A very early start for us after our slow Prologue time, we were 11th on the road, and most of those running ahead were the vintage contingent! First up was a cruise into the centre of Launceston for a ceremonial start, complete with a speech by a dignitary. A 30-odd km run to the first real stage - Lilydale - this was one of the stages we had recce'd, and the one that had alarmed us by its bumpiness. In action I reckon we bottomed maybe a dozen times on the stage, but only one had any directional impact and that was minor ... We are only touching on some low rear anti-roll-bar mountings, which are bolted straight into main chassis rail - which in true Triumph fashion are made out of spare girders from the Forth Rail Bridge, so we aren't really concerned about it, as we'll just replace the sacrificial mountings in due course.
All these stages are given Base Times, and Trophy Times, as targets. Base times are used for the outright competition, which frankly isn't our goal! However if we manage to come home under the Trophy Time on every single stage, at the end they'll give us something shiny to bring home. We'd been told that the Trophy Times for the first three stages this morning were not challenging, in David Ogg's words "Your Granny could get them!", apparently the Trophy Times from Stage 4 onward would get increasingly difficult.
So the Trophy Time for bumpy of Lilydale was 6 minutes for us, and despite backing off over the bumps, I was both surprised and delighted to be told by Jason that we had run 3 mins 9 secs over the 5.44km.
Kayena and Holwell stages followed with similar results, both being stages we'd recce'd. We were now running a bit quicker as these stages had better surfaces, and that meant that we were catching the car in front each time, in these events the overtaking car has right of way, but it's not always easy for the slower car to leap out of the way if they are trying their hardest anyway, so some overtakes will delay you. Moriarty was the first stage we'd not recce'd, set in rolling open countryside gave us a bit more chance to see ahead of us. Fast in the early and late sections but with a major hairpin in the middle, complete with the big crowd, tv cameras (including hovering helicopter). 5.5kms and a Trophy Time of 5 mins, we ran a 3:21 despite taking sometime to safely overtake a slower car.
Merseylea was our first longer stage at 10kms, and to be honest I can't remember it, I'll have to check the in-car footage! (Sorry I can't get this stuff onto YouTube at present). We ran a 6:47 against a Trophy time (TT) of 8 mins. Then Nook, 5.5kms, 3:32 against a 5 min TT. And into lunch stop at Sheffield. Here it became apparent that there is a lot we have left to learn ... We needed fuel, but didn't realise that we couldn't just go and get it after checking in for lunch ... Lunch was strictly a 20 min break, and we would have liked longer after a big morning. We also had concerns over the starter motor, which had failed before the start of the last stage, requiring Jason to leap out and push start us! That's another apology I owe you Jason!
Quick refuel after lunch, but once again only 95 octane available, rather than the 98 we'd really prefer to use, but better than nothing! And into the 15km Sheffield Stage ... Going well, a great stage, at one point slaloming along with bank on one side, drop and trees on the other, the sort of footage I've always found intimidating when you see it on tv, but it's funny, I only notice the road not the things we might hit or fall off ... Unfortunately I didn't notice the gravel on the steep downhill, grade 1 (sharp) hairpin ... Jason called it right, and I saw it okay, got the speed off, and turned in, but just understeered straight ahead off the road, through some bits of broken branches and into the bank, not a major 'off' but bl..dy annoying! Engaged reverse half expected the wheels to spin uselessly, but we came out fine, so we headed on, quickly checking steering and brakes before upping the pace again. Checked the car after the stage finish, to find only a little 'bruise' on the lower front valance. Jason was a bit quiet for a short time... We still ran 9:38 against a 11:00 TT, for the 15kms.
Two more stages rounded off the day, both of which we cleared within the TTs, so we ran back to the Silverdome, where we pulled up alongside the helpful crew of the TR3, so that we could check the car over more fully after the 'off', take a look at the intermittent starter-motor, adjust the rear brakes and generally prepare the car for tomorrow. After that the car went into the queue for a scrub-down by a group of young ladies in wet t-shirts, all in the name of charity you understand; tonight was the Targa Fest, with all the (remaining) cars displayed in the velodrome, and open to the locals as a car show, complete with band, hence they were all cleaned. There were already a few wrecks on trucks...
A long day, and tomorrow will be no different .. Including some stages that we've been warned about. Jason is just preparing the Pace Notes for the 8 stages, which average about twice as long as today's...
Finally managed to get results off the event website via my brother, David, in the UK! Having started bolt last, we are now 61st out of 75 in our division, with an accumulated time of 5mins 32seconds off the Base times; still in with a chance of a Trophy, but I have no idea about Handicap or Outright.
No comments:
Post a Comment