Date:  Saturday 24th July 2010
Event:  Opposite Lock Rally
Location:  Manby Motorplex Airfield, near Louth in Lincolnshire.
Number of entries: 75 in total, 18 in Class 2
Seeded:   49th Overall
Result:    DNF - Broken pulley and keyway on crankshaft.

Written By Pete
The first event we competed on in the Nova was by coincidence the first rally we ever competed on, in the old faithful Peugeot 106 Rallye. Many thanks to DS Travel for buying us four new tyres for the event.
After a very busy week leading up to the rally and the car was ok to go, though not by any means completed.
The car passed its pre-event scrutineering with flying colours and a complement from the Scrutineer on the build standard of the car, the noise test recorded 86 decibels and we were ready to go.

After attaching some new stickers and door squares to the car, we selected four brand new, soft compound, tarmac slicks, warmed up the brakes and we lined up in the start queue for stage one.
We were intending to have a steady first stage, as Liam had not actually driven the car yet. However, as the start was counted down the adrenaline kicked in and we were off the start line very fast with wheels spinning, we were both surprised at just how quick our new car is !
We approached a tight square left / right chicane, the car's four pot brakes worked very well, then we accelerated away with the car snaking under hard acceleration and Liam was having to work to control the car and keep it on line, along a short straight and at 70mph when changing up to third gear, the wrong gear was accidentally selected, this caused the engine to over rev and spin out the fixing bolt for the crackshaft pulley smashing the crank position sensor and bringing the car to a halt.

We were towed back to service but after a closer look we found the pulley keyway sheared, so decided it wasn't worth risking damage to the engine, in case the timing belt had slipped out of position. So a very dissapointing end to our first rally, mainly due to unfamiliarity with the car and its close shift gearbox.

The next move is to examine the engine for damage to the crank or valves, make any repairs required (hopefully not many), complete the build items still to do, then take the car for a days testing and familiarity at a rally circuit.

It's our hope to do all this in time to enter the Centenary Stages Rally in August, it seems we like woking to tight schedules, especially as Matt is on holiday for the next two weeks.