Tarmac Rallying Perpetual Thread

[LotusGTR]

Was the road surface Ben, could see on the road where the inside wheel has lit up on uneven road surface and the left wheel was only semi touching the road due to a bit lip/hump in the road.

Car with a smaller width wouldn't have even noticed it really.

Great weekend overall though. The WRX that was leading had turbo or manifold gasket failure so unfortunate but not major in terms of damage. Then Traverso came off near the end into a tree (left hand front corner, sizeable hit) in the end section of the last session.

Went through ~75-85L of fuel, great fun.

From a touring group point of view I had a ball. Nick was up there also (LotusGTR), had fun playing with him in his GT3

Tarmac Rally is certainly more my "thing" than circuit work, bug well and truly planted.

Great work from Peter, Tim & Mountain Motorsports to get it up and running. Best piece of road I've driven yet.

Oh how the bug has bit......

[R31Nismoid]

hahaha yes so true.

Time to sell, buy a house, and in 4-5 years time get into it with some cash behind me!

Still be a spring chicken compared to most as well

[Marlin]

Glad you blokes have been bitten..... makes the rest of us feel more sane

Come on Nick, give it up, tell us about it!

[R31Nismoid]

Given it was absolutely pissing down rain on Day 2 by late morning, some of the other guys going up on R-Comps with the roads having literally running water up higher in the climb - certainly a bit of insanity I'm lacking as I would pull the pin on those conditions.

AD08s performed really well, great tyre they are.

[Snowman]

The car definately has pace. Look forward to seeing it back out there.

The car was stupid fast. I was feeling unwell in the morning so we'd just been cruising really and yet was more or less on ok speed. I'd actually just decided to take it up another notch that run - we were 5s up on our previous best run and only 1/3rd into the stage - and it was wet (the others were dry) when we had the off.

They just generate speed so easily.

But hindsight says it wasn't tarmac rally ready yet. Just glad that error hasn't hurt anyone.

[Roy]

...Just glad that error hasn't hurt anyone.

Nobody got hurt? So you say! If we had of been racing on Sunday I would not have been drunk at 4am and had to defend Rugby Union honour by wrestling Chris~ I am pretty sure i came out the better of the two of us...just

Yep, I didn't see or feel it coming at the time....and watching the vid is the same. Just one of those unfortunate things

[paulR32gtr]

So what are the thoughts on suspension changes?

[Snowman]

Honestly mate who know's. The car was so different to the last time I drove it and there are so many factors as to why that might be so until we can rebuild it again and start playing in a better testing environment I'm not really sure.

Even little things like the tyres I used we had to run on the dyno - and they got HAMMERED on the dyno (RWD only) so I don't know the effect that had on the rear grip in relation to all the other changes etc.

[LotusGTR]

hahaha yes so true.

Time to sell, buy a house, and in 4-5 years time get into it with some cash behind me!

Still be a spring chicken compared to most as well

or Nav in the mean time...

[LotusGTR]

Glad you blokes have been bitten..... makes the rest of us feel more sane

Come on Nick, give it up, tell us about it!

So hard to sum it up. You remember the 'first time' don't you?

First up, commiserations to Snowy. Can't believe how well he took it all. Nasty turn of events but a reality check as to what can happen.

The road was sublime and the car was in its element, but it was really when we got onto practicing the notes that it went to the next level. We had a dry-ish run in the morning of the second day and there was no pace car in front and we got to go for it. We stayed on notes until about 3/4 of the way through and had such a terrific run. It was the defining run of the weekend and I'll never forget it. We worked out where and why we fell of notes for the next run, and managed to stay on them a little longer for the next slower wetter run, but we'd made progress and learned heaps.

Great weekend socially too, so thanks to the SAU boys for making it a fun one after the driving was over.

Now I'm wondering how to approach things. 32R is maybe too heavy, old and powerful to hold together and the Porker is too expensive to crash, so.............showroom Emo? Heresy? May I be banished......

One step at time. I'll do another touring and see where that leads.

Thanks to everyone who's given me good guidance to this point.

[Snowman]

Can't let lifes knocks get you down

Anyways - was great to meet you Nick. I secretly loved your car - I reckon they'd make the best tarmac cars around. But as you say there is plenty of capital in them.

No doubt we'll see you in May if not beforehand.

