Determined performance for Tom Cave in WRCar debut
Posted: October 11, 2011 10:49 AM
Teenage rally driver Tom Cave put in a determined performance on this weekend's Cambrian Rally, the finale of the BTRDA Rally Championship. Driving the Mitsubishi Lancer World Rally Car, Cave and co-driver Craig Parry overcame a mechanical issue to claim a sensational second overall and narrowly missed the outright victory.
Having sewn-up the Production Cup of the series by the penultimate round, 19 year-old Cave was looking to climb in the overall Gold Star standing and secured the MML Sports-run Lancer as the best chance to do this.
A pre-event test went very well, with Cave settling into the car quickly, aided by the MML Sports team and vastly-experienced co-driver Parry. Going in to the rally, they and the team were feeling good for a decent result.
However, before the event even began, a clutch problem was diagnosed and the technicians changed the clutch unit in a staggering two minutes. But it then transpired that a bearing within the gearbox was failing and that clutch would not disengage.
The Lancer WRC only requires the clutch to get off the line: once moving, it relies on hydraulic sequential transmission to operate. However, this meant that Tom lost around 10 seconds at every stage start, with the engine stalling as he selected first gear, meaning he had to start the engine with the car in gear and get it rolling before activating the full stage settings.
Despite this, Tom and Craig set excellent stage times, joint fastest on the first stage, claiming the scratch time on two more stages and led overall after three timed tests. In fact, they were only out of the top three on stage times once throughout the eight-stage event and reached the finish second overall, just nine seconds behind winner Shaun Gardener and as first placed world rally car, ahead of a further four WRCars.
Commenting, Tom said: "It's been a bit of a mixed weekend for us, really. On the first hand, it's frustrating to have had the problem with the clutch all day and miss out on the overall win by a handful of seconds, particularly as we dropped far more with the problems.
"It didn't help that on the last stage, we ended up catching a car in the stage. The Great Orme stage was being double-run, so cars were starting at 30-second intervals for the second running and we caught a car with a couple of miles to go. We couldn't get past and at that point, I knew the rally was over.
"It was a very tough day, more mentally than anything else. I had to keep calm to get the car going, then give it everything but the competition was so close, that we weren't able to get the win that we'd set out sights on.
"Having said that, it's been an amazing experience to drive the Lancer WRC and I'm pleased with the pace we were able to show once we got rolling, especially with only a morning in the car before the start of the rally. It was fantastic to drive - very easy to get along with and as the times show, very quick. A really good, sorted car.
"The MML Sports team was fantastic - the lads worked really hard to get the transmission problems sorted and were spot on all day."
Having effectively clinched the Production Cup and Junior Driver awards in the 2011 BTRDA rally championship, teenage rally driver Tom Cave will embark on arguably the biggest challenge of his rallying career next month, as he competes in the series finale, the Cambrian Rally, at the wheel of a World Rally Car. The opportunity to enter the event in the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC presented itself and, as Tom admits, was far too good a chance to pass up.
Thanks to his and co-driver Craig Parry's performance on last month's Woodpecker Rally, Tom is now uncatchable in both the Production Cup and the Junior Driver categories of the 2011 BTRDA series. And while his performance elevated him to fourth overall in the Gold Star driver standings, he still has the opportunity to climb to third, if he has a good result on the Cambrian.
In addition, another excellent result means that he is also in contention for the Welsh National Rally Championship overall, where he currently holds third place and the Welsh Junior Driver award, which he leads.
So without the pressure of competing for the Group N honours, the chance to drive the Lancer WRC on the Cambrian brings with it the best chance of overall success and the chance to end the season on a high with a top three overall BTRDA finish and the Welsh titles.
However, Tom knows that success on the Cambrian is by no means a given: the event uses stages which form part of the route of Wales Rally GB, the UK's round of the FIA World Rally Championship. As such, it's not uncommon for WRC drivers to enter the event as a warm-up and test for the WRC finale, run just five weeks later. In fact, Ford works driver Mikko Hirvonen ran as course car two years ago and on that occasion, the rally was won by Mads Ostberg.
The car Tom will be using, the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC, will be run by former works Mitsubishi outfit, MML Sports Ltd. While this will be Tom's first foray in a world car, it won't be the first outing with MML Sports. He drove the company's Group N Lancer EvoX on Rally Latvia in 2010 and was on course for a sensational second in Group N before a last-minute puncture.
Commenting, Tom said: "Of course, I'm incredibly excited by the prospect of driving a World Rally Car on the Cambrian. It's going to be a big challenge, as I've barely even sat in a world car before but we have a 50Km test before the event, so hopefully I'll be able to at least learn the systems then.
"Craig also has a huge amount of experience in world rally cars, so that will be a massive benefit as we approach the test and the event. It will be a huge step up for us but we're really excited by the prospect of driving the Mitsubishi WRC.
"It's great that we have this opportunity. It really means a lot to me to have effectively won the Production Cup and the Junior Driver award. And with the chance to drive the MML Sports car on the Cambrian, I hope that we can climb to third in the Gold Star and challenge for the overall Welsh championship title, as well as the Welsh Junior award. We'll need a good result but we'll definitely have the car for it.
"I'm also really looking forward to working with the MML Sports team again. We had a fantastic run in Latvia last year and they were extremely professional and supportive and I can't wait to get into the Lancer."
The one-day event takes place on Saturday 8 October and is based in Llandudno. It takes in 45 stage miles, including the Great Orme stage, one of those featuring on the first day of this year's Wales Rally GB.
Mattias Therman will compete on the Cambrian Rally.
Posted: June 29, 2011 11:29 AM
FINNISH World Rally Championship (WRC) competitor Mattias Therman will compete on the Cambrian Rally.
The businessman who is well known for backing young Finnish rally drivers, has indicated that he will be competing on the North Wales Car Club organised event in preparation for Wales Rally GB which will start in Llandudno in November.
And Cambrian Rally, clerk of the course, Alyn Edwards says he is confident more WRC challengers will also enter the event.”_The offical shakedown stage for Wales Rally GB is on Tarmac at the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells, but won’t prepare cars and drivers for the forest stages of the event. “Teams who want to give the car a bit more of a test in similar conditions to those they will encounter on Wales Rally GB will find the Cambrian is the perfect opportunity to do so,” _he explained.
Like Wales Rally GB the Cambrian will include a special timed stage around Llandudno’s Marine Drive. There will also be 40 miles of forestry stages.
Date Change
Posted: January 12, 2011 9:33 AM
The 2001 Cambrian Rally will take place on 8th of October (was 15th of October)
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