Evo 9 out of panel shop

Coffs Harbour's own world class rally team are somewhat more upbeat than they were this time 2 months ago.

A high speed crash at the Repco Rally Australia last September put paid to Nathan Quinn's attempt at a drive in the 2010 world rally championship and saw his new Evolution 9 Lancer almost completely destroyed, the cause, a wheel coming off just kilometres form the end of the world championship event.

Those last two months have seen much discussion and investigation as to wether the team would have to write the car off, which would effectively mean the end of young star Nathan Quinns quest to compete on the world stage.

Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on getting the car back into shape, and it was only last week that the car left the care of Seabreeze premium body works in Coffs harbour.

"The car is in fantastic condition" said driver Nathan Quinn. "I can't believe that it has come up so well given how it looked 2 months ago. I can't wait to have it finished and get back behind the wheel. We have some unfinished business to attend to"

The repair work was extensive and required many weeks on the specialised rack .

"This car was stripped to within a moment of its life right back down to its most basic structure. We knew we had the expertise and the equipment to get it right and I'm glad that as a local team, Martin and Nathan decided to keep the repair local to Coffs. There was no need to take it to the city as we have shown" said Gary Amigue, owner of Seebreeze

"Originally we did think that the car would most likely need specialised attention but Gary convinced me that they could do it here, locally" said Nathan. "Any normal car would certainly have been written off but these aren't normal cars. We had to find someone who understood that close enough wasn't good enough, and perfectly straight was the only option. This thing is capable of 200kph plus on gravel roads and has to be absolutely perfectly straight and square for us to have any chance to win. In fact we found a few hidden scars that have now been fixed and I am absolutely confident that any little handling problem it did have will be easily tuned out now."

But it's not over yet, warns dad and team manager Martin Quinn.

"we expect to have the car back in the shed by the end of January. That's when the real work begins. Every single mechanical component in contact with the ground will be replaced like control arms, diffs, gearboxes etc. When this car turns a wheel mid February, it will basically be brand new.

"The boys, Nathan, Matt Nash and Shannon Smith have already spent considerable time getting the shell ready for repairs but the re fit will be massive, hundreds and hundreds of hours. My hat goes off to them. Many others would have rightly called it a day."

The team have its sights set on the full Australian rally championship (ARC) in 2010 as well as selected rounds of the Asia Pacific Championship (APRC) all sponsorship pending. The Pirelli Star driver award is running again possibly giving the young hopeful another crack at a funded drive in the world rally championship.

"Our sponsors have been fantastic" said Martin. "But this has really hurt us. "We honestly expected that Nathan would have won the Pirelli drive in the world championship but we didn't. We weren't fast enough on the day that mattered and that was due to not doing enough rallies through out 09. That has to change for 2010 or we are wasting out time.".

"2010 will be the most important year in Nathan's career. It's a make or break year. We can't afford another accident like the one at the WRC yet at the same time Nathan will have to drive harder than ever. 2010 will prove his metal; he really has no choice if he wants to succeed"

The car is currently having further specialised work done before it returns to Seabreeze for the final paint work. Thankfully, the biggest question on the teams mind now is, will it be red or will it be white?

The team are the pride of Coffs Harbour and well supported by the local business community.

Allied air conditioning and Refrigeration Coffs Harbour, Florent and Mundey Real Estate, Natrad, The Plastics Factory, Xpress printing, Hi Tech drivelines and Leonard mufflers, Beaurepairs, Ultra Tune, North Coast Engines, Cowlings R&R Carpets, Xcorp,