Rally Report 2020 Harold Palin Rally
Sunday the 4th October saw the Laser Tools Racing Rally Team competing again in the next round of the EMAMC championship at Fulbeck airfield near Newark. With good points scored in the last round 3 weeks previously we were hoping for a solid finish here to keep us in the championship chase for this year.
The day was cold but dry but stage 1 was very slippery with a lot of loose dirt on the road from the farming activities over the previous months, this made judging the braking points for the corners very difficult but with no issues we managed to complete the 8.5 mile stage in 8min 10sec putting us 23rd and 2nd in class so we were pleased with that knowing the stages would get cleaner and quicker through the day.
Stage 2 was a little dryer with a clean line now being created but unfortunately about 1 mile in I missed judged the approach to a chicane and clipped the large bale with the inside wheel which immediately broke the steering arm, so we had to park up as the car was un-drivable with one wheel steering. By doing this we incurred a stage maximum of 16min but we got recovered back to the pits where the service crew did a great job of replacing the steering arm in quick time to get us back out for stage 3 hoping to claw some positions back having 4 stages left in the day. We were now in 58th position and 6th in class but we were still in the rally and going to push on the next few stages to improve this position.
Stage 3 was a bit of a test to see how the car was handling as the time restriction to get the repairs done didn’t allow for the tracking to be checked and adjusted correctly. But as it was we could push on to try to get some positions back and we moved up to 49th bit still 6th in class. After another clean run on stage 4 we moved up to 7thd and now 5th in class and our times were looking good to get up some more positions on the remaining two stages which we did finishing a credible 38th overall and 3rd in class finishing 7 min and 30 sec behind the class leader in 18th place and considering we lost over 8 min on stage 2 with the broken steering this would have seen us with a class win and top 20 finish, but that’s motorsport for you.
The EMAMC championship is looking really good for 2020 with Jemma leading the navigators and myself in second position for the drivers’ championship and with just one round to go we are in a great position this year for both of us.
Our thanks go out again to all who support us, our sponsors Laser Tools, service crew of Mick, Tim and Anthony and my family and friends who put up with the endless work on the car to keep it looking its best and reliable and to all the marshals and organisers who volunteer their time for us to enjoy rallying
See you all again at Donington on the 6ht Dec 2020. Spot lights required for the last stages I think!!!!
