|
Post by chrisfinch on Mar 23, 2006 16:27:45 GMT
Another disappointing result for me, but another good finish for James. We aren't looking too bad for a decent end of season finish.
|
|
|
Post by evospi on Mar 24, 2006 17:58:53 GMT
Which rally next?
|
|
|
Post by Grenville on Mar 24, 2006 23:53:42 GMT
Rally Argentina. A high altitude, high risk event with lots of water splashes!
|
|
|
Post by Mitch on Mar 25, 2006 6:10:31 GMT
Mitch quotes:
"An okay rally for me. Not much to talk about. The championship is really hotting up though and is really close which is a testament to all teams and officials.
FTRS and Mixa are both on 16 Nick, James and Viv on 14 5 drivers on 13
FTRS - Stobart - 16 Mixa - Citroen - 16 Nick - Mitsubishi - 14 James - RedBull - 14 Vivski - Ford - 14 Mitch - Stobart - 13 Curt - Subaru - 13 Danii - Subaru - 13 Matt - Citroen - 13 RJ - OMV Peugeot - 13 R83 - Suzuki/Mitsu - 12 Igor - OMV Peugeot - 11 EvoSpi - Mitsubishi - 10 (GREAT WIN) CFinch - RedBull - 10 Lita - Skoda Czech - 10 Tumbo - Skoda Czech - 3 Nicole - Ford - 2
|
|
|
Post by Grenville on Mar 25, 2006 23:25:35 GMT
Argentina was a fantastic rally which saw struggling Ford driver, Nicole, finally clinch a win! Also Skoda's Tumbo had a great result finishing 2nd and leaving with 8 points which has helped put the team back in the Manuf. title hunt. Bad luck did strike though. The Subaru team had bad luck with both of their drivers. Curt rolled his Subaru on the stage. With help from the spectators he was able to get it back on the road, only to be told by the race stewards that his car was unsafe for competition, thus causing retirement from the rally. Subaru's 2nd driver Danii was looking like she could win the rally, when bad luck struck on the final stage where she knocked off her rear wheel. She was able to make it to the end of the stage, but with a lot of time lost dropping down to 7th. Next team to fall fowl was Citroen. Though Matt scored 6 points for Citroen, Mixa's Xsara caught fire, ending any chances of finishing the rally. It was a fantastic rally and the season has only just begun. Join us next week in Italy for the 1st rough gravel test of the season! Mixa's Xsara caught fire destroying any hope of winning Curt rolled his Subaru eventually putting him out of the rally Nicole won the rally after a great drive! Danii was looking set to challenge for a win, when she knocked off her rear wheel.
|
|
|
Post by Grenville on Mar 25, 2006 23:33:19 GMT
Not a great rally for us but its only the 2nd for the Suzuki. We had some teething troubles in the form of our turbo. We lost boost on the 1st stage and I had to deal with that on the 2nd stage also. Setting the 2nd fastest time with FTRS was a great way to finish the rally. It is still early and I am not too discouraged.
|
|
|
Post by Curt on Mar 25, 2006 23:34:12 GMT
Looks like I'm going to need a win pretty soon if I'm to have a chance at winning. That roll hasn't helped
|
|
|
Post by Vivski on Mar 26, 2006 7:20:51 GMT
Congrats to Nicole for her brilliant win! She held her nerve and hunted down Tumbo in the final stage. A very impressive drive and I hope it will kick start her season and inspire some more top results for our manufacturer title bid.
I struggled somewhat with setup. I wasn't comfortable with the understeer in the car, so we loosened it up but then the lateral grip wasn't there. We got it right in the second stage but then I cut a left hander but the indise wheel caught a big hole and bent the steering arm.
We'll go away from here pretty happy but there's still a lot of work to do to get all the bugs out of this new car.
|
|
|
Post by chrisfinch on Mar 26, 2006 9:40:01 GMT
The Red Bull Skoda Finch view
After a lot of disappointing finishes outside the top 10, I'm glad to be back in the points, it's only my second points position of the season!!!
James had a bad finish, and I'm only a point behind him now, and we're equal 4th in the championship. With a bit of luck, and more consistent finishes we'll do well.
Of course, congratulations to Nicole.
|
|
|
Post by mattwrc on Mar 26, 2006 10:43:29 GMT
Kronos Report:
Well our luck seemed to vary this week, a podium finish and £500,000 or more went up in smoke.
Championship wise it was a good weekend in some respects we are now leading in the manufactor standings and i have closed the gap down between myself and Stobarts FTRS
And Finally, well done to Nicole
|
|
|
Post by tumbo on Mar 26, 2006 11:02:52 GMT
Quote from Tumbo
"Well it seems as if for once luck has run my way. The car was on the pace from the start of the event. The kms of testing helped me to feel comfortable with my setup and attack from the outset. My speed in the first two stages was surprising as I felt the rear of the car was slightly sluggish and so worked hard at pulling it around the bends, but it didn't seem to be a major handling issue. To come second is fantastic but i need to apologise to the team. Out of camera sight I clipped a hard rock wall a mere 2kms from the finish. The damage to the rear left tyre wall was quite bad and resulted in a poor finish; limping home to prevent further damage. hopefully this is the turn of the corner; but we will have to see. Lita performed strongly but was unfortunate not to finish higher up. Congrats to Nicole on her win; she pushed through strongly and made the most of my error."
|
|
|
Post by evospi on Mar 26, 2006 12:41:28 GMT
Mitsubishi Motors MotorSport: "Once again it was another 1/1 for Mitsubishi as my partner Nick got through but I didn't. A large part of it was down to the tyre choice in the beginning where Nick had chosen the ultimately softer tyres with more grip but less speed. I had taken the harder ones and had battled with them, once nearly even loosing control of the car as it was 1-wheel-drive and going off, as is evident from my stage time on Leg 1." "On Leg II, however, Pirelli director Mario Isola came down and educated me a bit on the different tyre structures and helped me pick something intermediate for the day whilst Nick stayed with the soft tyres. Again, as my stage time represents it was much, much better but then somewhere near the ending of the stage on a tricky ravine, I felt the loss of pressure and a rock tore my bumper off which bliped the time to a furthur 5 seconds extra. Cautiously, I finished but Nick was ahead once again by 8 whole seconds and there was still a lot to be desired." "Then on Leg III I had nearly lost heart but Nick wished me luck and savouring that, I headed for an all-out assault and an end to the somewhat shambolic driving. As I was the Leg opener I paid for it by having to tackle the untamed gravel all by myself with my rivals getting the better but with the Evo reflecting my nature, I floored it and came only 5 seconds behind partner Nick, who then went on to recieve his place two knots down the podium. It was, all in all, a good day, but a valuable thing that I have learnt is that tyre choice is always a gamble but to seek out your more experienced team compatriots first."
|
|
|
Post by rallynick on Mar 26, 2006 16:50:48 GMT
another solid result for myself, and evospi got valuble data to help develop our package.
its nice that i have a strong position in the driver standings, but i will only be happy when we are leading the manu. championship again
|
|
|
Post by nicole on Mar 27, 2006 8:01:28 GMT
hey guys!!
Well looks like I had some smooth driving this time round! Not doing too great overall but hopefully I'll have more luck in the future. Goodluck everyone....
|
|
|
Post by Grenville on Mar 28, 2006 14:47:26 GMT
Peugeot have been testing an updated version of the 307 that they hope to debut in Italy. Also Citroen are still testing their Citroen C4 that they hope to debut next season. There are rumors that we will see it in a rally this season, but nothing has been confirmed.
|
|