Solent Stages Rally

[Stratos]

Well, not a very good day yesterday at the Solent Stages rally, held at Bovington Camp in Dorset.

Made a bad tyre choice early in the day - thought we'd try and run on slicks in the wet - not recommended.

Slide wide on the exit from a chicane, and bent a rear wishbone on some posts on stage 4.

Matthew, who was servicing for me, managed to get the back wheel pointing in roughly the right direction, so we went out on stage 5.

On a straight, just after a fast right/left that you could straightline, we were flat in 4th, about to change into 5th ... and the rear bottom wishbone snapped!!!

Spun off backwards/sidewards across the gravel, and hit the bank side-on. It spun the car round, and left us hanging over a ditch. Ripped off the navigator's door, ripped out a strut and a driveshaft, snapped the exhaust off the manifold. It's defineitely going to need either a new back end or a lot of fiberglassing, ....... and probably some more things will become apparent when I get a good look at it tonight.

We were lucky though. Just where we hit the bank there were some bushes and they absorbed most of the impact. 50metres further, and there were some large concrete blocks that would have absorbed the car, never mind the impact!

Fortunately, Andrew and I walked away OK - testiment to the strength of the Stratos.

Only hurting in the wallet - and I've had a word with my sponsor, and she says it's OK, we can get it fixed!!

[rutthenut]

OUCH! :eek:

Glad to see that you both escaped without injury though - albeit that the car sustained a fair bit of damage in the process.

[Stratos]

John,

Got the car into the garage last night, and got the back bodywork off, and found that it's not really THAT bad!! The chassis is still straight, just a few bent mounting points.

OK, there's quite a few bent and broken bits that are going to need replacing, but it's definitely fixable - just going to take a bit of time and money!!!

I think that the back body-section may have finally decided that enough is enough, but we'll see.

Biggest problem is probably going to be wishbones, because mine are different to all other Stratos Replicas, even the other Alloras, so it's going to be interesting getting them sorted out.

Not having the door on will help keep the car cool in the summer. :rolleyes:


I reckon this means that we're finished now for the year, and we'll get it all sorted in time to start afresh next season.

[colin artus]

Dave,
Take the o/s w'bone off the car to use as a pattern if you don't a lready have a fixture for the part. I would suggest getting two new ones made (if they are not handed) so you can carry a spare.
You've discovered the hard way that refitting damaged suspension items is a shortcut to disaster, so a spare avoids the temptation. Also I always like to view these situations as an opportunity to make mods and improvements, that way the expense seems easier to bear.
If you need help finding someone to do the fabrication work at reasonable cost I have a number of contacts up here in the cheaper end of the country.

Colin

[Mel Lewis]

Been off line for a while BT fault (world champion at excuses).
Sorry to hear of your off, but looking at the photo with a ripped off door and all, is'nt it a bitch to get two flat wheels on the trailor.

[Stratos]

At least when I put it on, there were several others helping, and we could also use th winch.

Getting it off and into the garage, on my own, was a challenge!