|
|
Faber I.T. Rally Team |
|
|
|
South Australian Rallysprint Championship Walky Park 29th April 2006
Our 2006 season kicked off with the South Australian Rally Sprint Championships at Walky Park. We arrived at 10:30am to a fairly packed out service park. Forty five entries in total were there including eight buggies to shake things up a bit. Just as we started to get the marque up the rain started to come down and with the heavy rainfall the night before the ground soon started to get pretty damp under foot. We passed through scrutineering and on to recce the first two stages. By this time the tracks were pretty slippery with a few of the two wheel drive cars getting stuck during their recce. We had the pleasure of watching Aaron Haby wick up the big buggy and shower a few of the cars behind him with mud. Maybe this was a warning sign to the other competitors or maybe it was just a sign of things to come!!!
Our first stage started at about 2:00pm. I knew it was going to be bad when it started pelting down as we sat on the start line. This was confirmed when we got to the first corner and with light brakes applied we just sailed straight ahead. We got it back around and continued on our way with a bit more caution. A couple of cars were stuck by the side of the road already so we just made a commitment to get to the finish and take it as easy as we could. Half way through the stage we nudged a wire fence that ran right next to a medium right corner. It was a really slow hit but we had hooked the indicator lens in the fence which then smashed out as we reversed back. Stage two was more of the same but with a few longer straights which were by the time we got to them pretty hairy. A few of the corners were not given the respect they deserved but we made it through without hitting anything. Again there were cars dropping out all over the place but with a service break it gave us a chance to sort a few niggling problems out with the car and recharge the body. It was only about 4:00pm when we went to leave service but we put the driving lights onto the bonnet just in case as the light was fading pretty fast. Aaron had put in some great times on the first two stages and although his buggy was muddy as anything he was havinh an absolute blast. We got to watch him a couple of times whilst we were in regroups and the buggy was just hooking up and holding its mid corner lines a lot better than the cars. He had put in nearly a minute to his nearest competitor and crushed a few opponents spirits in the mean time with some not even starting stage 3.
Stage 3 and 4 were repeats of stages 1 and 2. Susan had changed some of the notes from earlier to give me some more confidence for the slippery sections. We had solved the windscreen fogging problem and with the rain easing our pace was significantly improved. We were still hitting a few strips of bunting but that was just from our increased pace. We had a service/dinner break after stage 4 which was most welcome as the mud was creating some really hard work. Aaron had increased his lead in that second set of stages but he had not been checking his times and was determinded to give it maximum attack in the dark stages as well. About 1km from the end of stage 4 we stalled on a hairpin bend and it took about 1 minute to restart the car. The driving lights had drained the battery and it would now only just turn over. The alternator didn't seem to be giving us enough charge. Taking off for the start of stage 5 and the car wouldn't start. We quickly turned off all the lights and jumped started the car. By now it was fully dark and waiting in line for the stage start with all our lights turned off and the idle set to 2000rpm to try and keep the battery alive we stalled again, this time there was no restarting the car without some help. Jack Monkhouse was there with a spare battery and with the help of Rowan, Aaron, Rob, Ashley and Phil we quickly had the battery swapped, the engine going and we moved further up the queue to start. The officials must have thought we were nuts sitting on the start line with our lights off but we needed to save the battery as much as we could. We got the countdown and with a quick flick of the lights switch on we were off into the darkness with the thought we might not make it back under our own steam.
The tracks had dried out a lot by now and for the first time today we really started to enjoy ourselves. Susan had the notes spot on and we could actually brake into corners and sweep through them without taking to the bushes. It was just a joy to be back into it after six months off over summer. We did make it back out from stage 5 and all the way through stage 6 improving our position in the field and matching stage times with the Mazda Familia of our mate Daniel Nicholls who had given us a bit of a toasting during the muddier stages earlier in the day. Aaron Haby ended up winning the day with his beautiful daughter showing everyone how proud she was of dad by carrying around the trophy for all in the pits to see.
A big thanks go to all our frinds and family who came out to help/support us. Susan did a great job navigating for the first time at state level. Rowan and Phil were amazing again at keeping our cars running ship shape all day and the rest of the crew for making it such a comfortable and enjoyable campout after the racing was finished with.
The question was raised earlier in the year as to if the
buggy would be competitive with the top rally boys in South Australia.
Well done to the organising team of Lisi and Ethan Pickstock. It was a really fun weekend and for everyone that stayed around for the Come and Try it Day can see the benefit of having events run out there on Saturdays so that people can camp over on Saturday night. The atmosphere around the campfire on Saturday night was brilliant with plenty of tales told and friends made. See you all next year.
On Sunday we took part in the Walkerville All Cars Club Come and Try it Day. We used a few different tracks throughout the day and had the pleasure of showing Steve Huctchins and his son Ben from Norhterns Plumbtec and Nick and Emma what rallying is all about. It was a fun filled day with Rowan using Carls winning buggy from the day before on a few runs and then I was lucky enough to take it on the last stage of the day. What a blast, now I know why they like it so much. Can't wait to see them racing at Waikerie later in the year. Thanks again to Ethan Pickstock for running the day and to the officials who ran the controls and looked after the catering.
Photos from the two days. Video footage from the two days.
Photos courtesy of Tim Auld.
The 2006 rally season kicks off this weekend with the State Rallysprint Championship near Truro at the W.A.C.C property Walky Park. Racing starts at 1:15pm and continues through to a finish at around 10:00pm. There is a field of 38 cars competing with the H.B.T. Buggy of Aaron Haby starting car 11 and the Faber I.T. Subaru RX Turbo of Andrew Gooley number 28. Other entries include regular Australian Rally Championship competitor Sam Brand in his 2005 Subaru STi Spec C Impreza. We are really looking forward to seeing how the V8 Lexus powered buggy of Aarons goes up against one of the best rally cars in Australia. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Jack Monkhouse will be driving the Zero Car (course car). After camping out on Saturday night after the event we are taking part in the Come and Try It day which kicks off at about 9:30 on Sunday morning. This is a chance for us to take a few of our supporters for a run in the Subaru and also to get a few more miles in before the first round of the State Rally Championship which is the Eden Valley Rally on the 1st July. Susan Haby makes her state debut as the navigator in Car 28 while Ash Cahbrel is out of action finishing of the 2006 grape harvest. Good luck Susan! We look forward to seeing you all out at Walky Park on Saturday and to giving you a CLOSER look of the action on sunday. Entry List 0. Jack Monkhouse,
Datsun 180B SSS More information regarding the State Rallysprint Championship including details on how to get there are available here. Information regarding the Come and Try It day is here. Google Earth map locator of Walky Park is available here.
The Class 9 Buggy of Aaron Haby at Waikerie 05
The Subaru STi of Sam Brand at Rally S.A. 2005
The Subaru RX Turbo of Andrew Gooley at Rally of Clare 2005 |
100_1589.JPG
100_1590.JPG
100_1591.JPG
100_1592.JPG
100_1593.JPG
100_1594.JPG
100_1595.JPG
100_1596.JPG
100_1597.JPG
100_1598.JPG
100_1599.JPG
100_1601.JPG
100_1605.JPG
100_1606.JPG
100_1607.JPG
100_1608.JPG
100_1610.JPG
©2008 Faber I.T. Solutions. All rights reserved. Faber I.T. Solutions