Sunday, October 25, 2009

Prologue Day


Well we made it through Prologue!

The team plan for today was to take it very, very easy and just cruise through the prologue stage. There was nothing to be gained by driving hard today, just seeding position for tomorrow and even that was not a definite thing. The overall seeding (order in which cars start) is fairly random.


We arrived at the start of the stage to be told that there was gravel on the road for the first 4km's. In fact it was all gravel. There was no grip at all and it was like driving in marbles for the whole 7+k's. That didn't stop us from catching a Maserati just 3 minutes into the stage!

He then held us up till the end, there was just too much gravel on the road to pass without both of us loosing a windscreen so we stayed back and just toured behind them. This unfortunately means we posted a time about 30 seconds slower than we should have.


The main thing was that we completed the day without mishap. Just a few minor problems were found by the service crew upon our return and they sorted them out. Mind you had they not found the problems there certainly would have been major trouble tomorrow. Good work guys!


The car is now safely stored away in Parc Ferme for the night awaiting tomorrow official start.

I'm not looking forward to the race track stages, they are very hard on the car and tyres so I'm planning to take it easy on these stages and make up my time on the twisty back roads where I am more comfortable. We are the first cars to race on the new Hampton Downs race track, so that in itself is something to look forward to.


Till tomorrow... Ron
Great atmosphere at the Telstra Clear Events centre with over 90 cars entered complete with service crews. There were displays from car clubs, the police and also good to see was an autocross demo setup by the local escort club. Not to mention, a 4WD club was also doing some demos over dirt mounds and obstacles.

We started by driving on the weigh station and finding ourselves rather overweight and so removed the 27kg ballast weight from Ron’s side of the car. We then made our way to the documentation tables, logging ourselves in relatively easily. I must say, I am pretty happy with how the event has been organised.. Considering the number of competitors, they have done well in keeping everything running smoothly.

After the driver’s briefing, we were out and getting ready for beginning in an hour’s time. Not before lunch though, man they had nice mussel fritters there. A gigantic thing for $6 that was larger than the piece of white sliced bread it was on.

Off we went to SS1, Prologue. A roughly 7.8km stage full of gravel, we had a bit of early excitement with Ron sliding on some of those marbles and running a little sideways. He must have been distracted by the set of tyre marks that went straight ahead off the road… sounds like that car made it back onto the road without too much issue though.

Well, a great way to start the event. We got through prologue without major issues and catching the Maserati is a good confidence boost. Once we get further into the event and start going a bit faster, it’ll sure be a hell of a ride.
Walking around the event centre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2gUWxagWG4
Victor
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)