Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll!


Is it really that long since I last updated the blog? Has anything worthy of note happened in the interim? Are we going to be rallying this year?

I am happy to give you the answers to these pressing questions, which are yes, yes, and inshallah.

Well, the clutch got reassembled, but when road testing it made a horrid noise, so we had to drop the gearbox again and take it out, check it, not find anything wrong, carefully re-assemble it and it worked OK. Big sigh of relief – until it went out on the road with its new radiator. It returned from a quick trip to the traffic lights and back with the headers glowing red-hot, which is generally considered to be a Bad Thing. My first guess – subsequently borne out by my mate Kolby at Turnkey Engines – was an overly lean mixture. The big question is - why? We haven’t messed with the ECU or anything else, so maybe we’re short on fuel pressure, or the airflow sensor is under-reporting the amount of air going in. Or something.

Anyway, we needed to get the paintwork sorted and the dent in the rear door fixed, so as soon as it comes come out of the paintshop, we can concentrate on the mixture problem. Fortunately Mark Adams, Saluki Motorsport’s chief tuning guru, is about to arrive from UK, and we may need to call on his expertise. And time is running out.

And so to Hail. While marshalling at the Yas Marina F1, I had a fortuitous meeting with Richard Phillipson (photo attached), who has rallied extensively in saloon cars throughout Europe. I mentioned that I was looking for a co-driver for Hail, and (mad fool that he is) he immediately volunteered! Together we took on the job of course opening for the Dubai International Rally in the ‘00’ car last month, and managed to get through two days without coming to blows, so it’s settled. We plan to leave Dubai on 5th Feb, 8th Feb is the prologue, and the main event is Feb 9th-10th. Since the Saudis still refuse to allow Sheila to compete, the event is not part of the 2011 FIA Cross-Country World Championship, but it is still an FIA event. Sheila will once again be our indispensible Team Manager.

Now, if only we had a car…

1 comment:

Grumpy Goat said...

So it's "Hail to the Alpha Dog" then? Best of luck in the Magical Kingdom.