You have to learn to pace yourself
Pressure
You’re just like everybody else
Pressure
– Billy Joel –
“I’m gonna drive this little car as fast as I can” – and with that former British Rally Championship winner Dai Llewellin jumped in his Suzuki Swift and proceeded to show all the rest of us in the Suzuki Swift Shining Stars series how to drive very fast in the Welsh forests in the small 1600 hatchback.
For KRU rally team it was a different story; a long tiring day full of frustration and pensive reflection.
The rain lashed down as the KRU team arrived at the service park outside Dolgellau early on Saturday morning. The weather forecast was mixed; showers and dry periods, but anyone’s guess in which order and for how long.
With a choice of two types of compounds the team played ‘guess the grip’ – and mostly got it wrong.
Without the crystal ball we chose soft front and super soft rear for the first test; 11 miles of the classic Gartheiniog stage. Tyre pressures were estimated and fingers crossed over the suspension settings.
Within a mile of the start driver Jon knew he was in a battle as the little Swift slid first one way then the other on the wet, smooth surfaces between the trees. It was a long stage and struggling for grip, and with little feedback from the steering, Jon opted for a cautious approach, especially along the side of the mountain where there is nothing between the edge of the track and the valley floor several hundred metres below.
Emerging into auxiliary service Dave and Jamie reduced the tyre pressures and tweaked the suspension but there was precious little time for much else.
Stage 2 was a 5 mile run through Big Ray stage and though better planted Jon was still not happy with the handling of the car.
7 miles through the classic WRC rally stage Dyfi ended the morning leg and a disenchanted Jon and Gary returned to service with a frustrating story of a skittish and wayward handling Suzuki. Much consultation took place between the crew and team support; it was a quandary why the car felt so twitchy leaving Jon with little confidence on the forest gravel. Tyre pressures again were the centre of major discussion as the team tried to work out what was the optimum combination of tyre compound, pressures and suspension settings. We still ain’t nailed it.
Back out to the forest complex off the A470 and with the rain clearing and the tracks drying the team hoped for more grip.
Running roughly the same stages, some improvement was evident but too little and far too late. With our fellow series competitors having a good run, a lowly finishing position was inevitable and sensibly Jon and Gary backed off to secure a damage free finish. We’d played with the tyre pressures all day to little avail.
Sometimes you just have to reconcile that it just isn’t going to be your event, Rally North Wales was such a day for the KRU team.
With the Swift starting to misfire towards the end of the last stage and on the road section back to rally HQ it was a relief to get back to the finish ramp in Dollgellau.
Loading KRU onto our trailer the clutch suddenly refused to disengage – it was that kind of day.
Back in our hotel in Barmouth and the post-mortem began amidst several beers lasting long into the evening. The team felt sorry for our travelling support of Stuart, Rebekah and Aimee who travelled down from Yorkshire to see a pretty lukewarm performance. Thanks for coming folks.
Much appreciation too for Dai Llewellin who was very approachable and happy to share his experience and advice with us; he remains a talented and class rally driver.
There are another 7 rallies in the Swift series to go; we are determined to figure out a way to deal with our wayward little car.
There are no memorable quotes for this event, they are too depressing or negative to print !