RDRC S3 Round 2 - Coffs Harbour Rally (06 Aug - 10 Aug)

[Olli Kauppinen]

I'm pretty pleased with myself from my "first" rally. Sad i was little late that it would have been official.. I drove carefully, sometimes too carefully. Main thing i'm happy about is that i got whole rally thru without breaking my car! (if I can say that peugeot 205 is one ). Thanks for this opportunity of competition! It's always way more better to drive against someone! Conclusion: THANKS RD FOR ALL THIS!

 

[Senad Subasic]

I'm pretty pleased with myself from my "first" rally. Sad i was little late that it would have been official.. I drove carefully, sometimes too carefully. Main thing i'm happy about is that i got whole rally thru without breaking my car! (if I can say that peugeot 205 is one ). Thanks for this opportunity of competition! It's always way more better to drive against someone! Conclusion: THANKS RD FOR ALL THIS!

Congrats. And yeah, once you go online, you never look back

 

[Peter Lengyel]

Hello! Well, I am after my first rallye too! I made mistakes, which costed a lot of time, but as the time passes away, it will be better i hope For me, not retiring from stage comes up with a win Thanks RD the competition opportunity and the great organization!

 

[Samuli Leinonen]

First rally of the season for me and first with Fiat Punto.

Was over aggressive in 2 first stages and made lot of mistakes. Then good times for 8 stages untill brainfarting again on last 2.

Need more miles with the car now.

 

[Senad Subasic]

Very pleased with my rally

0 practice, as usual. Tried to drive safely and cleanly, managed to do so for 90% of the rally.
I was very slow though. Ended up 4th overall, and 3rd in class, but with a pretty bad time. I'd be surprised if I got a point or two, but who knows.

• SS1 - Took it nice and easy, no issues. Well, had one scare, went wide near the end of the stage, slightly hit a tree or two with the rear right. Was riding the brake in the end a bit too much too. Still, 3rd in OC4, so I'm happy.
  
• SS2 - Same as the first one, no risks, going easy. Ended up 4th this time, ecstatic
  
• SS3 - Phew... Had a roll, but ended up on the wheels, and on leveled ground. Took the jump a bit too hard, engine damage. Thank god this was the last stage before the service.
  
• SS4 - Sigh, another off. Lucky ending, but still an off. Combined with my slow driving, I'm losing heaps of time.
  Still, 3rd in class in OC4, 38 seconds behind Dubravko, and 20 behind Jeremy.
  
• SS5 - Slow and safe again, one small scare, but the car is still in one piece. 4th in class in OC4. Out of 6 though, LOL.
  
• SS6 - Clean run, was happy with it, but slower than almost everyone in the end anyway :frown:
  
• SS7 - Happy with that, 5 seconds faster, no issues. But still 5 seconds slower than the fastest Production car.
  
• SS8 - I wanted to improve my time in the second run, so pushed more. I shouldn't do that. Two quite big offs, 10 seconds slower than my first run. I hope I didn't pick up any significant damage.
  
  On the bright side, Mix Mod on this stage was very enjoyable :good:
  
• SS9 - 6 seconds faster than my first run, but much much more scary and untidy.
  
• SS10 - 7 seconds faster than my first run, but near the bottom anyway.
  
• SS11 - Two big offs within 200 metres. Luckily ended up on my wheels again, so only 10 seconds slower than my first run.
  
• SS12 - Dear god... Just when I was starting to be happy about my whole rally... I started flicking the car into corners, for some more fun. After about a kilometer, I found a tree very close to the corner apex, and I collected it at very high speed. The radiator got damaged, so that worried me for the last 3km, but also the car wasn't right. Eventually had two more major offs, and ended up 20 seconds slower than my original run, and a massive 30 seconds behind Dubravko, who was fastest overall.

 

[Dubravko Sparovec]

30 seconds behind Dubravko, who was fastest overall.

Yes I was fastest in my class but on SS8 I was tired and started making mistakes that didn't happen in the first leg.

After the first long straight I almost went wide and in to the trees. That was the start of my nightmare that will pretty much put me out of points I think. Later I was just losing concentration and made two spins. The second one ended of the road and I had to CFH.

