Fantastic trip meter!

I've just ordered the best trip meter I've ever had the pleasure to use! It's as easy to use as a mobile phone and exceptionally compact. It out performs all other trips I've seen and used with it's simple menus, light weight and excellent price.

Calibrating it is a dream too, no more measured miles ~ it can be set up on the move usinf any known distance, how revolutionary and co-driver friendly is that?!?

The trip meter will be officially launched in the UK in November but I'm so impressed I've ordered one for the 6R4 already!

WRC ~ a new beginning?

There are plans announced on almost a weekly basis to revive/restructure/reinvent/rescue the World Rally Championship. I've got an idea that seems reasonably good (to me at least.....):~

Engine:~ 6 cylinder(max) with a capacity of 3500ccm (max). No turbos or traction control. Drive train:~ Mechanical diffs only. Rear wheel drive.

Body shell:~ Production model similar in style to current WRC styles with a minimum length a la current regs.

The rules would allow a manufacturer to use any V6 from their range in any suitable bodyshell ~ a V6 Astra would be allowed as would a V6 Volvo C30. Porsche could also field a team of Caymans and how about a Nissan 350Z or Chrysler Crossfire team?

All bar Suzuki of the current WRC teams could build cars, there are also a very wide range of other manufacturers who have suitable engines and models in their product range including Alfa Romeo, Honda, Toyota, Renault, Lancia, Dodge, Chevrolet, Mercedes, Lexus and BMW.

The howl of V6s, the sideways attitude of rear wheel drive, who could resist?

Peugeot 205 pictures.

There are some good pictures of Andy Corner and I on the Thame Motor Club site here. Taken by S C Photography (link) they show Andy and I in championship winning form at Oakington in his 1600 Peugeot 205 GTI.

Andy used to get the 205 at some amazing angles of oversteer and always recover for te next bend. For the sheer pleasure of sideways rallying the 205 with Andy is very hard to beat, I loved every second of it!

New residents.

We've just adopted two small and prickly creatures into the family. There are now two orphaned hedgehogs residing in our garden after the local rescue centre contacted Diana. They're about 700 grams each and seem to have settled in well already, we spent an interested hour or so watching them ramble round the garden and patio searching for food.

My weekend project is to build them a nice little home to keep them warm, dry and safe. They might even keep the beans slug free too!

No mention of event names.

Why don't I publicise our test events by name and date? One reason mainly, we don't want to attract attention. Once the entry list is published I'm happy to let the whole world know what we're doing until then the whole team prefer to keep things nice and quiet.
This only applies for test and shakedown events, events we're contesting as a normal rally will get full pre and post event coverage.

Next rally approaches.

An entry has been sent off for our next rally in the 6R4. Having altered the car to suit Adrian's driving style and also to improve its performance I'm keen to see just how dramatic the change will be.

We're rallying at a new venue to all of us which is always a bit more of a challenge, especially as the venue is mixed surface. We're surfing the web to find any footage of the venue so we don't arrive completely unprepared!

Excellent pictures!

If you follow the Centenary Stages link on 6r4 online website you'll see a selection of excellent pictures of Adrian and I in action. Taken by Malcolm Almond they're really good quality.

Useful 6R4 sites.

For excellent pictures and information on the Metro 6R4 there are 2 really good websites:~ 6R4 online and 6R4 net. They are both fantastic sources of information etc on all things 6R4, whether it is from the Group B days or last weekend.

If you visit the sites you might even see a picture of two of Adrian and I in action!

Centenary Stages.

What can I say? How much fun is a 6R4?!! We may have retired on stage 5 but until then it was fantastic being back in a proper ex-Group B rally car. Certainly it was a little disappointing to retire but the positives certainly outweight the negatives. Despite an issue with understeer the handling was still impressive, the power was as impressive as ever although we did bog down coming out of corners more than expected. The 330mm brakes were truly fantastic at stopping the car, braking distances were getting shorter and shorter as Adrian got used to them.

We could probably have trailed round at very slow speed instead of retiring (broken bottom arm) but we opted for the safer option of parking up. There was no point in risking extra damage on what was an extended test session.

Having got the car back to the workshop the team have found that not only was the diff fully loaded (perfect for understeer on tight, twisty and loose stages!!) we were also using the incorrect stepoff gear, it was the road car ratio which is good for top speed but far from great for acceleration.....

The only really disappointing part of the event was how ineffective the intercom was a dealing with the noise of a 2.5 6R4 engine. On the face of it my old Peltor coped far better which is a great disappointment as I sold it many months ago! Oh well.....

Plans are underway for the next event, which can't arrive quick enough if you ask me!

Car 73.

We've had our seeding for this weekend's event at Twyford Wood:~ we're car 73! Luckily it doesn't mean we're right at the back though as we're actually running 7th on the road.

The mixed surfaces really should prove to be a test for the new car, they should also be tremendous fun for Adrian and I. We've never had good luck at Twyford but hopefully that will all change this weekend. We do have to concentrate more on the car than stage times, it is nearly a year since we rallied a 6R4.....

The car is having a final straight line systems check on Friday before being loaded up and taken to scrutineering.