“I fairly preferred the thought of Jim having the automobile again within the authentic pink colour,” he mentioned. “So many of those vehicles are round within the works colours, this was one thing completely different. And, like Jim mentioned, it’s vital to take care of the automobile’s historical past and be true to it. So, we began sand-blasting the automobile and layer after layer of paint got here off.
“It’s honest to say, taking it again to reveal steel did uncover the horror story, however you sort of anticipate that with a automobile like this that’s been round some time and accomplished so a lot rallying.”
The choice was taken, the job could be accomplished correctly: an entire rebuild.
“I didn’t need any compromise within the automobile,” mentioned Harrison. “Ian was utterly upfront with all the pieces he did, confirmed me all the pieces and we agreed, it wanted to be accomplished proper.”
And at present is proof that it has, most positively, been accomplished correctly. Twenty-seven years after it was first fired up, P228JWL is reborn. Time to return inside.
“Right now’s a shakedown,” mentioned Gwynne. “The primary time we run the automobile is only a easy drive up the highway. With that accomplished, we begin to transfer via some programs checks.”
Not lengthy after this automobile was constructed for the primary time, Gwynne was in vaguely the identical location doing the identical job. Again within the day, it was Ian who accomplished most of Hyundai’s shakedown work with the Accent WRC.
“It’s the identical job at present,” he mentioned. “It’s fairly easy. Now we have a knowledge card within the automobile so I’ll obtain the information later and test all of it simply to ensure all the pieces is working because it ought to, however just about all the knowledge you want is on the display screen you see in entrance of the co-driver.
“Through the course of you’re at all times taking a look at pressures and temps, transmission or engine, it’s commonsense stuff to regulate sensors. Because the shakedown strikes ahead, you set a few actually good warmth cycles via the automobile to ensure all the pieces is ideal. We have been additionally bedding in some [brake] pads this morning.
