Its been an interesting 24 months for us on the rally scene. We competed in no less than 19 events from sprints, club rallies, state championship rallies in NSW and QLD, and of course the Australian Championship.

The rallies we picked were chosen to give us the most diverse physical conditions whilst at the same time provide the highest level of competition.

Our goal was to learn to drive, learn to compete, learn to persist and be consistent, learn to battle, learn to get the most out of what we had, and learn to face problems and defeat.

In all, our results have been phenomenal. By our second rally we were able to set 2nd fastest time, and then later on we were able to set a few fastest times overall. Later in the year, we were able to sit comfortably in the top 10 against some of the most hardened and seasoned drivers that were in far superior machinery.

At the end of the day we are about 1.5 to 2.0 seconds per km off the winning pace of the 4WD turbo’s at state level, and about 5.0 seconds per km off the winning pace of Simon Evans in the unbreakable factory backed Corolla.

When we move up to our own 4WD turbo, we will be expecting that deficit to drop considerably.

We really took It to the more fancied teams, they had better cars and much more experience but it didn’t faze us at all. The 4 wheel drives are superior in just about all conditions, and we had to really work hard to set the times that we did.

Below is a synopsis of our events so far, stage by stage as a position. 10 means 10th fastest on that stage and 1 means fastest.

Rally number1 September 2006
State championship rally sprint. Conditions, wet, wet, wet.
Best stage time 3rd fastest

Rally number 2 ….5th outright
Clubman championship Wauchope and Port Macquarie
Best stage time 3rd fastest

Rally number 3…..4th outright
Clubman championship, coffs harbour. Conditions, very wet and slippery
Best stage time 3rd fastest

Rally number 4
QLD state championship, Gallangowan. Conditions, hot, dry and dusty

Stage times
6,9,3,4,3,2,2,1

1st time ever to QLD for a hot and dry rally with tonnes of dust. 4th at meal break then 2nd outright when oil line failed on last stage. Leading class by over 40 seconds.

Rally number 5…….4th outright
QLD state championship Gympie. Conditions, extremely wet and slippery

Stage times
4,4,3,4,3,7

Record rain greeted us on the morning of the rally which is a massive bonus to the 4wd turbo’s. Gearbox failed on last stage and robbed us of a certain podium at 3rd. Still finished after driving 16km in 4th gear only, class win by over 3.5 minutes.

Rally number 6
NSW state championship, Canberra. Hot, dry, dusty and very slippery in Canberra

Stage times
12th At mealbreak then 9th.

A shocker for us. Struggled with pace with unsuited gear ratio’s. completely different conditions to what we were used to and the local competitors have an unbelievable advantage with local knowledge of the roads. Massive field of 4 wheel drive turbo’s on roads with no indicators as the trees were destroyed when the fires went through a few years ago. Suspension failure ended rally, 2nd in class, and 9th outright at time of withdrawal.

2007
Rally number 7 February 2007
KCF short course, Kilcoy, QLD, first pacenote attempt 7th outright.

Stage times
8,4,5,8,4,4

Again, struggled with gear ratio’s and pacenotes dropping the pace of the car. Probably our worst event in terms of cohesion and team work resulting in a very poor final result.

Rally number 8
Coates rally QLD, combined state and Australian championship.
Excellent run against countries best on Saturday but mechanical suspension failure on Sunday, eventuated a roll and missing 4 stages. We were able to rejoin and complete rally.
Times for ARC are brought over from state component as unable to enter ARC due to age of car. Class lead or 2nd in class all rally

Saturday
State level 7th outright ARC level 12th outright
Stage times 4,4,7,7,11,7,5,5 13,12,14,14,14,10,15,

Heat 2 Sunday
State ARC
Stage times 3,7, o, o, o, o, 5,6 14,15, o,o,o,o,14,14

Rally number 9
NSW state championship, Lithgow

Stage times
8,10,25,29,8,9

Great start to rally in toughest competition seen for many years. Engine misfire resulted in out of late time through stage 3 and 4 and exclusion from the event. Leading class at the time by 1 minute. We were 9th after 2 stages and next nearest 2wd was 19th!

Rally number 10
NSW clubman championship, Kempsey ….2nd outright

Stage times
3,4,4,4,3,2,1,2

Pulled back 3rd place from yet another 4 wheel drive turbo by 49 seconds in 4 stages. Inherited 2nd after leader failed to finish. Resulted in first podium, 2nd outright. Class win by over 3.5 minutes

Acquire Mitsubishi Evo 5

Rally number 11
QLD state Championship Rockhampton.

