Part 13 - Per Ardua Ad Infinitum (Courtesy of HERO)

 

Using All 12 Cylinders!

December 2020

After what has been for much of the globe, an annus horribilis, there was a ray of sunshine in the world of historic rallying:  HERO, having cancelled its two blue riband events, Rally of the Tests and Le Jog, managed to put together a one-day event in mid-December, entitled Per Ardua Ad Infinitum (Through Endless Adversity) from their new base at Bicester Heritage.

The route was being changed right up to the start as newly announced Covid Tiers meant sections in Buckinghamshire were no longer viable, but nonetheless it was a wonderful Christmas present to the 70 crews that managed to get to the start.   The event was categorised "Red", which in the HERO lexicon is "Advanced", a higher category than we had hitherto attempted.

Rather than start in class order, this event was seeded:  The top 15 crews were all past winners of HERO events and we started 53rd, which we felt was reasonable given our limited experience.

Graham, my navigator, and I competed in Road Rallies in the distant past, so we felt sure that he would be able to handle the more advanced navigation; but there was still the issue of the special tests:  That was an area in which we really needed to improve both the car and driver.

Shortly before the event the annual MOT needed renewing.  Always a slightly tense moment with a 30 year old vehicle, the car failed on (amongst other small things) something surprising:   I thought I had managed to suppress the clattering from the front suspension with new shock absorber bushes, but on the way to the MOT station, suddenly the clanking started again with a new ferocity and the front end felt rather odd.  

The MOT tester spent what I thought was an inordinate amount of time looking under the car, and from my vantage point I could see him call over another colleague to discuss something or other.  He emerged to congratulate me on what he considered a very solid car (for an old Jaguar), but nevertheless, the car had failed due to a missing bottom shock absorber bolt - the shock was simply hanging from its top mount and doing nothing for the front suspension.  The bottom bolt had either sheared and fallen out or maybe I should have been more careful to use a new nyloc nut when re-assembling the front end.

Either way, a new bolt was required...but of course being a Jaguar, this is not just any old bolt; it is a specific Jaguar bolt.  The old shocks, although more or less serviceable, looked as though they had been on the car since new, so I took the opportunity to make some improvements.  I ordered the two bolts with the corresponding nyloc nuts which arrived a few days later together with a pair of shiny new adjustable Gaz shock absorbers.   Fitted and adjusted, the car received its MOT.

They Won't Be Shiny For Long

Another issue that had been concerning me was the state of the tyres.  Since the tank-slapper incident and the spinning rear wheels on the last event I had been considering change of wheels and tyres.

What convinced me that this was the right thing to do, happened the following weekend:  A few months earlier I had received news that "The One and Only Preston Rally" was still expected to take place.  The last time I had competed in this road rally in Norfolk was in 1988.  As events have been few and far between this year, the opportunity seemed too good to miss...the problem being that we didn't have a car that would meet the regulations (the Jaguar being unsuitable).  

My thoughts turned to our eldest son's car sitting on the drive.  He was at university, his car unused at home.  I invited our youngest son, Dexter to be my navigator.  Graham provided lessons-by-mail in rally navigation and I let the clerk of the course know that this would be our first event so that we would be seeded accordingly (second from last).  There was a stream of warnings from the organisers that cars should come fully prepared, especially regarding knobbly tyres and sump-guards.   We knew it was going to be muddy.

I sourced a steel sump guard from Romania, which arrived in a couple of days and bolted straight onto the car; and a set of M+S tyres from a Norwegian Michelin subsidiary.  We gave the old Ford Focus (148,000 miles) a service and fitted a pair of spot lamps on the front.  We were ready!

Dexter and I arrived at the start unsure of what to expect; and what transpired was certainly far beyond my recollection of the event 30+ years ago.  Most of the other competitors had brought their fully prepared rally cars to the event on trailers, featuring rally-spec knobbly tyres, full roll cages, racing seats and harnesses, uprated suspensions, mud-flaps, high pressure headlight and spot-light washers...and all this for a road rally?

On receiving the road book, we soon understood why.  The non-competitive link sections were all road based, but every competitive section was off-road....about 100 miles of mud.  It had been raining heavily all week, so some sections were now considered impassable, even for these specialised vehicles.

We made our way from the start to the first section.  The clock counted down to our start time of 23:10 and we were off on this muddy adventure.  Although our times were amongst the slowest, the great revelation for me was the grip from the tyres.  We were able to pass other competitors who were floundering in the mud (I have to take some credit for taking a better line!) and Dexter soon got to grips (no pun intended) with the navigation, accurately giving me directions in what appeared to be endless tracks of mud, rocks, mud, sand, rocks and more mud.  Nearing the end of one section we both noticed that something was wrong with the car, but we pressed on to the timing point before pulling over (with several other cars).

