Popping my competition cherry!
13 May 2013, 09:29 AM
#1
Popping my competition cherry!
Hey guys,
Thought I'd share some of my experience yesterday.
A good friend of mine and work colleague Dave has for many years competed in tarmac rallying. His car at present is a full homolgated international spec Citroen C2 R2 (1600cc, Sadev box, proper suspension, brakes and all the trimmings). His usual navigator is suffering a back injury at the moment and a couple of weeks ago Dave asked me if I fancied navigating for him. Having only ever done track days, nurburgring etc. Of course I jumped at the chance and promptly applied for my MSA licence.
Our event was the Middlewick stages in Woodbridge, Suffolk. The event consisted of 8 special stages, all approx 9 miles long and in circa 40 min intervals. Our first being at 9:06am.
Getting to grips with working it all to rally time was straightforward, but the challenge of navigating was initially quite difficult when you're going through gates and trees at an almost unfathomable rate. We had a couple of overshoots in the first couple of stages and I made an error in SS3 where I miss called a split and cost us about 10/15 seconds. Bugger!
However we both really settled on SS4 and were really flying. The tiny Citroen with only 160bhp and the sequential box was absolutely stunning around the twisty rough airfield. The stages there forward we got quicker and quicker as I really settled into reading my notes without having to look where we were going and Dave was able to really push on.
At the end of the day we finished with only some minor bumper damage thanks to a close encountered cone and a melted rear bumper. (Due to a silencer we had to fit as our car was 108dB and the marshals needed us to bung it)
Our results were pretty good, we got the car home 2nd in class behind Johnny Ellis (Fiesta WRC S1600 car) and 9th overall of 39 cars. We even got ourselves some silverware.
I can honestly say it's the most fun I've ever had in a car and cannot wait to go again.
Here's some pics of the day. We have some incar which ill hopefully get downloaded this week.
Usual **** taking prevailed
Thought I'd share some of my experience yesterday.
A good friend of mine and work colleague Dave has for many years competed in tarmac rallying. His car at present is a full homolgated international spec Citroen C2 R2 (1600cc, Sadev box, proper suspension, brakes and all the trimmings). His usual navigator is suffering a back injury at the moment and a couple of weeks ago Dave asked me if I fancied navigating for him. Having only ever done track days, nurburgring etc. Of course I jumped at the chance and promptly applied for my MSA licence.
Our event was the Middlewick stages in Woodbridge, Suffolk. The event consisted of 8 special stages, all approx 9 miles long and in circa 40 min intervals. Our first being at 9:06am.
Getting to grips with working it all to rally time was straightforward, but the challenge of navigating was initially quite difficult when you're going through gates and trees at an almost unfathomable rate. We had a couple of overshoots in the first couple of stages and I made an error in SS3 where I miss called a split and cost us about 10/15 seconds. Bugger!
However we both really settled on SS4 and were really flying. The tiny Citroen with only 160bhp and the sequential box was absolutely stunning around the twisty rough airfield. The stages there forward we got quicker and quicker as I really settled into reading my notes without having to look where we were going and Dave was able to really push on.
At the end of the day we finished with only some minor bumper damage thanks to a close encountered cone and a melted rear bumper. (Due to a silencer we had to fit as our car was 108dB and the marshals needed us to bung it)
Our results were pretty good, we got the car home 2nd in class behind Johnny Ellis (Fiesta WRC S1600 car) and 9th overall of 39 cars. We even got ourselves some silverware.
I can honestly say it's the most fun I've ever had in a car and cannot wait to go again.
Here's some pics of the day. We have some incar which ill hopefully get downloaded this week.
Usual **** taking prevailed
Last edited by frayz; 13 May 2013 at 09:31 AM.
13 May 2013, 10:10 AM
#2
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: MK
Posts: 4,931
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am very jealous! !! Plan on doing my rally license sometime this year and maybe buying a car next year (slow and cheap). How did you get on with the License test?
13 May 2013, 01:03 PM
#5
I'm ordinarily a pretty good passenger anyway and although not been in a competition car with Dave before, trust his judgement and ability. It is however an entirely different experience calling notes to the driver in a clear and concise manner at the speeds and not being able to see where youre going.
There was more than one navigator at yesterdays even that was being sick after stages. Lol.
I was absolutely stunned by how fast that little C2 was in Daves hands.
I can only imagine what a modern WRC car is like at maximum attack.
There was more than one navigator at yesterdays even that was being sick after stages. Lol.
I was absolutely stunned by how fast that little C2 was in Daves hands.
I can only imagine what a modern WRC car is like at maximum attack.
13 May 2013, 01:31 PM
#6
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Clacton,Essex
Posts: 1,489
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nice one Frayz.... I can imagine myself getting all tongue tide trying to read the notes clear enough for the driver lol.
Looked like and sounded like a cracking day!
Looked like and sounded like a cracking day!
Trending Topics
14 May 2013, 10:54 AM
#12
It's an eye opener Chris. Lol.
There was a certain tree on the inside of one of the stage corners which as the day wore on, gradually lost the bark on the inside as cars were cutting it so fine, sometimes too fine!!
Sometimes it was better to not watch where we were gong as we were taking gates not much wider than the car at a serious rate!
I felt like Nicky Grist for the day
There was a certain tree on the inside of one of the stage corners which as the day wore on, gradually lost the bark on the inside as cars were cutting it so fine, sometimes too fine!!
Sometimes it was better to not watch where we were gong as we were taking gates not much wider than the car at a serious rate!
I felt like Nicky Grist for the day
16 May 2013, 10:07 AM
#17
Funny how many with quick road cars are bad passengers. I know very few that are good passengers in fast cars. I find that quite odd seeing as we all quite like going quickly when we're at the wheel.
I was surprised at just how fast the little C2 was and its ability to carry speed and change direction was mind blowing to be honest.
The braking provided by the big Brembos and slamming down the sequential box was enough to rearrange your insides on their own. Lol
I think everyone should do a passenger stage with a rally driver. It makes you realise just what speeds can be achieved in a car.
Christ knows what a full on WRC car is like at maximum attack. That's some serious ***** to be a navigator at that level!!
I was surprised at just how fast the little C2 was and its ability to carry speed and change direction was mind blowing to be honest.
The braking provided by the big Brembos and slamming down the sequential box was enough to rearrange your insides on their own. Lol
I think everyone should do a passenger stage with a rally driver. It makes you realise just what speeds can be achieved in a car.
Christ knows what a full on WRC car is like at maximum attack. That's some serious ***** to be a navigator at that level!!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
An0n0m0us
Computer & Technology Related
0
28 September 2015 09:58 PM
