We achieved all our ‘testing’ targets but in stage seven ‘Shammy Moo’ (who has his own Facebook page) decided to test us – immediately after the last chicane on the 1st to 2nd changeup, the pinchbolt holding the gearchange tube to the UJ dropped out leaving us in the neutral position and we coasted to the side. Henry immediately leapt out, put the ‘OK’ board out and lay down in a puddle trying to poke the selector input shaft in a gear with a screwdriver through a slot in the transmission / gear selection guards. He managed to get first and we were able to complete the stage one minute before the end of the stage target time. The service crew quickly solved the problem and we were able to complete stage 8 in a reasonable time. The other problem we had was fuel surging which we had not encountered previously – easily solved by foam filling the alloy tank which already has baffling!

Unfortunately we have no photographs to publish because of a total ban on photography. However we saw plenty of sneaky mobile phones being used and there will be some from the official photographer. If any appear in the public domain (Flickr or YouTube etc) we will publish a link here.

Shammy Moo is gearing up to compete with 2 other Imps in the Longmoor Stages Rally near Liphook, Hampshire on Friday 30th December. This two wheel drive only single venue stage rally round at the Longmoor Army Camp is the final preparation event before the 2012 British Historic Rally Championship. Much work has been done to the front suspension over the last few weeks to try and rectify a few issues that we had over camber and ride height.

Sadly the event is not open to spectators for military security reasons but anyone keen enough to watch this event can of course sign on as a marshal.

The event website is at:

http://www.scmc.co.uk/?page_id=77

Don’t forget that you can pre-order your copy of the DVD from http://aalmediascotland.co.uk/Welcome.html

As we carried their in-car camera there will hopefully be some footage from inside Muddy Moo!

We are 20 seconds in – but don’t blink it is very short.

In-car footage to follow in the next post 

Penmachno is said to have spectacular views but we didn’t notice!; Clocaenog (like the Great Orme a famous ‘Lombard RAC’ stage) was very fast with lots of technical bits and hairpins that had to be got right!

Neath Valley Stages - Photo by Peter Jackson

This was our third rally with the Chamois and we were fortunate enough to have Mike Dent – ‘Moose’ and Sam Thompson servicing for us. Mike built the Haydn Paddon Impreza which won the production class (Group N) WRC championship this year. Whilst Mike and Sam didn’t need to put a spanner on the car all weekend we did end up with significant negative camber on the OSF wheel following a severe bump left by a combination of Escorts and WRC’s digging ruts. Mike noticed it early in the event but after checking it was nothing serious kept it from the crew so we wouldn’t back off!

Cambrian Rally - Photo by Paul Pierce

Out of about 120 starters we came 80^th beating many serious rally cars with 3 times our power. We came 7^th in the historic class (pre 68) swapping times with the Austin Healey 3000 of Graham Goodall (who has won the HRCR Historic Stage Rally Challenge) but Graham used his superior power to good effect on the Great Orme and ended up 40 seconds up on us over the whole event. We also began to get close to, and on some stages, take time out of some of the Minis (all 1300’s).

Penmachno stage of the Cambrian Rally . Photo by Geraint Evans

We’ve learned a lot about how to drive a competition Imp but even more about what we have done right and wrong about building a historic stage rally car. There is a list of developments planned to improve the car. It will all be pulled apart over the winter to check everything over and search out any potential problems and make some modifications. We plan to compete in the MSA British Historic Rally Championship next year. If anyone is interested and wants to know more about Shammy or rally Imp’s please contact nigel@friesianracing.co.uk and we’ll happily share what little we know.

As well as looking for the Brake pedal, Nigel appears to be lost!     Photo: Darren Rungasamy of www.reallyloud.co.uk

With their Singer Chamois (ChammyMoo) historic rally car build complete after a long seven months in the garage, Nigel Webster, FriesianRacing’s founder Henry’s dad in the drivers seat and Henry unusually in the navigator seat the crew set off for the Abingdon Car-nival.

In recent years the FriesianRacing representation at the Abingdon event has been with Andrew and Joel in their Peugeot, but a very wet Sunday 12th June saw the debut of Nigel and the Historic Singer Chamois rally car.

After months of work involving every part of the car and all its systems the 43 year old badge engineered Hillman Imp was taken to Abingdon Car-nival Stages rally to give it a shakedown before going into the Welsh forests and tarmac of Epynt! The driver, considerably older than the car, last competed in off-road motorsport in the 80’s, was very rusty. The Chamois (or “Shammy Moo”), who wasn’t rusty, performed faultlessly throughout what must have been the wettest day of the year. She shipped a wee bit of water inside, Henry said “all rally cars do that”, the gear lever knob came loose and the wind caught the lightweight GRP bonnet (boot lid in the case of the Chamois!) and damaged the hinge mount. The very minor issues were quickly solved by ‘safe hands’ Andrew who did his usual thing of scouting round the service van for the most unlikely of things to effect a ‘jury rig’ repair. Andrew was supported as usual by Sue plus Geoff and Linda Taylor. Geoff is currently lying 12th in the British Historic Rally Championship with his Imp.

