On a previous post some of us went off topic a little & started talking about classic cars etc.
I mentioned that I once rallied one of the old rear engined Skodas for a couple of seasons & had a lot of fun in that little car. Skodas at that time had a pretty poor reputation which was a bit unfair as they were a lot better built than a lot of other modern cars at that time. The main reason I used a Skoda is that I was on a very tight budget & it really was all I could afford to keep competing. I found this Skoda after it had been in an accident where someone had run into the back of it. The only damage it had sustained was the back panel & I found one in the same colour at a scrap yard for just £10. It took me less than one hour to change that back panel as it was held on with just 6 nuts & bolts & the number plate was just held on by 2 screws. I didn't even have to change the rear lights over as the panel from the scrap yard already had them fitted so it just meant plugging the bulb holders into their respective holes.
I then spent the next month stripping the inside of the car out to fit a roll cage whch I had picked up cheap from a local Skoda dealer & also fitted the biggest sump/fuel tank guard underneath that I had ever seen, this also came cheap from the same Skoda dealer. It just so happend by chance & luck that this local Skoda dealer is where Skoda GB ran it works rally car from. The advice they gave me was just invaluable & in no time I was up & running.
We went off to do the first event of the season & that is where the fun started. I soon found out that little Skoda wasn't too quick up hills so had to try to make up time coming down hills which was a bit hairy at times. The next fun thing was the way the car handled as the engine was way out back & with all that weight it made the car act like a giant pedulam if it was a bit slippery. In fact the only other car I have driven which handled the same way was an old Porsche 911 but the Porsche just had a tad more power. I also found out quickly that if you managed to get all 4 wheels off the road on a yump when you landed the car just cut out. I got out quickly & opened the bonnet at the back to find a solonoid dangling from a couple of wires. I quickly found that this had popped out of a hole in the side of the carb & quickly screwed it back in. I then jumped back in the car turned the key & nothing at all. I again went back to have another look under the bonnet & all seemed ok so, some quick head scratching started. I don't know why but I checked the fuses & lo & behold one had blown so we replaced that & the car then started so we could then carry on with lots of time lost. I found this same problem happend a few times on other events to the point where we had it down to a fine art at fixing it. Another problem I kept having was the bottom of the distributor drive would break or rather the small pin in there would break. Again after a few times I also had this down to a fine art at fixing it but, no matter what that little car would always get us to the finish.
At the end of the year for the RAC Rally the factory team would come over with a couple of cars & I thought I might be able to meet them & pick up a few tips from them. I told them the problems I kept having & they told me how to cure them so they wouldn't happen again. The solonoid they just glued in using industrial strength super glue & the drive pin for the distributor well you had to see what they did to believe it. They got a drill bit the size of the hole & drilled the old pin out & then broke the drill bit off & they just said 'fixed, no problems again' & you know both tricks worked. My second season the car ran like clockwork & it never broke down once.
Now this is the best bit of all this. The previous year to me getting that Skoda I was using a friends Talbot Sunbeam-Lotus which was to full factory spec we would usually be in the top end of the top ten. I'm sad to say my friend who owned the car sadly passed away & that's why I had to find something cheap like the Skoda. Now with the Skoda there wasn't really anything else in that class as the Vauxhall Nova wasn't in production then & nobody was rallying the Hillman Imps anymore. This usually meant if we got to the finish of each event we would win our class & come away with a couple of trophies. We also realised that the championship we were doing went on class postions for awarding points & at the end of the second year we nearly won that championship. The following year they changed the system for the points to overall wins & not class wins. In the second year we ran the car in the same colour scheme as the factory cars & even had a windscreen sunstrip that said 'SURPRISING SKODA' which it was.
That little Skoda was used for a few more years by others & a friend of mine still has it locked away in his garage & it still runs as well now as it ever did. Oh by the way I failed to tell you that I bought that car for £50 & in the end the total build cost was under £500. The biggest cost we had those 2 years were mainly entry fees for the rallys we did, talk about things done on a bit of a shoestring.......lol.
Ian
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