Well, not quite the Rolling Stone, but the November issue of the NZ Speedsport Magazine!!!!
Check it out, on sale now at a bookstore near you!
To think that Al's creation might be adorning the bedroom walls of heaps of kiwi kids!
Showing posts with label Batman Rally Car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Batman Rally Car. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2008
Batman RX7 - on the cover of the Rolling Stone......
Well, not quite the Rolling Stone, but the November issue of the NZ Speedsport Magazine!!!!
Check it out, on sale now at a bookstore near you!
To think that Al's creation might be adorning the bedroom walls of heaps of kiwi kids!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Batman Rally Car - 2008 Silver Fern Rally of NZ WINNERS!
Andrew Grundy (right) celebrating his win with bubbles!
(click on photo to enlarge it, proudly showing Al's logo behind Andrew)
After 8 days, 51 stages and thousands of kilometres, the car Al spent months and many long and late hours building for Andrew Grundy cruised to the end to win the 2008 Silver Fern Rally of NZ. After a bit of a hiccup yesterday where they nearly cooked the engine after going through a ford and not turning off the engine cooling fan, thus drowning it and stopping it working, they were lucky to be able to start and finish the day today still on top. They won the event by just over 10 minutes overall.
What an amazing result for both Andrew and Al! Congratulations!
There are a few videos of the Batman on Youtube if you go searching Silver Fern Rally. There is a great one of the Batman doing Donuts at the finish of the rally....... but that is a whole different story!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mercy dash to the Batman Rally Car
Al & Toby have just headed off to Timaru (1 1/2 hours south of here) to join the rally car at the end of Special Stage 38. They are allowed 1 hour to make any necessary repairs before the cars all go into Parc Ferme overnight.
The wheel bearings are noisy and need replacing before anything too major happens, so Al has obtained some new ones and is off down there to replace them.
Andrew started the day 4 minutes in front of the 2nd place getter, 2006 winner Brian Stokes, (race is run every 2 years) and with 2 stages to go that lead has gone down to 2.26 minutes.
Of course it is always harder being first on the road each stage, as you get the loose gravel, especially if the roads have just been graded. The benefit of starting 2nd or below for each stage is that a lot of the loose stuff has been swept off by the first car through and you can also see their lines in the road.
One of the disadvantages of starting further back, is the dust created by the cars in front, especially if you are a faster car starting from behind after the overnight regroup and you all but catch the car in front of you that started 1 minute ahead.
But ahhh, such is motorsport, and fingers crossed it all goes well in the final stage of the day and that Al makes it down there in time for the 1 hour service before Parc Ferme.
The wheel bearings are noisy and need replacing before anything too major happens, so Al has obtained some new ones and is off down there to replace them.
Andrew started the day 4 minutes in front of the 2nd place getter, 2006 winner Brian Stokes, (race is run every 2 years) and with 2 stages to go that lead has gone down to 2.26 minutes.
Of course it is always harder being first on the road each stage, as you get the loose gravel, especially if the roads have just been graded. The benefit of starting 2nd or below for each stage is that a lot of the loose stuff has been swept off by the first car through and you can also see their lines in the road.
One of the disadvantages of starting further back, is the dust created by the cars in front, especially if you are a faster car starting from behind after the overnight regroup and you all but catch the car in front of you that started 1 minute ahead.
But ahhh, such is motorsport, and fingers crossed it all goes well in the final stage of the day and that Al makes it down there in time for the 1 hour service before Parc Ferme.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Batman Rally Car....... Racing now in "The Silver Fern Rally of NZ!"
The Batman rally carAl has spent months building from scratch is currently in action! If you want to check out its progress in the Silver Fern Rally of NZ go to here .
The owner and driver of the car is Andrew Grundy, and it is number 28.
So far at the end of Monday -day 5 of 8 - he is leading the rally.
The Silver Fern Rally is a Biennial 8 day marathon rally throughout the South Island of New Zealand and Andrew sure is enjoying the car and it is handling really well. He has already lost the entire exhaust system on a stage with no sign of it anywhere by the time 'tail end charlie' came through, so some cow in a paddock somewhere is probably wondering what on earth dropped from the sky!
Remember this?
To This?
And This?.........
To This.............
And Finally............ this!
You saw it happen here! Well done Al and Toby and Hamish, the hard work looks awesome!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Batman Rotary Motor on board!
