2009 David Nutter Ford Used Cars Yakkerboo Trial

[Mat Francis]

It is with great regret and apology that i have to inform you that i won't be making it to the trial this year 

To cut a long story short, after test driving the car yesterday, it definitely wasn't up to scratch. Badly badly badly needed new bearings in the clutch housing and a subsequent driveline vibration sorted out.

In what was our personal record, dad and i removed and stripped everything off the housing in 45 minutes. I was still dead keen (even if dad wasn't), and quite ready to be up late at nights preparing the car.

Dropped the housing off to Huey, and was all set to pick it up on my way to Sandown this morning, the goal being to have the car 100% sorted by next Saturday.

Got back home just in time to get to work at the fish and chip shop, and all was well for a good three hours. Then, clean up time at 830, managed to do the stupidest thing i have done in a long time. I was cleaning the hotplate, got a bit enthusiast trying to do it quickly, and my hand slipped off the scourer thing i was using. Only touched the plate for a split second, but the boiling oil stuck to my hand long enough to make it pretty nasty. Spent my Saturday night in the hospital.

As such, under specific instruction from the doctor, i am not allowed to touch the car for a week, due to the obvious risk of infection. Whilst i may be able to finish the car and add all the necessary extras before the race, i have exams at tafe during the next fortnight, and find myself actually needing to study for the first time this year.

Sorry for the big lead up and disappointment, but it's just not going to work this time. The bug's still there though, i'll be looking out for future events i'm allowed to enter 

[Jekyll and Hyde]

Spent my Saturday night in the hospital.

Wow - Back to the future!

[redalfaracing]

Mat, i know exactly how you are feeling right now. After months of prep building my gtv6 i find that because of time lost in the last week with the flu i can't see that i can go to the Alpine with a fully prrepared car. Bitterly disappointed, but thats life. The up side is i now have a 99% finished gtv6 prc and by 1st event next year i will be ready.

I will try and entry in the George Woods, A novice trial , maybe you will be ready for that one too. How good would that be? 2 Alfas in the same trial.

Get that hand better soon.

[Mat Francis]

As long as it isn't before about mid December, then yes, count me in for the George Woods trial 

[redalfaracing]

Mat, be in late Feb. 1st event for the year. You want to still come up to the trial on the 28th of November and do a road closure for me. be good to get a bit of a look at some side ways action in the dirt. Get in early and you can have a road on a sharp corner!

[Mat Francis]

Alright deal. Count me in for a road closure 

Evan- i'll take plenty of photos. Pity they won't be of my car

[redalfaracing]

Mat, I have organised a really fast right hander, big wide road, hard surface. the fast guys will really back it in from a long way out. You will need a shovel to get the dust of your teeth , you will be grinning so much. Enjoy!


Any other takers?

[redalfaracing]

Entry list for the event ( entries close 18:00 hrs Wednesday 25/11/09)

[redalfaracing]

All set for a night of rallying around Willow Grove/ noojee tomorrow evening. 45 entries, first car away at 20:40. There will be a spectator point, guides available at trial hq . Dust suppressant has been added the last couple of days with more forecast. Mat Francis has secured his personal spectator point for the evening, hope he takes some great photos as i won't see any action. I will be stuck in trial hq all night.
Come along and see what it is all about.

[Mat Francis]

Wow! Where to start. Best day/ night out in a long time!

Picked up Jimmy at 230 yesterday, got all our stuff sorted and left about 3ish. We were having way too much fun just being out on the open road, and proceeded to get mildly lost somewhere around Yarra Junction. Eventually Jimmy made himself useful and got us back on track 

I think it was called yarra junction noojee road? Anyway, best piece of road i have ever driven. No question. About 40km of twisties, 80% of which is 100km. 100 clicks around many of those corners is suicide. Needless to say, the TS absolutely loved it. Left it in second, and just backed off a bit whenever we found the limiter. We genuinely could not believe how much fun we were legally having, and we weren't even there yet!

Arrived at HQ about 5 i think. Signed on, got organised, then went and kicked tyres/watched the cricket for about 2 hours.

Eventually we convoyed out to our closure, and the only disappointment of the night was that we didn't get to travel all that far along the course before we had to pull off. Had a quick explore, found a good viewing spot, and then just as we decided to go have a bit of a relax in the car for a while, (i had been up since 5am, and Jimmy, well, he got home at 5am...), it started to bucket down. Perfect.

