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.