Premier Toyota Backs Psr Sport To Finish The Cambr

[Spratty]

The Dee Jays Cambrian Rally brought mixed fortune for PSR Sport in the Premier Toyota and Jamie Houghton Transport backed Yaris Evo1.

It was raining on Saturday morning so tarmac slicks were rendered useless. Phil opted to use gravel tyres instead, as these would perform better on the wet marine drive around the Great Orme, and the Yaris Evo1 finished SS1 in 8th position (out of 14 in class A5). Not a blistering time, but quite impressive to have beaten 6 cars considering the uninspiring level of grip achieved with gravel tyres on wet tarmac. Stages 2, 3 and 4 took PSR Sport to Clocaenog forest and the Yaris was handling beautifully. The team didn't put a foot wrong all stage and managed to pick up a few positions to 6th in class. Steve was getting to grips with pace notes very quickly and driver, co-driver and machine were working very well together.

The team entered lunchtime service in Ruthin in 6th position, having continuously closing the gap on nearest rivals. Very happy with the morning's stages, the team was confident of clawing up the leaderboard towards the hallowed top 3. In service, the team noticed that the front brake pads had worn through to the casing and that a brake hose was leaking. Fortunately, Geoff Jones Motorsport fitted new pads and a brake line to get the Yaris Evo1 back on the road with new brakes.

The first stage of Penmachno was where fortune began to change for the worse. Sustaining 2 punctures simultaneously and with only one spare, Phil and Steve changed the front puncture before limping out of the stage on 3 tyres. With no opportunity to get a new wheel on board, the 9-mile SS6 was also completed slowly with a puncture. Crawling out of the stage to get the Yaris to the finish line, PSR Sport recorded 2 stage maximums, ruining any chances of picking up to a podium finish.

Managing to reach the afternoon service, a new wheel was fitted for the last stage of the rally on the Great Orme. Despite close fog, Phil made a final competitive gesture by completely flying through the final stage. In fact, the team over-took the car in front that started with a 1 minute lead!

Extremely disappointed that an ever-improving position was scuppered by punctures, the team was, however, pleased to have got the Yaris (along with her sponsor's logos) to the finish line. The reliability of the Yaris was unquestionable throughout the day.

The peformance of the team on the morning's stages showed that the Yaris has the potential to be a serious rally car with the ongoing development that is planned for the rest of 2004.

PSR Sport will certainly enter next season with a great deal of confidence and high hopes for the 2005 Silkolene 1400 Championship.

Pictures available in PSR Sport Gallery.

[RFvitz]

hehehe

Well done lads! and good luck for next year!

[earpl]

as these would perform better on the wet marine drive around the Great Orme

dude did you enjoy it? you can hammer it round there so much, esspecially when you get to the top and start to come down the other side, the damn pavement & curbs can be nasty though. did they make you pay the toll?

[Spratty]

dude did you enjoy it? you can hammer it round there so much, esspecially when you get to the top and start to come down the other side, the damn pavement & curbs can be nasty though. did they make you pay the toll?

←

lol

Fortunately, we didn't have to pay the toll!

The Great Orme stage was awesome! Really enjoyed it. Had some very sideways moments, drifting towards kerbs but didn't smack any. The second run on this stage was in thick fog. Visibility was about 15m.....incredibly exciting at about 70mph. Fortunatley, my co-driver's pace-notes were spot on. We even caught up with the car in front!

I didn't get shat on by the seagulls, either!

Phil