THEMS THE BRAKES
Brake Failure puts pay to McLachlan's Patriot Stages
Patriot Stages - 28th September 2003
With the 205 rally championship overall and expert class trophies up for grabs, the Rich and Mat had carefully prepared the car for the penultimate round of the challenge. Tarmac suspension settings and new Pagid brake linings had been employed to ensure the McLachlans had the best possible chance at the event.
The Caerwent training complex was the venue, which provides tight tarmac stages with high kerbs testing both the car and the driver. The first stage started well with good pace being set, however after 3 miles the brakes were shot, and this was not the event for it! The service halt showed the new rear linings had disintegrated causing the wheel cylinders to fail and leaking the brake fluid. A repair was carried out at the service halt, but to no avail with the second stage proving even more of a challenge for the team as the second wheel cylinder failed near the start.
Rich continued to push hard, frustrated with the problems and attempting to maintain championship position and provided some spectacular action for the marshals with a near roll and then a small accident at the end of a long straight.
At the service halt the rear part of the braking system had to be completely disconnected to provide at least some braking effort at the front. Stage 3 went better than the previous two and the team were pleased still in the top 10. By now the field was starting to thin out with many of the 205 competitors also having problems with broken driveshafts being a common complaint. Rich surmised "If we can just get the car to the finish, we'll gather valuable championship points" and tempered his pace on the fourth stage. However with the front brakes now becoming increasing overloaded, a tight bend with high kerbs proved to be the undoing of the team. The car suffered a hard knock on a kerb and came to a grinding halt with broken suspension and no drive.
As the gearbox oil drained across the tarmac the team had some time to contemplate what might have been while warning oncoming rally traffic of the stricken car and waiting for the recovery vehicle to arrive.
