News - 9th March 2002

Team News from MRT

9th March 2002

Day 2 of the King Street Wharf Harbour City Rally started in the forests of Wyong, approximately 45 minutes north of Sydney.

After refueling the rally car after this transport stage, MRT headed off to Special Stage 2. The weather, although cloudy, only produced short bursts of rain during the morning. However heavy rain overnight had made the roads in some areas extremely slippery. Once SS2 was completed, MRT was in 14th place outright. In retrospect, Brett realised he was a bit overcautious on this stage.

Unfortunately, halfway through SS3 (the first long stage of the rally), the centre viscous differential began to fail, causing the car to intermittently change from 4WD to rear wheel drive modes. Although this stage was mainly long and straight (with 4th and 5th gear speeds), the car was a nightmare to drive.

SS4 was another story. It was extremely sandy and boggy, resulting in huge amounts of wheel spin and placing huge loads on the transfer case. (Subaru's are not designed to run as 2WD drive cars, especially with the amount of power the new Group A engine is producing). By the end of this stage, further damage was being done and the team decided to withdraw stage.

Repairs were completed in time and the rally car is now parked in Parc Ferme for the start of Heat 2 tommorrow. Heat 1 had a high level of attrition with the list including :

Team Subaru having a number of problems, with Possum Bourne (Subaru Impreza) retiring from too many punctures
Michael Guest (Mitsubishi Evolution V) hitting a tree stump
Stephen Handbury (Subaru Impreza) rolling
John Mitchell (Mitsubishi Evolution III) having electrical problems
Tony Sullens (Subaru Impreza) having clutch problems
Rick Bates (Subaru Impreza) with mechanical problems
Kevin Shaw (Subaru Impreza) having an engine fire
John McCredie (Daihatsu Charade DeTomaso) with drive shaft failure
Simon Evans (Subaru Impreza) with fuel pump problems
Sam Brand (Subaru Impreza) off-road and bogged.

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