The Work Continues

I'm posting this in February but it relates to a quickie visit I paid to the team at RPS during January.  The entire fuel system has been replaced with something much simpler and hopefully more reliable, the brakes, gearbox and clutch have all been tinkered with to make them work properly, the seats have been anchored more safely and the driveshaft completely inspected. Some nasty metal shards were found in the driveshaft that would never have been detected without RPS's thorough inspection and which could have led to grief on the rally.  The shaft is being sent away to specialists for repair.

So far RPS has spent £10,000.  It looks like another £10,000 before they are finished. Merde!

After this visit I sent the mechanical checklist from "How to Win A Rally" to the team at RPS to cross check that they had picked up on some of the simple but crisis averting ideas in Alan Smith's book (coconut car mats that can double up as grips for getting you out of sand - I would never have thought of that, or that you tie them to the rear bumper so that you don't drive off and leave them behind).  I think there were a few new ideas for RPS and many that cost only a few pounds.

Navigation, Navigation, Navigation

Way back in July we took a day's instruction in rally timekeeping and map reading from Alan Smith - Author of How to Win a Road Rally, Unfortunately I misplaced my notes and so have only now been able to write the day up.

Alan certainly knows his stuff and is a patient teacher. He sat in the back of our family car whilst Richard and I took it in turns to be driver and navigator.  Alan has a pre-set route around the Chilterns and we practised reading OS maps, using Tulip diagrams and race timing.  It was hard - exhausting even.  Although we didn't make too many mistakes the level of concentration was considerable and I for one was shattered the next day.  We would also have gone off route on our first lap if Alan hadn't corrected us. His cardinal rule is "Route first, Timing second" - on the basis that you can't win if you are not on the route.

I'm not sure how much of this will stick.  Alan gave us a sample page from the 2013 Flying Scotsman timing sheets and looking at it now it's still gobbledegook.