As we set off for Plymouth from Gigglepin Headquarters in Hildenborough, Kent we were full of excitement to test out all the new products and changes that we had made to Mistress over our off season. Having had the engine out and re-built to new specs, we were expecting gains of over 150BHP, it has had a new gearbox and new Fox suspension along with a Go Faster stripe added to the livery, that’s got to add at least 10BHP right?!
We were having a pretty good run down to Plymouth and decided to stop for Fuel about an hour away from port before boarding the ferry for Spain. After re-fuelling the Grenadier and the van we ran into problems, the van didn’t want to re-start. There were no obvious signs of leakage as we thought that no fuel was getting to the engine, however when we disconnected the pipes, we could see that fuel was reaching the engine.
As time started to pass at an alarming rate, and having blocked 2 petrol pumps for over an hour a hard decision had to be made, do we leave someone behind with the van and the other two continue to the ferry with the race car? There was one major problem though… the only person insured to drive the van was Jim Marsden, our race car driver, so what are we going to do in Portugal with a race car, no driver and no spares? The only thing we could think of was that if it came to it Helder would have to move from Co-Driver to Driver and Michael would have to move from Crew Chief to Co-Driver. So, we have a plan, Michael and Darren head for the port whilst Jim waits for recovery with the van, all the spares and our tents!
After a few calls, Hilltop Garage Services, an American Car specialist said they could send someone out and within 15 minutes someone was there with a code reader to help us. The problem turned out to be the Cam Shaft Sensor, but no-one in the area had one in stock. By some stroke of luck Jim noticed an old rusting sprinter sitting in the corner of the fuel station, not the same model or year, but thought… what if? A quick look under the bonnet and there sat an identical Cam Shaft Sensor, it was quickly acquired and fitted to our van and low and behold the van started and Jim was on his way again.
It was a good job too as Michael and I were having trouble at the port, although we had booked 2 vehicles to cross, I had been allocated a place in the van and therefore they weren’t going to let me travel unless I was in the van. 20 minutes later Jim arrived and all was saved.
Once onboard we found our cabin, which can only be described as quaint and intimate for 3 strapping lads to share, followed by a queue for the first well deserved beer and to reserve a table to eat for the evening.
For those of you who don’t know this, Jim has an addiction to the prawns that are served for starters on the Brittany Ferry to Santander, I mean, they are just meant to be a starter but you can bet your life that Jim makes sure he has a side of them for Mains and Dessert too! The starters were great, a mix of continental meats and seafood, but the mains were something we were all left scratching our heads over.
Jim and I ordered the lamb, which comes with linguine… the cutlets of lamb themselves with the puree were to die for, however the meatballs in the tomato linguine really didn’t fit well with the dish. Looking over to Michael with his duck breast we started to wonder if we had made the right choice.
For dessert there were a mix of pastries, cakes and a yoghurt/fruit mix; and what I was told was a deadly Rum Baba. Apparently last time they were on-board, the ship had used pure rum and the guys were certainly feeling light headed after 6 of the little rum baba; however this time we were left disappointed as it appears the ship had realised their mistake and the little balls of joy were no longer so potent. After dinner we were treated to an amazing show about bubbles, which I am sure is amazing if you are a 6 year old but the demographic on board was of a much much older audience.
After a good night’s sleep and disembarking the ferry at Santander the van quickly ran into problems again, filling the roads with thick black smoke. Finding a quiet side street Jim and Michael began pulling the engine bay apart to work out what was wrong, and without a code reader it was pure guess work. The general consensus was that there was an issue with the turbo, and this time we were either going to need recovery or at least another vehicle to pull the trailer and lighten the load on the van.
Our friend Flavio from By Touças, was about a 4.5-hour drive away and said that he would come to our rescue. Once he arrived, we then had another problem… the cable for the trailer’s lighting had a different connection to that of his pickup, there are only fuel garages open and it is very rare that we are going to find one that has a different connector. In the dark of the night the guys set to strip and test the cables to try and manually connect it together. Finally, we had just enough lights lit to be able to make the journey to Flavio’s place.
Arriving at Flavio’s at 3.30am we were all very tired and weary eyed, Michael and I were invited to sleep in the bunks Flavio had set up in his van and Jim used the bed in ours. Helder made the alarm call at 8am bringing with him some Natas (Portuguese tarts), ham, cheese and bread for breakfast, what a saviour! After a few hours of about 5 blokes working on the van we were ready to give it another try and head off to the race, a mere 1.5 hours drive in Friexo de Espada a Cinta, Portugal.