But here comes the part that I can't forget and I had plenty of time to think about it on the next SS9.
In the last turn some 50 meters from the finish line I went wide in to the tree damaged my transmission and then spun in to the crowd on the other side of the road just 1 meter before the finish where my car was dropped down. :frown::frown:
Thought about repairing but SS9 wasn't that fast, so I finished it stuck in the 1st gear. That paid off so I didn't lose 4min but only 2.

Later I couldn't do nothing to gain on the others overall but managed to finish SS12 in the 1st position in front of WRC cars even. But that only put more salt on my wound. :frown:

 

[Eddie Mann]

Tonight was hit and miss for me, to many mistakes overall.. in the end it might cost me 1:30?
I was missing a lot of my braking points and pushing wide off the driving line a few times, causing a couple spins on east-west. No CFH, but was close on a couple of occasions.

The OC guys were setting a very fast pace in the first sector, so i was pushing as much as the SUB could take, before complaining. Feeling comfortable with the car didn't happen until 2nd sector, could have been a more tidy rally if i had braked a lot earlier on most stages.

The next one should be good, congrats all class winners & thanks to the organisers.

 

[Erik Tveit]

A detailed race info:

SS1: Just after 1st or 2nd sector (??) there was a fast left that I totally overshot and ended up on my roof, and needed to CFH..
SS2: Failed at the start, didn't knew the grip off the tires and lol.. Fast until 1,5 km before the finish where I had a massive crash. It felt like one tho, and couldn't recognize which way fast forward.. Lucky that I didn't need to CFH.
SS3: Again fast until the last 1,5km, can't remember what I did wrong here, but at least I crashed.
SS4: Love this stage, had a mistake in the start of it, but swish the other part was fast.
SS5: Hate it. Too slow and too many hairpins, couldn't keep the car on the road, and had 5 CFH..
SS6: Okay run, had a spin tho. Held the innerside in a long left hander and the rocks collected my fiesta..
SS7: Much better than the first time around, had a scary moment in the same corner as last tho..
SS8: Engine got to hot and died..
SS9: Fantastic run, if you look away from a fancy crash I had in the middle of the stage.
SS10: Had again a fantastic run at this stage, do actually love it!
SS11: Found a good rhythm, and could be very fast, but RBR crashed to desktop..
SS12: Found a good rhythm and cruised very fast into the finish.

 

[Hubert Smolders]

Not so pleased here.

Day 1
The first couple of stages i tried to be very careful, as the practice revealed that this one is not my cup of thea...
That helped but already quickly it became obvious it would cost me too much time.
So the first three stages been very easy and low profile.

After service i came alive, you could say...
Diamond Creek (SS04) went very well, lots of full throttle action with some sketchy jumps here and there.
At the end of the stage went on 2 wheels, but could save the car on its 4 wheels just in time...
Lovely stage!

East West (SS05) went good again, took a steady pace and kept it. Although the second time it became narrow i ate the dust and some trees... Wasn't that hard of a throw around, so i could continue. With a door flapping open constantly...

Prospect Ridge (SS06) went very well, very clean, stable speed. Good stuff!

Next day, Greenhills went ok but i went off very hard on the stage after it. NewBobs killed my car rather well.
Oil spilled all over the surface...

Mineshaft (SS09) came on and i was ready for it... A whole new car etc...
Gunned it from the start until i took a right medium just a bit too fast. The moment i knew i was off i tried to slide it between trees before going off the cliff. It worked, car rolled but it seemed to be ok, just some cracks in windshield and body...

the last group of stages started off with yet another disaster, crashing way to hard into trees, and retiring from the first stage.
East west went allright again, and Prospect Ridge too, although i was quite lucky there, engine stalled close to the end and i could roll over the finnish...

Loved and hated this rally, seems the loose Australian gravel puts me off direction more then i hoped...
But again, i saw an amazing line up of nationalities and drivers on the EU session, very well stuff guys!
Tx Warren, Senad,Norman and all the rest!

Whoop!

