Ras Al Khaimah Rally – EMC R3-2016

This year’s RAK rally was almost the same as last year’s – three stages run three times through the stony tracks around the cement factory, out beyond RAK airport.  But this year, by way of variety, we decided it would be nice to have the benefit of power steering. 

However, about 500m into stage one, we lost the power steering. ‘Oh dear’, I said (or something like that).  ‘How fortunate that we have a spare 6PK2040 drive belt in the back’.  We were stationary almost for exactly 3½ minutes to replace the belt, a new record, due to the practice we’d had at the last rally.  Back at the service part after the 3^rd stage I took off the belt again and found hidden behind the idler pulley the remains of the previous belt, which was probably binding on the pulley.

The rest of the event was fairly uneventful, although at the second service I found the front RH hub leaking axle oil and had to tighten up the bolts holding the lower cover plate (why were they coming loose?)  And by the end of the 9^th stage, they were loose again.

Anyway, another first in T1 class, and 6^th overall, so not too shabby.

Video here 

So the serious prep for the ADDC begins.  After stripping the hub, Nanjgel found that an oil seal had failed and the half-shaft was slightly scuffed, so that has all been sorted out now.  Oh, and the upper LH rear control arm had a knackered bush (again), so that was replaced, along with a few other suspect rubbery bits.  Three old control arms have now been re-bushed, so we have spares for the ADDC.  The idler pulley bearing was rough, which possibly contributed to our succession of belt failures.  So I managed to source a replacement bearing and that is now back in the Beast.  Richard suggested (insisted, more like!) that we should go back to having a front bumper (which I had removed once it became apparent that you couldn’t remove the headlights without taking it off).  Now it has been cut shorter to avoid this problem, but still protects the radiators, which is the main thing.

The Beast is now back home, with four shiny new 265/70R16 MT tyres to replace the rather knackered set of Bridgestones I’ve been using for the last 12 months.  There are still various bits of fettling to be done, but Rick is arriving this evening (hurrah!) and he’ll be bored if there isn’t any spannering left to do.  We have (for once) an inventory of parts, so we not only know what we’ve got, but which box it’s in.  Once again Emil has kindly arranged for some extra spares to be added to his own consignment stock from Al Masaood, which hopefully we won’t need.

We’re seeded 21^st out of 62 cars, which I think must be a record entry, and our race number is 222 – which makes a change from 333 which has been my EDC race number for the past two seasons.  It’s a very strong field and my expectations are limited – there are apparently five teams who would qualify for the GCC awards seeded ahead of us, and only three prizes!  Looking back over the past couple of years results, my old formula of ‘get through 5 days without penalties and you’ll be in the top 10’ no longer seems to hold true.  ‘No penalties’ nowadays might get you in the top 15 if you’re lucky, such is the increasingly professional approach to the cross-country world cup.  There are seven Minis and two Toyota Hilux ahead of us, all driven by professionals, and the only way we’ll finish ahead of any of them is if they have a major problem.

So we’ll do what we always do – try to keep out of trouble, push where it’s safe to push, avoid getting stuck and hope for the best!

Kate’s arriving tomorrow morning, and Richard will collect the Canter from Al Thika tomorrow afternoon.  Things are about to get serious.

Emirates Desert Championship R5

Having two weeks between UAQ and R5 of the EDC gave me enough time to get the engine out for a rebuild, with new piston rings and valve seals needed to keep the oil where it belongs - inside the engine.  Or so I thought! Nanjgel extracted the engine and handed it over to Fadi at Al Numairy for fettling.  But the clutch was clearly on its last legs - we'd avoided replacing it last time the engine, but now we had to bite the bullet.  Marks 4WD had it in stock and couriered the unit over in plenty of time.  However the parts Al Numairy needed didn't arrive until Thursday - and with R5 of the EDC was due to start at 0830 on Friday, we had a race against time to be ready.  Nanjgel only got the engine back around 1700hrs, but their guys worked late to finish the job, finally handing the Beast over to me at midnight - bless them!

The fifth and final round of the EDC was held on Friday at Lusaili, and for once my trusty co-driver was there to guide me around the course.  But disaster struck as we were lined up awaiting the start - the engine died, and the battery was flat!  So it's out with the jump leads, and the nearest car was the green Patrol of my arch-rival Ali Al Ketbi.  But the engine refused to jump-start, so we resorted to a tow-start, which did the trick.  (How many F1 competitors would do this for their nearest rival?  Would Mercedes help out Ferrari?  But in rallying it's different, and people help each other.)

So we started a bit late, and the engine was coughing and spluttering - the battery obviously hadn't got enough nads to power the fuel pump and the ECU, never mind the fans (which I'd already turned off).  But as we continued, the alternator was gradually filling up the battery and after the first few km it was running cleanly, and I was able to turn on the radiator fans again.

On the second lap, I felt the steering stiffen and smelt burning rubber.  'That', I thought, 'will be a failed serpentine belt.  How fortunate that I have a spare 6PK2040 in Sheila's door pocket!'  The reason the belt had failed turned out to be that the idler pulley bolt had worked loose - fortunately not quite loose enough to fall off, but loose enough to lose the belt.  So after some slow spannering we were back on track, a lap down on Ali Al Ketbi.

This was not a day for heroics - I didn't want to over-stress the rebuilt engine, and I only needed to finish to guarantee an overall 3rd place in the auto championship, and 2nd in T1.  So we took a measured approach and it paid off - eventually we caught up with Ali as he pitted with a shredded tyre.  So after three 2nd places in the earlier rounds of the EDC, we finally gained a T1 1st place trophy, and took 3rd overall auto.

Now we have one more event next Saturday - EMC R3 in RAK - before the preparation for the ADDC begins in earnest.  (Photos courtesy of Tim Ansell.)

The tortoise that beat the hare

Finally a 1st place
 

 

Umm Al Quwain Rally - EMC R2-2016

A belated report on this event - apologies!  This took pace two weeks ago, on the subkha between the coast road and the sea near the flying club airstrip.  Two stages, run three times, with 30 minutes service after each pair of stages.

The first stage was almost 9km, but very technical with a lot of sharp turns which the Beast struggled to navigate cleanly.  The surface in some parts is very slippery, as we found out during practice when we over-corrected on the final turn and did a full 360!  The second stage was around 12km but included a very long fast section towards the end.

We were happy to see Ali Al Shawi spectating, while his Silverado was driven by Ali Obaid.  We maintained a comfortable lead over him, which extended further when they lost a tyre on SS5.

Our only drama was the steadily increasing oil usage.  The engine was still pulling as strongly as ever, and we saw speeds approaching 200kph on the 'back straight' of the second stage.  But at each service, I was adding over a litre of oil, and the back of the Beast was becoming black with soot.

We finished first in T1 class, and 6th overall - the only cars to beat us were the Group 3 Subarus and Evos.  Photos as usual are courtesy of Tim Ansell.

Raising Sand

T1 driver, T1 co-driver and lady co-driver awards!

The notorious Viktor Bout's IL-76 makes an interesting backdrop