All Good Things Must End - Day 3

With grey clouds greeting us this morning we were half keen for some rain on today's stages. We'd been praying for some slippery stuff in the hope that the gravel experience would see us have a bit of an advantage over the regular tarmac drivers. Gods were against us however, and the day fined up to another scorcher.

So we set off to Oldina first up. A classic Rally Tas stage - fast and flowing, but a bit shorter than previous years. We bedded in the new discs on the first transport and after checking pressures at the start, stopped to put some more air in the Yokahama boots. Without an accurate pressure gauge at the servo however, David just "put a fist-full" in each tyre, planning to adjust them down at the start of the stage. Transport time was tight and we only just made it into control in time, so we had to run what we had. Made for in interesting stage, but surprisingly we made it through unscathed and in not bad time either! A short transport and we were back at the Yolla South stage which we ran yesterday. David made a quick tyre adjustment and we were in full attack mode for a stage that we both love.

All went sensationally well until we got to THE spectator point. Allow me to paint a picture. The call for us is "Small Crest, Left 4 tightens into Turn Left 4". That is to say a blind entry to a left hander which turns into a tighter left-hander at a junction. Worked a treat yesterday, so there was no reason to suspect that maybe today it needed to be different. Anyhow ... it did. Did we go in too hard? Were the tyres playing another game? Did the rally car see gravel and just go there? To be fair, we nailed the entry to the corners ... it was the exit that proved a problem.

Coming out of the second left the back slipped out a bit. Not much ... just a bit. But then it swung back the other way, and then the right hand side of the cabin got busy. We "tank slapped" big-time down the road a-ways before turning back the way we came and proceeded down the stage backwards. Not ideal. Then we came back the right way, had another look at a fence and came to a halt. Roll start ... Left 6, 100 Chicane. Nice work. Spectators loved us, as did the media and the documentary crew that were on the spot. Nothing to show on the car for all the action ... just a bit of grass hanging off the back mudflap. Well we had to do something to get on camera! We were 14 seconds slower than the run on the previous day. hmmmm

On then to a final run through Hellyer Gorge. All fingers were crossed for a good run through and it was certainly smoother than the previous day's run. Only 1 second faster though. We then met Head Source at the remote refuel at Fingerpost before tackling the Highclere Hill Climb, then into Service. Even after the rough treatment, the service crew didn't have anything beyond their standard service procedure to work through. It's interesting to watch the different approaches to servicing at Rally Tas, and it's really easy to tell which crews are more oriented towards gravel rallying. Crews like ours and Les Walkden Rallying are all over the car as soon as it arrives. Jacked up and jackstands in often before the crew are out of the car, shortly followed by all wheels off and crews under the car checking every little thing. Then there are the others .. have a chat, kick the tyres then (maybe) throw some fuel at it.

Anyhow, 30 minutes later were were off to the second last stage of the rally. This was Hampshire - an 11 km new stage that's fast but tricky, and we both loved it. Lots of cresty stuff with superfast sections - not long enough though for the e-Home Subaru to threaten the 200km/h speed restruction. Upper Natone was the last stage of the rally. Twisty and rough, our car revelled in the conditions much more then the more delicate Porsches around us. We certainly put the ol' gravel rally sump guard to the test.

And so to the finish. An easy transport to Burnie for a brief assembly before the short journey to the Finish Arch on North Terrace. A good day topping off an excellent rally. We started today 21st and finished 19th, which suits us just fine. Scotty (aka Head Source), Rob and Adam did a sensational job preparing and maintaining the car, allowing David and I to just get on with our job of getting it down the road. Now we're back at "The Ranch" to shower, relax and make ourselves beautiful before heading off to the Presentation Dinner. Might be a big night!

Cheers, Co-driver White