Errrrr.... Right Now! ;D
Sorry guys, been a bit preoccupied with all this Christmas stuff, add a few Birthdays as well and I've been a bit busy. Anyways...
The opening round of the championship in Monte Carlo saw the beginning of a new era in rallying, with many manufacturers utilising the technological advances in forced induction and four wheel drive, made possible with the new Group B regulations. Of the six manufacturers participating in the championship, four utilise four wheel drive and forced induction engines. The Audi Quattro is the only five cylinder turbo in the field, and it also has the most powerful engine, with a figure rumoured to be around 550 horsepower! Lancia and Peugeot have both chosen small hatchback vehicles as the base for their rally machines. The Peugeot’s main advantage should be its small size and nimbleness, while Lancia’s unique supercharged and turbocharged machine will help to offset the disadvantage of turbo lag. Ford has only just completed their fantastic RS200, so the team are optimistic having limited testing opportunities. Toyota is still backing on the drivability and reliability of rear wheel drive, while the team continues to develop a new car for the proposed Group S regulations. Austin Rover are the only team with a naturally aspirated engine, as the team are of the opinion that the more even torque curve in the V6 will be easier to drive than the turbos.
During the off-season game of musical chairs, only two drivers stayed with their respective teams. Mixa stayed on with Toyota, while Bart was able to broker a last minute deal with Lancia to drive their all-new Delta S4. However, Bart and his team mates Igor and Chris are aware that should one of their cars be written off on this event, then they will have to make do with a superseded Lancia 037 until the factory can complete another one.
Although there were new teams, new cars and new drivers, one thing that isn’t new, is the difficult nature of the Monte Carlo Rally. Cold temperatures and snow fall in the mountains leading up to the event would insure that ice and snow would be encountered in the higher altitudes.
On the first stage of the event, Audi sent an ominous warning to its rivals, with drivers JJ and Curt setting the two fastest stage times. Sarah could have made it a 1-2-3, had it not been for a stall on the stage start and a costly spin. A lack of testing clearly didn’t worry Mitch who was third fastest in the RS200, six seconds clear of Igor. Mitch’s team mate Luigi had a terrible start, losing first gear.
Stage 2 was about hairpin bends, and the larger cars struggled on the tight and narrow corners. The Audi Quattros, although the most powerful, were also the biggest in size, and Curt and Sarah struggled to post a competitive time. JJ defied the trend however, pushing to the maximum everywhere else to increase his lead. Luigi had to tackle the hairpins without first gear, while Mitch’s good start was being overshadowed by turbo problems. Mary was now up to a superb third overall, proving that rear wheel drive technology is still competitive. Nick driving the new 205 T16 was fastest on the stage, and along with team mate Vivski, where able to move up the standings into fourth and fifth respectively.
The final stage of the first day was a lot more open and flowing, which mean that Luigi didn’t have to worry about first gear apart from the stage start. Fourth fastest was an encouraging result, as was Sarah’s fastest overall time as she looked to put the first day’s drama behind her. The drama in fact was now surrounding the Lancia team, in particular Chris and Igor. Both drivers reported a lack of turbo boost and both fell down the leaderboard. At the top, JJ was still in the lead, while Igor’s demise had gifted Toyota a surprise second place at the end of the first day. The two Peugeots of Nick and Vivski were third and fourth, while the two aforementioned Lancia drivers were fifth and sixth. Curt’s Audi was tied with Igor for equal sixth in the overall standings, while Len’s Metro rounded out the top eight.
Day 2 dawned with clear conditions, however cold overnight temperatures would mean that there would be ice patches on many of the stages. On Stage 4, Vivski took the stage win, moving up into second place ahead of his teammate Nick. The icy conditions caught out Mary’s rear wheel drive Celica and she dropped to fifth as a result. After setting the fifth fastest time on the opening stage of the day, JJ was still in the overall lead. Luigi’s second fastest time moved the Ford driver from fourteenth to ninth place.
On Stage 5, the time gained by many competitors on the previous stage was lost. Will’s Peugeot set the third fastest time, while his teammates Vivski and Nick dropped two places. Chris was able to move into third despite only recording the seventh fastest time. The two fastest drivers over Stage 7 were his Lancia teammates Bart and Igor, who both moved the leaderboard. JJ’s consistent approach was paying dividends, while Mary was back up to second again.
The final stage of Day 2 was the famous run over the Col de Turini. Run in complete darkness, surprsingly there were no retirements on the stage, despite the icy road conditions. But there was no repeat of last season’s heroic run from Mixa. The Finn has been struggling with the Celica, and posted a time almost five and a half minutes off the stage winner. Scoring his second stage win in a row was Lancia driver Bart, who ended the day in fourth behind his teammate Chris. Mary struggled for traction and dropped to fifth, while second fastest time for Nick, netted second place overall at the end of the second leg. The hot-cold RS200 of Luigi was red-hot across the Col, finishing third fastest and moving up to sixth. But Audi driver JJ was still in control, holding a fifty second lead heading into the final day.
Snow had fallen on the higher stages overnight, making the run to the finish of the Monte Carlo Rally very treacherous. Stage 7 was below the snowline however, so if any of the other drivers were to catch JJ, this stage would be piviotal. The man closest to the rally leader was Peugeot driver Nick. Nick was fourth fastest on the stage, only six seconds slower than the stage winner. However, equal second fastest on the stage, five seconds quicker than the Peugeot was Lancia driver Bart and the leader JJ. The stage winner was Len driving the MG Metro 6R4. The stage win was a rare highlight for the MG team, who have had a forgettable rally struggling with setup and gearbox issues.
The penultimate stage of the event was a rerun of the imposing Col de Turini, and the extra covering of ice and snow finally caught some drivers out. Luigi’s up-down rally ended on the downhill run of successive hairpins. The Belgian slid wide and clouted a rock wall, damaging the rear suspension. Unperturbed by the off Luigi continued, only for the wayward RS200 to spear off the road at the next hairpin, this time finding a rather large tree and damaging the front suspension. Curt’s Audi suffered a similar fate on the same section of road, but the retirement was almost instant when contact with the rock wall ripped off a wheel. Igor was another retirement, but his problem was mechanical when the Lancia S4 gave up on the uphill run. For the record, Vivski was fastest over the mountain pass, while Mitch’s RS200 was second. Last year’s winner Bart was making up for a slow start, moving into second place overall. Leader JJ was not backing off however, fourth fastest on stage and the Welshman now had a lead of just over a minute heading into the final stage.
On the final stage, Vivski made it three stage wins for the weekend moving up into sixth place. After an eventful run over the Col caused some damage to his S4, Chris was able to guide his car into fifth place, while Mary was able to pass and grab a creditable fourth. Despite losing time in the final stages, Nick was able to finish on the podium for Peugeot, while Bart finished second. Although the Belgian was able to narrow the gap to the leader, the gain was only slight, so JJ won the rally by a margin of fifty-six seconds. JJ had led the rally since the very first stage of the rally, and despite not winning any more stages, the Welshman drove the perfect balance of speed, consistency and caution to win one of the trickiest Montes in years comprehensively.
More snow and ice await the crews in the next round of the RFC in Sweden. Be sure to join us then for more, red-hot Group B action!