I love this challenge because whether we’re just counting the total time spent driving/fixing the cars OR if we go by a F1 style points system, the KMC Avventurer is in first place despite not winning once.
3 Likes
Team There and Back Again: From Fazo to Zimbukto, Capital of Kings!
Fazo, Archana
Stephen and Chris have six sectors to tackle in stage two. Lots of featureless desert and a mountaintop if we’re lucky. The GPDV is slow but sure and the lads felt confident in themselves, their car and their chances of doing well on this stage…
Sector One, Fazo to Trek Camp One
Team TaBA started strongly, if you can call turtling off the line strong, but were soon engulfed in other entrant’s drama. In attempting to avoid the drama, Stephen steered the GPDV into a ditch! This ditch proved to be a real PITA as, regardless of how much rocking was attempted, the GPDV refused to come unstuck. It was only when Stephen and Chris got out and visually checked what the issue was that the problem was revealed; a large rock was wedged under the rear diff housing. Once that was cleared, by hand, then the GPDV could climb out of the ditch and carry on… Stinking of burnt clutch due to Stephen’s earlier frustration.
Sector Two, Trek Camp One to Sali
No major problems or drama cropped up in this sector. Team TaBA were just very late because a slow, old off-roader goes even slower when it’s clutch is slipping!
Sector Three, Sali to Point Nowhere
Featureless desert, as far as the eye can see, but there are traps to snare the unwary or unlucky. Team TaBA is one of those unlucky ones, finding themselves mired in an especially deep patch of fine sand. Only after much digging and deployment of the sand ladders was Stephen able to drive the GPDV free from the sand patch’s clutches. At least they didn’t cook the clutch again.
Sector Four, Point Nowhere to Argorgot
Sector Four sees our intrepid heroes attempt to haul ass up to the top of Agorgot. This results in many hairy moments and near misses, the worst of which was a two wheel tipping moment that threatened to send team TaBA tumbling back down the mountain! All this noise and fury is wasted, however, as the team inevitably falls further behind the faster teams.
Sector Five, Agorgot to Anuman
Getting down the mountain was easy; gravity does most of the work! The long overland section section wasn’t so easy. The combination of high RPM thrashing, lots of constant operation and extreme heat has caused the GPDV to overheat again. This sees Stephen and Chris having to shelter under their vehicle to keep out of the heat, while waiting for the engine to cool off. Fortuitously, Chris remembers to put cardboard into the windscreen and cloth over the side windows, ensuring they aren’t burnt by the metal, vinyl and bakelite when they are able to set off again!
Sector Six, Anuman to Zimbukto
A thankfully anticlimactic ending to a frustrating day for team TaBA. Stephen managed to avoid the worst of the sand dunes, heading into Zimbukto, and Chris was able to navigate Zimbukto easily, having worked there a couple of years ago. This meant that team TaBA managed to arrive at the end of this sector and the stage in reasonable time, compared to most of the sectors previous!
Thoughts on Stage Two
At the end of Stage Two, team TaBA are second last overall and last in the ameteur class.
Surprising?
Not really, IMO, as Team TaBA was meant to roleplay a couple of mates, with not much money, driving an outdated shitbox on the faint hope of winning. My team is doing well just to be in the competition! I was initially upset that my entrant was having so many mechanical issues but then, on reflection, I realised that in 1966 the GPDV is over 20 years old and this example has a questionable maintenance history. Even Toyotas fail if they are pushed too hard!
Tl;dr: I hope my team does better in Stage Three!!! 
7 Likes
How in the heck? 
After crossing the finish line, Luke opened the door of the Sinistra Savage and dumped about three pounds worth of sand all over the parking area in front of the Palace of Justice. “I hate sand.” Luke said, getting out of the car with a gritty crunch on the fresh pile of sand under the door. “And now our car is infested with it.”
“You’re the one who buried her up to the gearbox in it. I told you to back off, that we’d just go put some traction boards under the tires and crawl out of it. But no, you have to plant your foot through the fuckin’ firewall and belly-panned the car.” Mark said, dusting the sand off of his boots.
“More power worked before.” Luke responded.
“Really? And this was with what off-roading experience?” Mark asked. Luke couldn’t respond, not honestly at least. The only off-roading experience he’d had before was from a different time, before his trip back to 1946, when he’d driven a 1970’s Sinistra Savage convertible through a junkyard bash for $500 cars.
“Used to do it with my Dad’s old truck.” Luke said after a few seconds. “It wasn’t much good off-road, but more power was always better.”
