navdan

I've got a fuel setup in mind for the future after having a nice long chat with Tim Hendy and a good look in the boot of his rocket. Lift pump to swirl pot then (as you had Blaise) Bosch 044 with a spare plumbed and ready to go at the flick of a switch. Should be foolproof Paul, I would have thought fuel starvation except that we were travelling in a straight line with only a short 10 right just prior to it giving up (plus we drained the tank of 20ish litres) which is really pushing me toward the pump. Ah well..we have a good option in a freshly built motor with just over 100kms done on it for a reasonable price available immediately so no xmas presents for anyone this year Paul as far as the setup is concerned and how the car feels from the driver's seat, it's just so predictable, never trying to chuck us off the road or swap ends. It does reward smooth inputs as I found out on Saturday while trying to press on a little, losing 4 secs on my fastest time and just being a little ragged. Bumps I'd marked in recce i took out of the notes on the first stage as they didnt affect the car one bit (gotta love those Murrays ) When I get home tonight I'll throw some incar up. The new brakes are amazing with the best feel and stopping power I've ever experienced. We don't have power assistance so have this lovely solid pedal with minimal travel. (except for the one bit of pad knock I got on stage 3...brake pedal on the floor over the finish line at 215k woke me up!!) So all in all it was an awesome weekend with a disappointing end. Fingers crossed that the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship gets more entrants next year. Although it doesn't have the 'prestige' of the Targa events, it is affordable, fun and the relaxed atmosphere is a welcome surpirse, yet they still use some of the best roads in Victoria.

Dan/Blaise, the best explanation we can come up with is a lazy fuel pump. It seems as though that has been our problem since High Country as we had the same 'miss' type feeling this weekend as we did at THC and the fuel pump is the only part of the fuel system we didn't replace. So while powering toward the finish line on the second stage of Sunday morning at something nudging 215ks i felt a loss of power and a light vibration so immediately backed out of it and found neutral but by that time it had gone. Inspection of the plugs found cylinders 1, 2 and 3 all with melted electrodes and cylinders 1 and 2 with pistons resembling swiss cheese. So far #4 seem ok...one guess which cylinder is closest to the feed end of the fuel rail Timmy, thanks for the wrap and well done to you and Mr T...Hendy's 34 is a weapon and wouldve taken serious beating. I knew it was on for young and old when my very first rally stage was a 4:55 at Lake Mountain including a massive dose of oppy lock at the first corner. From then on I just did what I felt comfortable with resulting in a fastest time (recorded on stopwatch) of 4:44, with official time of 4:46 (there was a slight discrepancy all weekend) More importantly, if we take the official time, I matched Sammy's best ever time there...perfect for a harmonious marriage Now to try rebuild and get back out there. Because racecar

Hi Nick, I'll be in this Evo 6

He's actually cheaper than anyone we have used before. Road tuning (so we aren't being slugged for dyno time) and datalogging support to continually monitor and adjust the map/s during or after a rally. It's guys like this that really show how bad a majority of so called tuners really are.

Blaise, we are pretty well sold on having another dip at E85 now that we have a tuner that fully understands it and how to tune it, something the last mob didn't seem to quite have a grasp on. Had the car re-tuned yesterday after a bit of a "simplify" of our setup and we're making good linear power now with a better top end and more power. It seems as though we have finally got someone plugged into our car who understands how to get the most out of these things. The cold start was something that she always struggled with so the information on dumping the fuel in is most appreciated...but how cold does it get in Perth??? I will admit that the price of 'gucci fuel' turned me off straight away. You're going to need a Bathurst spec fuel tank to run that thing.

THIS ^^^^^^

So Lake Mountain this weekend and I doubt we will have any shortage of runs as the entry list (although non existent) is only around 15 or so. Timmy, I know you and The Danny are going to be there, does anyone know of anyone else? Evo is getting tuned this arvo and barring any major catastrophes we will lob into Buxton mid afternoon on Friday.

Ben, It was definitely the tuner, but funnily enough, none of his other tunes on other cars had an issue...You're right in remembering that it was powerplus so all we need to do is find a decent tuner to play with this time. We have one doing doing his magic with 98 this Monday and he is a BIG advocate of 85 with results that speak for themselves as we know of at least one car he has tuned that is making near on 300 atw with no issues for 3 years. Fingers crossed. (plus, have you seen the price of 102 lately.... )

Thats the first Ive heard of a content sensor....that would make things all kinds of easy when switching between fuels.

Cheers, it should be a good thing in the end. The compression test came up sweet so no damage that we can tell at this stage. After Lake Mountain we will decide on a second tune for either Elf 102 or a return to E85. The past experience with E85 was not a positive one so will be last resort. (blew two engines on the shit) We've just upgraded to 6pot/4pot Stoptech from the US (thank you sponsors!) with forged calipers and 355/320mm two piece rotors...retardation is, well, retarded!

