What can I say... this rally did not quite go as planned.
Also, I see a pattern emerging since Rally Spain: Once more a stupid mistake early on caused me to limp my way through the rest of the Rally. Just way worse this time.
We had the spare car shipped directly to New-Zealand after finishing Argentina, so the mechanics had had plenty time to get it into tip-top shape. And they did, as SS1 and SS2 went fine; no issues there.
Early on in SS3 I slightly went wide in one of the One-Left's.
I drove on through the grass on the outside trying to get back on the road again, when suddenly a giant boulder emerged from the grass which damaged my radiator.
That radiator hole then started a chainreaction of faults and failures. I finished SS3 with overheated engine, then almost killed the engine in SS4 and had a massive off there, so bad that I couldn't find the road again and had to reset to avoid DQ. I then redesigned some of the scenery, and also killed that guy in front of the fence that apparently is not Jack Hintz but eventually we made it to the end of the stage.
SS5 started with a car so broken that I tried to just nurse it to the service, but I failed pretty badly.
Multiple crashes and punctures later, even the game itself suggested I'd give up, as a message saying
"SEVERE DAMAGE! SUGGEST RETIREMENT!"
appeared on my screen... Never seen that one before!
And frankly at that point I was more than ready to actually do so, but being really close to the end of the stage I decided to not yet give up, and I eventually crawled into the service area. Phew.
It then quickly became obvious that message had come for a reason, as pretty much every part of the car was damaged, a lot of them heavy or critical.. Best thing to do: get some sleep first.
When we woke up this morning, we figured if we'd take the maximum time penalty we could fix the radiator and wheel geometry, all else would have to wait.
So I started SS6 with a car with excellent steering but with a broken engine and turbo, so SS6 and SS7 turned into a scenic sunday morning drive. Thankfully Phil refrained from clever oneliners like "Are we down on power??!" so this stint actually felt rather relaxing.. Even on full throttle none of the bends posed much of a problem and I brought the car in in the exact same shape it was when I started this stint.
During the short service ahead of SS8 we decided to fix only the engine, again taking a major time penalty. But with this being a long stint we had good hopes it'd be worth it.
Despite still running with a broken turbo, the car had indeed regained some of its former speed. Which lead to a few small mistakes on SS8 but without new damage.
SS9 through SS11 went as well as they possibly could as a naturally-aspirated Lancia Delta is not quite a rocketship, but on the upside no further damage was inflicted either, to the car nor the surroundings. Just dust... LOTS of it
At the final service before SS12, we finally were able to fix the turbo. Albeit not within the time allowed, so we had another time penalty coming our way.. even without fixing the gearbox, dampers/springs, or anything else.
But.. at least we had some decent power again. So we strapped ourselves extra firmly in our chairs and went for it. And boy what a difference that turbo makes..
We were flying through the bends and straights again (at least in our own minds we were..) until about 3/4 in, the rear hit an outside bank which sent us into a double barrel roll which while pretty, significantly slowed us down..
After that no more hiccups until the end though so we could actually finish another rally.
No points scoring though, other than maybe for our execution of several gymnastic moves..
Anyhow, despite us making somewhat of a fool of ourselves, once again BIG thanks to everyone involved in organising this awesome championship.
Hopefully we'll be able to improve ourselves for the final round..
Also, I see a pattern emerging since Rally Spain: Once more a stupid mistake early on caused me to limp my way through the rest of the Rally. Just way worse this time.
We had the spare car shipped directly to New-Zealand after finishing Argentina, so the mechanics had had plenty time to get it into tip-top shape. And they did, as SS1 and SS2 went fine; no issues there.
Early on in SS3 I slightly went wide in one of the One-Left's.
I drove on through the grass on the outside trying to get back on the road again, when suddenly a giant boulder emerged from the grass which damaged my radiator.
That radiator hole then started a chainreaction of faults and failures. I finished SS3 with overheated engine, then almost killed the engine in SS4 and had a massive off there, so bad that I couldn't find the road again and had to reset to avoid DQ. I then redesigned some of the scenery, and also killed that guy in front of the fence that apparently is not Jack Hintz but eventually we made it to the end of the stage.
SS5 started with a car so broken that I tried to just nurse it to the service, but I failed pretty badly.
Multiple crashes and punctures later, even the game itself suggested I'd give up, as a message saying
"SEVERE DAMAGE! SUGGEST RETIREMENT!"
appeared on my screen... Never seen that one before!
And frankly at that point I was more than ready to actually do so, but being really close to the end of the stage I decided to not yet give up, and I eventually crawled into the service area. Phew.
It then quickly became obvious that message had come for a reason, as pretty much every part of the car was damaged, a lot of them heavy or critical.. Best thing to do: get some sleep first.
When we woke up this morning, we figured if we'd take the maximum time penalty we could fix the radiator and wheel geometry, all else would have to wait.
So I started SS6 with a car with excellent steering but with a broken engine and turbo, so SS6 and SS7 turned into a scenic sunday morning drive. Thankfully Phil refrained from clever oneliners like "Are we down on power??!" so this stint actually felt rather relaxing..
Even on full throttle none of the bends posed much of a problem and I brought the car in in the exact same shape it was when I started this stint.During the short service ahead of SS8 we decided to fix only the engine, again taking a major time penalty. But with this being a long stint we had good hopes it'd be worth it.
Despite still running with a broken turbo, the car had indeed regained some of its former speed. Which lead to a few small mistakes on SS8 but without new damage.
SS9 through SS11 went as well as they possibly could as a naturally-aspirated Lancia Delta is not quite a rocketship, but on the upside no further damage was inflicted either, to the car nor the surroundings.
Just dust... LOTS of itAt the final service before SS12, we finally were able to fix the turbo. Albeit not within the time allowed, so we had another time penalty coming our way.. even without fixing the gearbox, dampers/springs, or anything else.
But.. at least we had some decent power again. So we strapped ourselves extra firmly in our chairs and went for it. And boy what a difference that turbo makes..
We were flying through the bends and straights again (at least in our own minds we were..) until about 3/4 in, the rear hit an outside bank which sent us into a double barrel roll which while pretty, significantly slowed us down..
After that no more hiccups until the end though so we could actually finish another rally.
Anyhow, despite us making somewhat of a fool of ourselves, once again BIG thanks to everyone involved in organising this awesome championship.
Hopefully we'll be able to improve ourselves for the final round..
Last edited:
