Report from Autosport of 28th October 1993

Report: Keith Oswin - Photography: Ralph hardwick

Wilson in the clear on RAC Rally test

Malcolm Wilson scored his second international win of the year and learned valuable lessons for the Network Q RAC Rally as the Ford team contested the Midland Internatonal Rally.
Just five crews were registered for the international class which ran at the head it the field. Even though the rally was controversially ousted from the British Championship at the end of 1992 it still drew an impressive 97 starters.

A crisp, dry and dusty day In Wales saw Wilson trying various combinations of gearboxes and differentials in the factory car which had been used by Miki Blasion in Australia. Wilson's only challenger was Gregoire de Mevius in the Nissan Sunny STiR, but the Belgian suffered from not having been on gravel since last year's RAC Rally and could never offer a sustained challenge. Although spectacularly quick he trailed Wilson by a minute.
Brian Bell finished a distant third after a couple of punctures in Pantperthog and Dyfi. Greek driver Chris Armeftls drove his first gravel event and took fourth in what was eventually a very bent and battered Mazda 323 following a roll on the third of the class’s seven stages; that was one more than the National evert which followed. The fifth starter, Brian Lyall, in a Malcolm Wilson Sierra Cosworth, retired at the end of the first stage when the gearbox lost fourth and the car, in neutral, plunged off the road In Dyfnant.

The National event saw a frantic battle for victory between 'Mad' Mick Jones and Tim Ellis-Jones, Mick lost his early lead with a Pantperthog puncture but came back into contention when Tim edged his Sierra off the road in Dyfi.

The issue was resolved on the final stage when Mick was fastest, but not by a great enough margin. He broke his Mitsubishi’s clutch on the start line and then hit a bank later on. But he kept going to finish the event Just two seconds behind Ellis-Jones.

Gregoire gets to grips with gravel

"Taking a sneak preview of next month’s RAC, Gregoire de Mevius returned to the British forests for the first time in a year to tackle the Midland Rally in Wales"

I don’t understand why none of the other top teams are here,’ pondered the 1991 and 1992 Group N World Champion last Friday night as he prepared for the following day’s Midland Rally. In fact only Ford, with Malcolm Wilson, had elected to join the Alcatel Nissan team for a look at the stages to be used on next month’s Network Q RAC Rally.
‘I have not driven here, or anywhere on gravel, since last year’s rally so this is a perfect opportunity,’ he continued.

It was ironic, perhaps, that the only world class driver to have visited these shores all season chose to come to the event which was dropped from the British Championship for 1993.
He was driving the Nissan Sunny GTiR for probably the last time. The next time he drives a rally car in anger it will be Nissan’s new Sunny GTi Formula 2 front-wheel- drive machine, to be debuted on the RAC. ‘We would have to do some development work on this car if we were planning to use it again. But we are not allowed to use the Group A car on the World Championship, that was the decision taken at the end of 1992. This event is a present for me, just for pleasure, but important all the same.
‘We hoped to have the F2 car ready for this rally but it is not. So we thought what to do and decided that experience was important so that we would have the best chance in November. I needed the practice!
‘Because we will have a completely different car for the RAC, we are not testing components for the event. But I am surprised that everybody is not here. It is one day and while it does not share many stage kilometres with the RAC Rally, it is a very good opportunity to see at least some of the stages.’
De Mevius has not yet had a chance to test the F2 car, nor indeed has he even driven a front- wheel-drive car since he had a Peugeot in Belgium almost 10 years ago. ‘I think that driving a four-wheel-drive Group N car will have helped me because you can not do what you want with it. If you go sideways too much you will lose a lot of speed so the technique must be much the same, drive in the middle of the road all the time.’
He is not sure what his 1994 programme will be, although he expects to be out for about six of the F2 events in the World Championship with the Sunny GTi. ‘The calendar is a bit crazy, ’ he says. ‘We have to go to Sweden to begin with and with two-wheel- drive on snow it will not be an easy start. But I think that the formula will be very interesting because it is important to manufacturers who want to be involved in rallying but do not want to spend crazy money. They need this formula so we must make space for them.
‘It is especially good for engineers because it is more free than Group N and lets them work on transmissions and engines. And drivers know that they do not have to think so much about breaking the car, as we used to do with Group N. You were always scared! Those things make it quite attractive so we hope that other teams will come in.
‘We have had lots of good press in Belgium because of Bruno Thiry’s results for Opel, so hopefully he will not be so lonely next year.’