[Roy]

I met Bernie on the weekend and he was good enough to spend 5mins giving me some tips, was much appreciated. Just did a youtube search to see if I could watch some vids of his calls and FARK ME! I never really appreciated just how good Glenney was, and how composed and calm Bernies calls are

Towards the end SO MANY 10 calls! How the hell does he keep pace

Jesus Christ...another one. The top guys need to be committed!

[N1GTR]

Nick please tell us you've got videos including engine sound

Those things just sound SO nice!

[trez]

I met Bernie on the weekend and he was good enough to spend 5mins giving me some tips, was much appreciated. Just did a youtube search to see if I could watch some vids of his calls and FARK ME! I never really appreciated just how good Glenney was, and how composed and calm Bernies calls are

Towards the end SO MANY 10 calls! How the hell does he keep pace

Jesus Christ...another one. The top guys need to be committed!

Gees that guy can steer a wheel, some top driving there!

Those two punch out a great team!

[Roy]

Yeh, I just sold my cars and am taking up ant farming

[navdan]

No offence here but seemed to be a bit of a Steven Bradbury by Sammy?? To finish first, first you must finish. Top effort!! Consistent driving all weekend while others in front faltered. Lesson in that I guess.

I'm sure she wouldn't take any offense Blaise but that said, have a look at the times she put down in the damp/wet. Her and Bernie were on a mission and nailed a great setup for the conditions which allowed them to win all but one stage on Sunday. If there's one thing she is, it's consistent as you said.

Bris, that footage of Steve and Bernie at RoSA in 2007 is one of my favourite videos to watch and is only bettered by a video that Bernie showed us one day (which isn't online) of that same event and I think the same stage, in thick fog with visibility down to about 50mts. I can tell you that the level of commitment was no different despite the limited visibility. I was scared watching it from the comfort of a living room!

[Marlin]

So hard to sum it up. You remember the 'first time' don't you?

First up, commiserations to Snowy. Can't believe how well he took it all. Nasty turn of events but a reality check as to what can happen.

The road was sublime and the car was in its element, but it was really when we got onto practicing the notes that it went to the next level. We had a dry-ish run in the morning of the second day and there was no pace car in front and we got to go for it. We stayed on notes until about 3/4 of the way through and had such a terrific run. It was the defining run of the weekend and I'll never forget it. We worked out where and why we fell of notes for the next run, and managed to stay on them a little longer for the next slower wetter run, but we'd made progress and learned heaps.

Great weekend socially too, so thanks to the SAU boys for making it a fun one after the driving was over.

Now I'm wondering how to approach things. 32R is maybe too heavy, old and powerful to hold together and the Porker is too expensive to crash, so.............showroom Emo? Heresy? May I be banished......

One step at time. I'll do another touring and see where that leads.

Thanks to everyone who's given me good guidance to this point.

Showroom Evo is certainly the easy way out. But for me, this sport is as much about driver satisfaction as it is about clinically discecting a piece of road. And when in an Evo, you're expected to go well, because if you don't, well, it's only the crew's fault.

[Roy]

I am thinking the Sierra may be for sale to fund a DR30 build again. A mate is now keen to help build and navigate. Makes a big difference when a mate is interested in the build as well and willing too help out and share beers and giggle at the stupidity and size of the task. No fun if going it alone with tight budget. Never be a chance for Targa Tas, but can afford to do some of the smaller two day events around Vic and NSW...lol just need to give it a week. I am sure this feeling will blow over and the urge will be manageable in a weeks time

[Marlin]

If you sold even half of your brake setups there's your Targa campaign right there Roy.

[Roy]

Was talking about that on the weekend. I think I have about 5k of brakes, 6k of turbos. 6k of pistons, blocks, cams, cranks etc. 2k of wheels. 2k of seats. Gearboxes, clutches. But some of that gear would make a rally car cheap, an R32 would be real cheap but like the idea of a DR30 as over time could do more with it with bits. But I think I talked myself into buying an R31 GTS-R to go with the Sierra, my Rambo CD collection and all other 80s stuff

I am just an angry, restless man. I would be at peace if I just quit my job...all the crap I do, buy is to try and offset how much I hate going to work everyday! Hell, Spa in 4-5 weeks is a sanity trip for being in carntfarknowherenearanywhere with work at the moment. At least OS remote locations mean better money