Most liked posts in thread: Rally4 Costa Rica

We are 2nd in the Championship! the rally on the 23rd has been canceled due to lack of funds! thank goodness. Now the focus is getting the Mini out the body shop and back home. Plus I need the Mini so I have a car to go to work...hitching a lift to work is never fun.

Thanks to all!

 

With a 2nd place in Rally 3 we were fired up for a 1st in rally 4! This rally was back to the real rally roads with no super specials, the stages were the Costa Rica version of Finland being fast. Flowing and filled with yumps! The previous week had seen some pre-rally checks on the Mini with everything running well. As usual Nela’s car was converted to service truck in the early hours of Saturday morning. After a 2 hour drive we arrived at the hotel and I got busy swapping the tyres from road to gravel. Then we joined several other rally teams to perform the recce/notes.
Many of you will know we run street Subaru STI suspension which is not ideal but works well for the cost but makes our notes complex due to we have to note every bump. The stages were very fast with many crests and jumps which were going to be fun. Once we had the notes done we returned to the hotel to rest…well that was the idea. I just needed to ¾ fill the fuel tank and go take a rest, so I set off in the Mini to the fuel station when all of a sudden the “check engine light” came on with the engine hesitating. I filled up with fuel and headed back to the hotel. The engine was running rough so to cut a very long story short I spent 7 hours working on the Mini swapping parts until finally eliminating the “check engine light” so what was the issue? I think the ground wires were not grounding causing several errors. After a quick dinner I retired to bed.

Sunday I woke at 5am to ready the Mini for Bacherer motorsport’s mechanic Jose to drive the Mini to service as we were not allowed to pass over the stages. The engine fired up with no issues so today was going to be good. For the first time we had a professional tent courtesy of Dunlop. Once the Mini arrived Jose set about cleaning the Mini due to the muddy drive in. All went well as we waited in line for the 1st stage. I was as always a little nervous so took the stage with some caution to avoid a 1st stage “off” .The Mini was flying literally over the stages with a few ooops moments, Even with the ooops moments I felt we were slow. The 2nd stage seemed a little quicker with stage 3 being on the pace! At one point we were 6500 rpm in 5th which was around 110mph! plenty fast enough for us. Haha.
Stage 4 was the return of stage 1 so I had high hopes of a good result, everything was going well until a 200 meter straight into a 3rd gear left, Nela was on the notes repeating ‘200 L3’ so as I grabbed 5th on the straight we hit a slight bump/dip in the road which we did not note , this bump highlighted the street suspension! The rear end was like a bucking bronco as we bounced down the stage at least 3 times, try as I might to catch the wayward rear end my efforts were useless as the Mini headed off the stage. I was almost sure we had made it until that sudden thud and silence told me this was not going to end well. I remember light then darkness as we flew through the air, at the point I thought dip the clutch so when we land I can go! Lucky for us we flipped 2 times landing on the wheels like a cat! Haha. Once we landed I thought how much time are we losing? I selected 1st and blasted off down the stage unaware I was 1 wheel short! All the spectators were waving at us to pull over….Que? what ? I pulled over and got out the Mini to be horrified to learn I’d just totaled the rear end!
So what happened on the bump? every time the rear suspension bottomed out the rebound shot the rear end up in the air in another direction which you can see in the photos. I corrected the steering and nearly got away with it if there was not something hard in the grass which flipped the Mini over. Looking at the videos we were very lucky not to have hit the line of trees. Most likely if we had hit the trees I would be typing this in a hospital bed.
Another factor is the excellent over engineered roll cage and the new to CR rally HANS device neck brace. Well worth the expense. Cars can be fixed people not so easy......never skip the safety equipment.
After exiting the Mini, the course closing and doctor quickly showed up to make sure we were not injured. All was well with us but the poor mini was not so good. The fuel was leaking the roof damage was quite extensive, all the body parts and wayward wheel were returned by the fans, even some kids were crying as their favorite Mini was not looking so good. After a while Nela went to service in a passing car as I stood by the Mini to make sure nothing went missing.
Once the stages had finished a flatbed truck showed up to take us out the stage and back to the service area until the rally finished. What followed next was amazing; everyone helped to make sure the Mini made it home, with one guy offering his body shop as the Mini’s new home for the next few weeks. Overall we were very lucky with no injuries and thank fully no visible chassis damage. The aluminium suspension arms just sheared off without bending the mounting points. Now the building begins with the generosity of the Costa Rica rally community and the Motoring Alliance Mini forum we have been able to start the rebuild immediately with the goal to have the Mini back on the road before the last rally
As always a big thanks to my trusty co-driver Nela, Mo Joe’s, G-Oil, Sicar Muflas, EBC brakes, Automechanix, Dunlop and HUGE thanks to all who have helped us over the past week.

The Mini will return!


Each bounce threw rear end sideways




Window box?

roll




Ouch



Broken trailing arm and fuel tank hole.

The repair




Possible donor roof

 

Thanks...When things were going well the Mini was a real winner but I see my buget was a restriction which caused the accident. Saying that I rather be out there trying my best with what I've got than not competing. Lessons learned I'm going to working hard to get that suspenion next year......Imagine we did well with street suspension. Here's to 2015

 

Clasificación oficial del Campeonato Nacional de Rally - Puro Motor

 

Sometime google chrome will translate into Spanglish! I'm 2nd in the class and my co-driver 1st. With 2 rallies to go anything can happen.

 

I'm buying most of the small stuff in the states to carry with me on my next visit to Costa Rica but the big stuff I have no choice but to buy in Costa Rica. Regarding taxes , after 8 years of traveling there the airport customs guys know me....hahaha "ah rally piloto, passe passe!" hahaha

 

Thanks chaps! the stages look good for the Mini, none of that 8" deep mud bath like last time..LOL I'll be back in CR tomorrow to start the pre-rally check over.

 

I can do it! like roll the Mini! LOL [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWJRvg_nVSU"]Vuelco MINI Wilson-Pereira, Rally Solimar 2014 - YouTube[/ame] A missed bump on the road in the notes resulted in me hitting the bump flat out and lauching the rear end in the air breaking the suspension on the rebound sending me off. We are both fine but the dear Mini is pretty much done for this year. Now I'm on the hunt for used body panels. A very sad day for me but the mini will be back!

 

Thanks chaps. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcjuW9O-yAE"]RALLY SOLIMAR - ACCIDENTE WILSON PEREIRA - YouTube[/ame] in this video you can see if you pause the video the rear suspension bottoms out 3 times sending the Mini off the road. This was a 100mph straight which we did not have that little bump noted. The bump took me by surprise and we would have come out of it ok if the front end did not hit a something hard in the grass. Lucky for us we did not hit the trees. I never noticed the wheel was off!

 

I posted on wanted a list , if any of you have parts to donate let me know. We have very little cash to rebuild the Mini for the last rally on Nov 23rd. We can still get 2nd in class so we are going for it!