Well what an event, plenty of dramas over the whole day. The Escort hadn't been driven on dirt since the full rebuild. So many things to check, with the first taste of gravel being the 200m off the highway onto Upper Cobargo Rd.

First stage was good, a bit conservative with everything being new, but still a half reasonable time and some noisy stuff for all those spectators out there. Finished the stage, then on the transport to the next stage a few issues including an engine bay fire caused by the Starter motor lead coming adrift and burning a hole in the sump letting the oil out, which then caught fire. A bquick call to service crew, Andrew and Jimmy doing a great job with some quicksteel getting us going again and into the regroup only missing 2 stages.

Stage 4 and 5 we completed without too many dramas although the temp guage was quite high and the volt gauge quite low. We discoverd on the transport from the end of stage 5 to service that we didn't have enough power in the battery to keep going and the car stopped near a nice camping ground. Rang service crew who came out and fixed the problems and we got into service just in late time. Did the service, fixed a few other problems, refueled and were about to head out for stages 6 and 7 when we noticed that the front left wheel was right back into the guard. Scratch stages 6 and 7 fixed the offending bush that had collapsed, fit the light pod and ready for the last 2 stages.

Headed out into Snake Track stage 8 and the first 5 k's were awesome, Gerald was driving well and the car was behaving well, until the regular guage check saw the temp go way too high so Gerald had to back off. Tour through the rest of the stage with a few occasional spurts of speed. Finished the stage and in the wait at the start of the last stage topped up the water with all our drinking water, was down a bit. Stage was going awesome until about 8km from the end, Gerald handbraked into a Left hander and there was a bang and some really bad noises from the rear end, toured through the last 8km's to finish the stage and load the car on the trailer. It was a broken off rear brake caliper.

Glad to see the bar at the end of the day, we still managed 5 stages and a good shakedown for the car. The car is showing heaps of potential and is like a rocketship. Seems the spectators liked it as well.

Thanks to Andrew and Jimmy for working on the car, Gerald for his usual wit and driving. Claire for going out and officiating, Jo for the sandwiches and all the others that helped and cheered us on.

Ray

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