FFCC SPRING 200

4 November 2000

Buxton/Narbethong area

Where do I start. The Spring 200 was to be our first championship event, being a round of the Victorian Club Rally Championship. In order to compete in this event the car needed to bring it up to scratch. For instance, the two introductory trials we had completed didn't require a roll cage. Once you start to mix it with the folks in the VCRS you are required to have a roll cage to CAMS regulations.

Work on the car got underway pretty much straight after the Autumn Midnight Trail, always with the aim to be ready for the Spring 200. First thing to be replaced was the failed clutch. Then, testing the clutch on a quiet out-of-the-way sealed back road, going up and down a steep hill with tight corners, I managed to boil the brake fluid, and when we pulled up at the bottom on the last run I also noticed little licks of flame coming from the RHF wheel. Front caliper seals were replaced and I also replaced the brake lines all the way round as they were starting to deteriorate. I decided to replace the master cylinder while I was at it.

As I said above, we had to have a roll cage installed in the car, so I started hunting around for a good quote. All were beyond my financial reach, mainly because the car is a fairly unusual choice for a competition car and there was no commercially available kit for my vehicle as there is for so many other cars. This meant that the cage had to be designed for the car and then built. In desperation I posted a message on the vic_rally egroup. I got a handful of fairly encouraging replies but one that was well beyond anything I could have hoped for. Tony Emailed me, saying that he was qualified to design roll cages and gets a buzz out of helping people getting into rallying. Infact he actually wrote in the Email... and I quote "I WANT to help you"!. That was about the most relieving thing I could have heard at that particular point in time.

I took the car for Tony to cast his eye over and much to my relief he liked what he saw. The car is small, light, agile and well balanced. We measured it all up and Tony designed the cage. He faxed off copies of the plans for quotes. When they came in, we picked the one that best suited me and went with that. The company we chose to build the cage were helpful, saying that we would pay less than the quoted price, if we were to remove the dash and race seats etc (time consuming) before delivering the car to them. This was done and within the week we had a roll cage.

Apon closer scrutiny though, it was found that the front legs of the roll cage build did not infact follow the original plans and didn't comply with CAMS requirements. After a short discussion between Tony, the roll cage builder and myself, the company concerned agreed to remove the offending part of the cage and replace it with correctly shaped legs. This had cost us an extra week, but at this point I wasn't too worried about the time.

When we got the car back I set about fitting everything back in. Some extra wires were run under the dash before it was re fitted, for the newly purchased rally trip meter. Tony, (our savior again) had told me about a reliable but budget priced brand of trip meter. Apon investigation I found that the Leo Instruments Rally Mate, had all the features of the brand name budget unit, at about 30% the price.

Next thing to cause us trouble was a slipping clutch, yes that's right- the new one. Out with the gearbox (again) and off with the clutch. Further investigation found that the flywheel had been machined incorrectly. The problem was rectified and the clutch and gearbox were refitted.

At last, about two weeks out from the Spring 200 work on the car was finished. That week was Deb's 21st birthday and that took up the entire week with dinners and a party that was bigger than the Olympics. I finally got to relax, confident that the car was ready and everything else was just a formality. Early the next week (the day before scrutineering) Deb took all the paperwork into CAMS to register the roll cage, in compliance with the new rules issued on 1/4/00.

About mid morning I got a phone call at work, from a very distressed Deb, telling me that CAMS wouldn't register the roll cage as the roll cage had been constructed of material with the wrong internal dimensions! AARRRGGGHHH!!!! WOULD THIS EVER END!!?! After a series of frantic phone calls and faxes between me and the cage builder; me and Tony; Tony and the cage builder; Tony and CAMS etc., etc., etc., we had come to a (temporary) solution. The cage would have to be homologated in order for me to run it in the future, but for this event CAMS would issue me with a special permission to run the cage provided we could produce the appropriate paperwork to prove it was safe. That night Tony rechecked the cage and we sat down at his computer and he did all the necessary engineering calculations and filled out the paperwork.

The next day Deb made and early morning trip to CAMS, obtained the permission to run the cage pending the completion of the homologation, and dropped all the updated paperwork off to me at work so I could take it with me to scrutineering that night. I left work after a nerve racking day and only started to relax once I had triple checked that all our paperwork was in order, and I was safely on the road to scrutineering. It had been raining heavily since Monday, and on the way to scrutineering I was amazed to see how much water was around, flooding paddocks and running OUT of drains. I arrived at scrutineering to find things very quiet. I was approached by an official and told the news that I really, REALLY didn't want to hear after everything we went through just to get this far. The event was cancelled.

The organisers were hoping to postpone the event a fortnight, however the clash with Rally Australia left them short several key officials, so the only option was to postpone the event by only one week. I knew this was likely to cause problems, but I kept my smile up until 'bout 1am on the morning of scrutineering (take 2!), when Deb rang me to tell me she definitely couldn't get the time off work.

I thought nothing could feel worse than having an event cancelled after all that extra work and worry with the roll cage etc., but there is: Having to withdraw before the events even starts.

Not being able to run in the event, I contacted the officials co-ordinator and volunteered for a road closure. I drove out in my road car on rally day, and met up with the other officials for stage 5, and we headed off into the bush. Driving in, even in the road car, I could see that these roads would be ALOT of fun to drive fast.

The disappointment of not being able to compete was compensated for by the other officials at my R/C. Around the camp fire Chris and Barbara kept me entertained with stories of psychotic neighbors and homicidal Ex-es. As the cars came through we rated their driving ability on our fast approach, tight left hand, slightly negative camber hair pin bend. The rating scale went from a nod and utterance of the words "very sweet!" for the quick, smooth guys (and girls) all the way through to rolling around on the ground weeping as we laughed at the car who took the corner in a six point turn and still stalled the engine!! (as I write that last bit, it dawns on me that that will probably be me next time).

Chris and Barbara were a new breed of person that I'd not met before in rally land (or may have but just not realised).Neither are competitors. They just enjoy coming out for the night to have rocks thrown at them by passing cars, and to support their friends who are running. They are extremely friendly and well organised. (To hell with my two minute noodles) Chris and Barbara had half a banquet of steaks and sausages etc to spare. If you ever come across Chris and/or Barbara, do yourself a favor and say hello - there two of the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet.

The only let down for me on the night was that the car that Tony was navigating for never made it to stage five with an "off the road" on stage two.

Before starting home the next day I drove part of what was competitive stage five the night before (sensibly of course as the roads were now open again). Wow! The spring 200 is definitely an event I'm looking forward to next year.

NB**

And a quick final note to organisers of the 2000 JR Autosport Spring 200. For the event to be rescheduled to run in a week and do it so well was incrediable. Hats off to everyone involved: John Downs, Craig Stoodley, Steve and Kylie Turner, Clinton Brett and those I've forgotten. As well, those who helped the event run smoothly: Michael Cains, JR's Autosport, Andrew McCathie, Gary Hogkiss, Mike Morris, Darren Windus, all the control officials and other road closure folk, and a huge thanks, handshake and slap on the back to the Buxton Roadhouse for rescuing the event by providing a Rally Headquarters at short notice when Gallipoli Park became unavailable.