“Probably had a flat-head in it. No guts at all, so more power would be fine. You know, I ought to teach you how to race a rally car. That’ll help you out with this offroading problem you have. You seemed to do okay on the trip to the event, so I just have to work on your mixed-surface traction problem.” Mark said.
“So, any idea how much more this car’s going to suffer?” Luke asked Mark.
“Well, they’ve said it’s a 5 stage race. This was stage 2.” Mark said. “Come on, let’s go try to actually fix that mangled front wheel before the third stage starts.”
6 Likes
@Madrias, still 3 stages to go, don’t run home yet. I hope for you the fender and wheel will be the only issues of the Sinistra.
6 Likes
Ah, must’ve missed there were more stages.
Edit: Well, problem edited out and saved for later. With any luck we’ll catch up and prove FWD is the real off-roading machine.
5 Likes
The Epoch generally performs well, it’s in the top half in terms of circuit times that form the basis for the Trek times. It only dropped back due to drivability and technical issues.
Since the times at the end of the first stage were around 7 hours, and the same for the second stage, we aren’t running a cumulative time for the whole Trek. So how does the scoring work for compiling the results of each Stage, for the final results? Is it a points system for finishing positions at the end of each Stage? Is it still cumulative, so the leader is somewhere in the 14 hour range right now?
It’s cumulative, plus repairing times (that aren’t standard maintanence), expect a post at some point with overall standings. It’s a bit too busy at work for the moment to start calculating it out today.
Individual victory in the stages is for prestige alone, but I put the emphasis on that because of the nature of the competition, many will be ruled out for the overall win pretty early.
4 Likes
Congrats for the podium places for Stage 2 of the 1966 TREK
- Team No Name 2 with the BM Feather
U wot
3 Likes
Official Standings Stage 1 + 2 + Repair Time Penalties.
Professional:
Summary
| Position | Car | Team | Status | Driver | Co-driver | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KMC Avventurer | KMC | Professional | Kevin Michaels | Herman Livingston | 15:13,11 |
| 2 | Sinistra Savage Concept | Sinistra Performance Division | Professional | Luke Sinistra | Mark Jasper | 15:54,09 |
| 3 | Caliban Thunder ‘Scafell’ | Tin Of Anchovies | Professional | Alec Henry | “Insane Josh” Joshua Morgan | 16:15,00 |
| 4 | Puttzalong Inglese Rally | PRTF (Puttzalong Rally Team Fruinia) | Professional | Giuseppe Contadino | Arturo Greco | 18:09,21 |
| 5 | Bramble Flint Chert | Bramble Factory | Professional | William Moore | Robert Chamberlain | 19:38,01 |
| 6 | LSV Buccaneer - Halti Special | LSVRT team | Professional | Make | Viljami | 19:49,54 |
| 7 | TSR Ultra Rally Safari Edition | Katana Racing Team | Professional | Cole Mendez | Takumi Kakayama | 19:51,44 |
| 8 | Epoch M30 3.3 Trek | Epoch | Professional | Yale Thomlinson | Peter Kleinmann | 20:30,54 |
| 9 | ACA RoadCruiser 440 Police Interceptor Special Offroad | Team Cops and Robbers | Professional | Blake Washington | Alejandro Cervantes | 21:02,37 |
| 10 | IP Brigadeer 1900 DX2 4x4 | IP Motorsports | Professional | Chandawang Sangwat | Pawoon Khaodai | 21:17,23 |
| 11 | Rapido Motors (RM) Skylight DS | Rapido Motors Factory Team | Professional | Rajha Mirada | Daniel “Dany” Focada | 22:15,37 |
| 12 | JHW Sparrow Panamerica | Ecurie Crowley | Professional | Fred Jones | Ken Crowley | 22:36,38 |
| 13 | Keika I Safari | Keika Automotive | Professional | Daniel Chase | Jack Williams | 23:10,16 |
| 14 | Deer And Hunt Hawg GAT | Team OneShot | Professional | James Parker | Henry Carlson | 23:35,42 |
| 15 | Sakura Empress S (E10) Baja Custom | Sakura-Mathews America Factory Team | Professional | David Mathews | Emerton Mathews | 25:41,24 |
| 16 | Ardent Chesapeake GT Rally | The Pride of Ohio | Professional | Bobby Morgan | George Kowalczyk | 36:15,09 |
