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Integrally Motorsport www.geocities.com/hondaintegrarally ROUND SIX (FINAL) WINGER SUBARU TOP HALF RALLY SERIES GENUINE VEHICLE IMPORTS RALLY OF WAITOMO. I went into this rally with a far more relaxed attitude than normal. It would have been nice to finish well and it would have not bothered me enormously if we didn�t either, the result , all things considered was damb good if I can say that but there is now some sadness in that my rallying for the year is over. Servicing for me was Clive Partington and Steve Schwartz, the services were all in the main Street of Te Kuiti which the council had closed off. The council must have seen this rally as an opportunity, they certainly made one out of it and the event atmosphere was fantastic. This 100% tarmac road rally was as good as Taranaki and provided some oportunities for the 2wd brigade. Rob couldn�t make it to Hamilton so reading the notes was Erin Kyle, she had completed two previous rallies on notes, one with her Dad Eric Kyle and one with Nick Marshall at the Whakatane rally. Despite her inexperience she did an admirable job and by the Saturday I found it fairly easy committing to the notes. Just in case you get sick of reading this and go click on something else, I want to say thanks to the following for their support of my rallying. The following people have either given me advice, assistance, tyres, parts, discounts, a lot of time and words of encouragement. Charlie Evans, Chris Woudenburg Clive Partington Dave Strong Erin Kyle Erin Luce Gary Smith Jamie Fowler Kayne Barrie Motorsport Onlinemotorsport.net Pete Antwiss Rob Scott Sean Elder Steve Schwartz Steve Burley Strong For Honda Wally Elders Garage and Grant, Woody, Miles, and Weed for the competition I d like to say thanks also to the photographers who bothered to send me pics of the car, those that videoed it and the spectators that watched it. THE RALLY Friday night started with three night stages , we actually started off in dusk and by the time we�d finished the stage it was almost totally dark. We had some brake problems with new pads bedding in, we had a seemingly variable bias between the front and rear as the pads heated up and cooled down. They were smoking badly at the end of the stages and we had a very spongy pedal. The lights were good but they were definitely the limiting factor in our speed at night. We were 11th at the end of the night stages and first in class. Grant Liston locked a rear wheel when his brake calliper became loose and had a huge moment which effectively cost him the rally. We drove from TeAwamutu on Saturday morning, feeling a little nervous about the threat of rain as the tyres were getting down in their tread depth so puddles and standing water would be an issue, the dark clouds threatened most of the day but luckily the skies held tight. The brakes were much better and didn�t fade much at all, that told me they were still bedding in on the Friday night, throughout the day I could feel the rears were going off and we used one set up before changing back to metal kings. By lunchtime we were in tenth position. Anton Tallot the Targa winner was only a minute behind and we certainly were watching his times. Andrew (Weed) Phillips was close behind too in his Corolla Grant Liston�s luck wasn�t on the improve, a car on a touring section drove head on into him, the fault lies totally with the family travelling through Te Kuiti, I believe the driver had fallen asleep , awoke and then steered straight into Grant. Grant is OK but will be in hospital for quite a few days and then receive and operation on his heel. Our thoughts go to Grant his crew and family. With three stages to go we found ourself in 10th place, only 7 seconds between us and 7th place, I told myself that I should be happy with a top 10 finish and that I couldn�t improve on 1st in class so there was little point in pushing harder. Funny thing psychology, I was so determined not to back off and go off, as I�ve seen happen, we set a good time for the last two stages but I felt I�d lost some time at the start of the penultimate stage, a little hesitant in places I though, so on the ;last stage it all came together, we set the third fastest time for the stage. Overall we finished 7th, 1st in class, 2nd 2wd and for the 2003 season we achieved 90 top half points from a possible total of 100. We won the 1600cc class for the year, we won the most improved driver award and we had a 100% finish rate. We were also fourth in the club 2wd champs. After what seems like the shortest and the best year of my life we have completed 7 out of 7 rallies, we walk away with quite a few nice trophies, a warm glow, a bank balance that a 12 year old would be ashamed of. Most importantly we achieved our goal which was a class position, didn�t wreck our car and have made a lot of friends in the process. . I should say though that I made a heap of mistakes throughout the year and was let of quite lightly..No major damage, no punctures, no mechanicals except the battery flying around at Taranaki We also had some awesome competition with the likes of Chris Wouldenburg and Grant Liston who were both awesome competitiors. Next year we plan to compete in the National 2wd series. It will be a huge commitment and require some strategic changes, some sponsors who we will work hard to publicise and promote, a talented and dedicated crew and some more very good luck. James Hancock |
