We have moved the Haworth Motorsports Blog to the Brickin’ It Rally Team Blog ( http://brickinitrallyteam.wordpress.com ), to reflect our team name change.
We Are Making Some Changes
Thank you for your patience, while we update our blog with changes to reflect our rally team name change.
- Dave
Filed under General Information
Video of 4th Run – ORG Rallycross 9/20/09
Here is a video of my last run from the Oregon Rally Group’s 7th Rallycross of 2009.
- Dave
Filed under Video
Black Bush is No Longer a Rallycross Virgin
This past Sunday I finally got an opportunity to enter my 1984 Ford Escort “Black Bush” in a rallycross. I entered the Oregon Rally Group’s 7th Rallycross of 2009 season, in the Stock Front Wheel Drive Class (SF).
The car was a lot of fun to drive and I am more than happy with the performance and sturdiness of the car. My goal for the day was to get to the event, get through the event in one piece and get it back home again. Check, check and check! I am ecstatic with the car.
Prior to Rallycross. Photo by Andrew Maiden.
"Black Bush" with newly painted Shamrock. Photo by Andrew Maiden.
Thumbs up ... let's go! Photo by Andrew Maiden.
Andrew & Dave prior to first run. Photo by Andrew Maiden.
My driving on the other hand … well that could have been much better. I was feeling a bit rusty and it showed on the first couple runs. Especially the first run of the day, during which I ummm … stalled the car twice. My foot work was sloppy, but not quite as sloppy as the completely muddy course. It was very difficult to keep the car going in a straight line, not to mention trying to get my whooping 70 hp & 88 ft.-lbs. of torque to the ground. Much of this surely had to do with the street tires I currently have on the car. This will be the first upgrade for next season. The first lap was an exercise in skid pad control; which was ugly on my part. I did manage to get through the course only hitting one cone (2 sec. penalty) with a time of 3:26. Thankfully, at the end of the day, this run was thrown out (the worst of 4 runs is tossed).
This is what the car looked like after the first run. Photo by Andrew Maiden.
On the second run, I did much better … dropping off 42 seconds from the first run. A couple things started playing in my favor, primarily the fact that I didn’t stall the car this time. Additional factors were me getting a bit more used to the car, thus having better control and the course was starting to dry out. It was a clean run for me with no knocked down cones and a finishing time of 2:44. Still off the pace a bit, but not as bad as the first run and my confidence in the car and myself was getting better.
Dave & Andrew tulling through the fields. Photo by Travis Ogden.
The third run also saw a dramatic improvement over the second run, with my still building confidence and the continued drying out of the course. Not to mention with the course drying out my street tires were starting not to be so much of a factor. I had another clean run and dropped off an additional 34 seconds to finish with a time of 2:10. Now I was only 15 seconds off the pace of the leaders, compared to my earlier 50 seconds off the pace.
Pushing hard. Photo by Travis Ogden.
As the momentum was swinging my way, I started to really push on my last run. I had run a 1:58, but had hit one cone giving me a net time of 2:00. But it was really coming to me at that point, but I was still off 12 seconds from the lead car; though I was closer to the pack.
Dirty Little "Black Bush" after the event.
I ended up finishing 8th in the SF class out of 9 entrants in our class. Not great, but there was improvement. The car was fantastic! I can’t complain at all about that. I definitely got more comfortable as the day progressed. While we have a couple things that need to be worked on, on the car before the next event; the major improvements will come from me driving better.
On that note, I was learning throughout the day that the car handles quite well. But with the horsepower and torque that it has, it is a momentum car. I’ll have to stay on it more to keep the momentum up. That is going to take a bit of getting used to on my part. It is good in the corners, but lacks the pop on the straight-aways. I’ll have to keep that in mind in the future and plan to have a strong corner exit, leading to the straight.
Overall the day was a great success! I had a lot of fun, and the car was perfect. I can’t wait until the final Rallycross of the season to play again (October 11th).
-Dave
Filed under Rallycross
Maiden Voyage for Black Bush
Tomorrow with be the first rallycross for the 1984 Ford Escort that I have named “Black Bush”. I am really excited to run the car tomorrow in the Stock Front-wheel drive class (SF).
I purchased the car about 2 1/2 months ago for $300, with only 59,000 miles on it. Over the last couple months I have got it running, tuned up the motor, replaced the heater core, installed 4-point seat belts, painted the car and many other little things.
There is still things to be done, but it is good enough to go for its first run tomorrow.
The finished product.
I’ll be running in the Oregon Rally Group’s Rallycross #7 at the Washington Fairgrounds in Hillsboro, OR. I am running in the AM session.
- Dave
Filed under Rallycross
Black Bush Has A New Look
We hit a major milestone with “Black Bush” (1984 Ford Escort) today. I got the car all painted in a semi-gloss black (the professional rattle can look) and all stickered up for it’s rallycross debut in a little over a week. It looks as good as you would expect of a rattle can paint job. It took 5 cans of paint and about 5 – 6 hours to tape it off and paint it.
You should have seen some of the looks that the old people around here were giving me while I was painting the car.
Starting with the front fender.
Other fender.
Painted hood.
Painted driver side
Painted passenger side.
The finished product.
More of the finished paint job with stickers.
More of the finished paint job with stickers.
More of the finished paint job with stickers.
- Dave
Filed under Setup/Technical Info
Bonding with Bondo
I decided to work a little more on the Escorts dented rear wheel well. I had previously pulled it out as much as I could (or felt like). So now it was time to break out the bondo.
I have to say I have never repaired a large dent, and that includes this being the first time using Bondo. This whole dent thing has been a huge learning experience. The biggest lesson: It is harder than it looks and I am not sure I have the patience for it. I have always been somewhat of a perfectionist … yeah that went out the window. Oh well, it is a $300 car. What better practice canvas?
Using bondo, especially when filling large ripples requires a lot of patience. Patience has previously not been a virtue. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a $300 car. Once the bondo is apply and dried … then comes the endless sanding. Well endless sanding if you suck applying Bondo like I apparently did. (Hey it is my first time … I’m a Bondo Virgin. Well I was!)
I finished it up with a little black primer. Here is a quick sequence of photos:
Post hit and run damage.
After attempting to pull out the dent. I know it is hard to believe, but I did get it pulled out quite a bit.
Applying Bondo.
Sanded Bondo.
Painted with black primer.
In summary, it definitely is not the most professional job. But when it is all settle and done … it is a lot better than what it was. I can live with my first attempt at fixing and Bondoing a dent. In conclusion, if I had a dent in a car I really liked or drove everyday, I would take it to a professional.
Today … rattle canning the rest of the car black!
One week from this coming Sunday … “Black Bush’s” debut!
-Dave
Filed under Setup/Technical Info
