Started The Year A Bit late

February 12th 2014

The first trial of the year was to be at Edenhall near to Penrith. The weather in the week was dreadful, rain and more rain. In consultation with my passenger, Ian, we decided not to do it. As we do it for fun we couldn't see the point in getting very cold and blathered in mud.

The next event was a fortnight later at Melmerby. The weather wasn't a great deal better, but as the site is in a deep valley we thought that even if it was windy we would be a bit more sheltered.

I'd been to my practice site with Robin Jager for a run around and we did find a slippery bit to try and work out why I have trouble with a common feature of the Hills, a 90° turn uphill.
Whilst we didn't really come a conclusion, except that I am too heavy-footed, Robin was very taken with my car's engine and gearing.

On the Sunday it was pelting down in Windermere, but as I got further North it cleared a bit so that at Colston Farm it was just a bit damp. The Hills were very muddy according to various people and so they turned out to be. The worst aspect was that people were falling down everywhere. Not too bad if you were sitting in the car, but if you got out, or were marshalling you would probably fall down.

It's a funny site as you drop into it from field level and go along some small and slippery tracks to the bottom next to a river. Each Hill is then a scrabble back up towards the track. The last two Hills (seven in total) were along another track further along. Once down to those two Hills getting back up became a major issue and eventually, after a bit of forestry, a longer trip to the end of the site made a more reliable chance of regaining higher ground.

We had a transient, but recurring problem of the clutch pedal locking-up at the top of it's travel. This meant you couldn't declutch, which is a dicey thing when you are trying to control the car's progress. Twice on the same Hill it caught me out and I scored a 10 both times. The time it didn't strike I got a 5.
I also had two other Hills which didn't want to play ball. One with the dreaded 90°turn uphill and one with a bumpy route between two trees. The car just wouldn't stay in the tracks and leapt onto the tree roots, stopping further progress.
The turn uphill thing is just me needing to work out how much throttle and when.
But the car not going where I am aiming may have a mechanical remedy. In the bit of video I have made the headcam shots are taken on the transit routes between Hills, but you can see how the steering isn't really doing very much for my direction-seeking. Even using a fiddle brake to try and steer wasn't helping much. I am thinking I need to get my rear suspension sorted a bit more. We bottomed-out a couple of times and I think it happened at the problem Hill. I think it's a form of rear wheel steering.
I have already put stronger springs (125 lbs/inch) on as Ian and I weigh more than Bryan and Kath did who had the car before (with 100lbs/inch springs). I have raised the spring platform on Ian's side as he is heavier than me and preloading the spring effectively ups the initial spring rate. I haven't had much bounce set on the shocker and think I maybe need to try a couple of clicks at both sides and perhaps raise my side spring platform as well. These shockers don't have a rebound adjustment.
I'm also wondering if the front shockers have any life left in them. Whilst being under-damped may give a smoother ride on normal jiggly surface, when you hit a big bump it's more likely to lift the wheels after the heavy compression as the springs recover and push the front of the car back up.
That's my thinking anyway. I'll have to take them off and remove the springs to check them.

This is the awkard little bump as you turn between the trees. It doesn't show too well as this is a grab from the video.

However in the video you can see that Dougie's car doesn't leap as he passes over it. (at about 15 seconds).

The first car is Julian Fack. He has a bit of a wheelie moment there, but he really is very good. I'm getting into this sport too late to develop that kind of skill. (I notice his front suspension seems quite stiff.)

We did have an ambulance called at lunchtime. One of the marshals, and club stalwart, had fallen. As he had a bad back to begin with and seemed to have banged his head it was the wise thing to do. The Ambulance couldn't go further than the farm so trials cars were used to render help, and ferry him back after attention. He was better than feared and is now back in charge of the computer.

Out of 23 starters 5 cars retired. Brakes, wheels, carbs, broken stub axle and a flywheel fell off. The car that had a stub axle break off was stuck at the bottom. The farmer wasn't willing to go down on his tractor, but did agree to try and use his quad bike to retrieve it. That worked well and the car was back on it's trailer in the pits in no time.

Back at home I stripped the car and got the clutch sorted out. Strange really as the indication was that it was the release arm in the bell-housing that was jamming. Tapping it with a hammer freed it off. You could also induce the lock-up by holding the release arm up. However once I got the clutch mechanism locked-up in the garage and then slackened off the adjuster on the slave cylinder pushrod, the pedal was still hard as rock.
Replacing the master cylinder fixed it. Luckily the brake master cylinders I took off previously (to put on smaller ones) was the correct size so that was a no-cost fix.

I hope this rubbish weather bucks up. The next trial is at the beginning of March and I don't want to be frozen and soaked for that.