Hope you enjoy.

It must have been in 1972, my first full season of car rallying. I was navigating for a bloke called Wayne and the car was, of course, a Bellett 1500 4 door - modified with twin SUs, some head-work, and extractors and the usual sump guard, Cibie driving lights, Halda tripmaster etc.

A big rally was approaching, and we decided to do some ’practice’ in the forests around Canberra. So one fine and cold Friday night found us blasting through the pine trees in Pierces Creek, using the route instructions from a previous rally and timing ourselves against the clock. After a couple of sections, the car was flying and Wayne was on fire. We came to a long downhill section with a ‘T’ junction at the bottom and I’m calling it “Turn left at T 300.... 200... 100”. And I’m thinking, “Gee this is a bit quick...”

We came to the T – fairly wide open road luckily - and turned. The car slid and slid and then the outside wheels bit and it started to lift the inside wheels. Suddenly it has two wheels well in the air and I’m looking down at Wayne to my right, thinking “F*** we’re going over - no roll cage, and this floppy towel hat makes a piss-poor crash helmet". The car hangs there, balancing on two wheels for what seems like an eternity but is probably only a second - and then - bang! - falls. Back onto all four, stopped.

“S*** that was close”. Wayne puts it into 1st and drops the clutch – and we go nowhere. WTF

Getting out, we find the right hand rear wheel wedged at a funny angle under the guard, and closer inspection shows the half-axle snapped at the outer end. That snapping and wedging had probably saved us from rolling.

So we’re stuck in the middle of the forest – fortunately I’d talked one of my mates into following us around ‘just in case’. He soon arrives. Can’t tow the car so we will have to fix it out there. We know there is a wrecker in Canberra with a Bellett that we can get the parts from in the morning, so no problem. But Wayne won’t leave the car – he is convinced that someone will find it and steal the Cibie lights, Halda etc. So Paul and I head back into town, catch a couple of hours sleep, call at the wreckers at sparrows, pull the bits we need off the wreck, and head back out. We arrive about lunchtime (with food) to find Wayne complaining about how cold it was and what the hell took us so long – so long that his stomach had shrunk! Bloody prima-donna drivers! And no, he hadn't seen or heard a soul since we left...

Vic

PS - we later snapped the other half-shaft, while competing in the the rally we were practicing for. I have a story about that too if anyone's interested.

Hee hee.

Well done.

Thanks for the story.

Cheers
Rob

Hey Vic, firstly welcome to Bellettnet.

Secondly, never thought those axles were breakable !! Good work. Surprised a "nasty" Ranger didn't catch up with you guys (teeheehee).

btw, I pulled a 1970's "mexico" ford escort out of the bog only yesterday in an SA forest. Unfortunately cost him a bit but was let off lightly as I was deligthed to see it instead of a dirty great big 4x4 dirt muncher !! Also got photos of the 2l escort, cooool.

Keep 'em comin',

B.

Lemanskv, you have enjoyed another of the Bellett-ers life. Passion and commitment, sounds like a great period of time.

Yeah, good story, and I also have never seen a broken halfshaft - a few smashed universals. but not shafts. You were going hard!
How'd you bust the other one?
Cheers, Matt.

Open differentials are great at breaking axles. Some argue more so in the dirt.

Thanks for the kind words folks.. Here's part 2 of the story (concerning the 2nd half shaft)...

Several weeks after we broke the first half shaft, we traveled to Bathurst for a rally held there by the Light Car Club (LCC). From memory it was a round of the State championship. Anyway, we were having a fairly good and uneventful run that evening - the car was going well, the roads were not too rough, the navigator was picking the right ones and and the driver was managing to stay on them. At least, until halfway through the last competitive section before the meal break. Somewhere in the bush near a place called Rockley, we came down this sweeping right-hander to a bridge, followed by a tighter right-hander. Maybe Wayne got the wrong line over the bridge, maybe the camber was a bit more than he realised or maybe he was going a bit quick - whatever - the tail drifted out and kept going and the left rear wheel kissed the embankment. Or smacked it. There was a bang and the car rolled to a stop - no drive, so we guessed what had happened. A quick look with the torch confirmed the left rear wheel jammed up into the arch at an impossible angle, and the broken shaft. Disappointing, as we were in the top 5 at the time - but our rally was over. Bugger!