We would like to think we had just passed Mini expert Trevor Hancock but that wouldn’t be true! Photo: Darren Rungasamy of www.reallyloud.co.uk

Excellent grip from the Dunlop Motorsport historic tyres and rear engine/rear wheel drive didn’t prevent a tentative driver from braking too early and losing valuable time. In the fast technical bits around the buildings and containers of Dalton Barracks, Abingdon, the Chamois was very quick and up with the much more powerful ‘moderns’. It was the acceleration out of the corners, straight line speed and early application of brakes that meant that we did make much progress up the field – although having given away 300cc to the next lowest capacity car we did well not to come last by finishing 47th out of 100 and 7th in class. Not bad for first time out, the oldest car, smallest engine and (nearly) the oldest driver on his stage rally debut!

The Singer Chamois historic rally car has been built to compete in the British Historic Rally Championship in 2012 http://www.hrcr.co.uk/MSA_BHRC_Championship_2011/

We plan to compete in Class B1 (up to 1000cc for cars built prior to 31/12/1967). The car can only use those modifications that were homologated at the time (ie: no electronic ignition, ’period’ brakes etc) and only those engine and transmission modifications used in the 60’s.

Shammy Moo is now hoping to go to the Neath Valley Stages in August
http://www.threecountiescarclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25&Itemid=3

The team are signed on and Chammy has passed scrutineering.  We set off at 0940, with Nigel at the wheel and Henry on the maps.

It would be great to see some Friesian Racing supporters there, especially as the event is for charity.

The crew descend on MuddyMoo for another frantic service

I thought I’d therefore take this opportunity to say some thank yous to the guys and girls

First of all are our on-event crew, Sue Bailey and Andrew Crawford have tirelessly given up their precious holiday to follow the team around to virtually all of our events over the past five years or so.  Andrew, however, has been getting me out of sticky automotive situations for about the last 18 years – so is clearly a patient fellow!

Andrew brings his unique brand of sarcastic humour to the events whilst applying his fantastic attention to detail to all the aspects of keeping the Moo on the road.  His no-nonsense approach has saved the day on numerous occasions, but his knowledge of the sport extends well beyond just keeping the car in the event.  His advice to me that I was “over-driving” on the opening day of the last Scottish Perthshire Hillrally was spot on, at a time when I was convinced that there were problems with the car!  I can be pretty stubborn behind the wheel of a rally car as Andrew knows better than anyone, but instead of taking the easy option to go along with my latest whim, he stuck to his guns and set about convincing me that I was wrong!  The results paid off in the very next stage.   Thanks mate!

Andrew at the Scottish

Andrew’s least favourite position is lying under a dripping MuddyMoo, checking her nuts and bolts or changing yet another set of anti-roll bar bushes, but he seems undeterred by the fact that this is often the position he has to adopt! Rest assured Andrew a solution is in sight for Muddy’s voracious ARB bush appetite!

Sue’s input is also vital, without her on-event logistics the crew would probably still be circling central Scotland looking for the service area and Muddy Moo and I would probably be abandoned on top of the moors having run out of petrol and food!  Sue’s calm manner and excellent organisational skills not only mean that everything is where it should be and that we are well provisioned, but it is also allied to an uncanny knack to remember that thing that everyone else forgot and the ability to ask the question that really needed to be asked.  This attention to detail has regularly got us out of trouble!

Sue at the Scottish

On occasion, when Andrew and Sue have not been able to join us at events we have called upon the services of various other individuals, often sharing crew with other competitors. Most recently it was Richard Squires and Andy Gould who kindly shared there crew with us at the Borders Hillrally in November. Martin James, Mark Williams and Ian McMahon did a fantastic job for us and explored every option to keep us in the event. Thanks guys!

Previously it was Steve Hiatt, who came so very close to winning last year’s British Cross Country Championship, who kindly shared his crew, at the Jean de la Fontaine rally back in 2009. That crew comprised of our good friends, Robin Rymell, Tony Cox and Nathan Rymell. Despite my promise to Steve that we would be no trouble, my second stage accident put paid to a quiet weekend. When I was close to giving up they leapt in and would not even consider the thought!

