The experts have come back, 39 on the crownwheel and 10 on the pinion makes it a 3.9 diff ratio and I need to find an Estelle 120 5 speed to get a 4.22 diff. This will lower the top speed, which is no problem in a trials car, and lower all the gear ratios making it possible to climb the hills with my 58 bhp.

I've also now got detailed instructions on how to raise the suspension, which requires some machining and engineering. I have entered the Exeter trial in Class 0, so we don't need to get the work done until after that. I am looking for a gearbox and engineering facilities, will probably end up in the workshop at Cornermotorsports borrowing Andy's ramp and Skoda expertise.

The Hardy Trial

Well Lauren and I did The Hardy Trial last weekend. It was quite an experience for us. I did the Ilkley last year in Class 4, but the Ilkley was much easier. Someone has to come last, and I think it was us. We had an awful day, but we finished and got home safely, even if we were a bit fed up. Expert opinion says we either don't have enough power or the gearing is to high so I have been out today counting the teeth on the crownwheel, there are 39. I am waiting for 'The Experts' response on the Skoda forum so we can find out what ratio diff we have and then decide if we need to take the gearbox out and change the diff or take the engine out and find more power.

More news when we have it.

Hard work navigating

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Blowin the tyres up !

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Testing

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Just installed a new fire extinguisher ready for scrutineering tonight. There is a huge pile of stuff in the dining room waiting to be loaded up and we are setting off just after midnight for a 3,38 am start on the Edinburgh trial. We should be able to pop up some live posts from the mobile, we'll see what we can do.

Well Burton Dasset went well. Lauren was excellent, scoring 173 points at the end of the day. My score was 141, remember the fewer the points the better your score! The maximum score would have been 336. We both cleared a couple of sections and Lauren beat me on one section.



There are some more excellent Dave Cook pictures here

Morning Photos

http://hoits.smugmug.com/gallery/6099547_VyYJR//383149808_PiBd4

Afternoon Photos

http://hoits.smugmug.com/gallery/6099644_GKVuX//383154400_tG6jA

Once I get the ones Oliver took I will post those somewhere we can see them too.

Just had the final instructions for The MG Car Club Autumn Trial on 28th. Lauren and I are both driving, so the Skoda will get a thorough workout before the Edinburgh the following weekend.

We have a start time for the Edinburgh, 3:28 am from Tamworth. We have decided not to stay in Derbyshire but to drive home again on the Saturday evening as Lauren has an Operatic Society event she wants to go to on Saturday evening. Will put the in car cam in for Burton Dasset so you can all see and hear lauren and I falling out over the driving instruction.

Well the carb is back on, our entry for the Edinburgh has been accepted, we are doing class 0 again, and I have found a roll cage to go in. The roll cage is from one of Andy Corner's old rally Skodas, its a bit rusty but some hammerite and kurust will have it ready to go in.

The carb was full of crap again so I have now added another fuel filter between the electric pump and the carb. This means there is now a sedimenter pump between the tank and the mechanical pump, an inline paper filter between the mechanical pump and the electric pump and a paper filter between the electric pump and the carb. If crap appears in the carb again it must be being teleported there by aliens. the guy who dismantled and cleaned the carb said the crap looks like ash from a fire and asked if the Skoda had been burnt at any point in its life.

Our Tin Award from the Land's End has turned up. It has mine and Lauren's names on it, which is unusual for an MCC trophy, but I asked specially. I'll take a picture of it and post it on here.

All quiete

Not much been happening on the Skoda front. I have the carb off again as it has been sick. Think it is the old Jethro joke "You got shit in your carburettor" " How am I gonna get up there to do that?"

Nigel!

Praying to the god of the hills


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Ilkley here we come

We made it up to yorkshire yesterday . Had to adjust the mixture so the cold air intake must be making a difference. We will post more as we go.

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Ilkley Trial

I've got an entry in the Ilkley, my first non MCC event. I've had to get a competition licence, but that was no problem. We have a start number of 70 and are running in group 4. Lauren can't make it so Mike is navigating for me and we are staying at his sister's in Harrogate the night before.

Looking forward to it.

We got an award!

Got the provisional results for this years Land's End in the post and Lauren and I have won a Tin Award! That means we successfully climbed all of the 12 sections we needed to and completed both of the special tests without fault. I'm chuffed to bits, once it turns up I'll take a picture and put it on here.

I believe the tin awards are made from tin mined at the Bluehills Tin Mine at the head of the Bluehills valley where the famous Old Bluhills, BlueHills 1 and Bluehills 2 sections are. It would have come engraved with just my name, but I have had a word with the officials and they say they should be able to put both our names on it.

Bluehills has been a special place for us for years, we have spectated there, we have played on the beach there, we have been to the tin mine and walked all over the valley. This year Lauren and I tried to climb Bluehills 2 in the Skoda as a non competitive section on the Land's End and we found out it is much steeper than you think. I think I possibly had too much grip as the engine stalled rather than the wheels spinning, so next year we will be climbing it competitively in Class 4 I hope and I won't run the tyres so soft.

Lands End Trial Video

The video we made on the Lands end is now up on youtube and I'll put it on here. It doesn't feature us blasting our way up any of the sections as we kept forgetting to switch it on. In a way I am glad that we didn't capture every section on video, it makes it that bit more special for me and Lauren, we are the only ones who will have the memories.

