RALLY REPORT- TARANAKI RALLY ROUND ONE-
Winger Subaru Top Half Rally Series
Well we’ve now finished the first point scoring round of the Winger Subaru Top Half Rally Series, The Taranaki Tarmac Rally held on the 3/5/03 was a blinder for us, from 140 starters and 96 finishers we finished 21st Overall and 1st in class. Despite niggling problems we battled and drove a good rally.
The Taranaki Tarmac Rally is a little different to most tarmac events, it’s tight, twisty narrow roads with tricky camber changes and deceptive yumps (Jumps) mean victory is not automatically awarded to the highest horsepower vehicles as is so commonly found in Tarmac Rallying.
Preparation for the event was as usual focused on preventative maintenance . The gearbox received a birthday, unfortunately this is required more than once a year ! We fitted a new Quaffe ATB type LSD which helps traction and we fitted Toyo R881 Tyres which were the best tyres I’ve ever used.
I was also lucky enough to have the services of a very well known and very experienced co driver , Rob Scott, Rob has sat next to some serious talent over the years and I learnt a great deal from his time with me. Sadly Rob is not a permanent feature but his flying visit gave me the ability to commit to pace notes like never before.
This was the first tarmac rally I had competed in so I am delighted with the result.
The stages were based around the foot of what used to be referred to as Mt Egmont, then worked their way out towards Stratford. The morning stages were tight, the afternoon stages were much more flowing
Stage One was a 11km warm up, Very Narrow with hard to read brows, mainly 4,5,6’s but plenty to keep us busy. We didn’t realize at the time but we had achieved 14th= stage time.
Stage two (10.48 kilometers, similar roads to stage one) was going well, until………..the battery broke loose from it’s mounting, this goes to show the kind of forces going on inside the car, the grip we have on tarmac is unbelievable, we stopped because it pulled the HT lead out of the coil, I could not secure the battery within the stage so we frustratingly took all the right handed corners very slowly, the battery came out and again removed ignition, we made it to the end of the stage but we had lost over 2.5 minutes, we were 95th on this stage.
We serviced and secured the battery, Our Service crew normally have their fair share of work to do but apart from fuel and tyres this was the only problem they were to have.
Stage three : a nice tight twisty road, quite steep in places and opens out towards the finish, 10.55km we were the 15th fastest on the stage but way down the ladder because of our time lost in stage two. We also noticed a misfire in the engine, we’d had in on the dyno just a few days prior and it was like new, but luck seems to repeat it’s self.
Stage four was longer 28.4kms – Flowing start, very tight in the middle then a flowing downhill finish, good for the adrenal glands I’d say, the misfire held us back a few seconds but again we achieved 11th fastest time.
Stage Five was similar but longer 38kms, some crazy high speed corners over slight crests, It’s hard not to think about the consequences of what would happen if something went wrong. The sport has been unfairly represented in both fatalities and injuries lately but you try to block it out, especially on the stage. We scared ourselves a few times but achieved 11th.
We changed plugs and played with carb settings try to cure the misfire but the engine was definitely off song, to make it worse stage six was full of straights, and flowing high speed corners, the car would not go much faster than 180km/h and our competition slaughtered us, we were 36th on the stage, a little red faced by now as our battles were becoming fruitless.
Stage seven. 18.49km of open and fast road, wider than in the morning, with a tight bit in the middle. Our misfire was better we were 16th on the stage.
Stage Eight we were 16th also, we could have been faster but the stage is known for its huge yumps, crests you fly over at stupid speeds and get pretty big air ! The organizers had also built chicanes to keep the average speeds with the FIA imposed 132km/h average. These were easy to negotiate but really only satisfy a statistically generated safety factor, they don’t make the stage any safer. However after a 31km sweat we were 16th. Stage nine we were 18th, our misfire was back with a vengeance and robbed us of good time. We had a huge scare over a yump; we were very close to going off just after the start of the stage.
Stage 10 was packed with spectators, a fast stage but some challenging corners, we finished 14th.
This puts us in the top half series points lead for the 1400-1600cc title. It’s early days yet of course but hey, in this game, you never quite know your luck ! Thanks to Charlie Evans , Dave Strong, Steve Schwartz, Clive Partington and Gary Smith, Huge thanks also to Jamie Fowler and Erin Luce without their help we would have had a different result for sure. Rob Scotts pace notes were really good and made a huge difference to my approach. I’d also like to thank Strong for Honda, Onlinemotorsport.net, Silverdale Service Centre, Wally Elders Service Station and Petes Mobile Mechanic.
Next round is in the Maramarua forest in about six weeks, we’ll keep you posted