CCRMIT

2001 George Derrick Memorial Trial

VCRS Rnd 5

28th July 2001

Seaton

Our Nissan Nightmoves ended quite suddenly and violently against the base of a bloody big tree. With extensive panel and mechanical damage to the front of our little Charade, and with no budget to speak of, things looked dim for the Never Say Dai Rally Team.
Little did we know, that the pain (both physical and financial) of our "scenery induced demise", would give way to jubilation just 28 days later at Seaton, as we took out our very first class win in a VCRS event.

Our build up to the George Derrick consisted of several very late, very cold nights in my parents gravel floored car port. After assessing the damage from Heathcote, we had originally planned to skip the Derrick and rebuild over time (spreading out the cost as well as the workload) to be ready in time for the Spring 200. After some arm twisting and convincing by Steve, one of the panel beaters at work, we lodged an entry and knuckled down to repair the car.

Steve offered to do the major structural work. All I had to do was get the car ready to go "under the knife" and locate the parts. Some of the parts were salvaged off another car I am wrecking at home, however many of the major (expensive) parts are damaged or have already been used. I was on the hunt for a bonnet, front bumper and reo as well as a radiator.

DaiAuto was able to assist me with the bumper and reo and they even managed to locate a bonnet that was in the original colour of the car, so I wouldn't have to paint it for the event. The radiator was a different matter. It appears the radiator I have been running is either not a Daihatsu radiator, or it is out of an imported car, and it seems that one is not available. I had the wrecker checking it out as well as a radiator specialist, but they all drew a blank. We had no choice but to run a standard (single core) radiator in this event, though with the cool weather we were expecting, we decided this should not present a problem.

I stripped the guards, cross member, engine mounts, radiator, bonnet and all the other "bolt on" parts and then loaded the car on a trailer and dragged it off to work one Saturday morning. The car was straight onto the rack for Steve to work his magic, straightening the rails before cutting the tie rail and upright off. All the measurements were checked and rechecked before he finally started to weld it all back together.

A couple of hours later, once Steve was done, I trailered the car back home and spent several nights bolting it all back together. A couple of new engine mounts were needed and these slowed us down by a day or so, and the only other thing that really proved time consuming was cutting the holes in the new bonnet for the bonnet pins. Every thing bolted up as it was supposed to, and we were back on the road...... at 2 am on the morning of scrutineering. We passed Scrutineering and made our preparations for the weekend's rally.

Navigation for the event presented us with a slightly unexpected problem. The map and notes showed no distances for intersections/turns. This meant that we were unable to use the method of navigation we had devised that had helped prevent Deb's car sickness at Nightmoves. This made us both a little nervous.

We approached the event with the sole intention of bringing the car home in one piece, and as a result our stage times were a little slow, but safe and consistent as we rebuilt our confidence.

Part way through competitive stage one the gear box jammed in neutral between third and second gear on a down shift for a medium tight corner. We ran wide, just scrambling through with no drive. With a fair amount of force I managed to engage second gear after the corner, and keep some momentum going. The next couple of corners were okay, but then it happened again. This time I was half expecting it, so when it didn't go into second I just forced the lever until it did.

We struggled through stages one and two with the gear selection problem, either trying to avoid second gear or if we really needed it, just slamming it in. A week earlier had I strained my left shoulder at work and that was now starting to hurt with the extra effort required to change gear. The second stage also gave us a scare when Deb's map light went out. She gave it a jiggle and it lit up again. It turned out it had just come loose from the socket.

Our concerns about the type of navigation making Deb sick proved to be unfounded. The cocktail of Tic-Tacs, coffee, Quell and KFC seemed to be doing its job perfectly.

First service was after competitive two. We sprung into action as soon as we came to a stop. The car was soon on stands and I was underneath. A quick check of the gear selector mechanism suggested that the problem was gearbox related and probably fairly serious. Inspection of the gear oil confirmed this. The tell tail sign metal particles in the oil told us that a bearing had failed or that a gear was coming apart. Having driven hard, the best part of 60 competitive kilometres, I decided that the damage was already done and besides that we didn't want to record another DNF, so we chose to press on with fingers crossed.

After service was what should have been an easy 22 km transport stage. About half a kilometre short of the control and in a quiet zone (40 Km/h and dipped lights), we came upon a very large (compared to our car) rut in the road. Driving on low beam we didn't see it, and even at 40 Km/h it bounced the little Daihatsu high into the air, before we came crashing back to planet earth. Inspection after the event reveled some pretty hairy fuel tank damage as a result.

The next competitive also provided an interesting moment. About half way into the stage was a creek crossing. A couple of cars had stopped in the stage at the crossing, with all the warning signs out, and even people flagging competitors to slow right down. All this was a little distracting. The distraction and a VERY slippery approach spelled disaster. Even at walking pace, we glanced off one of the stranded cars on the entry into the creek. (My humblest apologies to the crew/owner).
While inquiring about the crew's identity after the event (it all happened so fast we didn't spot a number) so as to apologies to them personally, I was told that several cars had bounced off them through the night, so suddenly I didn't feel too sheepish. Once again though, my humblest apologies.

After Comp 3 was second service before the final 80 km trek. A fuel top up for the car (Shell's finest - Optimax) and a top for the crew as well (Nescafe's finest - Blend 43). A quick check for suspension or structural damage underneath after the big rut, and we were away again.

We had a ball on Competitive 4. It was all route chart in the notes, so navigation was easy compared to the rest of the event. The fast curves and smooth surface were so much fun that my navigator had to remind me a couple of time that we were here to record a finish !

The fifth and final competitive stage was a re-run of transport B and Comp 2 as one long (and fast) Stage. In many ways, despite having already driven these roads once on the night, this stage was the most trying. It was long, about 48 kms, and it is difficult to hold total concentration for that length of time, particularly as the pain in my shoulder had become mild agony, and the gearbox was now deteriorating quickly.

Somehow we held it all together. As we pulled into our service area to park for the night, Paula (our service crew chief) told us that, aside from one car which hadn't come in yet, we were leading our class. We excitedly bustled up to rally HQ to wait for the last stage times to be written up. We didn't have to wait long before the fate of the missing car was known. DNF with a blown head gasket.

Soon after that, our results were written up. As we scanned the board for our times and compared them to those of the others in our class, it quickly dawned on us that despite our conservative approach, we had won class A. What a blast!! We were all grinning like a Cheshire cat. We made no navigational errors, and lost no time in transports, we drove safe and smart, and we won!

The rest of the night was a blur. A quick story swapping session before loading the car on the trailer, and then, as Paula drove us all home, Deb and I promptly passed out and woke up at home!

Now for an embarrassing confession. I woke up at home in the morning, and programmed Queen's "We Are the Champions" into the CD player to repeat over and over and over until the neighbors came banging on the door!!