News - Rally New Zealand - Day3, 23rd September 2001

Team News from MRT

Rally New Zealand - Day3, 23rd September 2001

Was a little earlier 1st car 6.30 am, as we had crept up the field with no problems we were started at more respectable position on the road, the cars in front of us were within reach and Andrew and myself were wound up to gain some places prior to the last stages in Maramarua Forest.

A 75 km transport to the main service area of the day, Tekauwhata (Tikawata) then a further 36 to the most southern stages made it hard to stay alert. The first proper Special Stage SS17 was only 5km, a stage we had to be careful as we had only done pace notes in one run, (with the Recce' Schedule being ridiculously tight we simply ran out of time to make a second pass to check our notes). This stage proved to be great, roads similar to my liking and we attacked and had some fun, my confidence in the car showing and setting s reasonable stage time and pushing the limits a little more.

SS18 was a more respectable 31km and on roads we enjoyed and this showed in our results, we ripped over half a minute off the cars in front to peg back some lost time. Back to main service and it was time for famous Maramarua, a pine forest well known for both this WRC event as well as by locals who use it for testing and many local events. The stages were repeated twice and we had 3 unique ones to do, with a total of 50km competitive. By this stage I was really worried with the noises coming from the gearbox, it was getting harder and harder to get into 1st gear and add to this the fact that this was not our "regular" reliable Dog box that we ran, it was a Synchro Gear set that we had not planned in our preparation to do so many Km's!

At this stage we decided that it was wise to finish so the pace we had in chasing the cars in front was backed off, add to this the roads that were in Maramarua with two runs each and a heap of WRC's were badly rutted and had huge rocks exposed everywhere. A flat tyre would be bad and then there was no service to get another spare so to risk this would be disastrous!

The last two stages were the same and its a pity, because they were the best of the forest, very similar to some here in Australia...... From here our NZ trip basically turned bad....at the start control the gearbox blew a hole in the side of the case (the size of a matchbox) and dumped all its oil, we smelt it and as the clocked ticked down I hung out from my drivers seat to look underneath to see a river off gearbox oil flowing off the sump guard, my heart felt like it had stopped, we had come so far, done so much work, and were basically within 5% of completing the event!
How long would the gearbox last with no oil!

We were about to find out!

SS23 was 10.6km luckily it was fast and flowing so I could drive in 4th and 5th gear, amazingly we got to the end with no "added" noises, 5.5km transport back and we did it again, this time the noises started, but not too bad..!
WOW how far will we get, if we can make the 25km transport back to Te Kauwhata, maybe we can make the added 60km back to Aukland with some ingenuity and a heap of oil!

Well we found out, it lasted just 5km more, on the road transport back to service, the gearbox sounded like it was screaming to be let out! The bearings were seized and it was self destructing, still we had all gears and even after it locked up the rear wheels I managed to get another 3km in 1st gear, until my mechanical sympathy forced me to park the now, steaming car on the side of the road for fear of a full lock up and the risk of further damage to drive shafts and our new engine!

Painfully we called the crew on the 2 way radio and they packed up and come out to collect us. I held my breath and choked back the tears but when I told my 3 1/2 year old daughter (In Sydney by mobile phone) that daddy had broken the car and she replied that she would help fix it, well that was enough!

Here is the official web site www.rallynz.org.nz

Wrap up
The end result was obvious the final 2 stages were a disaster and as I type I have no idea where we were outright, BUT we had fun, we had complete 1600 km of the event and driven on some of the best rally roads in the world, the car was great, the new engine showing heaps of promise, (I cant wait to double the boost!) and the team and hard work by all, paid off.

Thanks to everyone that supported us, thanks to the team in NZ and home who made it all happen and thanks to all the very friendly NZ people who made it that much better to visit.

The big question I have to ask, is why don't more people go to the event to compete or even watch!?

Our next event is possibly in the new year, with my wife having a baby in Dec and lots of work to do, its time to save some money for the new season, we expect to do at least one maybe two international events, one will be New Zealand for sure!

HOME