However, our (or rather, my) night was far from over. We put out the warning triangles and waited to cadge lifts back to the LCC clubrooms for a feed and a few beers. Wayne took the first ride and disappeared into the night. Next car along was a Mazda 1800 sedan, and I climbed in the back. No seat so made my self comfortable on the spare wheel - well I'm sure it was more comfortable than the fire extinguisher.

Now I tended not to eat much before an event to avoid motion sickness, so as it was about 11 pm I was feeling a bit peckish, and thirsty. My thoughts drifted to a steak sandwich and beer, and I was just about to open my second when something in the back of my mind said "Shouldn't we have turned left off this road by now?". Coming back to attention I realised the navigator had missed the turn and was just about to say something when another rally car coming in the opposite direction made it all too obvious. The driver (of the car I was in) did the only thing possible and ran off the road into what had recently been a pine plantation. We bounced along a bit before coming to rest with the Mazda perched over a felled tree, rear wheels in the air. No-one was hurt but we couldn't shift the car. Bugger!

Some quick work with the route instructions showed that we were indeed on (or more correctly, off) the wrong road and facing cars running in the second division. We were now very many kilometers from the end-control for the section that we were supposed to be in, but the start-control for the 2nd division section we were actually in was only about a mile away, so we walked there.

The plan, of course, was to get a ride back into the LCC clubrooms with the officials after they closed the control. When we arrived, we shared this idea with them. To our horror, the said "Sorry, but the rally comes through here again, right at the end of the second division - we're going to be here all night". Bugger!

Not fancying another 5 hours standing around freezing our butts off in the cold, we did some more work with the route instructions and maps. We found another control just a couple of kilometres away and calculated that we could walk there in about 30 minutes - plenty of time before it shut - and it wasn't being re-used later. Salvation and beer beckoned, so at midnight the three of us walked confidently out of the control. 90 minutes later - colder, hungrier and thirstier we stumbled into - the same control we had left 90 mnutes earlier. Bugger

We had learned some lessons, including 1) don't trust 20 year old survey maps, particularly when State Forests have been active in the area and 2) don't try to navigate at night without a compass. To put it bluntly, after about 500 metres down the selected road the terrain started to make no sense at all when compared to the map. We should have been able to see the lights of rally cars after about 1 km, but never did. We found a strong running creek (with no bridge to cross it) that didn't exist on the map. And we returned to the control on a road that didn't even exist.

There was no choice but to wait. The rally cars eventually came and went again, then the sweep car and finally we headed back to town. Dawn was breaking through the Mt Panorama mist when we got back to the LCC rooms. The beer was all gone, the food was all gone, the officials were all getting ready to pack up and go home. Wayne was sleeping in the service vehicle, along with the service crew, all of them full of beer and steak sandwiches. I would have woken them, but I knew all I would get was razzed about my navigation skills. Bugger!

Absolutely priceless.

Cheers
Rob

Having never got into rallying, I now see all the fun I've missed!
What a night! Sometimes, stuff just snowballs.
Thanks for the read,
Matt.

I just caught up with this story following my absence; that was massive!

I love those stories that are nigh impossible to do now... no passengers sitting on spare wheels in 2010, I'm sure.

Awesome work!

Cheers,

Dave

A GREAT STORY - BUT IT DOES SOUND FAMILIAR !! RALLIES LIKE THAT STILL HAPPEN - THEY ARE CALLED HISTORIC RALLIES . I WAS COMPETING IN A RALLY AROUND THE GRAMPIANS AREA WITH A WELL KNOWN EX BCCV MEMBER WHEN I BROKE A UNI JOINT IN THE HALFSHAFT . I WITHDREW AT THE NEXT CHECKPOINT & DROVE BACK TO MELB & MET ANOTHER MEMBER WITH SPARE PARTS, FIXED IT , THEN DROVE BACK TO HALLS GAP TO REJOIN THE RALLY . GOT AN AWARD FOR THAT !
& THEN THERE IS THE STORY OF THE CRASH - IT STILL HURTS WHEN I LOOK AT THE PHOTO !

i thought the award was for the sleeping arrangements at the motel.....


just look at my bellett-bbq, and smile, coz at least some of it survived!!

i thought the award was for the sleeping arrangements at the motel.....


Trust you to remember that !!!

just glad it wasnt me with u, thats all.......