Audi Sport International

Report: Keith Oswin - Photography: Ralph & Alison Hardwick

Stitch that!

While David Liewellin was giving Nissan its first international rally win for the Sunny GTiR, Colin McRae was cruising to his first British Championship

Colin McRae needed attention from the Prodrive doctor immediately not with his fellow competitors after 10 stages in Wales, but with the bottle. Having driven one of the most cautious rallies he will ever drive, the new British Champion finally let rip with the champagne and in the ensuing fracas, received a clout on the head as co-driver Derek Ringer tried to prevent himself from drowning in the shower. ‘It was just Derek getting his own back after all the pain I’ve caused him,’ he joked, before meeting the press to celebrate in more traditional manner. It had been a strange day, one for the purists. The end of the 1991 championship also marked the end of Shell’s five-year sponsorship of the series. With McRae needing only a top six finish to wrap up the crown, the Rothmans Subaru looked strangely off its spectacular best, but it was the wise approach. Throw it into the trees and Russell Brookes could then sit back and cruise to a third title. Without Liewellin’s Nissan, the event would have been dull in the extreme. It gave Brookes a target to chase, something to occupy his mind. He knew that, unless McRae made a hash of it, there was little he could do to affect the series result. He had to get maximum points, but after that, it was in the lap of the gods. Llewellin had been testing the Sunny in Wales earlier in the week and wanted to try the new suspension settings in competition. We tested before the 1000 Lakes Rally, but found that it was not quite right when

The result showed that Llewellin has lost none of his flair and it was a welcome boost to his confidence

it mattered most. We should have entered the Mantta Rally first.’
So it was that a plain white test chassis was first away from the Newtown start on Saturday morning, a false start the previous evening being planned to show the Telford shoppers what was about to happen in their area.
Despite knowing that the R-E-D Sierra was no match for a World Championship car (a fact he had had demonstrated conclusively on the Manx), Brookes had vowed to show the outgoing double champion the way to go. Llewellin was promptly 10 seconds ahead of the pack on the first, treacherously slippery, stage in Tarenig. He then reeled off fastest times on all the other nine stages, that 10 seconds being the closest Brookes ever got to the Nissan...

It showed that Llewellin has lost none of his flair (despite having a new co-driver, Mike Corner, for the day as Peter Diekmann has never read a map in his life) and it was a welcome boost to the Welshman's confidence. He still does not know if he has a place in Nissan's plans for 1992, the team signing new drivers but not yet willing, it seems, to tell its current staff if they can start searching among the fast diminishing options left open. I just hope,’ said David, that this result will do me some good.’

Brookes had not driven in the forests since the Scottish and the budget is such that test sessions are but a dream. He admitted being rusty on the first couple of tests, but by the first break at Machynlleth, was settled in second overall (enough for maximum points as Llewellin is not registered), 16 seconds behind Llewellin and almost a minute clear of McRae. In turn, McRae was over a minute clear of Dom Buckley’s Group N Mazda, Dave Metcalfe's Nova, the Sierra of David Gillanders (partnered by a very tired Nicky Grist who had flown straight back from San Remo and was trying to get used to map reading after pace notes) and Hakan Eriksson's Peugeot.

It was a raw day in Wales, snow capping Cader Idris and occasional flurries of icy rain immediately freezing on contact with check sheets and human extremities.
An ice patch on the first stage had claimed the Sierra of David Maslen although it appears that a broken driveshaft may have also contributed to the terminal spin. Paul Frankland was way down the order after spinning also, the gearbox selecting two gears at once, just third available to drag the car to the end of the second stage and through the third. Kjell Olofsson got no further than the end of the first stage, his Group N Sunny GTiR stranded with gear selector problems.

Buckley was leading Group N at this point from Graham Middleton, returning to the British scene for a rare drive. He was struggling to come to terms with life, but his day ended in terrifying fashion on the final forest stage of the day. Approaching a long fast corner, he tried to settle the car on the brakes. The pedal was firm but there was no braking effect at all and at almost full speed, he performed miracles to keep it on as many as two wheels when the trees and a steep drop beckoned alarmingly. When all four wheels hit the ground, one collapsed under the car and he was grateful to reach the safety of an escape road, badly shaken but happily safe. Once into the forests after a run from Telford, for which no one cares very much, the event really got into its stride and fully deserved the accolades heaped upon it by Brookes afterwards. It is compact, the timing is incredibly tight and the stages are always innovative. Long may it stay as a one-day event.’
Dyfi offered the next action with no time to rest before entering Gartheniog. Llewellin continued to race ahead of Brookes who was also extending his lead over McRae. However, on the second of the two stages, the Sierra broke a driveshaft and set up a chain reaction of disaster which R-E-D did superbly well to rectify at all.

The Sierra broke a driveshaft and set up a chain reaction of disaster which R-E-D did superbly well to rectify at all.

The shaft led to a broken front diff and, in trying to reach the end of the stage (fortunately only a mile or so away), the clutch burnt out. By the time the car reached service, road penalties were all but inevitable, the only clean part of the car being the rear bumper, testimony to the close attention of the chase car.
At Dolgellau, the mechanics changed the diff but then had to swap the entire transmission system so that the ratios matched. It took 24 minutes — and wouldn’t Toyota Team Europe have killed for a system that could be switched so quickly in San Remo last week (see page 80)?
Brookes was now effectively behind McRae through the 1m 40s of penalties incurred. But it was McRae's turn for a scare.

He was fine through Pantperthog but on the second run through Dyfi, slid off on a fast junction. It is believed to have been the fault of a tyre parting from the rim, but the Subaru nosed into some stout brushwood which pierced the intercooler. Emergency service rectified the problem and Prodrive’s calm face returned, but it dished out a warning.
In Dyfnant, the final forest stage of the championship, McRae virtually crawled through, letting Brookes close to just a second behind. On the two runs round Telford's Town Park to conclude the affair, the Midlander would regain second place, but it was too little, too late for the title race.
Buckley had retired with a broken gearbox, promoting Metcalfe to fourth (despite a spin in Gartheniog which left the front bumper of the car in the stage), while Eriksson’s Peugeot was stranded with a broken driveshaft on the second run at Dyfi. Group N was now being led by Mika Sohlberg and that should have been enough for the Finn to claim the Group N title.
However, since the last round, someone read the regulations and discovered that everyone had been assuming they said one thing when the reality was far different. Sohlberg was furious, knowing that the title would go to Richard Burns if the Peugeot won its class, which it duly did. It was an affair which, apart from being deeply embarrassing, has opened the possibility of an unseemly battle in the courts to see if the regulations should stand as written, or if the points issued throughout the year could be considered to overrule them.

So the season ended with what most considered the correct champion, Llewellin confirming that he was more than happy to hand over his crown to McRae who he was sure would now go on to greater things at world level.
But there was anti-climax also. Shell’s sponsorship of the series ended on Saturday night, Llewellin presenting motorsport personnel, David Thomas and Joy Owen with special awards to thank them for their invaluable support. How sad it was to note that the RAC MSA was absent from the prizegiving, a bland message sent from chief executive, John Quenby, the only acknowledgement that this was an ‘official’ championship. The future is still uncertain. Sponsors for the series and its events have yet to be confirmed and only last week the RAC MSA issued two different (and apparently incorrect) sets of dates for the 1992 championship!