Midnight on Thursday and repairs to the engine in the Subaru have been in effect for about 10 hours. After some delays in acquiring the correct head gasket (Thanks Peter and Isaac) and with plenty of time spent cleaning all the components the engine was re-assembled and returned to it's home in the engine bay. Fluids filled, exhaust and intake fitted now time to start her up.
With the engine now running and some final adjustments made a drive was in order to see if the repairs had been effective. The West Tamar Highway from Legana to Exeter was the place of choice and after a few run's up and down the rolling hills it was back to the workshop . The Subaru had performed faultlessly on the test drive, now time for the crew to get some sleep. Rob, Adam and Kai disappeared in the Transit to there places of rest and Scott and the Subaru returned to the Catt residence.
As per the Targa rules the Subaru recquired re-scutineering before continuing in the event. This meant an early start at the Silverdome so that the scrutiny could be performed. The start time for the day was 9:10am which placed us in relatively the same position on the road as the previous day and 7 stages awaited the attack. The Subaru felt very strong and was showing no signs of the dreaded over-heating. Todays times on the road were back to the best times of the previous day, trading seconds with the comparable vehicles in the event and even showing signs of improvement. All good and the team is now in rest mode before the big attack on more familiar roads to the team tomorrow towards Strahan.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Targa Day 2
Day two started well with a short blast through Relbia, with no complications. Then a leisurely drive to the country for the start of a favourite stage, Sidling. This a a great road, climbing up to the top of a ridge, and then falling down to follow the valley towards Scottsdale. With no sign of rising temperature during the 1st stage, this one was attacked fiercely, and went well until the drop down the other side. The temp gauge jumped skyward. and caused us to slow up and nurse the car a little til the end. We then proceeded on to a rendevous with Scott and Kai to assess the problem, and make the hard decision to pull the pin on the day. The realisation that the motor was unlikely to survive the constant heat soaks meant that we would head back to Legana to piece together a plan for a change of headgaskets, this being the most likely reason for the issue.
A call to the ever-helpful guys at LWR scored a gasket kit and bits (and a clutch just-in-case), and some chasing by Craig Brooks in Burnie stirred Pete O'Reilly into action. He drove over with the correct thicker head gaskets, and some good advice. The team pulled the motor out (the only way in a flat-four Subaru) and proved the theory. At higher loads, the combustion pressure was pushing past the gasket into the cooling system, and over-pressuring it. So they set about changing the gaskets, and as of midnight, are now putting it all back into the car, whilst I attempt to get some sleep. An early rise is needed as the car must meet scrutineers at 7am to re-enter the event for Day 3. I am not sure how this affects the standings or running order, but will let you know next post. Thanks to all the helpers who chipped in for this, and to LTA for the use of their workshop.
A call to the ever-helpful guys at LWR scored a gasket kit and bits (and a clutch just-in-case), and some chasing by Craig Brooks in Burnie stirred Pete O'Reilly into action. He drove over with the correct thicker head gaskets, and some good advice. The team pulled the motor out (the only way in a flat-four Subaru) and proved the theory. At higher loads, the combustion pressure was pushing past the gasket into the cooling system, and over-pressuring it. So they set about changing the gaskets, and as of midnight, are now putting it all back into the car, whilst I attempt to get some sleep. An early rise is needed as the car must meet scrutineers at 7am to re-enter the event for Day 3. I am not sure how this affects the standings or running order, but will let you know next post. Thanks to all the helpers who chipped in for this, and to LTA for the use of their workshop.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Targa Tasmania Day 1.
Day 1 of Targa Tas 09 starts in Launceston and travels in an anti-clockwise circuit first to the NE and the to the NW of the Tamar valley. The first stages, Lillydale, Windermere and Hillwood give the event a gentle start with easily cleanable base times for all competitors to get them warmed up and into the groove.
Targa is timed in a penalty second format with each stage given a set time to be completed in. If a crew finishes the stage under the set time then the penalty for the stage is zero (or "cleaned"), however if the crew finishes over the time, then a penalty is awarded on a second per second basis. Eg. Stage base time = 1:25 crew finishes in 1:35 then penalty = 0:10.
