Audi Sport Rally
Report: Keith Oswin - Photography: Martyn Elford
One down, two to go
The Russell Brookes master plan moved a step closer to success on Saturday, his Ford Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 notching up its second win in as many events. The only threat came from Markku Alen’s Subaru Legacy RS but, as in Italy earlier in the week, transmission failure brought premature retirement.
The Texaco/Dunlop Sierra project was launched at the Manx Rally in September. At the pre-event party, Russell Brookes stated that his aim was to win the Manx, the Audi Sport and Lombard RAC rallies with the new, R-E-D run, Cosworth 4x4. The Manx provided a somewhat unexpected success (the car is some way short of tarmac development at present, even in the official Boreham team’s eyes) but few doubted that a win in Wales was definitely on the cards.
The presence of Brookes in the entry was a welcome boost to the Shell Open series which has petered out after David Llewellin’s Ulster victory clinched the title. Toyota pulled out the Celica, Ford withdrew the Q8 cars and without the appearance of the Texaco team’s strikingly-liveried machine, things looked bad. Then the organisers received a further boost when Prodrive agreed to send not one but two of the official Subaru Legacy RS beasts for some pre-RAC Rally testing.
This year’s Lombard event will not use Wales and so the usual rash of factory teams was not forthcoming. But Subaru has been having teething troubles and every extra mile is a welcome test. Markku Alen should have been favourite for victory but the San Remo Rally earlier in the week highlighted transmission weaknesses that might have an ill effect on the plan.
‘Possum’ Bourne was also there – his entry only confirmed when one of the San Remo cars was returned to Banbury early enough to be readied for Wales - and he would rely on the local talents of Ken Rees to guide him through unfamiliar forests in an unfamiliar car. He’d driven the Legacy before, but never in left-hand drive trim...
Hakan Eriksson was planning to debut the 16-valve Peugeot 309GTi at the weekend, but the necessary bits, were not available and so he turned up to help his team mates, while Toyota GB was probably glad that it had not planned to enter.
David Llewellin had contracted a virus while gravel-noting for Malcolm Wilson in San Remo and was therefore confined to bed. And co-driver Phil Short was nursing an eye injury incurred trying to hack an errant goft ball out of the rough a day or two before the start. He spent the day in the press office, suffering all the jokes about how he came by the patch and ended the event with his shoulder bearing a stuffed parrot, purchased from a boutique in Machynlleth and which was very definitely deceased...
Drama occurred before the Newtown start at the un-Christian hour of 7am when the Daihatsu team found that its fleet of chase cars has been broken into during the night. It appears that this was worse than a simple break-in, as there were enough signs that the mindless idiots that had carried out the raid were actively trying to sabotage the team’s bid for class honours.
Not only had the management cars been damaged and radio equipment vandalised, but Terry Kaby found that his car would not start at first. Already 6 minutes late at the start of the event, the little Charade had to splutter through to the finish on just two of its three cylinders.
“I seriously thought about giving up I at the start,” admitted co-driver, Kevin Gormley, “but in the end we decided to carry on and see how much punishment the car would take.” Spark plugs were eaten away time after time but the brave bid continued. However, thanks to several non-registered Peugeots, Kaby was able to score the one extra point needed to I prevent Terry Cree snatching the class title from under his nose, despite a generous gesture by Brian Wiggins, who stopped on the last stage to let Cree take the class win.
The rally opened with a blast I through Hafren and highlighted the fact that the Subaru, when it is working properly, is very fast indeed. Russell Brookes is considered something of an expert on that particular test but he watched in awe as Alen beat him by 26 seconds. Admittedly, Brookes had spun twice…
“I was glad the gap wasn’t greater,” admitted the Ford man afterwards. He had a troublesome power problem which only resolved itself when the team turned down the boost later in the day.
Cohn McRae was driving the new R-E-D Cosworth 4x4 for the first time and was also having a misfire but he was third and on his way to another good result. Colin has had a destructive reputation for a long time and, while there have been several dents along the way, the only time he failed to score championship points this season was in Wales when he rolled the car in the dust.
Dyas' car shot off the road at high speed
If McRae’s season has been encouraging, Dave Metcalfe’s has been dismal and the Kendal lad had little to cheer about here. On only the first stage, the oil light came on and, while everything else appeared normal, the whole affair stopped with a sheared oil pump. The team stayed on for the evening but Metcalfe was on his way out of Telford by tea-time as the first cars returned.
So, as the cars headed for Dyfnant, Alen led from Brookes, McRae and Middleton with the Nissan Sunny of Kjell Olofsson surprising everyone by lying fourth. At the moment, Kjell is campaigning the front-drive 1600cc model but eagerly awaits a Group N version of the new Pulsar GTi-R once homologation papers are stamped.
Andrew Wood was sixth in the Castrol Ford Sierra, knowing that he needed maximum points here to wrest the Group N championship from Gwyndaf Evans who had abandoned this event in favour of San Remo with the factory team. But the fly in the ointment would be either Paul Dyas or Graham Middleton.
Dyas was out in his new Cosworth 4x4 which he is planning to use next season, keen to eradicate the gremlins early on. However, once the engine had been persuaded to produce the required amount of grunt, the car shot off the road at high speed and retired in a very sorry state.
