Craig Howser 2009 Possum Bourne Memorial
Saturday 22nd August i am taking Adams car(SA1NZ)and having my first drive on gravel.
Not the way i wanted my first Gravel skid to go.
Took the first stage really easy(not hard to work that out,slowest time)but thats ok as i had to get a feel for the car.
We fitted a new gear lever and the selector was not lining up so gear changes were not 100% but we felt we could work with it until service where i could fit a spacer,
I had felt it wasn't quite right but it's not until it got a thrashing in anger that the problem really showed up.
Stage 2 started ok i was braking way too early but was getting a feel for driving on gravel and was confident we could be faster on the second run after lunch.
Towards the end the clutch cable snapped!!
got to the finish stuck in second.
Rolled up to the start killed the engine and hit the starter with it in first gear when the lights went out,eventually it started and after trying to change gears for a few k's we decided to leave it in second.
Thought we had got away with it until about 2 k's from the end there was an awful smashing from under Dave's feet,it turned out the starter motor had broken a lug and was hanging on for dear life by the battery cable.
Well i never thought you would catch me lying in the gravel with HOT oil dripping on me in my nice expensive racesuit(we DONT do that at the Track)but there i was because ya just dont give up until you've tried everything.
We got the starter motor back in with only a bit of melted skin off the arm,but the ol starter wasn't keen to turn the engine over in neutral let alone in gear,so we got a tow to the end where our crew was waiting.
After another hour of trying to get the cable to work we had to admit defeat and managed to roll start down hill and got it into 4th and back to the service park,where i put a spacer under the gearstick and managed to drive to the finish up and down thru the gears with no clutch and no problems at all.
Thats the way it goes,so after entering 2 rallies and not getting past stage 3 i will have to try again.
Thanks to Adam Muir for letting me thrash his car(it's only fair,i do most of the work on it)
Also thanks to Dave Bunyard for being brave(or silly)enough to sit next to me,and MC & Max for servicing.
Back to the track for me 12th sept HRC Icebraker meeting,should be good as i have fitted a Tranex close ratio G/box.
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