We had a great time, would have liked to have posted on here more but we were so busy driving and navigating. You can see the two posts we did were at rest stops! Lauren kept us on route all of the time, we did get lost after an 11 mile stretch of the A30, when I told her to have a sleep and I would wake her when we turned off. I missed the turning and we had to do 9 miles of dual carriageway to turn round and get back.
Here's the video

You think we are mad

Some people do it on a bike and some don't know when to stop

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We finished !!

We finished ! We think we have won a tin award ! We attempted blue hills but had to be towed out with the winch ! Not that it matters seen as blue hills was optional for class 0 !

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Rise and shine !

Its 6 o clock in barnstaple . Had an uneventful night . Just coming out of a coffee and rest stop . Heres a picture comin out in the que .

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Were on our way !

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Weathers not wonderful . Was hailing at home ! Were hoping weathers better when we get there !


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Just testing

Making sure the technology works

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Here we go

Land's end here we come


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Got the New Tyres

Picked up the two new tyres today and put them on the front. The Falkens are thinner than the Colways so might cut the mud a bit better but will have a smaller footprint.

Vern had a listen to my wheel bearings and declared them serviceable for much longer yet, so the MOT man may just have been touting for some business. He didn't know what he was taking on though as the rears are really difficult to do and according to Vern, sometimes impossible. Couple of chaps on the international skoda forum seem to have mastered the technique though. I have decided to work on the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' principle and leave them for now. Sorted out all the split pins etc so the front looks a whole lot healthier and safer now.

Need to start sorting out for the Lands End soon, should get the route and final instructions in the next week or so.

Passed the MOT!!!!

The MOT on Saffie was due to run out on the Friday night of the Lands End Trial, 21st March. I could have left it until the week after next to get it MOTd and it would then have had a full year running from that date. But I decided that if I did that and had major work to do it would be cutting it fine for the Lands End, so I got it done this week.

The tester says the wheel bearings are a bit noisey and that one front tyre has a slight lump in the tread, other than that it passed. I also noticed that a few split pins and locking washers were looking a bit past their best so I will do those asap. Only got advisories for the tyre and bearings so it passed. I will get a couple of new tyres this week, think I will go for the Falkens from Brackley Tyre Warehouse. If I put those on the front I can keep the Colways as spares and keep the Colways on the back.

I have done a bit of research and the rear wheel bearings look to be a real pig requiring specialist tools, so I am going to ring Vern Baldwin this week and get a quote for him to do them, may be less hassle for him to do them than for me to get the tools.

Lauren and I went to BMIH Museum at Gaydon yesterday and met up with my sister's family. Elliot, who is 3 had nearly as good a time as I did. I sent him a card on his Birthday with a picture of Saffie on it. As Lauren and I drove down into the car park flashing our lights and beeping the horn Elliot said "That cars on my card". Not bad for a 3 year old.

Lauren had a quick drive of the Skoda round the car park when we came out, she did really well once we got it in first instead of third.

Provisonal results have been published

Well we got the provisional results for the Exeter in the post last week and unfortunately we haven't got a tin award. we are very hapyp with our finisher's certificates though. Lauren has framed hers and we put it up on the wall yesterday, leaving space for a Land's End and an Edinburgh one too.

I have aquired a couple of Recaro seats from a Subaru Impreza and have been looking at fitting them in the Skoda to make it a little more comfortable. they are also recliners so it will make sleeping at a rest stop easier. Some issues at the moment over how to mount them, but it is possible.

Exeter Trial

Well I would have been happy to come home with a finisher's certificate. I would have been ecstatic to come home with a finisher's certificate having cleared a couple of sections, but we came home with a finishers certificate and only failed one of the 12 sections, so I am chuffed to bits. Lauren says she now wants finisher certificates for the Lands End and The Edinburgh so she has got a set.

We took some in car video along the way, it isn't every section. The night bits are a bit dark, but that's how dark it was.

Just over 24 hours to go

The Exeter trial starts tomorrow, first car leaves SParkford at midnight Friday. Our start time is 1:51 am (Saturday) from Sparkford in Sommerset. Spent yesterday and today doing those last few little jobs and packing stuff up safely. I have put the trolley jack in behind the seats and bolted it to the bulkhead to keep it safe. I also tried to add some water ballast using a camping water carrier I had. Unfortunately when I lifted it out this morning it split and emptied about 30 litres of water all over the back of the car. Luckily there are enough holes in the floor to let it all out fairly quickly.

I've also fitted a three socket cigar lighter so we can run a mini compressor to re-inflate the tyres and bought a foot pump. The gas bottle that was behind the seats ran out of gas earlier in the week and I had no way of re-charging it so I cut the welds out with the grinder and have removed it. I was never really happy with it, it is a hell of a big bit of metal to have in the back of a car. But it is out now and we have a compressor and foot pump.

Thought about taking a trip to the scrap yard and getting a spare engine cover to mount the spares on, but decided thats a job for after the Exeter. For now they can stayratchett strapped in the back seat. I am not sure how much extra grip there is to be had by moving the spares back over the engine, everyone else swears by it.