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Hi All
Auckland rally
team Turner Motorsport salvaged a 17th o/a in the NZRC field after
hitting trouble in the opening round of the 2004 Parker-ENZED New
Zealand Rally Championship.
Day One started
in conditions that were difficult for all competing teams, with
low cloud, fog and rain, the roads were slippery and challenging.
Stage 5 was
the bearer of bad news for the team, with Dylan and Sara having
to back off during the middle of the stage with overheating, which
was to continue for the rest of the event. This dropped them back
and combined with brakes that were sticking on occasionally, and
an off-road excursion, the team were happy to arrive at the overnight
Parc
Ferme on Saturday night 8th in class, 3rd NZRC Rookie and 18th
NZRC o/a .
Day Two dawned
with an improvement in the weather, but caused the most problems
for most of the leading teams, with accidents for Mark Tapper and
Neil Allport.
After stage
10 at the second service of the day the event went from bad to worse
for the team. The car was found to have damaged a lower ball joint
and a new lower arm had to be fitted. Added to this, the car had
still been overheating through stages 9 - 13, and eventually the
team diagnosed a suspected blown head gasket. The team sprung to
action, but difficulties in fitting the arm meant that Dylan and
Sara clocked in 19min late, to incur a 3min 10sec time penalty and
to drop them back from 15th NZRC to 21st NZRC o/a at the end of
stage 11
The Turner Motorsport
pairing of Dylan Turner and Sara Warrington eventually finished
9th in class and 17th NZRC o/a.
"We are
happy to have just made the finish. The head gasket problem was
a real worry. The car was drinking a lot of water at each service,
and then we had the problem with the front lower arm. So it must
not have been our day," Turner explained.
"Our aim
before the event was to have a good solid start and to gain a top
12 finish overall, and to have a top 8 in class. We now know what
we have to do to improve based on the pace that was set over the
two days here at Otago."
The car will
stay in Dunedin where it will be repaired before the second round
of the Parker-Enzed New Zealand Rally Championship. The
Rally of Southland will be on Sunday June 6 and covers 10 gravel
surface special stages mostly in the forests around Otautau and
Tuatapere.
"I would
like to thank the service crew for their hard work over the weekend
in the cold damp conditions. Also a big thanks to Sara, her notes
and times were spot on all weekend, and when we hit troubles later
in day 2, she keep me out of trouble on the stages."
The team would
like to thank the our sponsors for the 2004 Parker-ENZED New Zealand
Rally Championship, Performance Finance and Leasing, LJ Hooker Manurewa,
AB Panel and Paint, Kempy's Bitsa Mitsi, and Chiropractic and Sport."
Til next time.
Sara & Dylan
Turner
Motorsport
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