September 22, 2008 - The drivetrain worked out well. The engine was flexible enough that even when I lost the top 2500 rpm of the rev range, I was still able to make good time. It used almost no oil over 2200 km of driving including 500+ km of full-throttle stages. More power would have been nice, but I think that's the lament of every driver.
I launched the car with smoking tires every single time and there were no problems. I did misjudge the start a couple of times and left the line with lots of clutch slip instead of tire smoke, but the clutch took it without complaint.
The misfire? Well, I'll figure out what it was shortly. I did discover yesterday that one of the wires to the intake air temperature sensor is broken. There was about 8" of unsupported wire leading up to the sensor, and the vibration and pounding made this about 6" too much. I'll fix it when I get a chance and see if that solves the problem. entry 606 - tags: post-race, engine
September 22, 2008 - The brakes were perfect all week. Nice and powerful but easy to modulate. Of course, Miatas are easy on brakes. The Challenger was not, and this cost them dearly when the rotors taco'd at the beginning of the long and fast Leading Tickles stage. I didn't even have to bleed my brakes. That's the result of a light car that's fast in the corners and (relatively) slow in the straights, of course.
The adjustable proportioning valve did come into play over the week, as I'd adjust the bias to get a different behaviour under certain conditions. entry 607 - tags: post-race, brakes
September 22, 2008 - The Toyos worked out well. The RA-1, of course, is a very friendly tire that doesn't surprise the driver at the limit. I drove well within those limits over the week, with a couple of exceptions where I took advantage of every bit of grip available to me.
In the wet, the car was great. It's almost a shame we didn't have more wet stages, as it turned out that we were very competitive under those conditions. I don't have much wet weather racing experience (and all of that came over the course of the Targa!) so I was quite reassured at how well the car worked there.
The R888 tires might have been stickier and I certainly saw them on a number of cars. Tire wear wasn't an issue for us at all, so they'd be a good option. I'd want to know how they work in deep water first though. entry 608 - tags: post-race, tires
September 22, 2008 - I'll be posting video of many of the stages over the next few weeks, after I get home. But spectator video is starting to show up. You can see us at about 5:05 in this particular one. The Clarenville stage is the one where we caught up to the Corvette in front of us. Watching this, it's no big surprise why. It's really interesting comparing people's lines here. Keep in mind that this is the slower half of the pack, part 2 shows the rest of the field and the lines are better.
September 23, 2008 - I'm going to miss Newfoundland. I'm on the ferry right now heading home, and I feel like I'm leaving friends behind. Everyone told me that the Rock got under your skin but I figured that just was the usual post-race enthusiasm. But it's true. The land is so beautiful and the people so friendly that it's a real shame to leave. Even if we don't make it back to race again, we'll have to come back to visit. entry 610
September 25, 2008 - Video! Not mine, this is from Flatovercrest.com. It's the highlights video we were shown at the gala after the race, and you should see pretty much every car in it. As I mentioned earlier, we didn't do anything dramatic enough to merit a lot of screen time. But you can see me briefly chasing down a Corvette with great enthusiasm.
September 26, 2008 - I think I solved the misfire issue that appeared near the end of the race. As I discovered right after the race, a wire to the air intake temperature sensor had broken. I patched that up today - a very temporary fix, but one that was good enough for testing - and the car seems healed. It'll pull hard to redline in at least three gears, which is something it would not do on the last stages. So we'll call that a success then.
It's a real testament to the flexibility of the engine that losing 2500 rpm of my rev range wasn't a crippling blow. Yes, the car was a bit slower getting up to speed. But I was able to drive around it, and we zeroed one stage and took a 2 second penalty on another like this. Compared to the penalties on day 3, that's nothing. entry 612 - tags: engine, post-race
September 26, 2008 - Another video! This is from the Brigus stage. There were only three or four corners on the entire rally where I hung the tail out more than was really necessary - and this is one of them. It was just so much fun, I couldn't help myself. You can hear me short-shift into the next gear due to the misfire. My appearance is at about 4:50.
September 28, 2008 - The culprit. The broken wire in this connector - which quickly became two broken wires when I poked at it - appears to be the cause of the misfire. entry 614 - tags: engine, post-race
September 28, 2008 - A bit of excitement on the way home. Coming off the Newfoundland ferry, I heard a few odd clunks from the trailer. At the next fuel stop, I kicked a wheel and it moved. That's not good. A peek underneath showed that a rear spring hanger had ripped off. Probably the road coming into Argentia.
Rural areas are where you want to have this kind of failure. A couple of quick inquiries sent us to Lloyd's fantastic shop in the woods, surrounded by forestry equipment and other industrial stuff. Perfect. They fixed up the broken hanger carefully and well, and found a similar crack on the other side. We lost a few hours of travel time, but no harm was done. entry 615 - tags: post-race, trailer
September 28, 2008 - Sorry, event sponsors. Before giving the car the post-race cleaning, I removed the stickers from the various event sponsors. It's a small car, and all the extra decals really cluttered up the sides.
It nicely showed off how much dirt there was on the car, that's for sure! entry 616
September 30, 2008 - Our local newspaper caught wind of the race and our involvement. I think it was due to Janel's mom calling up and bragging about what her daughter did last week! Anyhow, they interviewed us and wrote an article about the race. entry 617 - tags: press
October 7, 2008 - Race pictures! This is from Torbay, one of the prologue stages as Janel and I start to figure this all out. Taken by Gordon Sleigh. entry 618 - tags: prologue
October 7, 2008 - Another view of the car mid-corner. This is the same corner as the last shot, our second time through the Torbay stage. By this point, we were starting to get a little more comfortable with the speeds and the notes, and discovering just how much gravel got spewed on to the road by the end of a stage!
Taken by Gordon Sleigh. entry 619 - tags: prologue
October 7, 2008 - Looking nicely planted. As far as I can tell, this is the Main Point Davidsville stage, the first one of leg 3. I'm hard on the tail of the Corvette in front. entry 620 - tags: leg 3
October 7, 2008 - Finishing the Little Bay East stage. You can see the red boards for the flying finish just up ahead. You can also see the condition of the road!
Taken by Gordon Sleigh. entry 621 - tags: leg 4
October 7, 2008 - I love the stance of the car in this photo. You can see it moving around on the suspension, doing that friendly dance that Miatas do so well. We're on the Harbour Mille stage, heading back from our fried baloney breakfast.
Taken by Gordon Sleigh. entry 622 - tags: leg 4
October 7, 2008 - Running through Marystown. This was like being in the WRC with more spectators than anywhere else on the rally. Janel never saw them, she was too busy reading notes. entry 623 - tags: leg 4
October 7, 2008 - The beautiful Spaniard Bishops UIC stage that roller-coastered above the ocean. This was an interesting stage to drive due to the number of blind crests. It took a lot of faith to go piling over them and trust that the road didn't turn significantly. I love this picture.
Photo by Gordon Sleigh. entry 624 - tags: leg 5
October 7, 2008 - Terrorizing Brigus. This is the stage I keep showing people to show what the Targa was like. It's only 2 minutes long and crazy fun. Where else do you get to use a house as an apex marker?
Then I'll show them the Leading Tickles stage in the rain to see the other extreme.
Photo by Gordon Sleigh. entry 625 - tags: leg 5
THE DIARY
