Bateman’s
Bay was the host for the NSW Clubman and State Rally Championship,
with the first 7 stages for Clubman and then all 9 for State Championship.
We
were seeded car 19 behind all the wrx’s and EVO 4WD turbo
cars.
SS1:
From the last rally I had gained 14kw more, with a new air box
which now gave us 175kw at the wheels. This was very noticeable
in the bush, where I found we were arriving at corners much quicker!
It took me a while to get a “hold” of the new found
power, along with the brake mod's that I had done to reduce pedal
effort. This meant that I was over braking as well as braking
to early due to the new found speed. So SS1 wasn't’t a good
time but a toe in the water.
SS2:
I was getting used to the grip and the car and we pushed and climbed
the leader board with 11th fastest.
SS3:
It was a long and fast stage with some open areas, where you could
see for k’s. That really suited my car and we pushed very
hard and ended with 10th fastest.
SS4:
With this new power came more tyre wear, this was something I
had planned on, but not to the point that it was down to canvas
when the left rear delaminated, we were also slowed by dust as
the crew in front drove out on a flat tyre, we still managed to
be 12th in the stage.
SS5:
Was the first of the night stages, the air was very still and
we were slowed by dust quite a lot and lost some time to our rivals,
we were 11th in the stage. To also put a damper on things, the
terra trip was playing up, when ever we hit large bumps it would
add distance on, which made it pretty well useless!
Photos Courtesy of Sue & Winton Photographic's
SS6:
The wind had come up and the stage was fast and 
flowing,
and suited my car, so I had a big go and it gave us 8th quickest
time, and with no terra trip! might be why
SS7:
Was the last stage to the Clubman Rally, it was also a fast flowing
stage, and I was on a charge and pushed hard, but not without
drama. I had entered a tightening left hand corner too quick and
slid off the edge of the road and stalled the engine, after I
worked it out that I needed to shut all the lights down to be
able to restart it, I grabbed revs and got under way again, it
would have cost us 10-15sec. Further up the road we came to a
specie point on a tight left up hill, and I cut it pretty tight…maybe
too tight, as there was a hump which we hit and got it well onto
two wheels by 35-40deg, I steered into the roll and brought it
back down. With all this drama we still clocked in at 8th fastest.
With
the ending of the Clubman section we were 1st outright which was
great for our points lead and which now puts us on track to win
Clubman outright for the year.
SS8:
We were in chase to King who was leading P4 by 25seconds and with
what we took out of his lead on SS6&7 (36sec) there was everything
to go for, but it wasn’t to be as half way into this tight
stage we lost power steering and King took 12 sec off us and made
it very hard for us to catch him. Not having the terra trip was
also not helping with many “road goes left over crest”
only which crest ? was not something I wanted to chance! This
meant we were only 14th fastest.
SS9:
I found a bolt had broken on the belt idler and I made some repairs
to get us home, I pushed, but without risk and no terra trip,
this meant we were not so quick and only did 15th fastest.
With
the results posted we come in at 12th outright in the State and
2nd P4. This was good for our points lead and we hold onto 1st
P4 and 5th outright in the State Rally Championship.
The
next round is a Clubman round at Kempsey in 3 weeks time. Given
our new speed there is every chance of winning this outright again
and this will go a long way to us winning clubman outright for
the year.
Thanks
has to go to Shane at MRT for all the dyno time he has helped
me with and Greg Moon from Race brakes for helping with good brake
advice. I have spent many weeks getting the car right with regards
to brakes, power and reliability which will be very important
if we are to finish the year with a good result.
