The Raymond Partners Accountants Rally Team has had a challenging first gravel event in the Australian Rally Championship, the Quit Forest Rally. Held on the infamous ball-bearing gravel in Western Australia, the event bought the Mitsubishi Lancer crew of Glen & Matt Raymond a myriad of problems.
After an encouraging test before the rally, a broken rear differential on the Friday night spectator stages put a stop to the weekend results as a standard differential was used to replace the competition part.
“We usually run the rear diff quite tight so both wheels spin together,” said Grunt Automotive mechanic Graham Redcliffe. “This replacement diff is very loose which means the wheels do their own thing, resulting in no traction and a difficult car to drive. We checked the data and the rear wheels have up to 45 Km/h difference between each other. Usually there is a minimal difference.”
After a quick differential change, the tight timing allowed at rally servicing resulted in a penalty which dropped the team to 16th Outright. With a controlled drive, Raymond was able to push up into 4th Outright until a flat tyre on the last forest stage put stop to his charge.
Heat 2 saw the crew running 3rd Outright, until a lost exhaust and then a seized front suspension strut put place to an outright finish.
“It is always frustrating to have mechanical dramas, but with rallying that is the nature of the beast," said driver Glen Raymond. "However, I find it encouraging that even with the car not right we were still running as high as 3rd Outright on Sunday!”
The team now will prepare the car ready for the Coffs Harbour Rally held on the 15th & 16th of May.
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