609 replies to this topic

[minisi35]

space in a mini is always a challenge lol.
Well im 6ft 6 and my navigator is 5ft 8 so i try and seat him lower and abit further back than my seat to get him out of the way of my flailing arms

[minisi35]

Finally all the interior welding is finished and the first seat is now in

[minisi35]

silicone hose came today

[minisi35]

Got the bonnet and the door back after having them repainted due to me damaging them
Last night i refitted all the chromework to the bonnet and finally fitted the bonnet pins. I found the wires that stop them getting lost were too long so they had to be shortened and heat shrink used to neaten them up. Just need to pluck up the courage to attempt the number plate!!

[minispaniard]

looking very neat, and the interior looks great like it is!

how strict are scrutineers at events regarding full interior trim? do you need the whole carpet interior or will just a set of mats do?

[minisi35]

Ive always had front mats but never had rears so thats what i will stick to until told otherwise

[keefr22]

That's interesting. I wonder if it's because you have the floor painted black - maybe they take one look, see that & don't bother to look any further!! I wonder if WAMC event scrutes are any stricter?!

[rally1380]

All looking very neat and tidy.

Whats your first event for this car? You must have a target...Moonbeam perhaps?

[minisi35]

That's interesting. I wonder if it's because you have the floor painted black - maybe they take one look, see that & don't bother to look any further!! I wonder if WAMC event scrutes are any stricter?!

Well it depends on the scrutineer, the escort I navigate in doesn't have a head lining and is painted black, only one scrutineer picked it up this year and advised to get one. But there's always exceptions to the rule!! Lol
It's black to cover the new double skinned floors I put in and the other welding, also had a lot of black paint to hand, simple as that lol

[minisi35]

All looking very neat and tidy.

Whats your first event for this car? You must have a target...Moonbeam perhaps?

Well I'm in a quandary as there's a stage rally locally the weekend before the moonbeam so I just don't know. Its usually the first of the championship events and competition and the roads are tough but i did have my best ever national b overall result on the moonbeam when we finished 12th and 1st 1400.
But it also has been my nemesis. It snowed one year while we were waiting at the start and by the time we got in the lanes they were white over. We had a great start catching 4 or 5 cars in the first 10 mile. The mini was perfect for the conditions as we passed cars that had gone off the road or were sliding around.
As we got to the highest point of the rally over the "stiperstones" we were again catching a guy we knew in his mk2 escort, he slid wide on one corner and we got past. The road went steeply down hill and the front wheels locked solid and we almost crashed, I slipped the clutch and we got traction, just thought it was the conditions...
What I didn't know was that the diff pin had broke and fired itself out through the crankcase and the oil light wasn't working!
We had just got to the highest point when the engine seized. That's when the fun began
We were about a mile from the next control (which turned out to be the last control as they stopped the event due to the blizzard conditions)
Anyway to cut a long story short we never saw another car/person ad we were stuck in a blizzard for 6 hours with no heating and just our humour to keep us going. I have never been so cold and helpless!
But that's rallying lol

Edited by minisi35, 06 November 2012 - 11:08 PM.

[rally1380]

All looking very neat and tidy.

Whats your first event for this car? You must have a target...Moonbeam perhaps?

Well I'm in a quandary as there's a stage rally locally the weekend before the moonbeam so I just don't know. Its usually the first of the championship events and competition and the roads are tough but i did have my best ever national b overall result on the moonbeam when we finished 12th and 1st 1400.
But it also has been my nemesis. It snowed one year while we were waiting at the start and by the time we got in the lanes they were white over. We had a great start catching 4 or 5 cars in the first 10 mile. The mini was perfect for the conditions as we passed cars that had gone off the road or were sliding around.
As we got to the highest point of the rally over the "stiperstones" we were again catching a guy we knew in his mk2 escort, he slid wide on one corner and we got past. The road went steeply down hill and the front wheels locked solid and we almost crashed, I slipped the clutch and we got traction, just thought it was the conditions...
What I didn't know was that the diff pin had broke and fired itself out through the crankcase and the oil light wasn't working!
We had just got to the highest point when the engine seized. That's when the fun began
We were about a mile from the next control (which turned out to be the last control as they stopped the event due to the blizzard conditions)
Anyway to cut a long story short we never saw another car/person ad we were stuck in a blizzard for 6 hours with no heating and just our humour to keep us going. I have never been so cold and helpless!
But that's rallying lol

I must be mad but i think that sounds like FUN!!!! but then again i love snow, and the cold...weird eh!

