Rallye Sunseeker 2009 – Day 2
by Darren on Feb.28, 2009, under Sunseeker 09
So, with yesterday out of the way, it was time for the forest stages, which are the main event, really, on the Sunseeker. After we’d finished and got back last night it turned out that the stage had a second stoppage with a nasty accident on the seafront, with the crew thankfully largely OK, but leading to the cancellation of Stages 1 & 2 for those who hadn’t run it (they all get nominal times, so they were mostly on equal times for the start of day 2).
Went to Canford Arena about 8:30, got the car ready with new forest tyres and the lamp pod off, and checked everything over, and went to chat to a few people we’ve met on various events, but soon enough it was time to get in the car and head off. And as soon as we got going there was a knocking noise – sounded like the wheel was a bit buckled, but it wasn’t bad (it must have been on a rear before), and it soon stopped once we got going and on the road section, which was only short to the first stage of the day, Stage 3, which is on Uddens.
This may be short, but it’s a great stage – the first part is fairly simple but the tracks are really high quality. The middle is a bit muddy and rough, but then the end is a flat-out thrash. And I felt it was an opportunity to give it a good go straight from the off. The first proper corner I got exactly right – the back of the car was a bit out of line, and we got through nice and quick, and took this same speed into the next set of corners, which all went well – I think we may even have looked good at one point – until the tight square left after a bridge, where we got stuck a couple of years ago. Got round that OK (if not mega-quick), and then into the muddier, rough section. The car still felt good here, and then a couple of narrow posts to go through (which I always take a bit easy as it would be such a stupid place to end things), but it went well. Made a mess of the last tight corner (again through posts), but the rest went well, particularly the last long section – the new box worked really well, the ratios meaning it was pulling all the way. The end result? A 3:44.1, a full 0.7 seconds faster than Barrie in the Proton. THIS was what we wanted – some tight times and having a proper battle.
Off we went on the road section and saw a stricken Evo by the side of the road. Got to the next stage (Ringwood South) with a couple of minutes to spare, and all was feeling good.
Off we went, again the gearbox making things a pleasure. It was a bit loose (felt like one of the rears was a bit low on pressure), but nothing serious to worry about. Got to a point where there’s a set of posts in the ground (which I used to be scared of, originally!) and into a square right, and heard a noise like a wheel bearing going. I thought we’d keep going, and changed into third to power out of the corner and…
Nothing.
No drive at all. The gear lever wouldn’t move, the car was just coasting, and we pulled over to the side of the road. I said “Gearbox”, and that was about it. Got out, and had a quick look to see if it was something like the selector lever having been jammed in neutral by a stone. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw:
The diff had exploded. Obviously this was why we had no drive, but it also meant game over for this year. The reality of it hit me, and I was gutted. The last few other competitors came past soon enough, but then it really hits you – you’re out. All the work you’ve put in means nothing, and nothing is going to get you any further competitively. It’s over. And so damn soon. Didn’t even get to do Ararat or Somerley. The car was just getting going. As were we.
After a while, the (very nice) recovery crew came to take us to the stage exit, which was done smoothly enough (although odd as I kept steering as we went, with the wheels off the ground, silly boy), and we left the car there and had to get a lift (yes, from my Mum!) back to get the trailer, etc. In all, 3 hours later, everything is packed up at Service and all put away here, the car is back here and I’m sat in my living room. The repair bill will probably be about £1000 (a new diff is £650+VAT, and hopefully the gear kit is not totally destroyed), but I’ll need to find the source of the problem – did the diff just explode, or did something else kill it? Anyway, all that will be found eventually, and I’ll decide what I’m going to do.
Retiring from Rallies is a part of motorsport – no matter what you do, something can go wrong. We’ve only ever retired due to mechanical failure, and this was a freak occurrence – it wasn’t something I could have predicted (it was all working perfectly until 100 yards before it died), so I guess that’s the only positive I can take from it. Paul is, of course, his usual optomistic self, saying that it could have been much worse – we could have rolled the car 3 times or hit a tree, and that’s true, but right now I feel beaten up over it, and can’t face the idea of spending that much more money on the car, but the problem is once you’ve used a car with such a setup (close ratio box and LSD) then going back just isn’t an option – it really transforms the car completely. The crappy thing is that at the moment I keep thinking “we should be doing Stage X” – tomorrow it won’t seem so bad but right now it’s galling, especially given the perfect conditions today.
