Rally Miglia 1000 2012

So here are some highlights from the Rally 1000 Miglia. Based around Brescia it was too eventually finish with Giandomenico Basso in a Fiesta S2000 taking the win from Andreucci in a 207 and Scadola in a Fabia. I was most surprised at Juho Hanninen in only 4th considering his strong performance on tarmac in Ireland only a few weeks ago.

A good result for Harry Hunt and Robbie Durant in their DS3 R3T Citroen coming 3rd in 2WD.

Some more highlights linked below.

The week of continued electrical gremlins

So not much time this week to do work on the car but more time wasted trying to work out French car electrics. A couple of hours spent nestled into the seat with a Haynes manual and a trusty companion to pull connections out for me. The problem we have is that horn and indicators and brake lights are intermittent and it won't turn off with on the key (has to be battery cut off).

We discovered two things mainly. It hurts pulling connectors out of fuse boxes and taping the gap around the external pull for the fire extinguisher will mean your fuse box has water marks. At this point I would like to point out that was the previous owner and the task is in hand. So a spare fuse box on the way and some more time making sure all connections are working.

Alongside that a nice shiny front bumper to fit which hopefully fits and a fuel relay switch that was £90 at motor factors. With a saving of 88 pounds I'm taking that as an epic win as long as it works.

So this week is more electrics and ripping some more trim off in preparation of its makeover, and preparing some plans for our website to help promote the rallying. Wish us luck!

And a good luck message to the people doing the Pirelli Rally this weekend. Enjoy!

F1 Driver Of The Day - Bahrain

So a few candidates go this.

Vettel - Has no doubt been an influence in helping get this car running at the top of the field. Some alterations to the aero appears to have gone some way to sorting out the balance of the car and Vettel took full advantage. He didn't appear to struggle with the race at all and held the two lotus cars at bay with ease.

Raikonnen - Jumped from 11th witha brilliant 2nd place. Could have won it but didn't go through with the move and that cost him the chance to make a break for it. Fell away after the last set of pit stops for he and Vettel but a very good performance.

Grosjean - Showed he's got the pace to out qualify a world champ in the same car and had the race pace to back it up. A great performance to back up the first podium. Isn't falling away with the pressure of having a world champ alongside him
But did fall away in the race.

Di Resta - Another solid race after a great quali lap. Made up good spots during the race with a more difficult race plan on 2 stops, he defended well when needed too and threw down a marker for his teammate to follow for the rest of the year.

Difficult but I'd say my driver of the day goes too Raikonnen. A great performance as mentioned and I hope for more of the same the rest o the year. Can anyone see this championship not going to the last round. It's like BTCC at the moment, minus the punting off.

The week we went too far with the dash.

This week was all about trying to get back on track with getting the rally car ready. Nothing sets you back as losing the ability to stand and walk around for a potential few months. So we are a few months down the line and its time to get back on it and get this rally car ready.

So first things first, where are we. Well its had a water pump change, a bit of a spring clean and a new fan to aid with de-misting though some would say this isn't needed i disagree. 

This week was all about electrics. The car would be a lot further down the line had we not wasted a lot of hours staring at the ignition system trying to work out why it won't turn off. So after a few more hours and we came to a team decision that it was time to take the dash out while i went and fed the crew with the BBQ. So dash out i then saw this as a great idea for the exterior aswell so now we are minus a rear bumper and some trim.

So we seem a lot further away from being ready than we were before i decided to crop myself but i guess you've gotta go there to come back. To be able to rely on the electrics completely in a 20 year 25 year old french car is doubtful but it will hopefully be a whole lot better than before. Now the big decision is do we put the dash back in or try and create something a bit better and a bit smarter.

So for the next week we'll be having fun with soldering iron's and heat shrink while i try and hammer the bumper mounts back into anything like the original shape. 

Historic Rallying on the Bulldog

Historic rallying from the Bulldog rally. Not a lot better than watching escorts and other classic sliding round the forests.

Webber takes off

Mark Webber having the most painful moment of the Chinese GP by far. He'll be feeling this one in the morning.

Plato vs Shedden Donnington

Just in case you missed the action at the last race here's the clip. Plato drove a brilliant race up until this point and then it all got a bit messy at on the last corner. Plato given a penalty to drop him back down to 3rd which most will agree with.

