 At 8am on June 23rd 2025, the team of 13 left the barn, bound for the 12:50 DFDS ferry departing from the Port of Dover. After a very straightforward and comfortable journey, we docked in Calais and drove in the direction of Kris and Patricia's house in Hollebeke, Belgium. Upon arrival, we were greeted with a very warm welcome and plenty of cold Belgian beers. Those who took the generous offer of staying in a real bed, unpacked their bags from the cars whilst everyone else headed to the campsite. A delicious dinner was had at a restaurant in Ypres town centre, consisting of meats hanging from sticks, huge bowls of carbonara, and Ollie and Ding sharing what looked like half a cow! The team relaxed after a long day of travelling and a stressful week of engine rebuilding before.
The following morning, everyone gathered at the Total Energies petrol station, where we thanked Katrien for kindly providing us with some fuel cards. Both the Riley and the Volvo were topped up before heading to the next destination: Pieter-Jan’s workshop. There, the Riley was carefully unloaded from the trailer and settled into what would be its home base for the next few days. A thorough inspection of each corner of the car was conducted, then Pieter-Jan delivered a valuable hands-on lesson in carburettor tuning. He noted that the Riley was running slightly too rich and demonstrated how to adjust the settings for optimal performance. At 5pm, Ding and Sean left the workshop in the Riley, with its newly tuned carburettor, to head into the town centre, and they returned a couple of hours later with the road book and tracker.
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Preparation
Sunday 18th June
After exams finished we were flat-out at the OUMF shed for three weeks of rebuilding and prepping the rally Riley 1.5, from top to bottom. This included Vlad Ardeleanu’s design and build of an entirely new wiring loom; Dom Norman and Andy Parsons leading the team through an axle and two engine rebuilds (as a cam follower shattered on the Abingdon CAR-nival Stages Rally, which we used as a shakedown for the Ypres Rally); Andy Doyle engineered an ingenious reverse gear lockout, and me, Tolga Karabetca who helped overhaul the suspension, steering and brake systems. Getting all this done in time was largely due to the fantastic support we received with sorting the engine and its associated problems from ARP Bolts, Vibration Free, Init Racing, OCS Automotive Engineering, Kent Cams, THINK Automotive, Westwood Liners, Race Winning Brands Europe, 3J Transmissions, FPS Distribution, Cometic Gaskets, Powerlite, Dave Crisell, Dave Knight Engine Services, G & S Valves, Tony Hall, Wosp, and Fuchs Lubricants. Other heroic sponsors - Phillips Tyres of Oxford, Cartek Motorsport, Connector Concepts Inc., Helix Autosport, TOYO Tires, Lesonal, NGK Spark Plugs, Oxford Wheel Repairs, Mintex, SuperB, Lifeline, Classic Oils, to name just a few – helped us with the electrics, brakes, wheels, tyres, diff, extinguisher system, paintwork and clutch. Jim Morris at Lifeline Fire Systems and Julian Thomas at Racelogic respectively provided further icing on the cake by equipping the Riley with a superb 360 electric fire extinguisher system, and a VBox HD2 system to capture all the action. Though still desperately short of funds, we were committed, and it was now time for the big test for both the team and car – the notoriously tough Ypres Rally! |