Stage times
1, DNF

Set fastest time in stage 1 in new car only to have massive transmission failure.
Rally Number 12
NSW State championship Coffs Harbour

Stage times
=3, =7,2,=6,5,=6,3,4,DNF

Coffs was our real first event that we drove the Evo in. it was also the first time that we have got to do a rally for the second time as this was our second event just 12 months ago. We started out slowly against a very strong field just to get a feel for the car. By the time we got to stage 3 it was all feeling good and we set 2nd fastest. The next 2 stages I had been told to take it real easy so I did but maybe just a bit too easy and it dropped us down the leader board to about 5th outright at the meal break.

For the 2 night stages that followed I was given instructions to up the ante and have a bit more of a push and look for 3rd outright. We set a 3rd and a 4th fastest time with no troubles and were sitting about 35 seconds off 3rd and only 3 seconds of 4th, the current state champion. Unfortunately in the penultimate stage, the engine failed and were not to finish.

Rally number 13
NEC Australian rally championship, Great Lakes Rally Forster. Equal 7th outright

Heat 1 9th outright

Stage times
13,9,9,12.
A spin on the last stage of the day saw us plummet from a top ten time by losing about 10 seconds.

Heat 2 8th outright

Stage times
10,12,11,9,9,9,8
A blown turbo pipe cost us some time on the second stage of the day, about 20 seconds, and a stripped tyre cost us about 10 seconds in stage 3.

This was our first actual attempt, a debut, at the ARC. After the failures previous with the car it was important to show our speed and make sure that we were within the top 15. We thought that this would be reasonable given it was my 13th rally in total, 2nd event in the Evo, 3rd event ever on pace notes, 1st event on notes in that car, and 1st time on notes with new co driver Wayne Parker.

Saturday was quite a surprise to us to be 9th outright in heat 1 and only about 1 second per km behind the lead driver. Again due to our previous failures, and although we all wanted to push on Sunday for heat 2, the team decided that I should consolidate and sit around top ten and wait. Even so, our times were within 2 sec per km, and we finished 8th outright after inheriting 2 places. Finally the strategy worked! With a 9th in heat 1 and a 8th in heat 2, our combined point score made us equal 7th outright for the rally, equal with Michael guest in the Factory backed S2000 Ford Fiesta. Gotta be happy with that.

Rally number 14……….1ST outright, Finally!
State championship rallysprint, Coffs Harbour 27/10/07

Stage times
1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,

We had 2 choices after the ARC, go to Melbourne for the final round and spend the 3rd world debt on doing it, or do 2 rallies a week apart, totalling just as many Kms on pacenotes, for a mere fraction of the cost. Seeing as at this point its all about getting pace note experience, and one of the events was being held on some of the same roads as the ARC just previous, we decided to do the 2 smaller events.

The Shannons insurance state Rallysprint in Coffs would see 4 firsts for us. One, we were put out at car 1 on the road, 2 we had an event the very next weekend, 3 dad and co were doing controls so it was all up to us young ones, and 4 we won!.

Held over 12 separate stages, we won them all and finished nearly 3 minutes ahead of our nearest rival. The boys were happy

Rally number 15……….1ST outright, Again?!
Myall Stages, Bullahdelah 4/11/07

Stage times
1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

The 4th of November is dads birthday and what better way to celebrate it for the old fella given all the work he puts in. This one’s for you dad! Hope you enjoyed your birthday dinner, 2 chiko rolls on the highway on the way home.

Another fly ball my way with this one. I’d rarely driven the Evo, let alone in wet and muddy conditions. Added to that the win the weekend before and the pressure starts to mount. It rained all the way down and early Sunday morning at the start of the evnet, but after some encouraging words of wisdom form the wise one, we set off and won all 8 stages. Our winning margin was again over 2 minutes.

Unfortunately, this would be our last event with Wayne Parker. Thanks for all your advice and experience Wayne.

 

2008
Rally number 16………1st outright yet again!!
Coffs Harbour rallysprint. 24/2/08

Stage times
1,1,1,1,1,1,

This would be our first event for the year and also our first time with new co driver Matt Sosimenko. I knew it was going to be difficult for me to have a nr=ew codriver after Wayne as I was quite confident with him. Son this sprint was f=going to be a great opportunity to trial Matt and see how can fit in to the team.

It was also another event where the patriarchs of the team left us young en’s alone to run the day. Perhaps they are trying to tell me something.

Another good day though, no problems and we won all 6 stages.

Rally number 17………1st outright in QLD
KCF short course rally Jimna

Stage times
1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,

This is the 2nd time we’ve been to Jimna for the KCF rally. It’s a great event on pace notes and according to many people in the know, one of the most technical and hardest forests to achieve good rhythm and confidence on the notes.

Due to unforseen circumstances Matt Sossi, couldn’t make it so it became a perfect opportunity to test new Codriver Craig Jones. Craig comes fresh from winning the highly competitive privateers cup, the BP Challenge, in Last years Australian Championship and has an immense amount of experience at that elite level that can only help our team.

This wouldn’t be as easy as the last one as the KCF’d are treated very seriously and we had many past winners and champions out after us. But it would be good to do another round on notes before we head to Canberra for the international.

