Monday, 07 November 2011 10:12

Click images to enlargeSunday morning, and another day of fine weather. It's just beautiful up in the high country. The run down the hill on the first stage (Mirimbah 2) was quicker than yesterday and everything is on track and ready for the next stages.

Jamieson and Big River were both great, even though we were held up on both by other drivers who apologised at the lunch break. On the tight, twisty roads, the concentration level required is so high that sometimes other drivers don't realise someone is behind them, and it is impossible to attempt to pass safely. The Mustang was running perfectly, even though it was extremely hot inside the cabin on the twisty sections.

The car developed a shake in the steering on the following stage. It created some concern, worrying that a tyre may be delaminating or something similar. We got to the end of the stage and caught up with Matthew to refuel and do some quick checks. We had a look at the front tyres, and they looked a bit torn apart and had some chunks of rubber missing on the side of the tread grooves. They appeared OK otherwise, so we refuelled and off we went.

The front tyres were still shaking at mid speed but not at high speed - strange! We finished the stage with a reasonable time, and maintained our 10th place overall. It was then into service and the lunch break. We inspected the rear tyres and they looked perfect. When we jacked up the front we could see that the tyres had worn to the canvas in the middle of the tread groove, but the tyres still had 4-5mm of tread - bizarre! Rather than risking them flying apart (they weren't worn out, just torn to shreds) we put two new ones on the front to play it safe.

We had lunch of nice sandwiches by the Lake in Eildon. I was thinking that we can go fast again safely and, all going well, put in some good times. We were leading our class (9LMSD) and holding down 10th place overall, but will have to talk to CAMS and CRO's to have the tyre penalty lifted as the tyres weren't worn out, just faulty. Anyway, we got to the Eildon Stage and and the queue was long, The stage was downgraded due to a huge accident - an R34 Skyline GTR had hit a bank and rolled. We can only pray for their wellbeing.

We were touring through the stage the front right side of the car developed a noise. I said to Graham, "Sounds like the sway bar has come loose… it might be interesting but should be OK!" We turned into the next sharp left corner and and the car went straight towards the bank. We nearly crashed at 60kph, but made it around the corner and pulled over to find the right tyre come off the rim! Unfortunately that meant a premature end to our rally, not being able to complete the final two stages.

Thanks to Matt for his help and to Graham for great navigating (as always). See ya at the next exciting Rally,
Craig

TS9 Mirimbah 2 03:48 (00:12 behind winner) - =6th. Overall 02:20 behind leader - 11th
TS10 Jamieson 05:39 (00:22 behind winner) - =8th. Overall 02:36 behind leader - 10th
TS11 Big River 17:07 (00:45 behind winner) - 11th. Overall 03:17 behind leader - 10th
TS12 Skyline 1 05:45 (00:20 behind winner) - =9th. Overall 03:37 behind leader - 10th
TS13 Skyline 2 05:45 (00:24 behind winner) - 13th. Overall 04:01 behind leader - 10th
TS14 Downgraded to Touring
TS15 Mount Terrible DNF
TS16 Mount Buller DNF