The guys attack a rather bent MuddyMoo - Photo: Nathan Rymell

Back at Friesian Racing HQ my parents are incredibly supportive.  With my father Nigel putting in countless hours in the garage.  Its probably not what he had planned for his retirement, but without him I’d really struggle to get the car ready for all the events.  It is a testament to his thoroughness and skill as well as his fabrication skills that we have such a fantastic finishing record in MuddyMoo.

My mother, Ronnie too puts up with an awful lot.  Tirelessly keeping us fed and watered both on the event and in the workshop.  I know she worries about our well-being on events and our Rallye Jean de la Fontaine accident would have been specifically concerning to her with little news of our whereabouts or condition!  She did a fantastic job of making sure the guys had enough to drink in the heat of the French service areas as my dad got stuck in along side the guys.

We wouldn’t have got very far without Joel Haylock in the last couple of years – what started as a one off try-out quickly escalated to a full time role in the left hand seat and in the workshop!  Joel’s road rallying background has been invaluable in extracting the maximum available information from the often woeful organisers maps. His road reading ability can be attributed for much of our speed, especially on gravel tracks.

Joel in the office

We’ve also been blessed by some great suppliers. Although our sponsorship relationship has come to an end this year Allmakes 4×4 have always been great supporters of ours and continue to supply us with quality product.

Thanks also to:

• Trevor Milner and Andy Lees at Milner Off Road for their excellent Varidamp shock absorbers and fantastic set-up advice and after-sales care.

• The enthusiastic guys at Old Mill Motors in Crawley (01993 771 286); John, John, Dr. Mike etc. our MOT station of choice!

• Mathew Wilders from his Witney based workshop specialising in Land Rover repairs (01993 862723) for his endless advice and the occasional emergency spares loan, when there is just not enough time for a quick trip down to Allmakes!  He brews a good cup of tea too!

• Andy at Witney Automotive Factors has always been tremendously supportive and really helpful to call on for bits for the service wagon and for numerous consumables.

• John at John Young Engineering Supplies – for his fantastic stock of tools and consumables.

• Allan at Motordrive Seats, for a fascinating morning of chat and coffee whilst he measured me for my seat and for supplying simply the most comfortable seat I’ve competed in!

• Regal Engineering, for steel supplies and craftsmanship

• Purity Brewery – for the UBU Warwickshire cask ales that we took to Scotland

• The guys in the parts department at Mudie Bond – Eynsham, suppliers of Mercedes Benz van and truck spares.

• All the organisers, marshals, scrutineers and support crews that man the events that we enjoy so much.  I hope to talk about some of these folk some more in a future post as there are many who deserve a particular mention.

And many, many more suppliers who have helped and supported us over the years.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list and I am sure there are lots of worthy folk that I have inadvertently missed, to whom I apologise, but hopefully it also gives an insight to the sheer number of folk that pull together to make it all work.

Alfie Cox's Nissan in the bivouac

The Dakar rally, which runs for 16 days from the first of January each year is perhaps the ultimate Off Road racing event and one to which most competitors aspire.  In recent years there has been a much greater participation on the event from UK individuals and teams. This increase in many ways owes itself to the likes of Drew Bowler, the Round family and their Rally Raid UK operation, Qt Services, and the likes of Keith Banyard and the Gotts, but also to the various individuals who have put everything they have in to making it to the startline.

Although the event has moved from its heartland in the African deserts to the terrain of South America it seems to me that it has lost none of its spirit or challenge.  In fact for me the hugely varying terrain is if anything more appealing, if a little less accessible.

Those of you blessed with access to Eurosport can follow the action everyday, whilst there is also a wealth of places to follow it on the internet.

In particular I have been following two friends of ours and fellow UK based competitors, Simon Pavey and Ben Gott.

Simon, who some of you may remember from Charley Boorman’s ‘Race to Dakar’ TV series, is tackling the grueling.event for an impressive 8th time.  You can follow his trials and tribulations here.
SimonPavey.com

Ben's 8x8 MAN at altitude on this year's event

Ben Gott is driving an enormous 8×8 MAN support truck looking after the PS Laser Nissan Navara of Alfie Cox and Jorgen Schroder.  Ben’s excellent blog which he is somehow managing to find time to update on a nearly daily basis is a fantastic insight into what goes on behind the scenes on the event to keep the competitors running.

Ben’s Blog

Ben is also bidding for a drive on the Gumball Rally, thanks to an online competition. Please watch his video and vote for him here!

You can also get full results and tracking from the Dakar official site as well as some brief video coverage.

Marathon Rally is the best aggregation of journalism and press coverage that I have found. It also covers the concurrent Africa Eco Race which is bidding to take on the Dakar in its more familiar African setting.