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After the disappointment
of engine failure on the Tour of Cornwall,
Mark II Motorsport reviewed its approach
to the remainder of the season in order
to become more competitive and more reliable.
The first part of the plan involved changing
the left hand drive GpA car with a new right
hand drive version, the second part would
be to mount a serious challenge to win the
ACSMC Rally 2007 championship.
With this in mind,
the team were very pleased to acquire the
ex Elkins Ford GpA Escort Cosworth. The
car had always been prepared and maintained
to the highest standard and best of all,
the steering wheel is on the “right”
side. Driver Mark Welch commented “whilst
we thought that left hand drive was not
a problem, when it gets really hairy, none
of your reactions are as natural than they
would be in a right hand drive machine thus
you lose time or have a major accident”.
“We looked
at our times on the Cornwall event, particularly
on the tighter trickier stages and decided
that we needed to get more comfortable with
which side the steering wheel is on”!
So with the new car
converted from gravel spec to tarmac by
Cosworth guru Denis Osborne, the team pitched
up for the Abingdon Carnival stages last
weekend. Just as well Mark II changed the
car, as the assembled field for the Carnival
would have done any National Event proud!
No fewer than 6 yes 6 Subaru Impreza WRC’s
(worth between £100,000 and £250,000
each) headed the entry as well as 2 lightweight
Darrian racers, a Metro 6R4 and numerous
quick Mark 2 Escorts. There was even a Skoda
Octavia WRC amongst the entries………..
Event organiser Barry
Guess was pleased with the entry –
“We’ve got 5 previous winners
of the event here today including Mark II”.
“We won this 9 years ago” was
Welch’s weary response as he was feeling
the pressure of being seeded at car 5 amongst
the WRC finery. With the likes of Steve
Fleck, Will Nichols, Steve Furzeland and
Peter Lloyd piloting the Imprezas, it was
going to be a long day.
Eight 11-mile stages
were set out to test the 100 starters. Initially
conditions were overcast but it was going
to be a hot one. Co –driver James
Sunderland explained the teams approach.
“It’s a new car with a comprise
set up to try. If we match or beat our seeding
of 5, we’ll be doing very well”.
”Today is more like a competitive
test than anything else, but it IS a good
car”.
SS1 saw a steady
but reasonably swift run and 9th fastest
time. “We’ve decided that to
get up the leader board, we’ll run
the anti lag” was James’ reaction.
The problem with anti lag or ALS as its
known is that whilst it eliminates turbo
lag from the cars performance, the popping
and banging it generates is sometimes outlawed
at rally venues on the grounds that it can
upset the “neighbours”.
It was decided that
as other teams were using ALS, Mark II would
try it and switch it off if it was too noisy.
However, after only a mile into SS2, the
team found it’s first fault wit the
new machine, a sticking throttle when using
anti lag. A hasty switch off was required
to avoid a high-speed accident. “Well
we found out that the car is blindly quick
with ALS whilst it works, so once we get
it fixed, the signs are very good”
said Mark.
Throughout the rest
of the day, the team moved steadily up the
leader board thanks in part to Flecks retirement
with fuel feed problems and punctures for
both Lloyd and Furzeland. At the finish,
Mark II was rewarded with a fine 5th place
overall and first in class. The event was
well won by Will Nichols in his Impreza
WRC after a faultless drive, his 3rd victory
on the event.
Sunderland summed up “It’s a
fair result given the new car and the problem
with ALS – BUT, the car was probably
good for a podium if the ALS had worked
and that’s great news”.
With maximum
championship points in the bag, the team
headed for home very hot and tired but looking
forward to the next event at Colerne, near
Bath on 14th July. The car will be restored
to full health so the confidence level is
high!
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Mark II Motorsport
Would Like To Thank Their Sponsors
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Posted 2nd
July 2007 |