Some Bad Rallying

I'm not one to go for the crazy crash videos as they are everywhere, but this set of clips is different to that. It seems somewhere in the world someone has to put together clips of some genuine accidents mixed in with people who should not be driving in any kind of competitive event. Just watch these group of clips. I was amazed, maybe you have to have competed or at least now about car control to see that some of these people are genuinely dangerous and should really start with the basics of car control. One of the truly strangest clips I have ever posted.

Highlights from the Circuit of Ireland Rally. Action packed with an epic battle with Juho Hanninen and Andreas Mikkelsen. A great rally with a lot of top performances from some of the local drivers alongside the big boys.

Tasmania Race 1 & 2 V8 Supercars

Here we have a full re-run of both races from Tasmania at the weekend. As always great action from these guys. This has got to be up there with BTCC for me in terms of action.

Starting in Rallying

So I'll treat this like the very start, which for my co-driver it is. Motorsport is all about preparation, and this starts from the moment you plan to start competing. You have to make sure you get everything that is required in place. I'll run through the main things you need to get started and my experiences with them.

License - You need to go to MSA's website to get the Go Rallying pack. http://shop.msauk.org/product_details.asp?id=4073

You'll find some more info on the website if you have a look round.

BARS Test - Ultimately this is the thing you want to get sorted. If you haven't got any experience of motorsport at all don't worry too much. When i took my test I'd had no experience of a rally car but i had been racing karts through my teens which probably helped a bit. The main thing to remember is that they aren't expecting you to be able to be able to perform it is more to check that you aren't driving beyond your capability. If you are worried i would suggest a rally day or something before to give you a taste, plus its all experience towards the first stage rally. The test itself is only a few minutes of being in the car, with a test to take at the venue as well. I took my test at Phil Price rally school (http://www.philprice.co.uk/) and had a good day, though a little tip is make sure you're seating position is right, they don't take kindly to you grinding the gearbox. If you think they are going to help you with techniques and things then think better. They are just testing you can drive. You'll have to pay more if you want advice and training too, nothing comes for free in motorsport.

Equipment - The basics you need for yourself are helmet, overalls, boots and gloves. Personally i never felt at ease with gloves on. Its worth trying them out, i found i didn't feel as in control with gloves on and you don't need them to start with. I never really gave them a go, its little things like this that can affect how confident you feel while driving. I've had issues with boots since having to get rid of my karting boots which were a few sizes too small I've found it difficult to get a pair I'm happy with. You need to feel everthing through your feet to be exact and its difficult. So make sure you try a few on.

Overalls are difficult as the sizes don't really cater for some people. If you are tall and thin be prepared to wear a massive set of overalls. Unless you are going to pay the extra for made to measure which after the experiences I've had trying to get the balance right i may do next. That is more of an image thing for me though, i don't like looking as if I've borrowed overalls from the Michelin man.

The best place to start when looking for all this is Demon Tweeks but there is plenty of other sites just do a google search on what you're after and have a search round for a deal. Don't forget ebay as well, you might get lucky. For overalls and helmet which is all you need really to start with you are looking at about £400 i would say for the basic stuff.

Next is the car but i think that deserves its own article. So many different options depending on so many of your factors. Money, ambition and confidence probably being the main ones.

Hope this helps someone looking to get started, its just my own experiences with starting in this sport. Feel free to get in touch here by leaving a comment or emailing if you have any questions or on twitter @edge_of_grip

Me in action a few years ago in Sherwood Forest

Some archive footage of me in action in 1400 205 with my dad co-driving. Good times.

Crazy end to Nascar Sprint Cup at Martinsville

A very hectic end to the Nascar race at the weekend. Here is the action from the last 20 laps. With a bit of teamwork it could have been a whole different story, but who wants that when you can have this much fun.

Another documentary on the Group B Rally cars. If the documentary on BBC Four wasn't enough for you.

Polo WRC Testing Vid

Just came across this little video of the polo testing session from last year. Sounds evil, almost reminds of the craziest rally car i've ever heard which was the Octavia WRC. Now that was a car.

Indycar Highlights Barber Motorsports Park

Check out the highlights of the Indycar round from Barber Motorsports Park. Good race and a good result for Barrichello.