Stage 4 for the event, Kayena, was the first of the non-cleanable stages for the majority of the field and consisted of a nice short blast before the Beaconsfield lunch break. With the car running well there was time to catch up with the whole team for a quick refuel and check over before a bite to eat for all before heading out for the afternoons stages.
5 stages remained for the day and it was now time to get serious. Stage 5, Howell, consisted of a short blast west towards Latrobe then onto Stage 6, Moriarty, another short one through farm land before turning South West to Stage 7, Merseylea, a fast a flowing stage different in character to the previous stages and the chance to really have a go and see how the car and crew were performing. This left two to go for the day Stage 8, Sheffield, and then Stage 9, Quamby Brook.
Stage 8 was the cause of some minor concern for the team with the car showing some signs of overheating after catching and passing a Z32 300zx Nissan in the stage with about 3km to go. After the stage the temp gauge was still high so the decision was made to pull over and check the coolant levels. The overflow catch tank was full and the engine header tank was unable to redraw the coolant back from overflow resulting in a low coolant condition in the engine. Caps were removed and the engine topped up with water, then onto stage 9 with fingers crossed.
Stage 9 was completed with no problems, phew!!, onto service at the Silverdome in Launceston.
Time for the boy's to work, and work they did. In the space of about and hour the entire car was given a full check over while in the engine bay the coolant was drained and flushed before being replaced and the caps replace with some higher pressure units. Time for a good rest for all before tomorrow's stage to the North East and East coast of Tassie. The plan is to try and nurse the car through and test the overheating issue and see if it can be managed before making the decision to effect major repairs during Thursday night.
The day's results were within the teams expectations with car 981 sitting in 23 in Modern and amongst some very seasoned Targa competitors.
Targa is timed in a penalty second format with each stage given a set time to be completed in. If a crew finishes the stage under the set time then the penalty for the stage is zero (or "cleaned"), however if the crew finishes over the time, then a penalty is awarded on a second per second basis. Eg. Stage base time = 1:25 crew finishes in 1:35 then penalty = 0:10.
Stage 4 for the event, Kayena, was the first of the non-cleanable stages for the majority of the field and consisted of a nice short blast before the Beaconsfield lunch break. With the car running well there was time to catch up with the whole team for a quick refuel and check over before a bite to eat for all before heading out for the afternoons stages.
5 stages remained for the day and it was now time to get serious. Stage 5, Howell, consisted of a short blast west towards Latrobe then onto Stage 6, Moriarty, another short one through farm land before turning South West to Stage 7, Merseylea, a fast a flowing stage different in character to the previous stages and the chance to really have a go and see how the car and crew were performing. This left two to go for the day Stage 8, Sheffield, and then Stage 9, Quamby Brook.
Stage 8 was the cause of some minor concern for the team with the car showing some signs of overheating after catching and passing a Z32 300zx Nissan in the stage with about 3km to go. After the stage the temp gauge was still high so the decision was made to pull over and check the coolant levels. The overflow catch tank was full and the engine header tank was unable to redraw the coolant back from overflow resulting in a low coolant condition in the engine. Caps were removed and the engine topped up with water, then onto stage 9 with fingers crossed.
Stage 9 was completed with no problems, phew!!, onto service at the Silverdome in Launceston.
Time for the boy's to work, and work they did. In the space of about and hour the entire car was given a full check over while in the engine bay the coolant was drained and flushed before being replaced and the caps replace with some higher pressure units. Time for a good rest for all before tomorrow's stage to the North East and East coast of Tassie. The plan is to try and nurse the car through and test the overheating issue and see if it can be managed before making the decision to effect major repairs during Thursday night.
The day's results were within the teams expectations with car 981 sitting in 23 in Modern and amongst some very seasoned Targa competitors.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Targa Tasmania - It Begins
After some months of tinkering with the car, and a few laps of Baskerville raceway to bed-in brake pads and heat-cycle tyres, the DWR crew headed to Legana to the quiet of the Catt residence, to get ready for our first full attempt at Targa Tas, the five day event held around the state. We also had a date to keep with the 50th birthday bash of Mick Luscombe, tyre guru and major supporter for many years through Legana Tyres & More.
Sunday saw some slow recovery, and after a day of fiddling with the car, documentation and scrutineering was sorted at the Launceston Silverdome. This was a seamless activity with some tired but friendly officials making it easy. We chose to keep the car overnight, rather than leave it there, so that a wheel alignment could be done on Monday.