Our biggest problem was that we forgot the aerogaurd. Absolute rookie mistake. As such we sealed ourselves in the car and talked s***/ killed mosquitoes for near enough to three hours. Not the world's most exciting activity, but i'd be lying if i said i didn't have fun anyway.

I'm not sure if it worked out so well for everyone else too, but just before the first car arrived the rain stopped. Couldn't have time it better if it was on a switch. Ventured up onto a fallen tree, which allowed us to see about 3 corners down the gully, and gave an awesome view of the exit of the last corner in sight

Last car came through about 1ish? sorta lost track of time by this point. waited about another hour, couple of sweep cars later, we flagged down a datto 1600. The guy told us we were right to go if we wanted, but there were still a couple of recovery vehicles coming through pretty hot. We could either wait for them, or just be very aware that they were coming if we chose to leave. Seriously, did he think we were going to turn down a challenge like that?   

We only would of driven about 2km worth of course, but probably the most fun i've ever had behind the wheel. Boot full of tools, petrol, wet weather stuff, etc, only doing about 70k, but it was unbelievable. Completely different style of driving to anything i've ever done, but once i got the feel for it it was just awesome. Amazed at how balanced the car was once you got your foot into it. I'm stuffed now. I've got the bug good and proper.

Made it home some time around 4. Slept pretty well after all that.

Unfortunately we didn't take any photos. I didn't think it would be all that nice to have a flash going off in your face mid corner, and it would of been the only way you would of seen anything. We did, however, film near enough to every car coming past. So if Jimmy gets organised and passes the footage on to me, or even puts it up himself, you can still all get your fix.

I'll be driving the George Woods Trial if the preparation for it kills me.

[redalfaracing]

Mat, Glad you enjoyed it. The torrential rain proved to be a challange for all.

Drivers found the roads to be very slippery in places. Most roads were hard road metal base, but the first half of 1st competitive was granetic sand road which was still very grippy except for the occasional clay patches which were like ice. Add to this the fogged up windows and the fact that none of the crews had rallyed on these roads before meant there was a lot of "offs" early on.

Officials had to brave the rain, wind and lightning to mark cards and perform their allotted tasks.

The directing team had to battle with a faulty repeater on Mt Tanjil ( possible rain affected) which meant radio coms were patchy and when they worked were full of static.

I had to reroute the stage Mat was on and do a rewrite of transport 7 to avoid a clay surface road, which meant cancelling the section with the spec point on it.

Mat, i would be interested to hear how you ended up at rc6.4 ( Kenny Spur Track) when i had you on rc6.2 (Rowleys Ridge Road).

below is the very unofficial scores of the night,

David Nutter Ford Used Cars Yakkerboo Trial

O/R Crew Car POINTS
1 Mark Millar/Dion Clayton Datsun 240Z 17:10
2 Sean Hudgson/Phil Nicholas Datsun 1600 18:44
3 Rob Davis/Andrew Taylor Nissan Sunny GTi 20:16
4 Adam Bloomfield/Brett Williams Holden Commodore VH 27:22
5 Daniel Anderson(#)/Ian Rice(#) Hyundai Excel 27:32
6 David Gates/Bree Tapper Mazda MX5 29:34
7 Steve Porter/Aidan O'Halloran Mazda RX7 34:24
8 Michael Bansagi/Leeham Bansagi Datsun 1200 36:38
9 Aiden Peart/Darren Miller Datsun 260Z 36:55
10 Simon Ellis/Ian Ellis Subaru Legacy RS 44:26
11 Lachlan Smith(J)/Gerard Blum Ford Escort 46:49
12 Daniel Fynch/Michelle Fynch Toyota Corolla AE102 60:31
13 Mark Sichlau/Luke Vieceli Datsun 180B 67:17
14 Daryl King/Chris Barrett Toyota Corolla 75:22
15 Rowan Woollard/Chris Bolton Datsun 1600 83:33
16 Ross Stapleton/Chris Petrie(J) Subaru WRX STi 85:41
17 Tim Stuchbery(#)/Sue McCready(#) Holden
Commodore 90:42
18 Ben MacKenzie(#)/Liam Dunn(#) Datsun 1600 92:47
19 Matthew Barr/Mark Burnett Hyundai Excel 94:39
20 Daniel Smith/Michelle Smith Holden Astra 102:32
21 Rian Calder/Daniel Hall Ford Escort 110:08
22 Brett Mackieson/Stephen Doughty Diahatsu Charade De
Tomaso 116:27
23 Steve Piggott/James Maxwell Nissan Bluebird 119:48
24 Colin Sichlau(S)/Rick Thorpe(S) Isuzu Gemini PF60E 124:42
25 Robert McKenzie(S)/David Balfour(S) Subaru Leone 132:08
26 Ross O'Reilly(#)/Phil Hurle(#) Nissan Bluebird 910 143:54
27 Rohan Crouch(#)/Troy Allott(#) Holden Commodore 150:22