Amateurs:
Summary
| Position | Car | Team | Status | Driver | Co-driver | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SOCAUT Pyrénées V8 | Team Pyrénées | Amateur | Jean-Claude Cassenave | André Lacassagne | 15:14,24 |
| 2 | Franklin Rhino G&EHE1966 | Harcourt-Entwhistle | Amateur | Capt George Harcourt-Entwhistle, REME | Elizabeth Harcourt-Entwhistle | 17:33,44 |
| 3 | Ponni Weekend | No Name 3 | Amateur | Bruno Volponi | Enzo Lombardo | 18:05,22 |
| 4 | FAAL Mesaia 152 | Team Sechsmötörigewildsaü | Amateur | Xavier Müller | Jean-Martin Müller | 18:06,29 |
| 5 | Bruce’s Loose Nut Jar | Ferreira Family Crashing Team | Amateur | Bruce Ferreira | Buster Ferreira | 18:48,18 |
| 6 | Ninomiya Evron Coupe (Custom) | Team Desert Stars | Amateur | Yuuki Akagi | Haruto Aiba | 19:02,55 |
| 7 | Ligrani La Follia | Hurry Squad | Amateur | Teodor Bajkiewicz | Clive Stetbury | 19:14,20 |
| 8 | Cossack TT2500 (modified) | No Name 1 | Amateur | Menelaus Daisun | Cardiel Megalos | 19:50,52 |
| 9 | BM Feather | No Name 2 | Amateur | Unknown | Unknown | 20:05,00 |
| 10 | Pengting Torra 273 | NAAC (North Archanan Automobilist Club) | Amateur | Jehu “Tripod” Kickoman | Sebastianos Kouho | 20:06,49 |
| 11 | Bogliq GPDV TREK Car | Team There and Back Again | Amateur | Stephen Nix | Christopher Hind | 20:14,29 |
Overall:
Summary
| Position | Car | Team | Status | Driver | Co-driver | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KMC Avventurer | KMC | Professional | Kevin Michaels | Herman Livingston | 15:13,11 |
| 2 | SOCAUT Pyrénées V8 | Team Pyrénées | Amateur | Jean-Claude Cassenave | André Lacassagne | 15:14,24 |
| 3 | Sinistra Savage Concept | Sinistra Performance Division | Professional | Luke Sinistra | Mark Jasper | 15:54,09 |
| 4 | Caliban Thunder ‘Scafell’ | Tin Of Anchovies | Professional | Alec Henry | “Insane Josh” Joshua Morgan | 16:15,00 |
| 5 | Franklin Rhino G&EHE1966 | Harcourt-Entwhistle | Amateur | Capt George Harcourt-Entwhistle, REME | Elizabeth Harcourt-Entwhistle | 17:33,44 |
| 6 | Ponni Weekend | No Name 3 | Amateur | Bruno Volponi | Enzo Lombardo | 18:05,22 |
| 7 | FAAL Mesaia 152 | Team Sechsmötörigewildsaü | Amateur | Xavier Müller | Jean-Martin Müller | 18:06,29 |
| 8 | Puttzalong Inglese Rally | PRTF (Puttzalong Rally Team Fruinia) | Professional | Giuseppe Contadino | Arturo Greco | 18:09,21 |
| 9 | Bruce’s Loose Nut Jar | Ferreira Family Crashing Team | Amateur | Bruce Ferreira | Buster Ferreira | 18:48,18 |
| 10 | Ninomiya Evron Coupe (Custom) | Team Desert Stars | Amateur | Yuuki Akagi | Haruto Aiba | 19:02,55 |
| 11 | Ligrani La Follia | Hurry Squad | Amateur | Teodor Bajkiewicz | Clive Stetbury | 19:14,20 |
| 12 | Bramble Flint Chert | Bramble Factory | Professional | William Moore | Robert Chamberlain | 19:38,01 |
| 13 | LSV Buccaneer - Halti Special | LSVRT team | Professional | Make | Viljami | 19:49,54 |
| 14 | Cossack TT2500 (modified) | No Name 1 | Amateur | Menelaus Daisun | Cardiel Megalos | 19:50,52 |
| 15 | TSR Ultra Rally Safari Edition | Katana Racing Team | Professional | Cole Mendez | Takumi Kakayama | 19:51,44 |
| 16 | BM Feather | No Name 2 | Amateur | Unknown | Unknown | 20:05,00 |
| 17 | Pengting Torra 273 | NAAC (North Archanan Automobilist Club) | Amateur | Jehu “Tripod” Kickoman | Sebastianos Kouho | 20:06,49 |
| 18 | Bogliq GPDV TREK Car | Team There and Back Again | Amateur | Stephen Nix | Christopher Hind | 20:14,29 |
| 19 | Epoch M30 3.3 Trek | Epoch | Professional | Yale Thomlinson | Peter Kleinmann | 20:30,54 |
| 20 | ACA RoadCruiser 440 Police Interceptor Special Offroad | Team Cops and Robbers | Professional | Blake Washington | Alejandro Cervantes | 21:02,37 |
| 21 | IP Brigadeer 1900 DX2 4x4 | IP Motorsports | Professional | Chandawang Sangwat | Pawoon Khaodai | 21:17,23 |
| 22 | Rapido Motors (RM) Skylight DS | Rapido Motors Factory Team | Professional | Rajha Mirada | Daniel “Dany” Focada | 22:15,37 |
