The Team In Action on the Mewla

Stages: 9 – Starters: 121 – Finishers: 79

The most challenging event in Mark II Motorsports calendar took place over the military road network high on Epynt in the Brecon Beacons last week. Fearsome speeds combined with unforgiving terrain and unpredictable weather are what goes into the mix to ensure that wherever you finish this event, if you finish, you feel as though you have accomplished something!

After last years cautious run which bagged Mark II Motorsport 13th overall and 3rd in class, driver Welch felt the team was well prepared to do a little better. However with some 8 World Rally cars ahead of them as well some super quick hybrid cars including current MSA tarmac champion Dave Kynaston in his Audio A3 quattro and reigning BTRDA Champion Chris Jones in the Focus STI, it was not going to be easy!

With the teams trusty Escort Cosworth seeded at car 22 and with now regular co driver Andy Wynn sat alongside, Welch explained the tactics to be employed on the 9 stage, 90 mile event.

“This venue is extremely challenging and could bite you hard if you get complacent. Our aim is to get round in one piece especially as we are taking sponsors out in the car at RallyDay in 3 weeks time!”

The morning of the event was greeted with typical Welsh weather – damp and drizzling. With Epynt, given the topography of the ranges, it can literally be raining on one side and be bathed in sunshine on the other, making tyre choice difficult. No such problems this year, it was going to be wet, wet, wet.

Mark II set of on SS1 and put in a reasonably confident run through the 4.5 miles. Fastest was arch rival Jones in the Subaru engined Focus although his time looked a little odd as he beat newly crowned MSA Tarmac Champion Melvyn Evans (Subaru WRC) by 16 seconds! Welch and Wynn were the 4th of the BTRDA runners, 0.8 seconds behind 2007 Champion Adrian Spencer and 1.8 seconds adrift of Chris Marshall in a Mitsubishi Evo.

SS2 was taken with a degree of caution as it utilised the notoriously difficult section known as the Burma Road. Unknown to Mark II, the TVR driven David Bishop running 2 minutes ahead of them had a huge off  causing the stage to be halted with most of the field being awarded a nominal time as the stage was cancelled after car 26.

At almost the same time, car 42 driven by James Thompson also went off heavily on SS1 causing that stage to also be cancelled. These incidents required 2 air ambulances and delayed the event for some time. Fortunately neither crews sustained serious injuries.

None of this was doing Welch’s state of mind any good and this was further compounded by Mark II arriving on the scene of another “big one” on SS4 when the Mitsubishi Evo 8 of Kevin Davies rolled causing a blockage and another stage cancellation. With all of the carnage, Welch and Wynn soldiered on and by the time they had reached service after SS6, they were lying 17th overall. With the top 10 still dominated by World rally cars (Evans leading from Peter Lloyd in another Impreza WRC and 2008 winner Damian Cole in a Focus WRC 3rd), the team was relatively happy given the delays.

Wynn explained “we are sticking to our game plan in very tricky conditions. If we continue at this pace and stay out of trouble, our pre event target of top 15 will be achievable”. With the car running faultlessly and being attended to by the service crew of Bruce and Dan, reliability was going to be a key factor.

SS7 was the first of 3 long stages and yet again, Mark II arrived at the scene of an accident. This time the Ford Escort of Merion Evans running 30 seconds ahead of Mark II was the culprit, rolling after less than a mile into the stage. Welch and Wynn whilst slowed by the incident were able to pass and completed the stage with 15th fastest time. Importantly for their championship aspirations however, Jones retired his “Focaru” on the stage after breaking a driveshaft.

With two 21.9 mile stages to go and the weather getting worse, the team sat 16th overall with work to do. Disaster nearly struck on SS8 when the car started to misfire 5 miles from the finish. It was only when the Cosworth ground to a halt at the entrance of the service area that the problem became apparent – no fuel! As Mark II were able to coast into service, apart from the obvious time loss experienced on the stage, the problem was quickly rectified.

The final stage was by far the teams best, and 10th fastest saw a move up to 12th overall, 4th in class and 3rd in the BTRDA National Clubmans Asphalt Championship. So another cautious yet safe run over the unforgiving ranges. Was it too conservative?

The team is now 3rd in the standings but with only a few points covering the top 5, the next event on 27th September at Caerwent near Chepstow is going to be interesting

Mark II Motorsport Would Like To Thank Their Sponsors :-

Posted 13th September 2009