Pheonix Stages, Fulbeck. 15/6/02 G.Steggles/E.Bain
Peugeot 205 GTI Car 27
At least it was Saturday and I could have a day off tomorrow. This was the
only thing going for the day as our borrowed van had blown its engine so we
had to drive to and from the venue with a start of 6.00 a.m.
Scrutineering passed ok and it wasn't raining but as the venue hadn't been used
for a rally for 18 years I thought it would be in good condition. As a precaution
knobblies, slicks and road rubber were taken. It turned out that only knobblies
were needed and the tracks were very rough and dirty. The knobblies weren't
the best condition and remould variety but we put up a good first stage time
(for us) being 47 seconds off bogey! Janetta was 3 seconds off it. The organisers
then decreased the bogey times for all the remaining stages.
As I was to drive the car home it was in the back of my mind not to go too silly
in case of breakages. Knowing this was ok until the mist decended and I found
myself changing into 5th through a 45 left, right and right, left complex on
gravelly concrete with worn remoulds! Made it though. I gradually came round
to the fact that it was really good and I was enjoying it until someone rolled
his nearly identical peugeot into a ball at dinner time! Brought me back to
earth a bit. Michelle and Katie cooked bacon butties for us and all was well
again.
The electric fan wore through the radiator for no apparent reason other than
it was a little close and luckily Jim Plevey had packed a rad weld which fixed
the problem.
Cutting a corner saw the front subframe/cross member bent a little and the tracking
put out a few mill. Jim and Dave Hammond took control and sent me to find out
the results so far whilst they aligned the front with a tape measure! They picked
the best tyres for the front out of the balding four and out I went for the
last stage. We managed to keep 18th O/A and 7th in class but it was close with
about a 15 second spread across 20th to 15th. The drive home was noisey and
the steering felt funny. Out with the spare X member and spanners methinks.