Civil Service Motoring Association (NE London)
Noreaster Rally
1992
 No Previous Report |  Bullnose Rally 1993 |
No Previous Report | Bullnose Rally 1993 |
As usual there was work to do on Doug's Chevette Estate so at 6 o'clock we were putting the finishing touches to his new exhaust system. Due to a slight problem with the suppliers we had to instal the obligatory beer cans, but they were in a non critical location. Just in case of trouble (either too loud or dropping off) a few spares were packed.
Eventually we found the start (some 1000m West of where it was plotted) and filled the car. Then it was of to join the queue for noise & lights check. Here we were pleased to pass with 72dB at 8m (against a limit of 78). This will of course all change when Doug fits the new go-faster carb.
Back to the start to continue marking up the maps. Eventually our start time came around and we followed this Nova GTE out of the start. The first section was simply a regularity section but with a few novelties - timing was on presentation of the route card, no penalties for stopping in sight of the control, and the clocks were somewhat screwed. Needless to say after some trouble with a wrong slot we had dropped two minutes by the first intermediary control.
The rest of the night went on in the same vein - by the halt at the end of the first third we were just on MPL. We also had given the front cross-member (under the engine) a very hard time. Pulling away from the halt we found the handling to be somewhat awry. This was soon traced to a flat near side rear tyre. We had to change this in a competitive section which dropped us another two minutes we could ill afford. Eventually we made it to petrol, OTL again. By the time we had got there the steering had become very stiff (it had been making the odd squeal during the first part). This was probably due to a bent rack or steering column.
From petrol onwards the roads were even rougher. They were typically composed of 3 foot wide 8 foot long concrete slabs. These were set at all sorts of silly angles to the horizontal and once again the cross-member took a battering. At one point we were witness to the exhaust simply dropping of the car in front. We managed not to run it over and they were later able to go back and retrieve it. (This was one of their many problems...).
Eventually we made it to the finish, after a complete bullshit session involving 3 cars and the final section. (If in doubt go flat out.)
After all was said and done (and breakfast was taken) we had fared quite well.
NB: This article first appeared in the Windsor Car Club magazine Transmission quite a while ago!
