 mph but I was disappointed not to have improved on my lap speed. The race went great the only issues when a rider in front flicked up a stone which smashed straight through my screen, then I knocked my kneeslider off on a mid corner kerb, causing me to then wear a hole through the knee of my leathers in the rest of the race!! I crossed the line in 17th place, another great result and massive improvement on my result the same time last year (27th). This took my total bronze replicas to 5 in the week (one for every race).
The TT is my favourite event of the season no where else in the world provides the same thrills. The most thrilling section has to be Bray Hill, holding the bike flat out in top gear (through what is normally a 30mph speed limit) down the steep wall lined hill. The bike then bottoms out, grinding a hole in the fairing and flattening the exhaust, through the traffic lights in the dip. Then the front wheel lifts twice at 155mph over Ago’s leap on the run to Quarterbridge. My favourite section though has to be the Appledene/Greeba section. The surface is smooth with a 180mph approach, lots of blind corners make for a difficult section but one which give great rewards once you know the line through etc.
The TT 2008 has been superb, a small band of willing family/friends and myself have taken some great results, not just finishing every race but earning replicas in every one. Two top 20 finishes exceeded my expectations and a best lap of 121.5mph on what essentially is a road bike with a couple of minor modifications. All in only my second TT.
I must mention that although I finance everything to do with my racing personally I do have assistance from Quill exhausts providing the Triumph, dyno set up and exhausts for the Suzuki, Kais suspension helping with the Suzuki and Maxton suspension for the Triumph. Some financial assistance from Hadlow Edwards and Steve Mort. Engine Preparation by MSG (Aylesbury) on the Suzuki and RLR Motorsports (Shropshire) on the Triumph.
My racing for the remainder of the 2008 season is slightly patchy. As mentioned I am unable to continue competing in the British championship for financial reasons. I plan to do a few national meetings and ,sponsorship depending, I may compete in the Ulster Grand Prix (Irish Road Race) then I will be hoping for a good result in the Anglesey Grand in early October. Plans are already being made for the TT 2009, with improvements to both bikes and the right guidance I firmly believe that I have potential for a top ten finish, watch this space. |
| Phil & George Jennings Rallying exploits |
To check out our rally reports from this year go to
www.rallyingsideways.homecall.co.uk |
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