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Rally
Reports 2000 Season - Tour Of Flanders
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The Big One
Mark II Motorsport competed
in their final major rally of the season, the International
41st Tour of Flanders, or Omloop van Vlaanderen,
as they say in Belgium! After yet more hassle on
Epynt resulting in front diff failure, the team
was desperate for a finish first and foremost, and
preferably in the top 15 as this meant PRIZE MONEY!
The strategy was simple, drive fast and don't hit
anything, at least on day one, with day two driving
as fast as required to achieve the objective.
Seeded Ninth!
Driver Mark Welch and
CoDriver James Sunderland left England on Tuesday
5th September accompanied by David Welch, Marks
dad and one of the team's sponsors. Ahead of them
were 3 days of pace noting and familiarisation of
the stages, which were, to say the least, technical.
The event would be poignant as the team carried
a tribute to Sutton and Cheam social secretary John
Anidjah who sadly lost his life in an accident just
over a week earlier. On arrival at rally HQ in Roeslaere
Mark and James were surprised to find themselves
seeded 9th out of a field of 140 cars including
4 works Toyota WRC's, 2 works Pumas, a works Citroen
Saxo kit car not to mention the odd Group A Subaru
and 3 other Escort WRC's. The driver line up was
equally impressive with names such as Bruno Thiry,
Patrick Snijers, Laurent Verhoestraete (both previous
winners), Pascal Gaban, Steve Petch (2000 Mintex
National Rally champion) and Tarmac specialist Bob
Fowden to name a few.
Recce Complete...SS1
Starts!
The recce was completed
over the 3 days with the rest of the team turning
up with the car later in the week. Barry, Bruce,
Julian and webmaster Mark Sims completed the Mark
II line up. With scrutineering and documentation
completed without drama on Friday evening, the team
wearily went to bed. For Mark and James, the rally
couldn't come soon enough. As for the car, the only
niggle was a creaky damper, a legacy of the tyre
problem on Epynt. Bruce thoroughly checked this
over and declared the problem noisy but safe to
continue. Saturday dawned bright and dry. SS1 was
A faster flowing 8.24km test called De Ruiter. The
first 2k's were virtually flat in 6th gear with
speeds of 130mph being achieved on a road just the
width of the WRC! "I was far too cautious on stage
1" Said Mark Welch, "I could almost see the crowd
around the time control groan when the time came
up!" Fowden had been even more cautious but after
8k's, Mark II were actually around 40th. SS2 was
the longest stage known as Rumbeke 1 at 14.45km,
or about 10 miles in old money. Mark and James were
much happier here despite a flat in 5th moment were
the car nearly bounced off the road (that weak damper!).
Towards the end of the run, noxious fumes started
coming into the car as the exhaust got so hot it
started to burn the heat shielding under the car.
Mark switched off the Anti lag and whilst there
was an immediate loss of power, the smoking stopped!
The problem was sorted by the boys in service in
full view of Skysports Andrew Marriot who interviewed
the team a couple of times throughout the event.
Moving Through The
Field
The WRC was moving up
the field quickly although SS3 at Oekene (10.16kms)
was to prove the "bogey" for the team. "Mark just
couldn't seem to get his head around it all day"
was James' view. The final stage of the loop was
at Zoning. This is a 7km 4-lap blast around a big
industrial park running alongside a very wide (and
deep!) canal. Mark finally got the bit between his
teeth recording 12th fastest time beating Fowden
and Petch into the bargain.
The loops were
repeated twice more during the day with the team
ending day 1 in a very satisfying 17th having seen
the likes of Fowden and John Morgan crash out. "We
have stuck to the game plan, but will need to go
much quicker tomorrow if we are to get into the
top 15" said Welch. He was also full of praise for
Bruce and Julian in the service crew who had spotted
a number of critical parts that had shaken loose
including the front propshaft, diff bolts and the
hub nut. If any of these had failed, the rally would
have been over. Barry and Mark Sims in the chase
car had also done a marvellous job making sure the
car was ok after each stage and ensuring the crew
were fed and watered.
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Day 2
Inspiration was needed
for day 2, and when the Mark II collective rose
at 06:30, the fog that shrouded the Belgium countryside
caused a good deal of stress! The roads were damp
and slippery so Welch took a punt on intermediate
tyres for the first stage at Passendale (9km's).
"The whole format of day 2 suited us better with
more flowing stages on offer, basically 2 loops
of 5 stages including Zoning and Rumbeke from
day 1" explained James. "Inters however weren't
the choice for Passendale!"
Despite the teams worst fears, only 10 seconds
were lost. A Quick switch onto soft slicks (thanks
Mark and Barry) saw a phenomenal improvement.
The next stage at De Zilverberg saw 9th fastest
time achieved and the same again at Zoning. The
team overtook the Subaru Impreza that had started
the day 3 seconds in front, one of the Puma kit
cars and was rapidly closing on Anthony Eaton
in his WRC powered Escort Cosworth. The deficit
that started at a minute was now only a shade
over 20 seconds. Sadly at Final service, the crew
found that the rear anti roll bar had snapped
and had to be removed. This meant care was required
on the final 2 tests so our chase of Eaton was
abated. However, 15th overall was still an amazing
result given the trials and tribulations of the
year. The strategy had worked well. If you took
day 2 as a separate rally, a top ten finish would
not have been impossible. To put this into perspective,
car 34, a Mitsubushi Evo was 5 seconds behind
the WRC at the start of the second leg. By the
end of the event, the gap had increased by 2 minutes.
Finish Ramp
As the car rolled into the final control at Hallen
Expo on the outskirts of Roseleare, it was an
emotional moment. We had finished the biggest
event of the season in a money winning position,
had overcome some minor problems along the way,
and looking at the bigger picture, had all worked
very hard to turn a pile of broken bits that adorned
the garage only months before, into a competitive
machine capable of a whole lot more. It was also
a fitting tribute to John Anidjah.
Very Many thanks
go to: - Barry,
Bruce, James, Julian and Mark (and Dad of course).
Special thanks to DOME
for getting the car ready and to Roger at R&D
transmissions for sorting out the front diff.
Many Thanks
Mark II Motorsport
would like to thank
their sponsors: - Bluecol Brands, TotalFina, SFL
ltd, GP Engineering and Springwood Aviation Services.
Special thanks to DOME and RallyGallery.com
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