A little disappointing to have to withdraw from Mirimbah on Sunday morning, but we had a miss that developed early on Saturday morning and got progressively worse throughout the day and became unbearable on Sunday morning. Better to pull out than throw rods etc... Changed the coil packs before comp on Sunday to no avail. We have since found a few small things that would suggest why we had the problem (wrong spark plugs, tune that may not have compensated for altitude) but the most amazing thing is that we made it through Targa Tas on the same plugs/setup, came third and won a championship...talk about lucky! So the Evo is back in the workshop getting some attention prior to the trip back down to Vic for Lake Mountain next weekend. The good thing is that we should have a little moar powah and torque to compliment the suspension setup we have nailed. Oh, and the new brake package...Sammy out braked herself on numerous occasions last weekend and had to accellerate INTO 5s and 6s cos the things are so effective. ps...Mansfield was a blast

Not 100% sure. It was such a mess that it was hard to pintoint exactly what let go, but the possibilities we have are: - pre-load set too high in the front diff (we've got our setup to the point where the car is working really well and have a heap more grip than previously. With this extra grip and a tight front diff something had to give) - hairline crack in pinion (this might have happened in the actual let-go) - I was chasing another Evo with 60 more HP and slicks so the most likely cause is that Im just tough on the gear

We will be there from Thursday arvo. Following our small mishap (split transfer case anyone?) a few weeks back, the little cheater car is all sweet. Feels better than ever with the new wheel/brake package but could still do with some moisture to bring the field back to us Woo, I must say, painting lines in someone elses car produces uncontrollable giggles...and when they're also providing the rubber...

Yeah all sweet for THC and making it thru, she has this thing that a lot of us guys don't....self preservation... see what I did there I finally get the time and opportunity to do the raping and pillaging as you so eloquently put it, at Lake Mtn. Just mildly PUMPED! I'll also do the town stage in Mansfield... I hope TK realises I have expensive taste.

Me too, if the good wife gets the car through High Country unscathed

With Targa Adelaide out of the way our focus is now on Targa High Country on the second weekend in November. The course remains unchanged save for a 'new' stage before lunch on day 2 called Devils River which is 'Skyline' in reverse. We will be there in the Evo with a few upgrades thanks to some extremely generous sponsors and while the fast and flowing day 1 doesn't really suit my pilot, she really comes into her own on day 2 where it gets a little more technical. So who else are we going to see there?

I don't doubt there's 45psi being pumped into that thing...the noise it makes is amazing How happy would the cage builder have been too, look at all that room!

If that is the highlight package... the producers of it How difficult would it be for them to put out an informative highlights package? Seems like there's a fair few people intent on giving themselves a car to fix after this event too and the interesting thing (from someone sitting in front of a computer 3000kms away) is that none of these moments/off's seem to be happening on particularly dangerous corners. The only one that is iffy is the right-hander the Viper went off on, but surely a straight followed by a crest and '3' right would call for a caution in the notes... Just my two cents

Taken at almost the exact same moment...

If bored on cool-down lap...

Always pays to read the fine print

I think the problem there lies with his microphone being a little too loud for when he gets excited about Lewis. No-one disliked Murray back in the day when he got excited.and when he did, he remained impartial. I'd much rather Crofty showing some passion towards what is happening on track than the stale fish that is one D. Beattie.

TEN can SABODs The ONLY issue I can see with the Croft/Brundle commentary is their obvious bias towards Homo and to a lesser extent, Button. Oh, and the issue that we don't get the entire coverage (pre-race, race, post-race)

You doing the 'two profile' thing again Benny?

Did a 'bastardised' day 3/4 and day 5 recce over the weekend and can see where people are coming from regarding the Woodsdale stage. If you factor in, Day 5 exhaustion, 140km liaison(!) from Tarraleah, the cresty nature of the stage, tyres that would have given their best and the lack of width of the road and it gets my vote for 'most likely to be downgraded'. There's a lot to lose at that point of the rally and plenty of places to lose it so it does command a little respect. Also, how good is the surface on Tarraleah now...nice new hotmix from the top to the bottom and back up again As for why Woodsdale is included, I can only guess that it is to enable the service crews/officials from the west coast enough time to make it back to Wrest Point for the finish. The Emo is in better shape than it has ever been as we've put in a fair bit of effort to the little things and after Baw Baw, the set-up is exactly where Sammy wants it. While she freely admits to not wanting to fully commit to the notes (aka Newton) we will be there or abouts and have a smile or two along the way