Sausages, Walls

Jersey Rally Report

by Brian Cammack

Leaving the start

How was I to know that a visit to Oakington as a club steward to assist Middlesex County would lead to Whiplash injuries in Jersey? Well as they say “that’s rallying”, and here’s the story.

It was whilst on his way to the winners rostrum that Dick Mauger asked me if I was going to do the Jersey Rally with Simon. Up until then I’d had no intentions but, having been dormant since February there was a certain appeal and Jersey did owe me one. So I called Simon, who up until that time had little or no intention of doing anything except service for Dick as, he had no car and was not keen to use one of Dick’s.

It was a month later and just ten days before the rally that Simon called me back and asked if I was still interested; I was but would check with the powers that be before making a final decision. You would be mistaken if you thought that Simon had everything else in place, like a car for instance. Well there was a possibility of a Group A Astra but negotiations where still ongoing.

Eight days later at 1:00 am, having had one hours sleep, that’s one hour more than Simon I picked him up from home on route to his workshop where the Astra was loaded up in readiness for the trip down to the ferry at Weymouth. It would be a mere 14 hours of which at least two where spent sleeping, before we would take our first look at some of the stages and begin to realise just how much work needed to be done on the pace notes.

In for service

It was not only the notes that needed a lot of work but the car was still not to Simon’s liking and would require several workshop hours prior to crossing the start ramp. So what was the problem, we still had a whole day to recce five stages, sort the car and write up the pace notes. There was a lot of hard work ahead with, a late night and early morning before scrutineering on Friday morning.

The Jersey Rally is a good event and knowing some of what to expect this second time around made things a little easier but there where sure to be one or two unexpected surprises. After scrutineering we should have had an hour and a half in which to sort out paperwork, make sense of the organisers maps, shower and change before attending the town centre start formalities. Well we got back to the hotel and it was all of about ten minutes before all hell broke loose. The town centre formalities where taking place now not in an hours time, which put paid to any plans as we threw on our overalls and headed for the start.

Early on the Friday afternoon we set off for the first loop of stages. Each loop consisted of just two stages with a short service after each pair. Though it was not raining the roads where wet and we started with cut intermediates which would be retained for most of the day.

It was Simon’s first event since Jersey 2002, my first since February, the car was new to Simon and it would take us time to gel as a team. With this in mind we where prepared to let ourselves settle in and pick up the pace as the day wore on. Bearing this in mind it was good to be setting top ten stage times from the outset though we where 24 seconds off the leaders pace on SS.1. There was no need to worry, car two who had set that quick time and who had also written the original pace notes (no that should not be allowed to happen, but this is Jersey) buried the front of his Evo VI into a wall on SS.2. Simon was already getting to grips with the Astra and we where third fastest, just 4 seconds off the pace.

The afternoon would continue in a similar vein with 9th, 3rd and 6th fastest before we had a bit of luck on SS.6. Several crews where held up and given a notional time which cost us about 10 seconds but it could have been about 30 as we had almost run out of fuel near the end of the stage. In our defence the gauge was misleading and we would not make the same mistake again. We where 5th fastest on the days final daylight stage, just 7 seconds off the pace and that was the same stage as SS.1.

So it was time to bolt on the lights and head out to stage eight, The Waterworks, which was the longest and most technical stage of the rally. Once at the stage start we where held along with the rest of the field for an extraordinary amount of time. We could have been waiting for the road closure times or for complete darkness to descend but there was another reason. Jersey has its own legendary, aging rally star by the name of Chris Le Bonniec. Unfortunately he had already encountered problems with his hired Ford Focus WRC and was to appear from the back of the field and leap to the front. Miraculously the stage was now ready to run as could only happen in Jersey.

Unfortunately on our first run we made a mess of an impossible hairpin but where 7th fastest and 17 seconds down on the fastest. The other stage in this loop was for the spectators but lasting just 46 seconds would have no effect on the results. So after service it was back to The Waterworks and this time Simon got the hairpin and for that matter the rest of the stage right. We where 3rd fastest, just 2 seconds slower than one of the crews that we would lock horns with for most of the following day in a 2.5 Cosworth powered Mk.2.

Over the three runs at this stage our aggregate times put us 3rd fastest, just 8 seconds off the fastest, Eian Pritchard, a Motorsport News regular. Unfortunately the 4th and final run was cancelled due to an accident and a lack of road closure time. If I found out that road closure time was wasted earlier in the evening I would be less than amused as we now had the slicks on and where disappointed not to put them through their paces; maybe tomorrow if it stayed dry for long enough.

Overnight we where reseeded and would start Saturday morning 5th on the road. So an early morning followed Simon’s late night and, it was raining. Those slicks never did find there way back out of the van but due to a small error for which I will take some of the blame we found our way out to the mornings first stage on odd tyres at the rear. Needless to say that was rectified but we won’t go into any details.

We where now on stage 15, just half way through the rally but we would be a bit off the pace (9 seconds) which Simon put down to the late night, though to be honest it only looked slow when compared with what was to follow. The format was the same for this second day with each loop of two stages punctuated by a short service, at which you could guarantee rain just in case you where thinking of using anything but intermediates.

It did not take long to wake up as our time for stage 16 showed. It was our first, fastest time, one second ahead of Steve Fleck in his Subaru WRC. This was followed by 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd and 5th on stages that where predominantly damp or wet. Following the demise of Eian Pritchard and faster stage times than Mark Slater in his 6R4 we where now up to 3rd overall, and on the road. The top three crews where setting consistently quick times, separated by only a hand full of seconds over these stages with Mark Slater the best of the rest.

On the final stage of this loop, just before the days main service we would take our second, fastest time, just piping local man Jeremy Baudins in the 2.5 Cosworth Escort Mk2 who was lying second overall behind Steve Fleck. Two years earlier, Simon and I had led this rally in Dick’s Escort Cosworth and Simon had driven well only to be stopped by the engines demise. This year his driving had been almost faultless and to be on the pace, much closer to the limit. Using the best handbrake technique that I have ever witnessed Simon had managed to tame a car that, despite all the hard work was still difficult to drive. On the mornings stages we had dropped eleven seconds to Steve Fleck and had equalled Jeremy Baudins so we where still 22 seconds behind the latter.

We had not become accustomed to much in the way of service time but now we had an hour and a half which allows you plenty of time in which to change your mind about the tyres. I must also thank the girls who had kept the kettle hot and the sandwich bag full.

Now for the final loop, four runs at each of the last pair of stages. The first of these used a section of fast undulating, wide coast road which was to give us our biggest scare of the rally (so far). On a fast right hander the back end let go and initially I thought that we where headed into the scenery. However, Simon gathered it all back together and though he was now less than certain about the cars handling, we where 3rd fastest, 8 seconds slower than the WRX.

Before starting SS.24 we tried to change the nearside rear tyre in case it was soft, but the centre did not fit over the hub and so we would have to carry on as before. The weather conditions where deteriorating, the car was understeering on left handers and Simon had made a minor error in the pace notes about half way through the stage. The result was both painful and expensive. In what must have been less than a second I had time to do two things. The first was a thought, “this is going to hurt”, and the second was to hold my head forward in an effort to prevent whiplash injuries.

Even at about 40 MPH the end of the rectory wall did not move whereas the front of the car did, leaving us with no radiator and no gears. It had been good and we had given Jersey our best shot. I would like to thank Simon for a stunning drive and Nick, Dave, Kevin and Dave who looked after the car.

Brian