Ever get the feeling of deja vu?

One evening not long after I had written the last shoestring I was sorting spare parts for Dave Tulett’s newly bought Seat Ibiza SuperModified car when I got a call from Frankie Boak, who builds my engine. “Are you sitting down?” said the voice on the other end if the line. I must say at this point that I am no longer surprised by this type of conversation, given the trials and tribulations with building the Clio. “The con-rods don’t fit, they are too small on the little end!” continued the Geordie.

Incredibly irritating, but not something I was surprised by I have to say. Getting back in touch with the people in France who made them was of little help, all of a sudden their English had totally collapsed to the completely unclear, this again didn’t surprise me given my experience of interviewing French Rallycross drivers who can speak perfect English when they want to chat, but when they don’t appear unable even to be able to say hello in anything other than their mother tongue.

The problem with the con-rods isn’t the end of the world. The bore of the small end is too big. We can counteract this by fitting a phosphor bronze sleeve to make up for small amount of difference there is between the con rod and the gudgen pin for the piston. Fortunately I am good friends with Gareth Graham, who restores Vintage and Edwardian racing cars, so he is on the case of making some phosphor bronze bushes to make the rods fit.

Obviously this is a problem, and will cost even more money. Although we are behind we are not yet so far behind that we can’t catch up again before the chance to go testing and racing… fingers crossed, touch wood, etc.

We are still waiting for the return of my gearbox from Gripper, I am promised it in the next few weeks so that will be holding us up once the engine is together later this week.

On a more positive, the boot floor of the car has now been adapted, thanks to the help of a retired panel beating friend, although the car is not currently at its prettiest, a distinct lack of panels doesn’t help its aesthetics, this isn’t crucial to having a trip to the rolling road or indeed to do a private test.

As I wrote last month, my fitness level is slowly improving, and more squash is being played by the week. The time has now been found to do this, so there really is no excuse not to although the aching the next day is a tedious side effect!

As anyone in my situation of trying to race above the level they can realistically compete in, there are sacrifices to make and pride has to often be put to one side in order to make steps forward. Begging, borrowing and stealing is the name of the game. Begging support from people; I am currently on the verge of securing some support from various people. These are not multi-thousand pound deals that will see me being paid to do the ERC, they are small things like having a sponsor for the lubricants used on the car throughout the year. This sort of thing would make a massive difference to my season. Borrowing; harder in many ways than begging. The situation around borrowing is that you normally know the person you are borrowing from in the first place and I really don’t like asking favours. Without people helping and allowing me to borrow things, however, none of the 2010 season would have happened! Stealing; the things that get stolen are ideas, how to adapt the car as cheaply as possible to improve it, be it looking at other Rallycross cars or other engineering innovations and looking at ways to improve the set-up as a whole, be it van, trailer, or awning.

I have secured the use of a race awning for this year. It was bought second hand by a friend and I have the use of it on the basis I repair the damage for it to be used by him in the British championship, an ideal situation.

On a final note of borrowing, I would like to thank a few friends who have made big offers for both the British and French rounds of the ERC 2011 which will not only allow me continue the dream and be racing in the 2011 European Rallycross Championship, but perhaps in some comfort. That would certainly be a nice change, one I’m sure my mechanics will approve of even more than myself.