SuperUno
Buy & Sell Member
Rallying through 2013
Not spotted a 2013 thread yet so thought i would start one!
2013 has been a good year of events, now all focused on using the Micra. Time and money has been spent on developing the Micra (for now) as far as we can within road rally regs, which apart from a proper diff (unless santa brings me one !!)
The year started off on my birthday rallying with Lizzie at Brands, my first time competing at the event and it was a great event although cold !
Next up was Goodwood, with me on the maps, a cold and wet day made it challenging, but as always a good event. Sad to miss it in 2014, but Sweden WRC will be great
Sadly missed the XPart although i enjoyed watching the results on the ferry to Ireland, where we had a great week abusing the Rover Will be back out on the XPart running tests etc... in 2014
Micra development in March was a 1ltr box with the 4.4 diff
First targa of the year was very cold with snow on the ground, and a lot of water, which made it great fun. Pleasing result in the top 10, with a big entry.
Suze's excellent media work saw us working in the media tent for the first round of the FIA European RallyX championship at Lydden Hill, a great if VERY cold day.
In Rover road car news, nearly killed it by finding a ford MUCH deeper than i thought water over the bonnet time.
Another new event the London Rally for Hero's lots of short stages, but great fun. First time out on notes which was good fun.
Did a Oxford MC Navex, and won ! in the road Rover, great fun and simple events.
Goodwood Festival of Speed once again - as ever a great day out, meeting up with lots of people.
Second Targa of the year and totally opposite conditions, one of the hottest days of the year and new mods to the Micra were working well and we were flying with both of us in the top ten
Go Motorsport Live at Silverstone was a great (if hot) weekend, had great fun abusing the loan Skoda Citigo's and scaring the billies.
A bonus was then getting to be in the audience for the live filming of the Sky F1 show and getting to meet the presenters and try out the SkyPad which is much harder than it looks !
Then saw the demise of my road Rover, after 110K miles of abuse in my hands she finally died. Thankfully Jamie sorted me out with a suitable replacement, Owen's Blue MGZR which is great apart from the silly boy racer big wheels and tyres, which will be going soon....
An odd one next, ended up doing Security for the VIP section at the Lydden Hill RallyX on Bank Holiday Monday. A good day out watching rallyx and not too many pikeys to deal with.
Then we managed to get an entry for the two-day national rally part of Wales Rally GB which would see me spending a lot of prep time working on the Micra.
Before the Woodbridge Stages i fitted a newly build Humphris Motorsport 1.4 engine with lots of goodies on it, which when rolling roaded puts out 126bhp, which is over 50% more than standard, which for a bitsa engine with 2nd hand parts is very pleasing.
Suze gave me an amazing anniversary present of a driving experience at PalmerSport where you get to drive their LMP1 type cars, an Atom and Single seater. The single seater was epic fun and so controllable even with a lot of power on tap.
Woodbridge Stages were a good day and a good test for the new engine. I was back out on the maps for this and Suze drove very well to take 3rd in class.
Then our first of three WRC events in five months, with a holiday trip to WRC Spain, which involved the usual abusing a hire car getting to the stages, and then driving the stages afterwards
Then as a warm up to WRGB it was the last targa of the year, this time in the MGZR for its first event, another great event.
Then it was time for WRGB, which was epic, to be part of such a huge event, with the crowds of people who want rallying, signing autographs for kids on route, it was amazing! The stages were in the main better than i expected running after the WRC crews, but i found i had a lot to learn about rallying in the woods and it was a steep learning curve, some stages were epic. Very pleased to have finished a tough event when many didn't. Thanks to everyone that supported us with this event.
Then the last event of the year was again a new one, this time a Oxford MC time trial which we were both involved in running. A great little event ideal for testing your car, and ideal as it is close to home.
Now it is all about post WRGB / pre Brands work, which has shown up how tough forest events are on cars, leaving quite a few jobs to do on the Micra before Brands, which i am very much looking forward to again with Lizzie on the maps.
www.mattendean.co.uk
Not spotted a 2013 thread yet so thought i would start one!
