Drive-Shafted on the Rali Bro Caron!
An Early Night for Rich and Eddie
Rali Bro Caron 19th February 2005 - Camber too Far!
The Rali Bro Caron is the 1st round of the WAMC (Welsh) Road Rally Championship for 2005. The Welsh events are renowned throughout the road rallying community for their atmosphere and unique experience. This was certainly the case with a capacity 75 car entry and a big list of reserves!
Scrutineering went without too much bother other than a complaint that we didn't have split pins in our harness clips and no parcel shelf - strict of what!? At least we got through noise, just on the limit. The start venue was crowded, with hundreds of people milling about, looking over the cars, and waiting for the off. Each competitor had to provide a marshall and then there were loads of spectators as well (spectator programmes were available showing good locations).
After a long cold wait the start time came up, and we were given our navigation (consisting mainly of printed maps) to study between MTC0 and MTC1. The whole event was being run as regularity.
The first section was a shock. To keep the average speed down, the plan is to clearly stop the competitors as many times as possible on route. Nearly every SGW and Quiet Zone was manned with a DSO having to provide a signature as well as complicated codeboards and other signed for PCs to get right. The constant stop/start and shuffling of paperwork soon had Eddie feeling a little queasy and while we seemed to be getting along OK, we think we might have missed a control somehow, and were caught out by the 1st DSO (without Control board) that we didn't stop for.
The roads were certainly challenging with the temperature around zero and a couple of blizzards to keep the grip levels to an absolute minimum. Only on one occasion did Richard make a small error and this only resulted in a half spin - which will probably be appearing on video.....
However our earlier control errors were made meaningless when the o/s driveshaft tripod joint fell apart on a tight right hander. The resulting mechanical noise was certainly worrying and when the car ground to a halt half a mile later, things were certainly not looking good. And so ended the 1st event of the season. Hardly a good start, but at least we know the format for the next event. We did manage to get the car going, but the driveshaft kept coming apart with even a small amount of right hand lock while any power was on.
Mat, who had come along as our compulsary marshall, followed us home with some amusement at our attempts at making right hand bends. The procedure consisted of accelerating in a straight line, letting go of the throttle, swerving right, and then straightening again before applying more throttle.
Next time..... Now I just need a camber guage to make sure I don't do this again.