 

[Damien Jones]

My Round 2 adventures:

SS1 - a few minor offs, hit a tree with rear end
SS2 - overshot junction, barrel roll in final sector!
SS3 - clean
SS4 - too fast and hit rock on inside flipping car
SS5 - clean
SS6 - clean
SS7 - good stage ruined by smashing into tree after passing flying finish....d'oh!
SS8 - gearbox ruined...eventually carked it...retired
SS9 - drove fine but [retired]
SS10 - clean
SS11 - clean
SS12 - clean

Starting to get a better feel for this car....so different from the WRC of last Season.
Thanks to all the organisers

 

[Tyrone Frith]

round 2 was abit of a nightmare first in missed the sign in time to sroce points. Then I had to reinstall rbr in the final seconds of the rally start. It's been mixed rally with a few good bit's a few bad, but it's something to work on. i hope i did enough rounds to move up to the production class. I do three rounds so it should be enough.

 

[Daniel Olsson]

OMFG!!!! I just got and tested the g27 steering wheel hahahaha lmao some major difference from the keyboard!!! That was some really amazing ffb!!! Im a bit shocked right now... First stage I tested it on resulted in a new personal stage record by 25s xD

Warren Iam using xp and I think the problem was the mix stages... I jumped ss2 because I needed to do repairs.... so when I got there on ss8 rscenter crashed... so I think I just need to do some reinstalling, will try that

 

[Aaron DeMarre]

ARRRRRRG! I put this into my calendar, but somehow it was set to not give me a reminder...

In the shower this AM and it hit me "Was last night RDRC night?". Yes, yes it was...

Frak.

 

[Senad Subasic]

There's another EU and US session tonight, if you can make it.

 

[Aaron DeMarre]

Oh that's right! Damn my brain is scrambled lately, frickin work deadlines...

Sweet, will be on tonight. Phew, thanks Senad.

Edit: US4 that is.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

as already mentioned i`m now using a sequencial shifter and homemade rally handbrake (will show pics when its finished ) which is getting some getting used to lol.i managed some great times in practice compared to seasons 2 times but couldn`t run 2 stages without a cock up or 2. so resigned myself to not try for stage wins and just get more practice in and get to the end.

SS1. A nice steady start, no mistakes and a resonable time.
SS2. Tried to do another steady start but still managed to loose it after the 2nd jump, but luckly didnt hit anything and only lost a bit of time.
SS3. Very enjoyable run through here, just once i almost went cliff diving at that long right halfway through.
SS4. Fantastic stage, love the speed you get here and that blind left hand jump is superb when you get it right
SS5. So far so good but now my dreaded stage, went off twice but no damdge and lost over 20 secs.
SS6. Was going ok, but locked up and slid into a tree at less than 20K and manged to wreck my gear box so had to finish the rest of the stage in 2nd gear, on the plus side it was before serivce phewwwwwwwww.
SS7. Very simular to my 1st run.
SS8. No mistakes over the jump this time and a nice staedy run to the finish.
SS9. Decided to push for a better time this run, but failed after the 1st few corners, bounced of the wall and went cliff diving, then halfway through and deja vu manged to park it on the same cliff edge lol.
SS10. tried for a 2:55 this time to beat my PB and all was going well till i dipped a rear wheel of track and almost rolled it, but still got under 3mins and fastest in EU3.
SS11. Didn`t enjoy this run, just had no confidence round the tight twisty stuff, slightly faster than my 1st run but still way of my PB.
SS12. Must be getting tired by now as didnt feel confident and wasen`t very quick and so glad to finish.

Manythanks to the RDRC staff for another great event

 

[Mark Birney]

beat my PB

 

[Roy Magnes]

Did take the Clio Williams N3 for a spin today just for the fun of it And enjoyed it a lot And I was faster with my official car than with the fun car this rally, should be good

 

[Norman Biscuits]

Ok peoples!

Provisional results are up and can be found here.
Points tables will be updated at lunchtime or when I get home this evening.

55 participants - hot stuff!
Gratz to all, see you in Round 3.

 

[John Cunningham]

Thanks again Norman for your hard work, I really do appreciate it!

jc