Simon and Mark Tennant have had a cracking first year’s competition in their newly built quattro finishing 2nd in class for the year. They have been the sole flag wavers for the iconic car in the Forest Rally Championship of the BTRDA. Here is Simon’s report of the events entered.
The calendar includes 10 one day events located around the country from Somerset to Yorkshire and from South Wales to the Lake District. Each event consists of approximately 45 stage miles plus up to 145 road miles connecting the stages and service arrangements. The six best scores for each crew count to their year’s total. Due to the usual budgetary constraints Mark and I contested the minimum of 6 events and finished every one. After a brief shake down on the final event of the 2007 season, we tackled the Wyedean rally in February and came a creditable 57th overall. My confidence was growing and I started driving the car more fluently and was clearly learning about the handling characteristics on the loose which was of course always the cars strength.
The next event was the Somerset stages based at Minehead and included the thoroughly enjoyable tarmac stage on the Porlock Toll road. Adam lent us a set of 9″ ronals for this element of the rally and the crew managed to post an encouraging 38th overall on what was a gruelling event which saw a great deal of cars succumbing to the severity of the terrain.
Next up was the Dukeries rally in June which followed closely on the heels of a trip to the Rally Day at Chatsworth where we had managed to split a turbo hose without realising it. This meant that the whole event was conducted at about half power and double the fuel consumption of normal. This resulted in a disappointing 65th overall but we did finish.
July took us to South Wales and the Quinton Rally to tackle some fantastic stages including some on the Epynt ranges in traditionally foul weather conditions. Before we got to the first stage we managed to lose a bolt from a rear calliper mounting and felt very fortunate to be able to limp to the first service without going OTL. We managed to get through 2 whole stages with only 3 brakes and the 4th strapped up under the car. Then with the help of the Ford Team we were able to continue at a better pace to post another finish, albeit in 71st overall.
The 5th event was the Plains Rally in mid Wales – again on some wonderful stages. We were going very well until we picked up a puncture and not having experienced the effect on the car before ran on until the tyre broke up. We had to change it in the stage and lost quite a bit of time but again it was the only trouble we encountered and so another finish was possible.
This brought us to the last event in the calendar, the Cambrian Rally at Llandudno. We wore the number 47 for the 3rd time in the year and set off well, quickly getting back into the swing of things and Mark calling the notes particularly well. The stages were in great condition and it wasn’t even raining ! Pete was again providing our modest service facilities and we had a car full of supporters racing between the stages which Simon found surprisingly motivating. We had no issues to deal with and even managed to fix the extra lights on at our unmanned 2nd service. We had a thoroughly rewarding time having the best fun we’d had all year in terms of teamwork and driving pleasure – what an awesome experience it is to be throwing a ‘UR’ around at speed in a Welsh forest with spectators appreciating the spectacle.
We recorded the whole event on an in-car camera which I hope will be entertaining for others. So finishing 38th overall on the last event meant that we each ended up 30th and 22nd overall for the year – (there were fewer co-drivers registered for the championship than drivers) and 2nd in the class.
Mark and I take our hats off to the Audi quattro concept and to Adam and Jeff’s attention to detail in the building of our car which has enabled us to complete the year with 100% finishes and an award at that.
Sponsorship is now being sought for the 2009 season.
