road rally advice

[matt~driver]

Hi im going to be doing a road rally in a few weeks and was wondering if there was any thing in particular you would advice doing to the car or taking a spare of. It’s around 100m of single track roads late in the evening. My car is a 1988 2.0 carbed Volvo 360

[Speedy88]

2 spare wheels, quick tools (adjustable spanner, allen keys and a couple of screwdrivers), wheel brace, jack, 2L bottle of water.

Prepare your car the same way you'd prepare for a long journey, fluids and tightness of obvious things.

[volvosneverdie]

extra pair of underpants.

[theo2468]

Eat alot of carrots in the day because 300 lights are not the best or get some cibie super oscars

[Hell Driver]

extra pair of underpants.

3 spare pairs of underpants, 2 for the co-driver (passengers always get more scared)

[volvosneverdie]

extra pair of underpants.

3 spare pairs of underpants, 2 for the co-driver (passengers always get more scared)

Lol. Never thought of that.

I think we're all agreed that underpants is the key though.

[Chris_C]

Lights are the big one if you can get some on in time. Make sure they have stay's else you'll get sea sick from watching them wobble about.

STRAP EVERYTHING YOU CARRY DOWN

If the worst happens and you meet a tree, you don't want a trolley jack or socket set in the back of the head. Doesn't matter if it's in the boot, the rear seats can and will break free in a crash. Same with spare wheels, strap them down with manly straps, not halfords finest.

Plenty of screenwash in the res and leave your headlamp wipers attached to the car, when the rest have to get out to wipe there lights you get to drive past laughing. I've always done a full brake fluid flush before a season of rallying too.

I wouldn't take any other spare, the rally isn't long enough and it's just more weight and more you have to secure. You will find out where the bad bits of your car are very quickly though

Only other thing if this is going to become a regular thing is a maplight, I have one on the A pillar and a decent first aid kit. Couple of clipboards and places to clip pencils/pens (cars eat them).

[roadrallyliam]

i always carry spair bulbs in the car no good loosing a headlight. torch in the car is always helpful for looking for code bords. tow rope and a warning triangle. i nw sum clubs say you need a warning triangle in the car and i think it says that in the blue book.

make sure you have plenty fuel. once did one with a lad in a xr2 with twin 40's on it was only doing 8 mile to the gallon only managed the first 30 mile and that was it out

RRliam

[matt~driver]

thanks for the advice. im planing on fiting spots and giving it a good service. i culd do will a working n/s/f window as my reg is sezed if you now of one for sale

[Alex Laidlaw]

By 100 miles of single track roads you're not talking about 100 miles of whites are you? If so you will need a decent sump guard and ideally a fuel tank guard.

For more normal 12 cars lighting is the most important thing to look at, the standard headlamps don't do a lot. I've run mine with a pair of Super Oscars which are great, although I have now got a Hella grille which I've yet to try, if it gives half way between standard and Super Oscars it'll probably be what I'll run in the future as it is less likely to get damaged or nicked. Remember you can only have four forward lights so if you've got standard fog lights you'll have to tape them up if you want to run a pair of spots, also certain areas only permit standard and original option lighting, which the Hella grille can be counted as. Don't forget a map light for your nav, trying to hold a torch whilst navigating isn't helpful, especially for novice!

Before you look at making the car go faster get your safety bits sorted. You will go faster with harnesses, whether that is a good thing or not is another matter, think of your nav though, I won't sit on the passenger side without.

For your first event I wouldn't bother doing anything performance related to the car, just give it a good service. Above all don't get carried away on your first event, the front brakes on a 300 are decent from cold and provide plenty of power to lock the wheels on demand at road rally speeds, but they will fade fairly quickly with hard use so go gentle on them. The 340s rear brakes are ornaments and the handbrake should be ignored, the 360 has much better rear brakes.

As Chris and Liam have said tie everything down, or better still don't carry it in the first place. I only carry the one spare, just make sure it is a good one and fully inflated (currently out of harms way under the bonnet being a B14), a soft bag with a few tools, a fire extinguisher (if you're going to carry one mount it somewhere you can reach it) and high viz jackets (far more useful and less likely to clot you on the head than a warning triangle). I don't see the point in carry two spares, I've never had a puncture or any reliability issues on a 12 car, if you get a puncture your rally is effectively over. Then again there are people who regularly manage to get two separate punctures in the same 12 car and turn up at the pub with a bootful of bent Compomotives.

Unless you've got really good under car protection or just don't care about the car then go easy when you think the ruts (or puddles of unknown depth) are about to appear and you'll normally stay out of trouble. There are lots of reasons I'm not very successful at this rallying lark but I don't think loosing a few seconds on the occasional white is a main cause! On a typical novice friendly 12 car a nice organiser will tell you in the briefing if there is anything deceptively rough in store, take hint!