… Lurgy Strikes …
Struck down with an infection Tunnock’s World Rally Team co-driver, Stuart Loudon is frantically seeing if antibiotics and Tunnock’s confectioneries have the correct medicinal properties to clear his sinuses before next weekend’s Circuit of Ireland rally. The Circuit is driver, Robert Barrable’s home event, it is also the UK’s only round of the prestigious European Rally Championship and the Tunnock’s team really want to push for a top overall result.
“We have a test planned for Monday so I have to have got rid of this infection by then,” says Stuart, “the test is to bed ourselves into Irish tarmac, as the last time we competed on proper tar was in Spain in October. OK, Monte was tar, but you never knew if it was covered in ice or not, so it is six months since we were last out. We will also be running on the same tyres as the top ERC competitors, so we need to spend time to get up to speed with them and how the car reacts to the different compounds.”
The hard worked CA1 Sport team only got back to their Carlisle base at midnight on Tuesday having travelled from Faro, Portugal after the last rally. The Fiesta R5 needs to be stripped from its gravel trim which entails changing all the suspension, the anti roll bars, brakes and camber set up, as well as the preventative mechanical re-preparation following 300+kms of hard driving over Portuguese gravel stages.
“It has probably taken the guys half a day to get the car cleaned following Portugal. There must have been pounds of additional weight on the car with Portuguese mud. The stages were so slippy and clay-like. Martin and Dave both flew from Portugal to Barbados to go and work on a customer’s car out there. They fly into Manchester on Tuesday and go straight out to Ireland to work on our car. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks for the guys as the truck leaves for the Circuit on Sunday morning; a quick turnaround.”
The Circuit of Ireland was the second rally that Robert ever contested, though it took to his third attempt in 2012 to record his first finish: 6th overall in a Skoda Fabia S2000. By comparison Stuart has only been to two Irish rallies: the 2010 Ulster Rally with John MacCrone which resulted in 7th in class in a Fiesta R2 – and the other time as a spectator on the 2011 Donegal Rally!
“Having competed on many other tarmac rallies in Europe it is surprising that I don’t really know Irish tarmac, I suppose in places it will be very like the Tunnock’s Mull Rally, but until recce starts I don’t know if they are fast and wide, or tight and narrow.”
Reconnaissance takes place in a road car at slow speed where the driver notes the road in a descriptive form for the co-driver to note down in shorthand for reading back to the driver when the competition starts. For the Circuit of Ireland the two spectator special stages have to be recced on foot due to traffic constraints.
“That is going to be really strange and take up a lot of time. By the time we do both stages and checked the notes we will have walked 7 kilometres. It is going to make things interesting, as in the recce car we have a trip meter to be able to accurately measure distances, so we are going to have to guess at these on foot and also the gradient of corners will be a guess from not being in the car.” commented Stuart.
“This is Rob’s home event and it is going to be special to go through the stages seeing the Irish flags and feeling the local support. Last week in Portugal, in the half second that you get to look up from the notes, if you saw a Saltire at the edge of the stage it gave you a great feeling. I know that next week it will make a difference to us and give us the incentive push on. They really do inspire you. “
Tunnock’s World Rally Team co-ordinator, Seb Marshall is also competing on the Circuit alongside Kevin Abbring in the new Peugeot 208 R5. This is the first Tarmac event where the Peugeot R5 car will come in direct competition with the Fiesta R5 car.
“The wind up between us and others has started already. Some folk have been really stirring the rivalry between the Peugeot and the Ford and about which will be quicker. We are the only Fiesta R5 on the entry list, so we have a lot of M-Sport pride to uphold.”