2013 has been a good year of events, now all focused on using the Micra. Time and money has been spent on developing the Micra (for now) as far as we can within road rally regs, which apart from a proper diff (unless santa brings me one !!)
The year started off on my birthday rallying with Lizzie at Brands, my first time competing at the event and it was a great event although cold !
Next up was Goodwood, with me on the maps, a cold and wet day made it challenging, but as always a good event. Sad to miss it in 2014, but Sweden WRC will be great
Sadly missed the XPart although i enjoyed watching the results on the ferry to Ireland, where we had a great week abusing the Rover Will be back out on the XPart running tests etc... in 2014
Micra development in March was a 1ltr box with the 4.4 diff
First targa of the year was very cold with snow on the ground, and a lot of water, which made it great fun. Pleasing result in the top 10, with a big entry.
Suze's excellent media work saw us working in the media tent for the first round of the FIA European RallyX championship at Lydden Hill, a great if VERY cold day.
In Rover road car news, nearly killed it by finding a ford MUCH deeper than i thought water over the bonnet time.
Another new event the London Rally for Hero's lots of short stages, but great fun. First time out on notes which was good fun.
Did a Oxford MC Navex, and won ! in the road Rover, great fun and simple events.
Goodwood Festival of Speed once again - as ever a great day out, meeting up with lots of people.
Second Targa of the year and totally opposite conditions, one of the hottest days of the year and new mods to the Micra were working well and we were flying with both of us in the top ten
Go Motorsport Live at Silverstone was a great (if hot) weekend, had great fun abusing the loan Skoda Citigo's and scaring the billies.
A bonus was then getting to be in the audience for the live filming of the Sky F1 show and getting to meet the presenters and try out the SkyPad which is much harder than it looks !
Then saw the demise of my road Rover, after 110K miles of abuse in my hands she finally died. Thankfully Jamie sorted me out with a suitable replacement, Owen's Blue MGZR which is great apart from the silly boy racer big wheels and tyres, which will be going soon....
An odd one next, ended up doing Security for the VIP section at the Lydden Hill RallyX on Bank Holiday Monday. A good day out watching rallyx and not too many pikeys to deal with.
Then we managed to get an entry for the two-day national rally part of Wales Rally GB which would see me spending a lot of prep time working on the Micra.
Before the Woodbridge Stages i fitted a newly build Humphris Motorsport 1.4 engine with lots of goodies on it, which when rolling roaded puts out 126bhp, which is over 50% more than standard, which for a bitsa engine with 2nd hand parts is very pleasing.
Suze gave me an amazing anniversary present of a driving experience at PalmerSport where you get to drive their LMP1 type cars, an Atom and Single seater. The single seater was epic fun and so controllable even with a lot of power on tap.
Woodbridge Stages were a good day and a good test for the new engine. I was back out on the maps for this and Suze drove very well to take 3rd in class.
Then our first of three WRC events in five months, with a holiday trip to WRC Spain, which involved the usual abusing a hire car getting to the stages, and then driving the stages afterwards
Then as a warm up to WRGB it was the last targa of the year, this time in the MGZR for its first event, another great event.
Then it was time for WRGB, which was epic, to be part of such a huge event, with the crowds of people who want rallying, signing autographs for kids on route, it was amazing! The stages were in the main better than i expected running after the WRC crews, but i found i had a lot to learn about rallying in the woods and it was a steep learning curve, some stages were epic. Very pleased to have finished a tough event when many didn't. Thanks to everyone that supported us with this event.
Then the last event of the year was again a new one, this time a Oxford MC time trial which we were both involved in running. A great little event ideal for testing your car, and ideal as it is close to home.
Now it is all about post WRGB / pre Brands work, which has shown up how tough forest events are on cars, leaving quite a few jobs to do on the Micra before Brands, which i am very much looking forward to again with Lizzie on the maps.
www.mattendean.co.uk
