The Australian Tarmac Rally Championship is off to a flying start with what is possibly the best piece of Tarmac Rally road in Australia. The Victorian ski resort of Mt Baw Baw hosted the first round of the ATRC last weekend and the Fulcrum Suspensions sponsored Subaru of David Scott and Michelle Berardo were a last minute entry. “We had 4 days to prepare the car which had not been run in 2 years since its last event in Targa Tasmania in 2010. Fulcrum Suspensions, PerFOURmance Motorsport, and Hollis Scott Racing pulled together and we had the car on the trailer and en-route to Victoria in 4 days, a mammoth effort and very much appreciated” Scott said.
Scott went on to say, “We had no time to test the car at speed before the event and our first serious drive was the prologue immediately before the first stage. As testimony to the talents of the Fulcrum Suspensions team the car was fast as soon as it hit the ground and we won the prologue by 16 seconds and won 4 of the next 6 stages, finishing the day in the lead.”
The untested piece of road was thought to be an excellent choice for a tarmac rally but until the flag fell on the first stage no one really knew how good the run would be. The road starts downhill, levels out, and then continues uphill with the steepest rise of any public road in the southern hemisphere. There are fast sections and tight and twisty phases with some of those fantastic “suck it up and hold it flat” corners. The first two stages were almost dry with some patchy damp corners, and then rain kept the road wet most of the time.
The Subaru bottomed out hard on the third stage, which cut a radiator hose and fractured the exhaust. There was time in service without penalty to replace the hose and the car was back running. The exhaust could not be repaired, however it did not slow the car much and did not seem to be getting worse. The team attempted to purchase replacement parts from Melbourne on Saturday but were unable to do so.
Day 2 started with a cautious first run; the exhaust continued to show no signs of worsening so a flat-out charge on the second run was planned. Unfortunately, the exhaust was not able to cope and blew out early in the stage and the team were forced to retire from the event.
Scott was up-beat about the result and said that while it would have been nice to come home with a fairytale ending to an 11th hour entry, realistically he had learnt that the team was competitive at that level and capable of winning an event or two. “We will be better prepared for the next one and hopefully come away with a win,” he said.
