2003 Clubman BP Clybucca Rally

23rd August 2003

This was the 3rd last round of the NSW Clubman series, with just 120km competitive over 8 stages on a day night format.

We needed to give this one our best shot if we were to have a chance of winning the Clubman series outright this year.

The rally was held in the Clybucca area north of Kempsey, the day was a hot winter day at 28 deg. Car was fully prepped and ready to go. The first stage I pushed, but the grip or lack of it, was very poor so I never had any confidence with braking at the last second. The roads were fast and rough, as well as some very skinny tracks.

Second stage we got the tyre pressures right for heat of the day and then pushed some more, which saw us with our first CAMS fastest stage time. We then had a service and all was good before we took to the stages again. SS3& SS4 I pushed as hard as I dare and with the half way break we were tied in 2nd just 8 seconds behind 1st. I fitted some more good second hand tires and we went for broke in the night, this seen us take a 8 second lead over tied 2nd , But the EVO3 in first took 11 off us, so we just had to keep 2nd.

Second last stage and there was a heap of big jumps, and I was pushing maybe too hard over them and bottomed the sump out, which split it to a point, that the oil was draining out quite quickly, to make matters worse the new terra trip foot switch fell to pieces and we were doing the distances on the fly, this stage saw us go from an 8 second lead to 5 seconds in arrears. With just 7km on the last stage it was a huge ask, and I drove as hard as I dare without being silly, into blind corners, and this was enough to take the lead again and win Clubman outright, which was good for our points and just what we needed. We made it back to service and topped the oil up and finished the rally.

We ended the rally 2nd outright just 20sec behind the turbo 4WD EVO3, given that he isn't running the series, this gave us Clubman 1st outright. We set 3 fastest stage times and took the bar up another level.

Our next rally is the local 2GO on the 13th &14th September, it is the second last round of the Clubman series and 3rd last round of the State championship. I have plans for the car, to strip it down and with the engine out, fab up some new front suspension to correct some suspension geometry issues, along with weight reduction. We are hoping for a good result here.