I had not had the chance to do a test in the car other than a quick play in the snow so stage one was going to be a bit interesting.
Me and Mike went in to the event not knowing what to expect but aiming for a top ten finish, in the back of my mind I really wanted to be in the top 6 and I would be over the moon.
We has a spin at a hairpin (as my mirrors were full of a flying Mat Smith in his 205 who laughed at us as he went past) we later went wide onto the grass but were still in the top 10.
On stage two I was beginning to get a real feel for the car and may have been a little bit too sideways at times as we struggled to get the power down but the time was good.
By the mid way point we were coming 3rd overall but had knocked a few hay bales and the car was looking a little less new
. On the 5th stage we got stuck behind an Audi who looked to have moved to let us past, his mirrors were folded in apparently because of the crash throught the bailes he had just hit, he said it was not wide enough for 2 cars (i think its a race circuit so it is) and his navigator said if i was that fast i should have got past (I think he must think the m3 is a Veyron) we were on his inside when they then turned in across us, I broke but did not have space to move so collided with him losing more time. Over the next two there was a real close battle between several cars for position 2nd down to 7th, unfortunately we struggled in the dark as the temperature dropped we could not get the heat into the tyres so the car became a handful, the lights we ran were not set up ideally either so we dropped back and finished 6th.
It was a really pleasing result and having been in the top three a couple of times during the day against a lot of Mitsubishi and Subaru 4x4 rally cars it shows that the car can be competitive. I am overdriving the car at the moment but with a little more seat time and developments on the car I hope we can mix it with far more exotic cars.
We had a lot of people praising the car and it impresses the crowds as it drifts around a lot more than the 4x4 cars, Im hoping this will help us to get some sponsors on board this year to help us compete as often as possible.
The plan this year is to compete on selected rounds of the Scottish Tarmack championship and the Tarmac rounds of the RWD Challenge modified section and maybe Rally of Midlands as the m3 would be great on that event and will help develop the car in time for October with the main aim being to compete on The Tour of Mull.
A massive thanks to mike in the hot seat & to Kaz, Russ, Ella, Adam, Loz, Jack, Paul, Dave, Neil, Lindz, Henry, Andy & Craig for the help and support on the day and MIke and Steve prior to the event & Lee for putting together a cracking car (too tidy for me as my service crew told me)
I think the next event will be Ingliston in March or Sculthorpe in April and will prob go to the 205/rwd test day at blyton.
cheers
Andy
nice one davo !! looks like you had a wheeze!!