One of the front tyres was completely flat with a hole in the sidewall and a crack in the alloy wheel.  It had been so rough we had broken a wheel.  I hadn't properly considered what we would do if we had a mechanical malfunction, and the spare was the space-saver that came with the car.  Even the jack was standard, so with the amount of mud on the car and track, was having a hard time lifting the car to fit the spare.  A couple of other crews came over to help out - they too were stranded due to mechanical maladies (on their fully prepared rally cars).

 

It had been an intense couple of hours, and we decided to call it a night, and even though we completed only 25% of the event we had a great time and learnt a lot about having the right set of tyres.  Another lesson learnt (by the driver) was that in order to finish first, first you have to finish:  A degree of mechanical sympathy is required on such a rough event...it is all too easy to get carried away, as I discovered.

A Battle Weary Ford Focus

If the forthcoming HERO event was going to live up to its name, I decided that the XJS needed a more appropriate set of wheels and tyres for the Per Ardua Ad Infinitum.   Luckily, Jaguar specified a winter tyre size for the XJS when new, and unlike the summer tyres, this particular size is still made....the only problem being, none were available in the UK, so I had them couriered from Germany to be in time for the event. 

In the first flash of enthusiasm when I purchased the XJS, I also acquired a set of original alloy wheels in need of refurbishment.  These were now entrusted to Essex Wheel Services who did a spectacular job, painting and diamond cutting the rims to my instructions, and fitting the new set of Avon winter M+S tyres.

This achieved two goals:  A modern tyre with far more grip and, as the alloy wheels are considerably lighter than the steel wire wheels previously on the car, far less unsprung weight for the suspension to deal with.  Together with the new shock absorbers, and not for the first time in this build, the Jaguar felt transformed.

The run up to Christmas is the busiest time of the year in our business when we work 7 days a week, so my co-director (and wife) was not best pleased to learn I would be missing for a day and a half, ten days before the big day.  I have to thank her for being so understanding, yet again!

I met Graham on the Friday evening at the Bicester Heritage Centre.  We went through scruitineering uneventfully and received the road book in order to prepare our maps for the following day.  Being a former road rally clerk of the course, Graham was expecting all sorts of devious devices to make the "Advanced" navigation tricky and felt well prepared.

Yours truly was somewhat less well prepared, having not yet driven the car in anger on the new tyres and front suspension.  The event had a high percentage of special tests on the Bicester Airfield, and together with constantly changing weather conditions, was very challenging.  Nevertheless, we more than justified our seeding and by half-way we were, somewhat unbelievably, in the top 20, with a fastest in class on one of the tests.

HERO had taken great pains in organising a safe event:  We were all sheltered from the weather at lunch as we were parked in a vast hanger that allowed all the crews more than adequate social distancing, and a chance for those who needed it, to fettle their cars, undisturbed by the torrential rain outside.

The sun shone for the second half of the event.  Navigation got harder, the tests more challenging, but we were still going well, if now slightly outside the top 20.  The final regularity was entirely on Bicester Airfield.  Both of us failed to realise that the limited mileage combined with the high number of timing points, stop boxes and code boards would make maintaining the set average speed of 30mph much harder to achieve than the longer sections on the open road.  Not only this, but in order to avoid damage to the underside of the car, we simply weren't going fast enough over the rough terrain.

In the end, the time was irrelevant, as a moment's inattention at the end of a loop resulted in us turning left when we should have gone straight on.  We compounded the mistake by not immediately correcting ourselves and racked up 5 minutes of penalties as we took the wrong route.  In an event where places are decided by a few seconds, we dropped from about 24th to 50th overall in a few hundred yards.  It was a slightly bitter pill to swallow after a mostly successful day.

As on the previous events, we have learnt much and should avoid more silly mistakes in the future.  We take heart that we are still improving, although this more challenging and faster event brought to the fore a few issues:

1.  We really do need a sump guard in order to be able to compete on an equal footing with other crews on the tests.

2. Having sorted out the front end, the rear suspension would benefit from some more attention.

3. The driver needs more practice getting the nose around the cones on the loose stuff.

Our XJS is undoubtedly the most comfortable car on the HERO events, and brings a smile to the marshalls and other competitors who think this stately Jaguar looks a little out of its comfort zone!

There is still a long to-do list for the car, but that can wait until the weather improves in the New Year.

Best wishes for 2021 to all.

Curtis.