The Team In Action At Caerwent

Stages: 7 – Starters: 100 – Finishers: 63

Mark II Motorsport opened its BTRDA National Asphalt Championship campaign at the recent Tour of Caerwent Rally, held near Chepstow. Having competed at this venue last September with limited success, team driver Mark Welch was not overjoyed at having to return this season not once but twice – the next visit being again in September.

“Last time we were here, we suffered from transmission problems and it’s probably that event that cost us the BTRDA title in 2008” said Mark. “The venue could be made really good, but the entire natural course is linked with very tight roads that have high kerbs which can cause a great deal of damage to the car”.

Paired again with Andy Wynn, Welch lined the teams Ford Escort Cosworth up at 7th seed. Heading the field away were last years winners Adrian Brown and Kev Harris who had swapped the winning Metro 6R4 for an Mk1 Escort. Behind them at 2 were reigning BTRDA Champions and local crew Chris Jones and Richard Williams in the Impreza engined Focus 4x4. Behind the “Focaru” were late entrants Damian Cole and Stuart Powell in a Hyundai Accent WRC.

Further BTRDA competition would come from 2007 Champions Adrian Spencer/Mark Hewitt in an Impreza and Gary Le Coadou/Paul Hollingham in the Toyota Celica GT4.

The Welch/Wynn combo made a decent run through SS1 until the very last corner. A previous car had taken out some of the route markers causing Mark II to overshoot the final junction. A fuming Welch explained. “We were flying up to the last corner; Andy called the 90 left but there was no tape across the road. The junction therefore appeared much further away”. The overshoot which necessitated a 3 point turn cost a good 20 seconds which is a huge disadvantage. Despite the drama, 9th fastest time was the result.

Things didn’t improve much for SS2. With Jones, Cole and Le Coadou fighting for the first three places, Mark II again went for a more scenic route losing another 10 seconds. “We took a 90 right in front of one of the buildings rather than behind. We had to thread the car through some more buildings before rejoining the stage” said a frustrated Wynn. On top of this, the team were now having tyre issues. The12 mile stage was overheating the tyres causing a loss of grip and on more than one occasion, a slide into the unforgiving Caerwent kerbs.

A tyre change for SS3 saw a much more confident run but even this wasn’t clean. The team caught the Darrian of Eric Weaver and Andrew Sankey who themselves had been the victims of kerbs. The Darrian had a punctured left rear tyre and despite the obvious handicap, the crew hadn’t seen the Cosworth in its mirrors. Held up for the last 1.5 miles of SS3, Welch and Wynn recorded 6th fastest time. At the head of the field, Jones held a slender lead from Cole with Le Coadou third. Bad news!

“Its damage limitation time” was the verdict so with 2 more 6th fastest and one 5th fastest stage time, the team lined up for the final 7th stage in 6th place and more importantly, 3rd of the championship contenders. The service crew well and truly earned their crust by bleeding the Cosworths overheating brakes in record time to get the car out to the stage start without time penalties. 3rd in the championships would have been a reasonable outcome but in true rallying style, there was a sting in the tail………….

Welch takes up the story. “About halfway round the final stage, the cars handling deteriorated suggesting we’d got a puncture”. “We pulled over ready to make a change, Andy got out but all 4 tyres were still inflated”. The team got underway again but there was clearly something wrong. “We then thought we had a broken driveshaft” said Welch. The car crawled over the finish having dropped 3 minutes and down to 11th place. The problem? A broken front differential.

“Yet again, this venue has cost us both in terms of points and financially” concluded Welch. “This is not the start we were looking for and we now have real pressure on performances and the teams’ budget”.

11th overall and 5th place points towards the championship were scant reward for the team’s efforts. The rally was won by Cole from Jones with Le Coadou 3rd.

The next event is the Rally of The Midlands in June. Mark II will need to get the car fixed and be right on top of its game if it is to haul itself back into contention. It will be tough but not impossible to win the title from this position. More news soon.

Mark II Motorsport would like to thank all of its sponsors, the service crew of Mark, Mark and Dan (especially for fixing the brakes in F1 pit stop time) and www.rallygallery.com for the excellent pictures.

Mark II Motorsport Would Like To Thank Their Sponsors :-

Posted 10th April 2009