PEDLEY RALLYING

The DRT Stages was based at Cadwell Park race circuit in Lincolnshire, for this event it was our opportunity to say “thank you” for the excellent servicing and support provided by Dave on the Tour of Mull, when he was asked to co-drive for the day. He had to think about it for a couple of seconds and jumped at the chance. The advance party of the two Chris’s, Dave and Craig travelled to the venue on Saturday night for scrutineering, only a sticking cut-off cable caused five minutes concern then with documentation completed, we made our way to our digs for the night. Having deposited our bags, we adjourned to a local hostelry for some food and were amazed by the amount of food the locals could fit onto one plate. Whilst three of us struggled to make an impression on the excellent meals, Craig put us to shame and demolished his half a cow and chips in double quick time! After a peaceful night we had breakfast and were ready for the off in plenty of time. Then the fun started! We may have been ready for the rally but there was one vital member of the team who had decided that Sunday morning is a time of rest - the car!!! Despite all our coaxing and TLC she refused to play and when we finally got her going she was running well for a couple of miles and then coughing and spluttering for a couple of miles. Having eventually arrived at the venue with only ten minutes to spare to our start time, we met up with rest of our service crew, the two Bob’s and for the first time Katy. Lining up for the first stage the car was still not playing the game and this pattern continued until after the first two stages when we found a broken wire on the throttle potentiometer. This continued a pattern that we had followed all year, starting stage 2 in last place!!! With the engine running well, Chris saw the red mist and went for it on stage 3, with the result he over-cooked it into the hairpin and slid off into a bank. The engine stopped and wouldn’t restart, after lots of head scratching by the crew, Dave spotted the HT lead from the coil to the distributor had jumped off,  with this restored the stage was completed with about five minutes lost. Stage 4 saw the car running ok, but halfway round the stage the engine was running hot and it melted the spacer between the dizzy cap and the head, which meant the rotor arm got stuck on the carbon brush in the dizzy cap, and our little metro did a full stage at 25mph, they timed it with a calender I think!!! We finally got it sorted after stage 5 and stage 6 was the only stage Chris could have a go at and he got stuck behind another car!!! The joys of rallying!!! At the end of the day, we finished 72 o/a and 14th in class but more importantly gained another signature for Chris’s licence. 
Another event passes by, but on this occasion the new things we learned about the car were vital and have definately had an influence on the direction we will follow next year in regard to the preparation of the car, and Dave had his bit of fun!!