Rallye Sunseeker 2009 – Stages 1 & 2
by Darren on Feb.27, 2009, under Sunseeker 09
The Sunseeker traditionally starts with a pair of “spectator stages”, in this case run through the Lower Gardens in Bournemouth, and then along the undercliff drive to Boscombe pier. This is only 1.6 miles, and is run twice, in reverse seeding order with the second run ‘interleaving’ between the first-run crews who are doing the stage for the first time, at 30-second intervals, meaning the spectators have something increasingly quick and good to watch, rather than having a quick car and it being all downhill from there.
This leaves us with the unusual situation of being nearly first on the road (we’ve been first before), which leaves Paul on his toes as there are not many people in front to follow, although this year there were some crews in front of us (Military Land Rovers and one other car), so we weren’t first on the road. The route to town is always a bit frustrating as it takes two of the most traffic-filled roads on a Friday night, so it’s always a bit “will we, won’t we?” to see if we’ll be there on time. Fortunately we were there on time, and had a bit of time to get out of the car, check tyre pressures and say hello to a few people. I also managed to get my helmet stuck in the back of the car (with it on!) as I was setting the camera running. Quite embarrasing, but all done OK. Then, the stage itself.
If you don’t know Bournemouth Gardens, it’s has a wide footpath with small metal railings on either side. Lots of people call the stage “Mickey Mouse”, but it’s somewhere that you could get it properly wrong, as it’s quite tight in places, but also with a good run down to the first bend proper, and I decided I wanted to go under 2 minutes on both runs this year, so I gave it some down to the first corner, and when I braked there was a moment where I thought we wouldn’t stop in time as the pads weren’t warmed up properly, but we made it OK, and then to a left/right chicane and under the pier approach (which is always slippy due to the surface and the sand) and then onto the seafront. It’s nearly a mile to go there, but with some bends (as part of the road) and three chicanes to negotiate. Last year they were very tight, and I nearly hit one, this year they weren’t as tight, but of course you only know that after the event (and hope they’re still the same when you come through again). The car ran well, and was into top gear towards the braking zones for the chicanes – geared perfectly for this. We got to the end and I was pleased that (a) Paul thought it went well, and (b) We’d done it in 1:57.8 – Nice.
Back round for Stage 2, this time queueing in a different place, we were told our arrival time was wrong by a somewhat misinformed marshal (who thought it wasn’t possible for two cars to be arriving in the same minute – reason being we’d gone in 1:57 and the car in front had done 2:06), but fortunately Paul knows what he wants, which is always good.
We then went towards the stage queue, and found the stage had been stopped. It was really warm down there tonight (relatively speaking – usually it’s bitterly cold) so we had time to get out and talk to a few people who we knew; it was probably a 15-minute delay while the stricken car (a Land Rover, apparently) was removed and the stage re-started. We slotted into the queue with the first runner in front of us being Geoff Bennett in his Warrior-powered Mark 2. We’d seen a few cars go off the line as we waited, and none of them really took off. Geoff changed all that – it was amazing watching how his car just hooked up and flew off. It’s no surprise that at the time I got home he was leading on SS1 – he did it in 20 seconds less than us, and I’d think it’ll take a properly quick car and driver to catch him there.
So we were up, just 30 seconds later. The lights went green, and away we went. I’d been trying to warm the brakes on the way round to SS2 but of course all that heat would have gone during the delay so I took it a little cautiously into the first turn, and got it just right in fact, and the rest of the stage went OK. There was a moment in the first chicane on the seafront when I outbraked myself on the way in and then missed a gear on the way out, but it went well overall, and the result was a slightly quicker time, a 1:56.4. Overall, not a bad job – mission accomplished, I think.
We then had to get back to service in 27 minutes, which sounds easy, but given slow Friday night traffic and a slightly long route, it left little time to get fuel (which we needed – we’re going to try to run minimum fuel at all times this year), but we just about managed it, got back to the control with a minute or so to spare, and when we booked in got a results sheet to show 3 cars were behind us at the moment, a right result for me. As I write this there are 4 cars behind us (a Subaru had a bit of a mare on SS2), which is unusual.
So, tomorrow is the “real deal”, with 11 forest stages. Our start time is around 9:30, so we’ll have to go and get the car ready, changing wheels and so on, but it’s looking like a good weekend, or a good start anyway!
