THIRD OVERALL! at SWANSEA BAY
Swansea Bay Rally, 8th August 2003
The team seared through the competitors on the 4th round of the 2003 Peugeot 205 Challenge to take an excellent 3rd overall in the intense heat of the South Wales forests on the Swansea Bay 205 rally, Richards best rally results to date. Spurred on by the presence of an in-car TV camera - footage to be aired on Rally Fever, Sky Sports, 5th September, Richard was under pressure to perform.
The day turned out to be a trial of endurance for both the crew and the car, with mechanical problems causing increasing concern toward the end of the event. The event uses some of the stages used in the Rally of Great Britain, which are by all accounts some of the best stages available in the UK with a mix of narrow and wide forest tracks and constant gradient changes providing a significant challenge for rally crews. The use of pace notes rather than maps also makes this event unique in the championship calendar.
Stage 1 was the longest of the day through Resolven forest and conditions were hot and dusty. As usual the pace was furious and 2 of the front-runners including Mike Nippers, another local team, failed to reach the end of the stage. This toll also nearly included the McLachlans as they ran wide on a hairpin bend within sight of the finish, but fortunately Rich managed to keep the car moving and back onto the track to set the 4th fastest time. Less fortunately this incident had damaged the front suspension, as well as several body panels, but the car was still in good enough shape to make it back to the service area.
Mat commented "I thought that was going to be the end of the day for us, all I could see were branches hitting the windscreen!" Stage 2 was a short blast around the entertaining Walters arena spectator venue before heading off to Rheola for Stage 3. The early part of the stage went smoothly for the team, with the pace notes flowing well, however 2 miles from the end of the stage, warning lights started flashing up on the dashboard as the intense heat and dust took its toll on the cooling system. With so much at stake, Richard pushed on to the end of the stage hoping the car would survive. Thankfully everything seemed fine given a few minutes cooling down time and a 5th fastest time was satisfactory.
There was however real concern about how the car would cope with the last stage, which was several miles longer than the one just completed, and also the suspension damage from the 1st stage was making the car increasingly difficult to handle. With the final stage of the day nearly 14 miles through the Rhondda forest and only a few seconds separating the drivers there was everything to play for. Hoping the problems would stay away Rich and Mat took off. It wasn't far before things started feeling wrong with the car, the handling becoming increasingly twitchy. Compounding this was the overheating problem again which kicked in at around six miles into the stage, this time robbing the engine of power. However, the McLachlans weren't the only team having trouble, and with two other front-runners having problems, one a puncture and the other an accidentally triggered extinguisher system, it looked like a 4th place overall was on the cards.
Post event scrutineering showed that the front suspension crossmember had broken as had one of the rear shocks, explaining the handling problems. These inspections also saw the demise of the would-be event winner who turned out to be running a non-standard camshaft (against the championship rules), promoting the Rich and Mat to third place overall. Rich said "We're delighted to have got our best result to date at such a prestigious rally". With the championship now in the balance with only a few points separating the leading crews, the next event in the Sweet Lamb complex in Powys will be critical for the team.
