That refuel was spent being busy getting spotlights fitted onto a car that had obviously never been driven with them on... they pointed to the ground and jammed on the grille! So we hadn't dome anything about tyres with more immediate problems.

 

By midnight he had run out of tyres, run out of brakes (down to the last 1mm and no spares...) and run out of 'lateness', so couldn't do stages 13 & 14... Sad, but a big education in how much work needs to go into rallying. We had spent it all on the car and not had time to even consider servicing, which is what killed it in the end. Anyway, luckily his Mum came along to watch and organised us all into the hotel she was booked into, rather than sleeping on the floor at a mate's place. We crashed and his dad and I were up at 7am to start the trip home before it got too hot.

 

We climbed up onto the highlands of New England and got back to the woolshed after lunch. No slacking, we pulled the seats out, blew the whole car out with an airgun then hit it all over with a water-blaster, inside and out. Then into the shed and up on stands for an inspection. After making a list we crashed for an early night and next morning I was up and gone on the 600km trip back home in the KE70.

 

So, there it sits and gets worked on until Feb 16th 2013!!

Fantastic effort mate, really shows what goes on behind the senes.

Love how you've showed what your done and why.

One thing i learnt all the years rallying, is there is always something to do on them.

Look forward to catching up at one of the events next year.

wow great write up. made a very nice read. did the car place at all in that rally?

did the car place at all in that rally?

 

Nah, sadly we joined the long list of DNFs, with 12 of 14stages done. Steve was running around 30th during the event, but while the car is great fun to drive the tail is skating over the top of the gravel instead of gripping. Once we get it to squat it will turn the torque into speed, hopefully before the next event in Feb.

Epic thread Keith! :)

 

Love how you quoted me after the first drive after the rebuild haha- thanks so much for everything! Now for more mods before the Rallysprint on the 16th Feb mwhahaha! =D

 

I'll track down the photos I took of the rust removal and painting when I was "wasting time"...

 

 

wow great write up. made a very nice read. did the car place at all in that rally?

 

Nope, we didn't place because the second you DNF a stage the whole rally counts as a DNF. We were, I think, running 26th/55 cars or something when we dropped out with only two stages left! We totally should have sent somebody to distract the sweep car and not let him run the stage before us hahaha!

Did you get the car like that Steve?

 

Is it a replica?

Did you get the car like that Steve?

 

Is it a replica?

 

I received the car already painted- it's a quick and cheap job though. It had 2/3 of a rollcage too. That was it though, the rest we have done ourselves.

 

Yeah, the idea is for it to be a replica of the 1980/1981 Toyota Team Europe RA40 sponsored by Duckhams Oil.

Edited December 25, 201213 yr by InSaNiTy

Ok, thought it may have been only a replica.

In the end, they are not a great car for rally driving, like the 240Z or the Stratos. Most sports cars have the driver sitting too low and too far back because of the low roofline and hence the visibility is not good. You can't put the battery or the spare wheel in the back seat because you can't get in there with a 2door.

 

Give me a 4door sedan any day... KE70 or Datsun 1600 !

 

Looks cool though.

was painful to hold off til today to post mate

Wow, just WOW!

awesome work, writeup and awesome read

Very nice .....

One thing i have learned is the rally fraternity is full of help and wisdom.

I myself have been blessed and learned a lot from the "wise ones"

 

Well done Altezzaclub.......

 

Cheers Ian.

Nice write up, perhaps a few things need to be clarified though, eg cutting out the diagonal bar in the roof of the rollcage.

The cage was built too low for a guy well over 6foot with the frame to match, his head was jammed in between the side rail above the door and a diagonal bar that went from the main hoop to the front corner by the windscreen. I mean his HEAD was jammed, that's without a helmet!

 

The only way to get room was to cut that diagonal out, which is part of the over-built system CAMS wants in the national series cars, so he can't do CAMS Nats like it is.... meh- big deal, there is plenty of rallying to do without that. I want to slice all the feet off the whole thing and raise it up 50mm hard against the roof, then we can replace the diagonal while leaving some head room.

 

Meanwhile, the weeks slip away while the girlfriend is on holiday and the RA40 sits neglected....

Edited January 6, 201313 yr by altezzaclub

Best read in ages . Cheers Keith

Good one. How long start to finish.

 

You gotta get into the TIG, easy to pickup if you can oxy weld and a hell of a lot nicer welds.