2003 - Taranaki Tarmac Rally

What a weekend, the Taranaki Tarmac Rally was awesome, the weather was great and we had a great event.

We arrived on Friday in what could only be described as weather that was good for the ducks, and not tarmac rallying. All the way from Auckland to New Plymouth it had been heavy rain, not what we wanted.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, which was a real relief. We left the overnight Parc Ferme at 7:27 to tour to our first two stages. I had driven these stages last year so was quite relaxed about them. Well that was until the junction halfway through stage one, when the back stepped out halfway through a 90' left and we speared off into the grass. I think Sandy thought at this stage that the day was going to be a long one.

We then went off to service and then headed off to stage 3 and 4. Stage 3 was great, and then we headed to the biggie, the car killer, stage 4. This stage has it all, it starts out reasonably flowing, then you enter a one lane road which winds around the side of Mt Taranaki, and then opened back out onto a fast flowing two lane road, with some big straights. Sandy and I had a great run through the stage, and unfortunately passed many cars off the road in the stage, including Dylan and Sara in the Turner Motorsport Evolution 5. The stage was 28km long, and at the end we started to run out of brakes, but from the sounds of things, we weren't the only one's to do so.

Service then consisted of a refuel and a bit of food to keep the energy levels up, and we were off to stage 5, the biggest in the event at 38km long. Wow, what a stage, huge fast straights where we were flat in 5th gear, then into sweeping corners and tight junctions. The car was going great at this stage, the new engine was providing much more usable power, and the Sandy and I were starting to get in sync with the Safety Notes. About half way thorough we had what was probably the closest call of the event. It was a downhill 3-left onto a bridge, and about halfway through the corner, the rear end stepped out and we were sideways to the bridge. Now it wasn't a small bridge, and it was coming fast at my side of the car, so it was a quick release of the gas pedal, the car luckily straightened up, and we shot through. The rest of the stage was fantastic, so much fun, but again, I was astounded just how fast the stages were.

After this stage, we again had service, and it was a case of fuel, and a bit of breather before the next pair of stages. The first one, stage 6 had the famous Taranaki jumps, which I slowed down for, and as you will see later on, it was lucky I did, so there will be no spectacular in the air photos from this event.

The rest of the day went without a hitch. Sandy and I arrived back at the finish to be 58th overall. Not quite what I was aiming for (a top 50) but still a great finish. It wasn't until I got home on Sunday that I found we had been very lucky not to have brought home a ball of scrap metal. I was unloading the car from the trailer, and found the front trailing arm had broken at some stage on the trip home on the trailer, it had fatigued and snapped...talk about lucky!!!

I would like to thank Sandy for a great event, he did a fantastic job in the co-drivers seat, and by the end of the day we had the safety notes flowing just about right. Thanks also to our service crew of Emily, Belinda, Terry (dad) and Jillian (mum) for driving around and making sure the car was in great shape each time. Congratulations to Alex and Gordon Gilmour for another great result at Taranaki, first in our class, Class E.

Our next event will could be one of 3, either the Greg Todd, the Rotorua Rally, or the Pukekohe Tarmac Rally. All depends on the rest of the team

Till next time

Thx

Simon Bell & Sandy Bansal
Redhills Rallyesport