Syncro MK2 winter toy!

Made it southern Sweden last night without a hitch.

Picture going over the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo……..



Not looking so good for the rally though. Theyv''e had to cancel some stages due to lack of snow and warm temperatures thawing the delicate road surfaces.

Hopefully the colder weatrher that is due in will improve conditions Thursday / friday. Fingers crossed we get to see some winter rallying after all this!

Haha, that's quite mad to have something cancelled because the weather isn't bad enough!!  

Keep warm, and keep us updated. 😀

ant5 said

Keep warm, and keep us updated. 😀

We got to our final destination at about 4 pm this afternoon after stopping off at a client in South Sweden.
The car hasn't missed a beat.  
The issues we've had is a dodgy connection or a faulty radio as it keeps going dead now and again, and one of the headlights has took a hit by a stone or something and put a hole in the glass and cracked the lense. Currently held together with tape!!
Averaged about 32mpg and have covered just over 1100 miles.
We've got a free day tomorrow so will be doing a recce into Norway to see what stages we think we can get to and in and out of easily to make the most of the fewer stages there are in total.

 

Cooling fan packed up yesterday but I'd already spotted a potential donor earlier in the day!
Went back to the Suzuki garage where I spotted it and swapped it over. The owner of the garage was also very useful for info on the rally stage close to him, where to go etc etc.

Turned out to be quite a useful breakdown!


Also crossed into Norway to check out the stages there. More snow there and temps are set to fall which is good. Won't see much snow but as long as the roads are frozen then we should see some action.

Good fun so far then! How's the synchro on proper icy stuff?

Hairyarse said

 How's the synchro on proper icy stuff?

Well it gets you to places where 2wd wouldn't but could get you further in trouble at the same time!
Really it needs studded tyres for the ice as you can't stop it even though it has standard winter tyres fitted.

Fair play Graham, there is no way I would take my Limited out in those conditions!

dubboy said

Fair play Graham, there is no way I would take my Limited out in those conditions!

  Your probably not the only one who wouldn't want you to take your limited out in these conditions!

The rally started in earnest this morning with temps down around -10 c and a day of light snow………..








How the Norwegians get around……



Spotted this Audi 80 Quattro in the car park….
.







More pics once we're back home but home seems a long way away atm!

 

Great photos boss, thanks for sharing and finally you've found some real snow!   

Golf Cabrio said

Great photos boss, thanks for sharing and finally you've found some real snow!   

Yes Mike.
We could see as much as 200mm of snow by the morning which will make it interesting getting to tomorrows stages

Awesome... lucky you... which day are you heading back and where do you drive past in the Netherlands/ Belgium ?

allana13 said

Awesome… lucky you… which day are you heading back and where do you drive past in the Netherlands/ Belgium ?

Decided to leave a day early as most of the stages on Sunday had been cancelled.
Got back to the UK on Monday night. Stopped off at Hoorn just north of Amsterdam to see a customer.

Drove a solid 13 hours and covered 800 miles on Sunday.
Total number of miles covered came to 2942.
Did manage to get pulled on the German Autobahn by the old bill due to both rear tail lights being out and it was getting dark.  
Someone had reported us which imo was for our own safety not to get us into trouble and the police were waiting for us in a slip road. I went passed them doing close to a ton and just saw them. I'd say within a kilometre he was up behind me
Its a completely different mentality over there towards driving. Everybody abides by the rules which makes driving, although fast, very predictable.
They pulled us into a layby and told me I couldn't leave until at least one was fixed. I tapped the one and it came back on. The police said that was good enough and left. I did thank them as its a pet hate of mine having defective lights. I replaced the bulb in the other as I didn't want to risk relying on the dodgy one which never went out again

On the Saturday we went to Colins Crest at Vargasen where everyone goes just to party. I've never seen so many drunk people being carried back to the car park or falling over on the ice. It was hilarious.
It had snowed all night and the route there took us along the back roads which were white over. Everything was going OK until I came over a crest of hill to be met by a moose in the road. I'd disconnected the horn the day before as it kept going off randomly (something in the column) so no amount of pressing would make the moose move. Luckily it decided to make its own way off the road! I'd got the gopro attached to the screen at the time in time lapse so managed to catch it on camera which was good. The pic doesn't do it justise on its size. They're like a horse with horns!!

We met the irish driver Chris Meeke and Kathi Wüstenhagen of the Hyundai team. Both times we forgot to take a pic

I'll let some pics do the talking but all in all we had a great time. I was a bit anxious when we left home as its a blummin long way in an old car and was glad to get back home but have no regrets and will have many lasting great memories of the whole adventure.

Yey snow!



You know it must get cold when you have a wood burner this size in your bedroom!













Hyundai garage



A Swedish wood!






German police!

Sounds like a great trip. Fair play to you for making the journey. You keep a record of your fuel bills? Just out of interest.  

Really well done guys.  
Are you now pleased you did it in the Mk2 rather than the R?  

awesome… your are lucky yomp (touchwood)

are you back in the uk

Shughy said

Sounds like a great trip. Fair play to you for making the journey. You keep a record of your fuel bills? Just out of interest.  

Shughy Not had time to calculate the whole journey but averaged 32mpg on the way there. I got 40mpg from the mk1 when we went to Germany.
I guess the heavier MK2, carbed engine and of course the 4wd makes the difference.

Golf Cabrio said

Really well done guys.  
Are you now pleased you did it in the Mk2 rather than the R?  

Thanks Mike. Glad we took the MK2 for several reasons. The R32 would have got battered on the ice/gravel roads we were on when checking out the stages. Didn't need to worry about the MK2 as its only a mk2!
The only time we wished we was in the R was on the bahns! Top speed the Sat nav recored on the Syncro was 164kph

allana13 said

awesome… your are lucky yomp (touchwood)

are you back in the uk

Yes back in the UK and back at work - boo!

Forgot to say the syncro used a 1/4 litre of oil in the 3000 miles. Not bad for a 140,000 mile engine.

Yomp said

dubboy said

Fair play Graham, there is no way I would take my Limited out in those conditions!

  Your probably not the only one who wouldn't want you to take your limited out in these conditions!

I would take your limited out in those conditions