Friday, April 16, 2010
Stupid passion
This blog follows my story trying to carry out my motorsport passion in Uganda. It is expensive, very expoenzie & honestly i have no idea why do - It is stupid passion.
I began Rallying in November last year, when for some reason i felt like i had to get into motorsport, the same week i bought the car - We shall call her Emily - The 1994 Subaru Impreza WRX STI custom built in Uganda by Race mart. The car is a championship winning car driven by a number of people, most notably Ponsiano - Ok enough about Emily.
So the same week i bought the car some kid crashed it during practice, messing the suspension. I was able to fix it and i participated in my very 1st sprint event. I did fairly well on my 1st round for a beginner but the toll of the crash a few day before came back to haunt me as my back suspension gave way - The jumps and sideways motion began to take their toll.
I got the car ready for my 1st rally, The recce was memorable, breaking our recce car somewhere on the route and got lost.
The first rally showed our glaring inexperience, we were the first car on the road and a late call from Mark the navigator saw us enter a bank on the road side. Well if i were experience i would never have tried to take a medium left on a rainy day at 100KPH on a narrow road. I should have breaked.
What followed is the most inspirational story, we fixed the car in three hrs, replacing the engine pulley system, pulling the chasis and tying the entire cooling system with ropes, tape, cable ties and anything we could use. At some point we stretched the car using a tree and another car - with Emily in the middle being pulled.
I began day 2 with the ugliest car on the road and the worst possible set up. I was still a rookie driving in the rally without any real practice save for days of reading about how to drive fast online.
I did a couple of stages, spun 3 times, car over heated and broke 3 radiators but the best experience was going sideways and i also realised whenever i crushed i found it very funny - I actually laughed.
Well as you guessed i never did finish that event, the crush the day before broke our sump guard and i drove without it - on entering the service park after stage 12 my oil was leaking.
I drove the car to Kampala and sent it to apparently the best mechanic in Kampala. He cheated me. After 3 months i got the car back into Kampala.
My first event was a sprint in the very fast Lubiri track. I did ok, the car was still misbehaving, however i finished.
This may sound really stupid but i crushed on my way home.
I am currently working on getting the car ready for the next event. I dont think it will be ready for Pearl of Africa, but hey I am just starting this - Stupid passion.
I began Rallying in November last year, when for some reason i felt like i had to get into motorsport, the same week i bought the car - We shall call her Emily - The 1994 Subaru Impreza WRX STI custom built in Uganda by Race mart. The car is a championship winning car driven by a number of people, most notably Ponsiano - Ok enough about Emily.
So the same week i bought the car some kid crashed it during practice, messing the suspension. I was able to fix it and i participated in my very 1st sprint event. I did fairly well on my 1st round for a beginner but the toll of the crash a few day before came back to haunt me as my back suspension gave way - The jumps and sideways motion began to take their toll.
I got the car ready for my 1st rally, The recce was memorable, breaking our recce car somewhere on the route and got lost.
The first rally showed our glaring inexperience, we were the first car on the road and a late call from Mark the navigator saw us enter a bank on the road side. Well if i were experience i would never have tried to take a medium left on a rainy day at 100KPH on a narrow road. I should have breaked.
What followed is the most inspirational story, we fixed the car in three hrs, replacing the engine pulley system, pulling the chasis and tying the entire cooling system with ropes, tape, cable ties and anything we could use. At some point we stretched the car using a tree and another car - with Emily in the middle being pulled.
I began day 2 with the ugliest car on the road and the worst possible set up. I was still a rookie driving in the rally without any real practice save for days of reading about how to drive fast online.
I did a couple of stages, spun 3 times, car over heated and broke 3 radiators but the best experience was going sideways and i also realised whenever i crushed i found it very funny - I actually laughed.
Well as you guessed i never did finish that event, the crush the day before broke our sump guard and i drove without it - on entering the service park after stage 12 my oil was leaking.
I drove the car to Kampala and sent it to apparently the best mechanic in Kampala. He cheated me. After 3 months i got the car back into Kampala.
My first event was a sprint in the very fast Lubiri track. I did ok, the car was still misbehaving, however i finished.
This may sound really stupid but i crushed on my way home.
I am currently working on getting the car ready for the next event. I dont think it will be ready for Pearl of Africa, but hey I am just starting this - Stupid passion.
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