Summer is not the time for rallying. It is the time for repairing, upgrading, and regrouping, which tends to make uninteresting reading. However, there have been a couple of highlights.
30th April was the annual awards dinner for EMSF,
and marshals’ party. I received the winner's trophy
for theT1 Championship for the 2nd year running, which is
very nice, as well as one for 2nd place in the team awards. Much alcohol was consumed, I seem to recall. And there’s a video compilation of the 2014-15
Championship here.
6th May saw Newtrix on set at a desert video
shoot for a commercial. Mobily, the Saudi
Telco, sponsor Yazeed Al Rajhi, the well-known rally driver, and the storyline
needed a second rally car and driver – which was me. It was one of those rare occasions when the
Beast actually earns money, and as such I seized it with both hands. But bloody hell, it was hot, and a worse day
to be wrapped in a rally duvet in the middle of the desert would be hard to
imagine. But the crew got the shots they
needed, I ended up towing Yazeed’s Robby Gordon Hummer out of the desert, and I
got paid. Hurrah. Of course, to get to this point we really
needed some power steering, which (if you’ve been following the plot) you’ll
recall was notably absent in Ras Al Khaimah. So finally, Mebar got to fit the GM power
steering pump (which Kate and Rick travelled about 800km to fetch).
The Ras Al Khaimah Rally video is now on YouTube, and it
does contain glimpses of the Beast – as well as Sheila getting her trophy!
We happened to be in Spain in July while the Baja Aragon was
on, so we headed up to Teruel to spectate.
What a brilliant event! Some 200
competitors (bikes, quads, cars, trucks) and crowds of spectators at every
viewpoint. Our main focus was our mate
Emil Kneisser in his Y62 Patrol, who is currently lying 2nd in T2 in
the Cross Country World Championships.
He ended up 3rd in Spain, but we also got to see Harry Hunt
(who we’d previously met at Goodwood), Marek Dobrowski, Khalid Al Qassimi, Nani
Roma (who won), Denis Berezhovkiy, and Nasser Al Attiyeh (who DNF’d). Great event, and great atmosphere.
A certain amount of fettling has been done, and more is in
process. I replaced a smashed headlight and bodged together the
damaged front wing (a legacy of the ADDC), with a rather excellent adhesive
called Weicon Fast-Bond. I fitted a
heatshield for the clutch cylinder, and new high-temperature ceramic coated
spark plug leads are awaiting fitment. Nanjgel have been tasked with overhauling the
front axle and brakes, and finding out why the starter doesn’t always
start.
Both of the Monit rally tripmeters have been misbehaving,
and I finally traced the problem. Monit
used a surface mounted socket for a short time, before realizing that this was
a Bad Idea and reverting to the pin-type mounting. And of course, the law of Sod dictates that
mine have the unreliable surface mounted ones.
Well, actually Monit have them at the moment, and will hopefully either
fix or replace them - watch this space.
But the Big Job is re-wiring the Beast. I’ve taken the plunge – egged on by Jason –
and ordered a Painless Performance wiring loom, which he reckons will take us
two weekends to install. The wiring is a
mess, and getting it right will give us reliability and traceability, because
all the wires are pre-printed with their function. A second (scratch-built) loom will supply all
the various in-dash electrics for tripmeters, GPS etc.
Apart from that, I have completed the documentation now
required by ATCUAE for all race cars, and the Beast has the sticker to prove it. Hurrah again.
We have a calendar of EMSF rallies for the coming season,
and dates for the EMC events till the end of the year – as follows.
EMC: Emirates Motorsport Club
EDC: Emirates Desert Championship (EMSF)
2-3 October: R4
EMC (Night Rally)
9 October: R1
EDC
23 October: R2
EDC
13 November: R3 EDC
20-21 November: Dubai Int’l Rally (R5 EMC)
11-12 December: R6 EMC (Fujairah)
29 January: EDC
Single Day Rally
12 February: R4
EDC
4 March: R5
EDC
So October will be a busy month – watch this space!