Toby is busy telling me all about these photos he took on Saturday, as Al is working late tonight with the auto electrician, doing the wiring. Toby said the motor is a 13B Peripheral Port, with dry sump and slide injection. It has a 6 speed sequential Hollinger Gearbox. Can't tell you a lot more about it without Al here, but if he has anything to add I will add to the post at a later date. At least the photos posted over the past couple of months show the progression of the work!
Batman Rally Car Painted
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Batman Rally Car off to the painters.
The shell of the Batman rally car I showed you a few weeks back has it's roll cage completed now and has left the workshop and is at the painters. It's just a rolling chassis, so is far from complete, but heading into the exciting stages now.
Al has put many hours into stripping it out, and building the roll cage. He took copious quantities of photos of the roll cage so they can be posted up to the powers that be for scrutineering before it can proceed to the next stage after painting.
Will post pictures once it is back from the painters.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Mundane Monday
Well Katie is texting me each day telling me what she is up to.
Sunday they went on a sightseeing tour and visited the Sydney Opera House. She said it was awesome. Then they headed to Taronga Zoo for the afternoon which she really enjoyed. Her friend Rosemary met up with her there and walked around the zoo with Katie and the others in her small group. Rosemary is a very good school friend of Katie's who shifted to live in Australia at the end of last year and Katie misses her terribly. It was so nice of her to make the effort to meet up with her.
This morning they were up very early packing up their gear for they shift to stay at Mercy College in Chatswood for the next 7 nights. Katie said she managed to get a very very quick shower. That is the thing she will be missing the most on this trip!
They bussed to Monte St Angelo College for the day for Mercy Day celebrations until 9pm tonight. Then off to Mercy College to unpack, set up their beds and sleep!
Tomorrow is the opening day of the World Youth Day calendar, with a mass and lots of celebratory festivities.
Today I am doing invoicing for the business and is one of those jobs I put off then it gets to the stage where it has to be done and I jam it all into one day. Such is life when you own and business, run a household and work part time!
Toby is at work with Al today. Al is building a Mazda RX7 Batman rally car for a customer from scratch (well he started with the street car body and then gutted it and has put a roll cage in etc) and Toby is right in the thick of it helping. Along with the building of a Mazda RX8 circuit car for another customer out of 2 damaged bodies he bought. Whatever spins your wheels, (pardon the pun) but is a very exciting part of our business which Al really enjoys.
Above: The rally car in progress
The two 'broken' cars that will be used to make up one circuit car. Watch this space!
Katie just texted to say it is really hot there today, sunny and 21 degrees and they are stuck in school uniform, but thankfully this is the only other day they have to wear it in an official capacity.
Sunday they went on a sightseeing tour and visited the Sydney Opera House. She said it was awesome. Then they headed to Taronga Zoo for the afternoon which she really enjoyed. Her friend Rosemary met up with her there and walked around the zoo with Katie and the others in her small group. Rosemary is a very good school friend of Katie's who shifted to live in Australia at the end of last year and Katie misses her terribly. It was so nice of her to make the effort to meet up with her.
This morning they were up very early packing up their gear for they shift to stay at Mercy College in Chatswood for the next 7 nights. Katie said she managed to get a very very quick shower. That is the thing she will be missing the most on this trip!
They bussed to Monte St Angelo College for the day for Mercy Day celebrations until 9pm tonight. Then off to Mercy College to unpack, set up their beds and sleep!
Tomorrow is the opening day of the World Youth Day calendar, with a mass and lots of celebratory festivities.
Today I am doing invoicing for the business and is one of those jobs I put off then it gets to the stage where it has to be done and I jam it all into one day. Such is life when you own and business, run a household and work part time!
Toby is at work with Al today. Al is building a Mazda RX7 Batman rally car for a customer from scratch (well he started with the street car body and then gutted it and has put a roll cage in etc) and Toby is right in the thick of it helping. Along with the building of a Mazda RX8 circuit car for another customer out of 2 damaged bodies he bought. Whatever spins your wheels, (pardon the pun) but is a very exciting part of our business which Al really enjoys.
Above: The rally car in progress
The two 'broken' cars that will be used to make up one circuit car. Watch this space!
Katie just texted to say it is really hot there today, sunny and 21 degrees and they are stuck in school uniform, but thankfully this is the only other day they have to wear it in an official capacity.
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