Did not finish the event
Trevor Woods/Kimberley Woods Datsun 1600 DNF(7) Too many flats
Cary Seabrook(J)/Tyler Seabrook(J) Datsun
Stanza DNF(6) Out of fuel
Mark Roberts/Correne Seabrook Datsun 200B SSS
DNF(5) Accelerator cable
Gavin White(#)/Michael Loxton(#) Datsun 1600 DNF(5) Engine
John Roberts/Robert King Ford Escort RS2000 DNF(4) Fog
Luke Sytema/Aaron Sytema Ford Escort Mk
2 DNF(4) Sick navigator
Tony Fleming(#)/Michael Sandefur(#) Holden Commodore
VR DNF(4) Hole in fuel tank
Ari Paterson/Carrie Morris Nissan Bluebird DNF(4) Alternator
Matt Swan(#)/Paul Franklin(#) Subaru WRX DNF(4) No visibility
Tim Roberts/Graham McGrath Subaru WRX RA DNF(3) No
reason given
Stuart Schoof/Richard Gill Datsun 1200 DNF(2) No
reason given
Jeff Lee(#)/Joanne Lee(#) Triumph 2500 PI Mk1 DNF(2) Diff
Matt de Vaus(#)/Todd Knight(#) Datsun Skyline DNF(2) Clutch fork
David Lawrance/Darren Davison Datsun 1600 DNF(2) Tipped over

# = Not claiming VCRS points J = Junior Cup S = Senior Cup

Keith Rawson Introductory Trial

O/R Crew Car POINTS
1 Kain Manning/Mathew Stratford Suzuki Swift GTi 22
2 Duncan Elliot/Zarny Tran Toyota Corolla 25
3 Andrew Kavanagh/Andrew Procter Datsun 180B 26
Did not finish the event
Nic Lorrain/Marty Moloney Mitsubishi Galant
GB DNF(4) Fuel pump
Rohan Teagle/Andrew Vernon Ford Escort DNF(3) Clutch


Penalty points are awarded firstly on time, there is a target time for each competitive. time taken over the target time is accrued as points. There are passage controls which if you enter the correct direction accrue no points , but if you enter from the incorrect direction give you 30 mins penalty. there are also informations on some via points which enable us to know if you take the correct route. Each information you miss gives you 30 minutes also. 

You notice the winner had 17:10 which means he took 17minutes and 10 seconds over the target time for the event. a great effort given the trying conditions. last place got 150:22 he is actually a very quick driver but this was his first navigational event. most of his points were from missed vias.


So you see Mat, in this type of event , to do well you need to balance being quick with finding all the vias. Some were easy but a couple were not so easy. At warp speed Hard to see tracks are impossible to find.


George Woods is on Feb 20th.


Get that Alfetta ready, now you know what to expect it may be helpful for your preparation.

[Mat Francis]

Bit more to it than the "drive fast and keep it on the track" sort of attitude i would of gone in with!

As far as ending up at Kenny Spur, i simply jumped in convoy and followed along. Whoever was in the Rangie and the black 1600 were dropped off at the first closure (about 1k in i'd guess?), and then Rob dropped us at Kenny Spur. I didn't know any better, as far as i knew we were at the road as planned.

As far as the Alfetta goes... looking like i'm gonna need to put another gearbox in. The syncros are brilliant, but it sounds like it's running straight cut gears  

Fun fun!

[redalfaracing]

Results have become final tonight.

Very different to the previous unofficial results.

Checking control cards gave us a whole lot of WD's on 1 passage control.

See Mat, Drive too fast at the wrong time and you miss finding a little side road. Almost 2/3 rds of the field missed it.

See you at the George woods. 20/02/2010