Tuesday 19 April 2011

The bitter side!

Hi All,
So, we headed to Portugal on top of our game, at the peak of our confidence and raring to go. We had a great test on the Saturday prior to the rally in our own car. It was fantastic, the road was exactly what the rally stages were made of, and we made lots of progress that day. We were staying in our holiday home in Albufeira which made things feel even more comfortable, it was shaping up to be a cracker. We had a WRC Academy briefing on Monday, guest speaker was Ken Block, what a guy! Tuesday, the recce began, we had a borrowed Renault Twingo, kitted with two trip meters and an in-car camera (it was a sight to behold!). We had two great days recce, I was particularly happy with the first stage on Friday, it was a really nice stage, and I knew straight away this was my stage to push - this molded the whole weekend. On Wednesday evening, we had the official WRC Academy test. I only done two very slow runs to make sure the car was OK, we had done all our hard work on Saturday.
Thursday morning, 6am and we were all loaded onto a coach for a four hour trip to Lisbon for the Super Special Stage. Here, the WRC Academy was officially launched, with guest speakers such as Michele Mouton, and Malcolm Wilson, it was a truly great experience, and I was delighted to be part of it. We done the recce for the stage in golf buggy's (great fun was had I must say!) and we had a few hours to relax before the start. We had a small drivers parade going around in the back of vintage cars, and then the rally started...with a bang! I was in the second group of WRC Academy drivers, just off the start of the stage you had a long straight, and then a six left (a tight 90 degree left corner). It was partially on cobbles, and I just misjudged my braking, came in way to fast and had to fire the car around on the handbrake. Just when I thought I was after getting away with it, I hit a concrete bollard with the rear right wheel, and bent it dramatically. I really thought that was it, I was sure the wheel would fall off, and I didn't think we were allowed fix it in the evening. However, I plodded round, got to the finish, and to my amazement we were 2nd fastest! I have no idea how, but I wasn't complaining! Got the all clear that we could fix the car, time to relax, we got away with it.
Friday AM, and the rally started proper. The famous first stage that I was looking forward to so much was moments away, and I was buzzing. We had a really good stage, finding the rhythm instantly. The car, pacenotes, everything was perfect, and I was doing what I do best. We set a brilliant time, 10 seconds clear of everyone else, and we had laid our marker. However all was not well, when we came to the stop car, the gearbox was making a horrid noise, it sounded like it was going to give up. We had to really nurse the car through the next two stages, avoiding 3rd gear at times, but still we managed to take 10 seconds a stage off of everyone, I was so happy to get to service. We had to change the gearbox in service, a great effort. We lost 10 seconds with a penalty on the way out, but we were still 20 in front.
The same stages repeated, and we were back setting the pace. Fastest by 6 on the first one out, but then more trouble on the next. We broke a gearbox mounting early in the stage and the engine began to move around violently. But, all was not lost, our closest rival Yeray Lemes stopped in the stage, so we were well in front, over a minute. We chose to slow right down, still only loosing 0.1 of a second on the second last one, but over 30 on the last stage of the evening, it was very rough and no reason to push.
Saturday morning, the first stage was very tricky and the end featured a very technical fast section. I chose not to push, dropping 9 seconds to the fastest time, but I was still happy. Second one, and we picked it up a little, quickest by 10, we laid our marker once more. Then, onto the third one and disaster. A really deceptive second gear corner of a narrow crest, and I just got caught out when I got to it, and turned the wrong way on the crest and down a steep embankment. It was all over, stuck and no way of getting out. All we could do was dwell on the outright speed and consistency we had, and work on winning in Sardinia.
We hadn't long to think about it, we were back out the following weekend in the next British Rally Championship round, Bulldog International Rally of North Wales. We fared a lot better, 1st in R2 and 1st in the Fiesta Sport Trophy rally. We were 3rd in Formula 2, but we just couldn't match the speed of the R3 cars of Mark Donnelly and Marty McCormack. Still, I feel we proved our speed once more, and up one more rung on the confidence ladder.
Then last weekend, to round off a trio of rallying weekends, we had the Moonraker Forestry Rally in Ireland. It was a small Irish National Forestry Championship Rally, but more mileage in the R2 car nonetheless. We were having a great day, leading two wheel drive and 3rd overall, but we suffered a puncture on the second last stage, and dropped back to 5th overall. Still, 1st in class, and 1st two wheel drive was a good day.
So now, a break, and time to train for Sardinia. I'm putting a huge push on my training for Sardinia, it's going to be really tough ,the weather looks like it's going to be mega hot- and I can't wait! It looks a very similar rally to Portugal, which bodes really well considering our speed there, so it's all looking good. We still have a round of the British Rally Championship, the Pirelli International Rally in Carslisle, but the big emphasis is on Sardinia, I can't wait!
Anyway, you'll catch me on twitter, I'm off for a run!
See you soon,
Craig