Middleton, on the other hand, had hired the Jeff Dewitt car which Ramon Ferreyros had used on the Manx and had immediately taken fourth overall, the worst possible place for Wood’s points bid but ideal for Middleton’s pre-RAC test plans. The affair became political but, for the moment at least, Middleton concentrated on getting used to the car and fine tuning the team to his exacting requirements for ‘the big one’ next month.
Alen was soon under attack from Brookes and the gremlins. The power steering problems which beset him in Italy returned. “The first stage was perfect but now the power steering has broken,” he explained at Bala.
He shared fastest time with Brookes through Dyfnant but the Midlander banged in a couple of top times on the next two to close the gap to just 8 seconds by the time the cars reached Dolgellau.
Welsh spectators were then treated to a taste of the World Championship scene as Subaru had its tyre warmers in operation, ready for Pantperthog. Michelin’s Andy Galloway admitted that he wasn’t sure the conditions would suit their use, but testing is testing. The cold and damp road surface would draw much of the heat from the tyres before the car reached the stage but, when the clocks were running, Markku was 22 seconds clear of Brookes to ease his lead to 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, Bourne was getting used to the handling of the other Subaru. A brush with a bridge parapet in Hafren had punctured a right front tyre, simply because he had misplaced the car on the road, but times in the top three or four were coming. The worst part about the puncture was that the car fell off the jack and trapped it beneath the car.
Alen took a further 5 seconds off Brookes on the sixth stage but any thoughts of a second victory on the event (he gave Lancia’s Rally 037 its maiden victory here in 1982) were dashed when the drop gears failed and the car was left stranded. It was a repeat of the San Remo failure...
Colin McRae was driving steadily in the new Ford, unable to catch Brookes but under no pressure from Middle- ton. However, in Group N, Middleton was just holding off Wood after losing time and power due to a flattened exhaust and no replacement. And Mitsubishi was out once again, this time with Geoff Jones piloting Blaze Motorsport’s Group N Galant that last saw action in the hands of Hideaki Miyoshi. Just 24 seconds covered these three after Stage 4, but at Stage 8, Wood had slipped back with a handling problem. Jones rattled a pile of logs on the second run at Dyfnant, but the battered car still hung on to second place.
Wood’s problem dropped him one place behind Paul Frankland’s factory Peugeot and, one stage later, Paul was up a further place past Jones. In typical fashion, the quiet northerner was chipping away at the lead of far more powerful machinery ahead. To have got the car up to fourth on an international was a rare achievement, especially when the rate of attrition had not been excessive.
Olofsson had taken an early slip down the leaderboard but had stayed in the top 10 and was now climbing back to what would be a seventh place finish, just ahead of Jim Bothwell’s Toyota which had challenged so hard for this year’s National Championship crown. Jonny Milner had been pedalling the little Peugeot just as impressively as Frankland on the stage but somewhat quicker on the road sections. At least, that’s what the police said! And rounding off the top 10 at the finish was Robbie Head with yet another excellent performance in the Honda Civic.
Some people may write off the season as being a one-man show but, if one looks a little closer at those that followed Llewellin home, it is clear that there is a new group of talented youngsters emerging. The likes of Frankland, Head and Milner must all be encouraged by what has happened to Gwyndaf Evans, although the way people appear to have overlooked Colin McRae’s talents at times must give them cause for concern.
The final stages of this year’s Shell Open took place in the heart of Telford at the town park. Two tests around the twisty tarmac settled little but the class results, but spoiled what had been a promising day for ‘Possum’. Hardly had the car left the start line of the final stage than the transmission went bang and locked the wheels so solid that the stage was blocked until the car could be dragged out of the way. Back to the drawing board - deadline November 24...
The absence of the best British drivers from the final two events in the championship left the rallies more open. On the Manx, it made the competition so fierce you hardly noticed their absence. In Wales, the day lacked that certain something. There was a feeling that we were simply playing out time, something which detracted from what had again been a cracking sprint finale to the year. Nevertheless, Brookes went away happy, knowing that some work on the engine should give him his best chance ever of lifting the Peall Trophy which goes to the winner of the Lombard RAC Rally...
Political Decisions
Gwyndaf Evans is the new Group N Champion, even though he missed thel ast two rounds of the series in order to concentrate on the World Championship. It left his Mike Little Preparations teammate, Andrew Wood, with a tantalising chance of glory but, in Wales, things went awry.
However, some unnecessary pressure was put on Graham Middleton who was trying his rented Cosworth for the first time, having not contested Group N all season.
With the chance of taking third overall in the series, he naturally attached the championship decals to the car but, when it became clear that he might just rob Wood of the crown, some parties asked him to remove the decals.
Castrol, Dunlop and Hella were on Wood's car (even though the Cosworth has been running Cibie lights this year!) while Evans had Q8 and Pirelli. Middleton is backed by Shell and Dunlop so no particular action was going to be acceptable to everyone.
Middleton became quite upset by the pressure being applied and would have been happy if the car had broken down, thereby taking away any need for a decision. However, Middleton elected to remain loyal to his own major backer. Shell, and retain the decals.