Craigs STPR
What a great event STPR 2011 turned out to be for David and myself, and the Subaru USA Team. Our third win on the trot has put us in a great position going into the sixth and final round of the Championship in New England, but we both know we still need a good final result to secure the Championship.
The week started with a trip to Vermont to catch up with some of the guys at the workshop that we don’t get to see very often. We massively appreciate the effort that has gone into getting both the new rally cars and the rally cross cars ready for this season, and although we can thank the guys who come to the events with us for their hard work, we rarely get a chance to thanks the unsung heroes who stay at team HQ. We also used this time to do some technical familiarization with the new car. It is fair to say that David is very much the mechanically-minded one, but I try to help where I can!
On Wednesday we travelled down to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania which was a 7 hour drive, picking our recce car up en route. The Thursday recce was very tough. Even though it was only a 1-pass recce, it was done in a convoy system which seemed to be stationary more than it was moving. We did 10 stages of recce in 11 hours! Nevertheless, we made some good notes for the stages and finished the day with a short shakedown, just to make sure the car was working properly and get into the groove.
David and I woke up early on Friday to go through our recce in-car video and check and make any alterations to our notes. This is crucial after a 1-pass recce, because it is easy to make a mistake or miss something first time around. It was then off to Wellsboro for Parc Expose and get ready for the event.
The rally started with a very tough stage called Waste management, which is probably the twistiest stage we have done in the Championship this year. Our pace was good but we also had to remember that this was the fourth or fifth time many of our competitors had done virtually all of these stages, and so as this was our first time we would always be at a slight disadvantage. A good run over the next few stages saw us finish day 1 in second place, 14 seconds down on the leaders. Unfortunately this was after Stage 2 times were scrubbed due to a start-marshal error, where we were actually quickest by 5 seconds.
The Saturday stages were much quicker than Friday, and we found a good rhythm straight away and began clawing time back on first place, which we moved in to after SS7. However, on SS8 disaster struck. About half a mile into the stage, the intercom cut out. POP! As the back-up intercom was also part of the same unit, we had no option but to continue down the stage with me shouting and using hand signals! This started as a number-based system, but ended with the more frantically I waved my hand, the tighter the next corner was!
We managed to revert to our transit intercom for SS9 and were having a good stage until we got a rear-left puncture after landing from a jump. This was looking like it was definitely not our event!
With the puncture changed and the intercom fixed, we knew we only had 4 stages left to go. We were 37 seconds behind with only one option – GO FOR IT! I knew I was in for a good ride over the remaining 4 stages after the first corner of SS10 – a slippery 6th gear corner which David didn’t even hesitate on. We were on the attack. Over the next 3 stages, we cut L’Estage’s lead down to 10 seconds with only the long final proper stage to go followed by the short superspecial stage. SS14 was all or nothing, and we put the pedal to the metal to win the stage by 12 seconds and now lead by 2.5 seconds going into the superspecial stage!!
I was extremely nervous heading into the 0.6 mile superspecial, as it is a cruel place to win or lose a rally. After our run, I couldn’t watch as L’Estage attacked the stage. Have we done enough, or had he stole victory from us at the very last moment? Then came through the news – he had beaten our time but only by 1.2 seconds which meant we had won overall by 1.3 seconds!
This was one of my most special wins because it showed true character. We were both bitterly disappointed when we lost all the time with intercom problems and a puncture, but we dug deep and never gave up. It was an honor to sit next to a driver of David’s caliber when he is on full attack mode, and a feeling that I will never get bored of! Onwards to New England!
The week started with a trip to Vermont to catch up with some of the guys at the workshop that we don’t get to see very often. We massively appreciate the effort that has gone into getting both the new rally cars and the rally cross cars ready for this season, and although we can thank the guys who come to the events with us for their hard work, we rarely get a chance to thanks the unsung heroes who stay at team HQ. We also used this time to do some technical familiarization with the new car. It is fair to say that David is very much the mechanically-minded one, but I try to help where I can!
On Wednesday we travelled down to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania which was a 7 hour drive, picking our recce car up en route. The Thursday recce was very tough. Even though it was only a 1-pass recce, it was done in a convoy system which seemed to be stationary more than it was moving. We did 10 stages of recce in 11 hours! Nevertheless, we made some good notes for the stages and finished the day with a short shakedown, just to make sure the car was working properly and get into the groove.
David and I woke up early on Friday to go through our recce in-car video and check and make any alterations to our notes. This is crucial after a 1-pass recce, because it is easy to make a mistake or miss something first time around. It was then off to Wellsboro for Parc Expose and get ready for the event.
The rally started with a very tough stage called Waste management, which is probably the twistiest stage we have done in the Championship this year. Our pace was good but we also had to remember that this was the fourth or fifth time many of our competitors had done virtually all of these stages, and so as this was our first time we would always be at a slight disadvantage. A good run over the next few stages saw us finish day 1 in second place, 14 seconds down on the leaders. Unfortunately this was after Stage 2 times were scrubbed due to a start-marshal error, where we were actually quickest by 5 seconds.
The Saturday stages were much quicker than Friday, and we found a good rhythm straight away and began clawing time back on first place, which we moved in to after SS7. However, on SS8 disaster struck. About half a mile into the stage, the intercom cut out. POP! As the back-up intercom was also part of the same unit, we had no option but to continue down the stage with me shouting and using hand signals! This started as a number-based system, but ended with the more frantically I waved my hand, the tighter the next corner was!
We managed to revert to our transit intercom for SS9 and were having a good stage until we got a rear-left puncture after landing from a jump. This was looking like it was definitely not our event!
With the puncture changed and the intercom fixed, we knew we only had 4 stages left to go. We were 37 seconds behind with only one option – GO FOR IT! I knew I was in for a good ride over the remaining 4 stages after the first corner of SS10 – a slippery 6th gear corner which David didn’t even hesitate on. We were on the attack. Over the next 3 stages, we cut L’Estage’s lead down to 10 seconds with only the long final proper stage to go followed by the short superspecial stage. SS14 was all or nothing, and we put the pedal to the metal to win the stage by 12 seconds and now lead by 2.5 seconds going into the superspecial stage!!
I was extremely nervous heading into the 0.6 mile superspecial, as it is a cruel place to win or lose a rally. After our run, I couldn’t watch as L’Estage attacked the stage. Have we done enough, or had he stole victory from us at the very last moment? Then came through the news – he had beaten our time but only by 1.2 seconds which meant we had won overall by 1.3 seconds!
This was one of my most special wins because it showed true character. We were both bitterly disappointed when we lost all the time with intercom problems and a puncture, but we dug deep and never gave up. It was an honor to sit next to a driver of David’s caliber when he is on full attack mode, and a feeling that I will never get bored of! Onwards to New England!
posted by David at
18:26
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