Round 1

State Rallysprint - Death Adder Dash - Nabiac 01/03/03.

The first big run for our fully rebuilt car proved to be very good, with the car working very well at the weekends first state rally sprint, held at Nabiac, just south of Taree.

This was our first entry in a Cams Rally Sprint, they allow you to write your own pace notes, with one recce run. The way a rallysprint runs is that we are allowed 3 runs one way and then three runs in the reverse direction around the 5.6km stage, with the two best runs in each direction counting towards the final total time. The first run we took on the safe side to see how accurate our notes were and to get a chance to get the timing of the notes right, we recorded a time of 4.11. The next two runs we had a couple of moments in each, we recorded a 4.04 on the second, and on the third run, with a spin under braking on a slippery section, we did better with a 4.03. I knew that if we could get a clean run we would break the 4 min barrier, although the track was rutting up quiet badly.

By lunch break we were sitting as the fastest 2WD, and holding 6th outright which also placed us in the middle of the turbo 4WD's. The next three runs were in the reverse direction with some changes, we were allowed another set of recce notes. The first run we gave it a good go but I was still staying on the safe side, we recorded a time of 4.04, the second run was going to be maximum attack and we recorded a 4.00 flat, with the third and final go we knew we had it in the bag so we just went out for a clean run, by this time the stage was in bad shape, but we still managed to go faster with a 3.59. This was more than enough to win our class, and be the fastest 2wd, even with the buggies, and 6th outright splitting the turbo 4wd's cars.

The car ran faultless all day, thanks to Australian Brake Distributors, the car stops so much better than it ever did with the new Ferodo brake pads, the engine was very very strong, so the engine guy did a good job too ;) Next weekend we are off to Wauchope to do the NSW Cams Clubman Rally, to gain a bit more practice and to size up the opposition as there are no more State rallies un till April.