The rally is held in the State Forests surrounding Batemans Bay. Coppin will continue to be supported by his regular sponsors: Total Traction Services, Caltex Airport Starmart, Revell Steering and Sennell.com.au
The first half of the PCD Engineering ACT Rally season has seen Coppin driving an old model Corolla, but despite a lack of power, he has shown impressive speed and consistency in the opening half of the season, consistently matching the times of more powerful cars. With the recent purchase of the Hyundai Excel, Coppin is hoping to improve on these results.
The 1.6 litre twin cam front wheel drive Excel is proving to be a very competitive rally car, with more and more of them being seen in the forests around Australia.
“I can honestly say I never thought I would drive a Hyundai Excel as a rally car,“ Coppin said.
This event will be a big learning curve for the young Canberra driver, as he tries to come to grips with the new style of driving being a front wheel drive car.
“You basically have to grab everything you have learnt about driving a rear wheel drive car and throw it out the window,” Coppin said.
After a recent test in Canberra a few weeks ago Coppin is quietly confident about what the new car has to offer. “It’s a great little package very responsive and well balanced car.”
The Eco Point Murramarang Bay Stages is round 6 of the NSW Race Brakes Excel series and Coppin is using the event to benchmark himself against the regular series competitors and to get the feel of the new cars performance and handling.
“In 2010 I plan to compete in the full NSW Excel series. We are currently making our plans and looking for some additional sponsorship to bring those plans to reality,” says Coppin