Although disappointed with a failure to finish the Second Heat of the final round of the Australian Rally Championship this weekend, MRT are satisfied with the testing completed and the stage times they ran in Heat 1 and Heat 2.
"We ran a conservative pace today, the snow was amazing and we were not willing to risk going off the road to simply mix it with the championship contenders especially on my birthday." Brett said. "I look forward to celebrating Subaru's many wins at tonight's prize giving dinner" he added.
MRT came 3rd Outright (in the ARC) in the P5 category behind 1st place Possum Bourne and 2nd place Neal Bates. [More results below]
The first two stages of Sundays Heat One were run in the rare occurrence of almost blizzard conditions on some road sections. As teams climbed the steep mountain roads, heavy rain turned to snow and for some, including MRT, this made driving treacherous.
A delay in Stage 2 allowed crews to discuss the conditions in clearing weather!
"The first cars reported falling snow but none on the road, however as it continued to fall it built up on the roads and the mud became covered by a light covering of the white stuff, but it was downright scary if we drove off the rally line" Brett said. "amazingly 10 cars, later, behind us, drove in almost sunny conditions as the snow stopped and the road cleared by competing crews" he added.
Incredibly the second stage was similar the first but the snow falling not so heavy, even though the roads were at a higher altitude.
As earlier reported, MRT planned to set a steady pace, using the event to test components for next years season. The gearset they did final testing on proved reliable and incredibly easy to shift. "Lyndall and I had fun today, I got used to the new Dog box and Differential and relaxed a little, it certainly makes the car easier and faster to drive" Brett said.
Unfortunately in what is expected to have been caused by Heat 1's fuel starvation problems the team failed to finish the Second last stage, Styx River road. The team were 7th fastest on Saturday but they coasted to a stop 5km form the finish today.
"The fuel starvation was very rough on the driveline as it "surged and missed and farted" through the stage and I expect this heavy backlash weakened the clutch driven plate and it finally gave up today" Brett said. The clutch went soggy 2 km prior to complete failure, so its ironic that whilst we were testing gearbox parts, the clutch failed!" he added.
The team is currently contemplating competing in the final round of the NSW state Championship in Canberra in 4 weeks time. "The Subaru Impreza is fun to drive and, I want one more run in the car this year as its simply getting better and better" Brett said
Although MRT have had a tough year they still managed to get 3rd outright in the P5 category, behind Neal Bates and Possum Bourne. "We were comming close with George Shepherd in the Falken tyres Lancer EVO 5, whom came 4th so I am pleased with our result" Brett said
Possum Bourne and Mark Stacey won the ARC outright in their Subaru Impreza WRC followed by Neal Bates and Coral Taylor, Corolla WRC.
Cody Crocker and Greg Foletta won Group N in their Subaru Impreza STi, (and came 3rd outright behind Bates!) ahead of Ed Ordynski and Ian Stewart in a Lancer EVO5.
Dean Herridge and Glen Macneal in their Subaru Impreza STi won the tough Privateers class (and they came 3rd in Group N) just ahead of Stewart Reid and Michelle Murphy in their Falken tyres sponsored Lancer.
The Manufacturers Championship will be finalised at Telecom Rally Australia next month.
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