Less than 5 minutes into the journey Jim had to abandon ship again and await recovery, he even had some help from the local Police who shut the motorway whilst he was loaded back onto a trailer and escorted by Flavio to the race. A new turbo was ordered and would arrive at 6pm to be fitted before we return to the UK.
That evening we did some last-minute checks on the race car before heading to bed at 1am. We had now missed the pre-running and testing day with Saturday morning being the Prologue followed by the first stage. A 6.30am start was followed by a 10am Prologue, we were pulled 24th out of the hat so had a little while before it was our turn. We were hoping to be able to send Live in-car footage to YouTube for you all to follow; however, the system turned up in the UK after we had left. Despite then shipping it on an overnight flight to Portugal it didn’t arrive to the hotel until we were on our way home again, hopefully we will be able to get it up and running for the King of France in June.
The Prologue was held at a local Motocross and although wasn’t to everyone’s liking it was a good way to sort out the starting order. Team GP managed to secure 2nd position with the legend Emmanuel Costa taking 1st position with a 5 second lead (who is also running a Gigglepin by the way).
The 1st stage was meant to be held out in the wilderness, but due to some kind of special bird nesting by a river meant that the course wasn’t accessible and therefore the 1st Stage would now be 2 rounds around the Motocross track. Team GP managed to keep hold of second position, with Emmanuel Costa now leading the 1st Stage by 13 seconds, it was such a close race.
Sunday was the 2nd Stage, the stage that everyone had been waiting for, a time to enter the wilderness! The weather was sitting at a comfortable 18C with some cloud in the sky. As Jim and Helder stormed off the starting line I ran as fast as I could to meet them at some of the finishing obstacles. Costa came past as expected, then Team MS, then Tuff 4x4 but no sign of Mistress… something must have happened. At a quick glance at the tracker, I could see they were still miles away from me, then came the message saying that they have gearbox issues.
Well, that’s it, we are done right? They abandon the race as to not cause more damage to the race car and head back to the pits. Whilst mulling over what the problem could be with a beer in one hand and a slab of ham in the other a miracle is heard over the radio. “There are cars lost on the track, we are stopping the race for safety reasons and will re-start the 2nd stage shortly”.
You have to be kidding right? What luck, the guys quickly run a few tests and decide that we can send Mistress back out for a second chance to win this race.
By the time I had walked back to the pits I missed them starting and missed the first pass by the time I had got back down to the track. This time I decide to position myself at a place on the track that isn’t too far from the start line, in hope of capturing some footage and photos on their second pass. Jim and Helder came screaming past me, and whilst waiting for them to come past for a third lap so I could capture some video I heard a rumbling up the hill behind me, they had pulled back into the pits.
The gearbox oil was reading at 140C however it appeared that very little if any oil was reaching the gearbox. We believe that a bearing may have caused a blockage but without dismantling the whole gearbox we would not be able to tell. This time we retired the car from the race for good, after completing only 3 laps. Unfortunately, this means that we were not able to classify for the 2nd stage, however we still managed to come in 10th place overall.
This was a great opportunity for us to test all the new changes we had made; Mistress ran like a beast on the short runs so we know the changes we made to the engine were spot on. The new shocks are tuned nicely and performing well and we even got to winch a couple of times to test that out. There have been so many positives on this journey, and it is amazing how everyone in this sport comes together when they need to.
On our journey home despite fitting a new turbo the van was still having issues, going into limp mode and smoking everywhere so it was another trip back to Flavio’s. In less than 2 hours he had found the problem, which this time was the DPF trying to do a re-gen and had us back on our way. The van now pulls like it has never done before, well done Flavio!
We have to give a massive shout out to Hill Top Services, who without their support we would have never made it across the channel, to Flavio at By Touças who is an absolute legend for dropping everything and coming to our rescue several times throughout the weekend and who without we would not have made it home, to Helder for Co-Driving and making sure the team were well fed, to Thomas and Brian for travelling all the way from Malta to help with the mechanics, to Michael for driving the Grenadier and Mistress all the way to Portugal and being the chief mechanic and working silly hours to make things run smoothly and to Darren for capturing everything whilst we were there to bring it all to you at home.
Well done Jim for overcoming some very stressful scenarios and keeping the team together, without a team like this all pulling together, and the support of our amazing sponsors and partners none of this is possible!
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