ADGESPEED
Navigation
» News
» Events
» Preparation
» Subaru Parts
» Cars for Sale
» ECU/Mapping
» Contact
» Links
 Select event:
2010/05 - Epynt Mini Stages (0 images) - created by Adge on 14/06/2010 at 00:19:31
Last weekend Adrian and Mark made their rally debut in the teams new Subaru Impreza on the Epynt Mini Stages. Held over the demanding tarmac roads of the MOD land in Mid Wales, the team were using the event to shake down the new car ready for MSA championship events later in the year. With no recceing and not having rallied for 8 months Adrian and Mark were apprehensive but excited to be finally be out in the new car.

A warm sunny day greeted them as the car sailed through scrutineering, which is always a fraught time with a new car.

Running car 15 on the road Adrian and Mark set off on the 1st stage and it was only after a mile that Adrian felt something wasn't quite right as the handling started to deteriorate and this slowly got worse and thinking might have had a puncture slowed down towards the end of the stage. On investigating the problem after the stage, a rear wheel bearing had gone and due to safety concerns the marshalls wouldn't release them until after the finish of stage 4.

After some road side repairs Adrian and Mark made it back to the service area so the team could fix the hub.

After fixing the hub and making some suspension adjustments Adrian and Mark were able to compete in the Trophy Rally part of the event covering the last 4 stages of the main event. This a least allowed them to get some more miles on the car. The trophy rally started 5 minutes after the main rally, but on the last stage the marshalls made them set off 30 seconds behind a Nissan Micra, which they promptly caught after 1 mile, this cost time as although the Micra driver made every effort to let them past, the roads were very narrow and some time was lost. However this had little bearing on the result as running car 1 in the trophy rally, there was little competition and they won it by 1 minute.

Although it was disappointing to have the bearing failure, the team was satisfied with the progress of the new car and with some modifications to various aspects of the car to be completed for the next rally, Adrian was very upbeat as the car is so much better than the old car in the power and braking departments, that when the suspension settings are optimised, the car will be a significant step forward.

The team are now busy doing various mods and upgrades to get the car ready for its 1st big challenge the Tyneside Stages on Otterburn on the 1st August 2010 the 6th round of the MSA Asphalt championship.