
INTEGRALLY MOTORSPORT 025-377 921 JAMES HANCOCK / STEVE SCHWARTZ www.oocities.org/hondaintegrarally
RALLY REPORT-Waiariki Institute of Technology Clubmans Rally ROUND THREE-Winger Subaru Top Half
Rally Series
I’m glad to report that we’ve now completed three successful rounds of the six round
Winger Subaru Top Half Rally Series, The Hella Battery town Rotorua Rally and the Waiariki Institute
of Technology Clubmans Rally held on Friday 12th / Sat 13th July, allowed us to take home another first
in class, which in turn gave us another 20 points for the series. We are extremely happy with our result;
we were the first two wheel drive car and were 8th Overall from 40+ starters and 19 finishers. We
now have 55 points in the Winger Subaru Top Half Rally Series and lead our class. We are very confident
we can maintain this points lead, but to continue we are having to look for outside financial assistance.
Our event Started on Thursday Night with a ceremonial start and Parc ferme in Rotorua Township, we
started Friday Morning 21st on the road and toured quite a distance to the first service. I purchased
a couple of new Silverstone 505’s and they lasted us the whole rally.
Stage One - Motu. I’d
been cautioned about the Motu but at the same time I was enthused by its challenge, after driving it
I agree it was demanding and tight but technically it wasn’t difficult. We were 12th through the stage
which tells you something about the effenciency of front wheel drive
Stage Two Motu II 14th
I made a few silly mistakes, I went too fast into a deep ford and sucked a heap of water into the engine,
we stalled luckily we restarted it but we lost time there, we had a couple of spins, stuffed up every
corner there were spectators on but generally I drove the stages quite cleanly.
Stage three
and four were just the best roads I’d ever driven on. I was totally stuffed after our efforts on Whakarau
and Rakaroa , both stages smooth flowing gravel, into snowy country in places but 11th and 13th places
respectively hopefully are evidence that we are a team that can produce damb good results with mediocre
machinery, providing the roads are as smooth as glass. We finished the day ninth overall and 1st in class
by over 3 minutes.
Touring back to Rotorua at the end of the day the Fuel pump electrics failed-
We hurriedly repaired these and made more permanent repairs at the morning service after park ferme on
Sat Morning
SATURDAY
Stage Five – Rotoehu Forest, we were 19th – Pleased with that
because the roads were too rough for the little Integra, hard to get traction on the rough and the heavier
4wd’s that we had often matched times with on the Friday took off and played their own game. Stage
Six – Manawahe- 26th-We stopped to re-plum the fuel line( lost 1m 30secs ) but otherwise the stage was
a beauty, a bit of everything but our class lead was affected badly. Stage Seven – Matahina- 13th
– Again quite rough, we backed right off in places but we finished with a pretty good time. Stage
Eight – Waihau-Acropolis 11th – A bit faster than seven ,popped a front shock on a rut entering a corner
and had a few braking issues and about 100m before the finish control the intercom and fuel pump (same
fuse – duh) stopped . We crossed the finish line and got pushed out of control. Dermot and Patrick Malley
gave us a spare fuse ( thanks guys) forward thinking paid off as I had made a long piece of wire for
tapping around electrical issues.
We Serviced back in Kawerau, we had electrical issues to fix,
brakes to bleed, a wheel bearing that was very loose and a million loose bolts to secure, this was only
possible with the help of one of the APRC teams, (Dean Sumners ITM sponsored Subaru), a huge thanks to
you guys!!! damb they were good too, I think they got a buzz out of the size of our brakes.
Stage
nine – Pylon 12th – Very Very Fast stage but struggled with damaged front shocks from previous stage.
Steve had to YELL the notes at me but combinations were hard to hear so he just yelled the tightest corners,
I basically drove it blind
Stage Ten – Australian Safari -14th –Man this was just crap ! This
stage is not suitable for fwd cars, even Dean Buist struggled on this stage bumpy, sandy, nasty nasty
grooves and ruts but boy did it keep us awake, I think all of the RWD cars beat us on this stage we were
able to go about 80km/h maximum on 300m straights, we just could not get power down and frankly I didn’t
want to ! With the front left shock in the state it was and the other three gone off (getting too hot
to work)I was worried about axels and CV’s going through too much movement, We finished it though and
that was a mission in its self.
In reflection Fridays stages were quintessential NZ rally stages,
we charged hard and tried to prove ourselves, Saturday was about management, finishing and watching 4WD’s
disappear into the distance but we learn’t heaps, had a ton of fun and despite the entry fee and the
rough bits, I did enjoy the event.
We had a lot of help from different people: Thanks must go
to Jamie Fowler and Erin Luce, Richard Keiser, Kayne Barrie, Woody, Clive Partington, Robert Thomas,
Sean Elder, The ITM service crew. Thanks also to Strong for Honda and www.onlinemotorsport.net.
Photo’s and Results will be online shortly at "http://www.onlinemotorsport.net" www.onlinemotorsport.net
or "http://www.oocities.org/hondaintegrarally" www.oocities.org/hondaintegrarally
Our
Next event is The Far North Rally in Paihia – 2nd August. We’ve got a few things to iron out before then,
like the floor, but we’ll keep you up to date with news.
James Hancock/ Steve Schwartz
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