Mick worked his magic on the aligner, and the car was duly placed with the 245 others on the polished floor inside the Silverdome mid-afternoon. Dave and I attended crew briefing at 5 to hear about the general running of the event, and then back to Legana for a feed.
Today is Day 0, the first competition of the event, but one that is directed more for the public as the competition counts only for the determination of the next days start order. There is a desire to get a good time to achieve a position in the field that allows an unhindered run in the stages, without catching slower cars, or being caught yourself. Just the same, all crews tend to turn it on for the public, and there is plenty of action for the spectators.
We had a good run with no dramas, and caught a mini towards the end of the stage. This slowed us a little, but our time was still OK leaving us around 30th outright, and right where we wanted to be in the field. A short service back in Launceston, and the car is now tucked up with all the others in the Silverdome again.
Tomorrow we head out to Lilydale for the first real stages, and the 1st of 5 long days.
Sunday saw some slow recovery, and after a day of fiddling with the car, documentation and scrutineering was sorted at the Launceston Silverdome. This was a seamless activity with some tired but friendly officials making it easy. We chose to keep the car overnight, rather than leave it there, so that a wheel alignment could be done on Monday.
Mick worked his magic on the aligner, and the car was duly placed with the 245 others on the polished floor inside the Silverdome mid-afternoon. Dave and I attended crew briefing at 5 to hear about the general running of the event, and then back to Legana for a feed.
Today is Day 0, the first competition of the event, but one that is directed more for the public as the competition counts only for the determination of the next days start order. There is a desire to get a good time to achieve a position in the field that allows an unhindered run in the stages, without catching slower cars, or being caught yourself. Just the same, all crews tend to turn it on for the public, and there is plenty of action for the spectators.
We had a good run with no dramas, and caught a mini towards the end of the stage. This slowed us a little, but our time was still OK leaving us around 30th outright, and right where we wanted to be in the field. A short service back in Launceston, and the car is now tucked up with all the others in the Silverdome again.
Tomorrow we head out to Lilydale for the first real stages, and the 1st of 5 long days.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wrest Point Targa
Octagon, the organiser of Targa Tas, decided to run a 2 day event in the South of Tasmania, to give its competitor base a warmup before the big event, and to restore some tarmac racing to the southern roads after their change to a northern-based Targa last year.
DWR was more than happy to race on local roads, some very close to home! Some more time was spent on the dyno dropping the fuel octane to 98 to suit the new Targa requirements. Then off to the track to fiddle with the handling some more, and shakedown any changes.
David Catt, back from a few years on the big island, stepped in to call the notes over the 2 days, and the crew had a pretty good run, despite having a brake issue that kept us on our toes. This was traced to worn calipers, and in conjunction with floating rotors, this caused consistent, random pad knock-off giving us quite a few interesting "pedal on the floor" moments. Not much could be done about it, so we learnt to drive around the problem!
The faster open stages showed up a lack of grunt, but the tight, bumpy stuff suited us, and a 9th fastest over Pelverata was excellent. Two runs through Longley provided exactly the same time, so consistency was good, also.
The end result was 11th outright, and this was much better than expected in a field of this calibre. Now we will de-brief, and work on the problem areas before the 5 day Targa gets under way.
DWR was more than happy to race on local roads, some very close to home! Some more time was spent on the dyno dropping the fuel octane to 98 to suit the new Targa requirements. Then off to the track to fiddle with the handling some more, and shakedown any changes.
David Catt, back from a few years on the big island, stepped in to call the notes over the 2 days, and the crew had a pretty good run, despite having a brake issue that kept us on our toes. This was traced to worn calipers, and in conjunction with floating rotors, this caused consistent, random pad knock-off giving us quite a few interesting "pedal on the floor" moments. Not much could be done about it, so we learnt to drive around the problem!
The faster open stages showed up a lack of grunt, but the tight, bumpy stuff suited us, and a 9th fastest over Pelverata was excellent. Two runs through Longley provided exactly the same time, so consistency was good, also.
The end result was 11th outright, and this was much better than expected in a field of this calibre. Now we will de-brief, and work on the problem areas before the 5 day Targa gets under way.
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