Start 4th Finish 9th …still on the learning curve……more experience required.

Of the 7 stages we finished ….. 11th, 6th, 7th, last !!, 4th, 3rd, 3rd.
Greg and I were stoked about starting Car 4 but nervous about it as well. It was pretty amazing to hold the responsibility of being the first non 4WD turbo car on the road. Behind us in Car 5 were Geoff and Lizzy who were going to prove hard to beat as well. They have a fast car but the handling, suspension and braking ability of the Corolla is what makes us competitive against the grunt of the others.

Greg was pretty pumped about this event, following his illustrious 1st in the DELL but with another prostitute navigator by his side (I had a sickie that weekend). As a result the pressure was on me to make the calls good to ensure we achieved a good finish result.

We finished 9th which was disappointing but as always there was a good reason.

We surrendered approx 4min20sec of our time changing a flat approx 1.5 k's before the end of SS4 Padovans Reverse. Let me tell you what happened…..approaching Tulip 30 TL a nice sized rock, coke can size with a pyramid pointy bit at the top standing on end with a sign on it saying HIT ME. It was so bloody obvious it wasn't worth calling. I am having nightmares about that now. ….any way Greg hit it !!! He explained later that he had already committed a line for the TL and could not avoid it. Moments afterwards it was flat. Unsure about what to do we took the conservative option and stopped to do the change. With the benefit of hindsight we probably should have driven through to the end …the problem was it was a Front Left Drive Wheel.which could of caused us more grief if we kicked on…ces't la vie.

To make bad luck worse, just as we were ready to go again after the wheel change Car 6 was approaching approx 400m away …anyway gentlemen that we are, we decided to let them pass rather than putting our dust in front of them.

Other highlights were:

SS1 - had a good run except for a spin on the RGR between the Yellow FF marker and the Red Flag board. Shit Shit Shit, there we were facing the bank about 15m from the line - directly in sight of the stopwatch controllie we begged him to stop the clock. We did a 3 point turn to nonchalantly cross the line - probably cost us 15 - 20sec's.

SS2 - Terratrip begins to develop a split personality - when I tell it to clear, it says no ! - when I want it to count, it clears itself ! We were sloppy at about 3 different points.

SS3 - great fun - topped out at 145kms on the approach to the FF

SS4 - see above - flat tyre

SS5 - man that went fast - we were determined to make up time

SS6 - bring on the night stages. Greg and I love the night stages. We tend to do better compared to others. Only problem with this run compared to SS2 was that I buggered up Tulip 51 !!Caution. This was at the end of a series of flat out crests approx 1km worth. I called the first bit of the !!Caution but not the TVHR 20m after the crest. This was a demonstration of the Corolla stopping power. There we were looking straight at the bunting ahead but we still managed to pull up to backout and keep going.

SS7 - fantastic - rerun of SS3 this time we were heaps more sideways especially the RGR after the boggy TVHL at the logs. Greg's left foot braking is getting heaps better.

At the end of the day Greg and I were happy to continue our good finishing record and score more Gold Cup points in our first full year. Our record so far has been to finish better than what we start (except for Ulladullah where we had to change a flat tyre as well ?!?!). Take off the wheel change time at SS4 and we would have finished a clear 3rd. Being 2nd Car back to the clubhouse was a spin out. There we were ….just us and the REX side by side.

Great result for Geoff and Lizzy - you guys were hot ! Lookout for Starmart. Great result as well for Peter and Jeremy seeing as they nearly drowned at the Stop control of SS4 but managed to revive to keep going. Also great result for Tamsey - the psych out shit he was getting is a bit uncalled for- just let him get on with it. Shame about the Walsh'ys Father and Son team DNF in Rob Sharpe's 1200 on SS1. Matthew Walsh was 1st time navigating at 14 years of age !!

Lessons learned:
Tip #1 for navigators: no matter how obvious the loose rock lying in the middle of the road is always tell the driver not to hit it
Tip #2 for navigators: have a pre arranged plan with the driver about how you might deal with a front or rear puncture either early or late in the stage
Tip #3 for navigators: he who stop to change wheel finisheth last !!!