Jersey Rally 200415th / 16th October 2004Report by Peter Wood Thame had three crews for this closed road event:
The weather was awful, with 2 inches of rain and even hail to cope with. The field was led away by a Chris le Bonniec in a Ford Focus WRC, John Morgan in an Escort WRC and Steve Fleck (the eventual winner) in his £250k ex works Subaru. This is the event where a local co-driver is worth his weight in gold. Dick / Andrew: Dick was down with a bad throat infection, so not on top form. He said that it took awhile for the team to pull together on this notes event. Car ran well for most of the event, but developed a mis-fire on the last few stages. Finished 17th overall and 5th in class. Simon / Brian: The car only arrived on the previous Saturday, and they set off on Wednesday for the ferry! The car was pretty quick – some 230bhp with dog box etc. but would have been much nicer with some preparation time. Throttle was like a switch – full on or nothing, and a very tight diff tried to throw the car off line in the wet, needing a lot of handbrake. Simon wrung the best out of the car, taking three fastest stage times o/all! They were lying 3rd overall, beaten only by Fleck and a local Cossy 2.5ltr, when disaster struck on SS24 (of 30 stages).A bad note combined with a soft rear tyre meant they hit a granite wall head on at 30-40! Crew fine, but stiff necks and shoulders. Andy / John: Upset by the seeding – more power and lower seed? Notes were dangerous! Example: Absolute/ Absolute / 40 /Square Left! You try going flat out and slowing in 40 metres to square right! Event was very well run, with very greasy stages. Big thanks to Hella for the excellent lamps – passed two Cossy in the dark! Competitor directly in front of Andy warned him to be careful as the route went passed his house – you guessed it, as Andy arrived to see him on his roof in his front garden! Set 5th fastest on one Friday stage, and happy to be up to 8th overall at overnight halt. Car continued to run really well, and delighted to finish 7th overall, 2nd in class of 30, their best result to date in Jersey. They picked up the awards, loaded up for the ferry, landed at Weymouth at 01:00 and drove straight to Oakington, where they finished 2nd overall, their best result here and won the Oakington Trophy for the third year running – what a great weekend! Home | News / Info | Calendar | Event Reports | Photo Gallery | Rally Teams | Contacts | Links - Updated Sunday, 24 February, 2008 |