We won all 8 stages making it 32 special stage wins in a row, from 4 events. Craig went well but did manage to regurgitate his banana for the lunch break.

 

Rally number 18………………….no comment!
The Rally of Canberra APRC 10/11 May 08
Stage times
Day 1, DNF
Day 2 9,10,12,10,8,8,8,8,7

It would seem that our excellent run had come to an end. There would be no fairy tale with this one.

We entered the ROC in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship leg instead of the ARC leg. This is because we really want to be competing overseas and it seemed a fair assumption that we should try to mix it with the O/S crews and get known to them

To do this required us to convert the car back to Group N, the FIA regulation. Simplified it meant that we had to put a smaller exhaust on the car and a smaller restrictor on the turbo. What it really meant was thousands of dollars taking out roof vents, re tuning the car, and having the fuel tank re done or certified. Them’s the rules!

Unfortunately 10 kms into the 1st stage on day one a piece of left over carbon fibre dislodged itself from the freshly built bladder tank and jammed the fuel pump, stopping us for the day. This was our first DNF since the Coffs rally when the engine blew.

This meant that we would not get a chance to go over the stages at speed like the other guys so we knew that tomorrow would be a lost cause.

So, as we need to obtain as much experience on notes as we possibly can, in the company of tough competition, on roads I had not been on before, we decided to set about doing the day with a top ten finish in mind. It became very important for me to understand that I was not in a position to fight for positions and that I would just have to be happy with the pace I thought I could do. It was a great lesson and this is were having the experienced people around makes all the difference.

Although we weren’t classified a finisher we finished day2 in 8th place, but a lot of lessons were learned and a lot of new people were met.

Rally number 19…………..that’s more like it! 5th outright
Coates Rally QLD

Stage times
Heat 1 - 13,16,7,5,9,7,5,4,7,6 = 5th outright
Heat 2 – 8,7,8,9,7,2,6, = 6th outright

QLD was a much better rally for us in a few ways. We left the car in Group N trim and had no idea really what sort of speed we could get as we didn’t have any pace on the Sunday at Canberra.

The highlight of the rally though was having Ben Atkinson sit with us. It was going to be an opportunity to learn form one of the best and most successful co drivers around. Having been with brother Chris and now Cody Crocker I felt that Ben would be able to help me immensely with notes, and in commitments and trust. He did!

We started out slowly in the showground super special stages and the lack of power that we had really became obvious. Clearly, those that do testing and media days are much more on the boil straight away unlike us.

Once we got into the real forest stages, I started to settle in. we set a string of really good times that eventually saw us 5th outright and 1st Mitsubishi home. It was a great result for the team.

Sunday didn’t start too well. I woke up really quite ill and was dizzy. That coupled with the wrong tyre choice saw us a little slow in the morning, but still happy to be in the top ten. Once lunch time came around the Codrals had kicked in and we put on some older tyres and we were back. We even set a 2nd fastest time. We finished 6th outright and 2nd Mitsubishi home.

Ben was a real asset to us over the weekend. He brought a whole new level not just to me but to the entire team. I have since made some changes to how I do the notes now but now realise that the Evo 5 is going about as fast as it can go in Group N.

Overall we finished the rally in 5th outright as the 2nd Mitsubishi. Not bad really given the car’s age and history.

Rally number 20……….our 2 year anniversary almost to the day.
Myall stages rally, NSW Championship 1st outright

Stage times
=1,1,2,1,1,4,2,1

With the postponement of the Coffs state round and the cancellation of Bega the Myall stages rally was upgraded to state championship status. This was good for us as it was a pace noted rally and we won it last year, the postponement of Coffs made it easier for us to get there.

With new Codriver John McArthy from QLD we went well overall apart form a mishap on the 6th stage. I had backed off to conserve the 48 second lead and went wide into a bank and jumped the car back onto the road and did some serious mechanical damage.

The crew worked miracles to keep us in the rally and replaced the radiator, intercooler, power steering, turbo pipes and rear arms with 30 seconds to spare. It was bent and bruised and had sustained serious damage to the chassis rail so all the wheels were pointing funny.

With a few words of old advice (that would be wisdom) dad made it clear what I had to do. The team agreed and we set about finding a comfortable pace to maintain our now slim 11 second lead. The words form Dad still ring in my head. “we’ve done everything we can, the car is safe but limping. You are the only one that can determine how much to push. You know how to do this, you’ve trained for it” Geez all I needed was let the force be with you Luke!

Away we went. Poor Johnny Mac must’ve wondered what he got himself in for as the car was all over the road on the next stage, but he remained calm and supportive. Once I got the hang of the new wheel alignment settings……we both decided that it felt good enough to make sure we won the last stage, so we did.

The boys were wrapped, what a battle. That was a rally!