Targa Tas 07

[fatz]

hope its not to bad

[88silhouette]

good work neil duncan and kel

[Neil]

Kel here with a quick post to say we *should* be back racing tomorrow.

It's a long story (definitely best told over a beer or ten) but the day went to shite when we drove out of the Silverdome this morning and lost a wheel.

Anyway, we got back on the road- after learning there's no need for a jack when you have 6 builders to lift the car up, not to mention what they can do to reattach guards with a drill and self tapping screws

Things seemed to be in order but we had obviously sustained some more serious damage to the suspension, which made itself known as we were travelling at about 130kays on the 4th stage in.

We'd just come out of a tricky series of corners, with some dips and bumps when we heard a massive bang out of the front.

Duncan did an absolutely amazing job to pull the car up with no steering, no brakes (for about 20 meters) and the pressure of an ugly looking drop off to our left.

The only damage sustained is to the hip pocket, and while we're out of contention for our Targa medal, we should be able to get back in to competition tomorrow, provided the work goes well tonight.

Thanks to those who have posted best wishes.

Kel

[88silhouette]

far out

tough break guys

best of luck

bring her back home nice and safe!

[Trust33]

WOW.

[Necx0]

Well done to everyone tonight in the night stage, a few people had some navigation issues haha but was a great show. Looking forward to seeing the cars again tomorrow!!

[Whiplash]

good to hear your all ok, all the best with the repairs

[Neil]

looks pretty good atm, our new sponsor Scott from Source Automotive did a top job, gave us access to his workshop tonight and sourced a guard and new radius rod for us.

apart from that we should be OK tomorrow, will get a wheel alignment and make sure it is good in the morning

It was interesting coming off the road at 130, we were flat out in a right 5 when it happened.

And it was a damn shame, we finally found the source of the mis last night (ignitor box) and the car was running sweet

Duncan

[N1GTR]

Remember if you need anything, just call

[WogsRus]

The grunta is in bad shape, took a hit on teh driver side, basically should have been a 2 left but called a 3, bugga.

Driver and crew are ok, a bit saw and bruised. Car is fixable, but damage the suspention bad, need a lot of money again. LOL.

Oh well see you all next year, i will post pics up when i get them.

[fatz]

go hawkins and warren

9th in modern!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yea baby work it!

[Necx0]

Hahahahaha Source Automotive do all my mechanical work. Scotty is an awesome fella and great mechanic!!

[fatz]

832 - Handley / Handley had an off at 2 3km into the Cygnet Stage - Crew OK

hope its alright?

[Duncan]

yeah we fell out of the rally again today, fuel pump must have broken loose in the accident yesterday and was floating around in the tank. 2k into signet we lost all fuel and had to pull out.

it was fixed pretty quickly (broken feed wire) once the crew found us but we couldn't catch the 999 car and so fell out of the rally again today, we will be going again tomorrow.

Mark and Scott are in 21th which is great, they are running good and hoping to get home as the first skyline :fingers-crossed:

wogsrus, we saw you guys off there, we were in the tow truck van that came by at the end of the stage, I wasn't sure it was you guys.

targa tom and stretch have both had tough weeks as well I think, they have both fallen out of the rally too

[Duncan]

oh turns out we've had no fwd either so we've been running the world's fastest gtst for the last 3 days....I thought maybe it was just the tighter corners making it act differently to on the track - hopefully we can get that sorted tonight too

[PHaT MR30]

Hey Duncan and Kel, it was great to finally meet you guys, shame about your mishaps, hopefully you can go on and finish!

We had our own drama's this week which put us out of contention in the Rookie Rallye.

On Leg 1 on transport to stage 4 our engine started to mis and finally cut out, source was a broken earth to the coils.

We missed stage 4 and went straight on to Sheffield for lunch (to find out if we had have gone through TS04 we would have been given a derived time Did Nookville in the wet and posted the same time as Duncan and Kel!

And then dramas hit, half way into the devonport stage we were finally comfortable with our notes and were pushing a bit harder when we lost power and a rattle was coming from the motor. We pulled into an escape route and determined something wasn't right in the OHC area. we limped to Latrobe and found a workshop to pull things apart, Source fo problem: broken rocker on exhaust side cylinder 2. Trailered her back home and replaced the rocker and lifter only to find it had taken a rather large gouge out of the cam. Happened to have a std S14 Ex cam laying around so we chucked her in and got it running, felt a bit down on power and later found it was pinging a bit.

Re entered for Leg 2 and placed 3rd through the sideling behind dunkerton and vandenberg with her pinging its tits off and our tyres went off at about 2/3rds way through.

Next stage we overheated half way through which put the ecu into safety cut mode. so we had to putt along at 2,000rpm to the finish, its painful watching our base time go by within site of the finish. Source of problem was broken clutch fan, so we stopped at derby and locked it up so it was on all the time (and about 40% down on power!).

4th quickest through Weldborough, 6th through St Marys, 3rd through Elephant pass (some ppl weren't so luck through here!), 5th through Crankbrook (1 sec off 4th). Its so painful when you can't rev the engine right out and it doesn't make any power, it won't pull up the hills or out of corners! Felt quick through Triabunna and was told we were quick through Glenorchy. Not that any of that matters as we were well out of contention. Based on our times we were probably in contention for a solid 3rd in the Rookie Rallye, but hey this is motorsport and you don't always get delt a good hand and everyone can say if, but and maybe.

But anyway the bug has truely bitten and we will be back next year in the full event!

Good luck to everyone else still competing.

Oh and for the record, Dunkerton and Rookie don't fit the same sentence. Vandenberg should have rightfully won.

[Duncan]

man this even is tougher on the cars than the driver and navigator I think you posted some great times and I hope you guys had fun - good to meet you

[Necx0]

I agree totally with you Tim....

[PHaT MR30]

What has happened to Duncan and Kel, I noticed in the results they were still on there up until Longford today and they disappeared????

Hope everything is ok!

[PHaT MR30]

Just noticed on the Rally Fast news that car #811 Hawkins/Warren had a rollover on the Fernglade stage, it says they are ok though. Pitty cos they were doing SO well, i dn't know how bad the damage is but hopefully its not terminal and they might be able to continue tomorrow.