| 23 | JHW Sparrow Panamerica | Ecurie Crowley | Professional | Fred Jones | Ken Crowley | 22:36,38 |
| 24 | Keika I Safari | Keika Automotive | Professional | Daniel Chase | Jack Williams | 23:10,16 |
| 25 | Deer And Hunt Hawg GAT | Team OneShot | Professional | James Parker | Henry Carlson | 23:35,42 |
| 26 | Sakura Empress S (E10) Baja Custom | Sakura-Mathews America Factory Team | Professional | David Mathews | Emerton Mathews | 25:41,24 |
| 27 | Ardent Chesapeake GT Rally | The Pride of Ohio | Professional | Bobby Morgan | George Kowalczyk | 36:15,09 |
Important notes from the race director:
-
Time difference seem huge, but what separates most groups of cars is really just a single significant breakdown + repairs.
-
Team The Pride of Ohio (@VicVictory) is requested whether or not they wish to continue with stage 3. Please note that their time basically contains a 15:30 hour penalty time due to complete break down and repairs - it is likely other cars will suffer the same fate in stage 3 or 5.
-
Almost all cars start nearly fully repaired for stage 3. Only the following cars have minor technical issues plaguing them:
Keika I Safari
BM Feather
Deer And Hunt Hawg GAT
Rapido Motors (RM) Skylight DS
JHW Sparrow Panamerica
- The following car has serious technical and reliability issues plaguing it:
Sakura Empress S (E10) Baja Custom
12 Likes
Pride of Ohio retires from the competition.
5 Likes
Oh boy, still 4th after the beating I got last stage…hopefully won’t happen again 
Team Harcourt-Entwhistle have spent the time with Elizabeth telling George what to do the whole time. She remonstrated, quite vociferously, with George over any delays.
Elizabeth: So you’re telling me that we’re 2nd in class and 5th overall?
George: Yes dear.
Elizabeth: Would we have been closer if we hadn’t had to let the engine cool down.
George: Yes dear.
Elizabeth: So why did we have to stop? You said this vehicle would be very reliable…and comfortable!
George: It is Elizabeth, dear, but it is also an old design and wasn’t made for hard racing. The seating had to be removed due to the regulations. Without regulations you can’t have order.
Elizabeth: Well I find this to be quite unacceptable! This cushion keeps slipping around.
George: OH FOR HEAVENS SAKE ELIZABETH. CAN YOU PLEASE STOP TALKING!
Elizabeth: George Harcourt-Entwhistle, keep your voice down! People will stare!
George: Yes dear, sorry dear but all you have done is complain about absolutley everything. I should have brought Spanners, he’d have been please to get away from his wife and kids!
Elizabeth starts crying: I’m so sorry darling. I didn’t realise you hated being with me so much…
George: Now, now, darling. I adore being with you but you do go on a bit.
Elizabeth sniffs and blows her nose: I’ll keep quiet from now on and not be such a burden to you.
6 Likes
Does George sound like Peter O’Toole?
So, please be patient for stage 3 and onwards. This week I had to study after work for an exam on Friday morning and next week I’ll be all week in Latvia representing my country (if any forum users are from around there, I’ll be in Riga on Tuesday and/or Wednesday evening). So, first moment I have time to sit down and work on this is the weekend of the 16th.
8 Likes
Fine for me, I’m still adapting to my new job so I can’t check much anyway.
Speaking of adapting, I think I’ll just kinda, stop laying down on my floor at 8PM and actually go to bed
2 Likes
Well my hard drive failed on the 25th of last month, so I feel like I have missed a lot. And I don’t know how my car is in first place. I just hope luck is on my side now.
So, real life, in the form of job, family and a pretty fine world cup got in the way of this, but I am still working on it.
Here’s a teaser of things to come:
And I swear, keeping some of your madly mad creations under control is not easy with wheel and pedals and stick shift… Even for someone with ample experience in Dirt Rally.
11 Likes