oops

Haven't been on here for ages lots of reading to catch up on

Anyway if any of you are at a loose end on the 7th Feb I'll be here

http://www.southdownsstages.co.uk/

navigating in this

http://http://www.turbosport.co.uk/s...=135975&page=2

Looks cool. If I'm free I wouldn't mind a drop of that.

[Steve_PPP]

not been to this before - where are the stages run, and any recommended points the watch? i might pop down for this

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

not been to this before - where are the stages run, and any recommended points the watch? i might pop down for this

Stages run on the curcuit and some bits of car park (well based on last year)

[DukeBoy]

I'm free that weekend too

[Steve_PPP]

Anyone still up for this? (assuming we're not still snowed in by then!) I'll be going if we can get a few people along - its free after all

I'll still be there

running car seven

think we might need some snow tyres

[Steve_PPP]

so whats the deal - any info on the following would be great

stage times?
are they all accessible on foot by parking at the main entrance?

only ever been to WRC events which have exact timings for each stage and are generally held over a massive area, so not sure what to expect from a club event.

Ping the link on my first post

first stage is at 9am
should be able to park at the circuit and walk round the perimeter roads

link added for spectators

http://http://www.southdownsstages.c...ors09.html

[Steve_PPP]

yeah i read pretty much everything on the site, just not sure how they'll fit everything in around such a small area....

guess i'll just have to turn up and see

[DukeBoy]

Can't make this as i'm working....only just realised it's on saturday

[Steve_PPP]

Got up Saturday and weather was good so decided to head down to have a look (even though by the time i'd got up and left the house it was 10am )

Took a shedload of pics (over 600, don't you just love digital cameras ). Thought i'd share some of them as usual.

Oh, and going to this really made me want to buy a Mk2 Escort... even the mrs thinks they're cool so you never know eh Also liked the TR7's with V8 engines in them - just crazy. They were having to wait for the car to settle after coming out of corners before they could get on the power cos they just looked so unstable

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5430.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Image2-1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Image3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5450.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5458.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5534.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5546.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5482.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Image5.jpg[/img]


Then went for a wander around the paddock area....


[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5595.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5591.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5600.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5596.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5422.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Image4.jpg[/img]


And then decided to watch the next stage from the roof


[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Image7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Image6.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5650.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5685.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5724.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5731.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5820.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5841.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5646.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/chipho/SouthDownsStages/Img_5658.jpg[/img]

Tazman - i guess you've got millions of photos of your car on stages, but if you want any of them high-res, let me know Good fun for a free day out

[BIG"E"]

Good pictures Steve, how did the RS200 do ?

Another of my dream street cars, one day dream on!!

Great pics.

I so want that RS200

[DukeBoy]

Nice pictures Steve, looked like a good event

[SUBARMAN]

Great pics there!!!!

[Steve_PPP]

had a good look round the RS200, lovely bit of kit. not sure where it finished (i left before the end of the day) but the chap driving it didn't seem to be on the limit in my opinion......

Great pics mate, looks like you had a great day.

When I get chance I'll write a little report up. Great pictures by the way I may be in touch for some copies.

We finished 7th overal and first in class, not bad for a car that was only finished being rebuilt on Friday afternoon

Oh the RS200 didn't finish by the way not sure what happened but it was parked up on the in field out by ST Mary's during stage 6

Southdown Stages Saturday 7th February 2009

Gavin had been spending 4 or 5 hours a night in the workshop last week, DVY was finally ready enough for Goodwood , he’d had no time to set up the front suspension but it looked about right.

Friday morning he headed over to Yate and bought some very soft Hankook slicks, before taking DVY up the road for the first time, finding the brake pedal had quite a lot of travel (but could still lock the tyres) and the steering wheel was a bit far away from his laid back driving position luckily Gavin had bought another steering wheel off ebay with a 3" dish so that was added that to the tools in the Scorpio, loaded up and headed off through the snow to the south coast Friday night to stay at a mates in Bognor

I stayed the night at my fiancés parents in Alton and woke to a cold Saturday morning but I wasn’t sure what the weather had been like over night so decided to leave Alton at 0530 just in case the roads were covered in snow and ice. I need not have worried as I was at Goodwood by 0630 way ahead of time so decided to have half hour kip in the car, Gavin wasn’t due till 0715.

DVY started nicely and passed noise and scrutineering without any problems, giving Gavin and I enough time to fit the slicks, change the steering wheel and adjust the tracking before the start

Stage 1 and the organisers warned us about ice in the car park that was the first part of each stage and some more ice on the circuit, so we started off very cautiously, having trouble seeing the chicanes through the low sun, then got overtaken by the Celica GT4 of Gary Le Coadou which was putting out tons of smoke every time he braked, think it was over fuelling by the flames that accompanied the smoke and we were 14th quickest out of the 32 starters

Stage 2 after giving the windscreen a good scrub Gavin could see the chicanes a lot better, but the handbrake stopped working in the car park section, so we had to take to the grass to get round, but 18s quicker than Stage 1 was a bit better

Stage 3 & 4 - Gavin was hoping by this time the damp patches would have gone but it was so cold they stayed which made it a bit interesting in places, and we resorted to driving round the hairpins (the handbrake bracket had snapped at one end). A couple of steady runs saw us lying 9th at the lunch break, surprisingly 2nd in class but 33s off the class leader - we were Car 7 but cars 1, 2, 5 & 6 had pulled out earlier in the week, including last years class winner

Stage 5 & 6 - After an hours lunch break, we were going the other way round the circuit (the racing direction now) and it had dried completely and suddenly everything fell into place, the tyres were working well, and Gavin had got use to where the chicanes were positioned, the hairpins had gone from the car park and the circuit just flows better that way round - we took 13s then 20s out of the class leader to be equal with him after Stage 6, and set 4th fastest time on this one. I decided by this time it might be sense to tighten belts to the harness a bit more as we were going a lot quicker

Stage 7 and everything nearly went wrong , going to start DVY the starter jammed in the ring gear so we couldn't even bump start her. A large hammer didn't work either so we jacked the front up and Gavin loosened the starter enough to wiggle it and the engine was free. We rounded up some bystanders, bump started her and arrived at the start control a bit flustered and a couple of minutes into our 5 minute lateness. Starting a few cars lower down the field, on lap 2 we were catching a BMW M3 Compact when I hit a tyre on one of the chicanes quite hard, but we still overtook them and pulled out a 10s lead in our class

Stage 8 - the tyre we’d hit had put a dent in the navigators door (it’s always my side of the car) and the rear arch (nothing serious) but the wheels were still pointing the right direction so we just bump started again and had a good last lap

Final result was 7th overall and 1st in class not bad for a shakedown

[img]http://zippy.qiqpiq.com/i4nimg0003.jpg[/img]

[img]http://zippy.qiqpiq.com/cgximg0030.jpg[/img]

[img]http://zippy.qiqpiq.com/1m7img0066.jpg[/img]

[img]http://zippy.qiqpiq.com/np7img0027.jpg[/img]

[BIG"E"]

WELL DONE

Excellent write up.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by tazman

When I get chance I'll write a little report up. Great pictures by the way I may be in touch for some copies.

great write up. i'm guessing the RS200 had a problem for a few stages before he retired then because he never looked quick.....

with regards to photos i've got loads - i'll chuck all the ones of DVY up on photobucket later so you can skim through them if you want and let me know if you want any hi-res (althought i might just image link them to this thread rather than posting them all up )

Great write up.
And good result there.

[Steve_PPP]

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/ ... tages/DVY/

all of the ones i took of DVY, guest password is "monkeys"

Brilliant stuff guys!