On a serious note though i'm glad all was ok and you didn't make friends with the nearest tree!!!!

I do love how motorsport always makes good stories and tales of close shaves!!!

I still need to decide my plans for next year....need to decide which events are more suited to the mini's limited ride height....would love snow tho!

[keefr22]

We were about a mile from the next control (which turned out to be the last control as they stopped the event due to the blizzard conditions)
Anyway to cut a long story short we never saw another car/person ad we were stuck in a blizzard for 6 hours with no heating and just our humour to keep us going. I have never been so cold and helpless!
But that's rallying lol

Brrrrrrrr, that's not good!! Course closing car get stuck??!!

One of my worst experiences on a rally involved snow, ice - & fog!! The first two sections were fine as it just had the snow & ice & was in 'normal' lanes. We were making steady, unspectacular progress (in my Avenger Tiger, not ideally suited to the conditions, but OK) when we arrived at the start of the third one. This was a really narrow, twisty rough yellow (almost a white) on top of the Clydach gorge which the A465 Heads of the Valleys road runs through. The fog came down on this one & it was an absolute nightmare. 200 foot or so unprotected sheer drops off the side of a mountain, visibility 5 foot or so in front of the car, lying snow on top of black ice - I was bricking it! We lost so much time that we were almost OTL just after that section!

Is it a tarmac stage event you're thinking of doing?

Edited by keefr22, 07 November 2012 - 08:23 AM.

[minisi35]

We were about a mile from the next control (which turned out to be the last control as they stopped the event due to the blizzard conditions)
Anyway to cut a long story short we never saw another car/person ad we were stuck in a blizzard for 6 hours with no heating and just our humour to keep us going. I have never been so cold and helpless!
But that's rallying lol

Brrrrrrrr, that's not good!! Course closing car get stuck??!!

One of my worst experiences on a rally involved snow, ice - & fog!! The first two sections were fine as it just had the snow & ice & was in 'normal' lanes. We were making steady, unspectacular progress (in my Avenger Tiger, not ideally suited to the conditions, but OK) when we arrived at the start of the third one. This was a really narrow, twisty rough yellow (almost a white) on top of the Clydach gorge which the A465 Heads of the Valleys road runs through. The fog came down on this one & it was an absolute nightmare. 200 foot or so unprotected sheer drops off the side of a mountain, visibility 5 foot or so in front of the car, lying snow on top of black ice - I was bricking it! We lost so much time that we were almost OTL just after that section!

Is it a tarmac stage event you're thinking of doing?

We were the last car to make it onto that section as the marshall at the previous control was told the rally was cancelled, so was telling the other crews to go to the finish venue,hence we never saw any other car

Yes its a tarmac stage called the abgo stages. Its around the park of a local statley home and is a well run event and would love to do it as ive been spectating for years. Time will tell

[keefr22]

Yes its a tarmac stage called the abgo stages. Its around the park of a local statley home and is a well run event and would love to do it as ive been spectating for years. Time will tell

That sounds really good! We're still thinking of getting ours logbooked for stages, as my son really wants to do an event on Epynt. As you say, time will tell! (we've got to sort out the major blow from the exhaust manifold that's just developed first!)

[minisi35]

"I must be mad but i think that sounds like FUN!!!! but then again i love snow, and the cold...weird eh!

On a serious note though i'm glad all was ok and you didn't make friends with the nearest tree!!!!

I do love how motorsport always makes good stories and tales of close shaves!!!

I still need to decide my plans for next year....need to decide which events are more suited to the mini's limited ride height....would love snow tho!"

I have many stories lol. I always use the "3 finger" rule on the suspension, which is i can fit my 3 fingers between the top of the tyre and the arch. Not scientific i know but it works for me
Dont worry too much about choosing events as some of them are over hyped as being rough. Most of the damage is done by going over the whites too fast so you can usually pick your way around the worst.
At the end of the day we are never going to worry the top guys so just enjoy your own rally and compare your times to the other 1400s