The Snake Racing Coffs Coast Rally has wrapped up for another year and despite many vehicles being claimed on the forestry roads of Northern NSW, Luke Page has brought home the Suzuki Swift for a class win and a good performance in the RAJC final.
The event was the first for Page in the Suzuki Swift, and the various road surfaces and changes in weather across the weekend certainly put the new vehicle to the test.
“We’re very happy with how the vehicle performed over the weekend. The brakes and MCA suspension were fantastic and the car is definitely a great platform for building a gravel rally car,” said Page.
The Suzuki Swift is from the fleet of the tarmac Australian Swift Racing Series and received only minor modifications from the standard road set up to convert it into a gravel rally car for the Coffs Coast event.
“The Swift already had the roll cage and seats fitted, so all it required prior to the event was new MCA shocks and a decent sump guard. Other than that, we ran the car in standard trim with the engine and gearbox being straight from the factory.”
After fine-tuning the set up of the car on Saturday, Page managed to get within a few seconds of stage wins on Sunday.
“We had a difficult start to the weekend with the ECU putting the vehicle into limp-home mode when we disconnected the ABS. Our service crew were great, though and managed to work out a solution to the issue which gave the vehicle full power going into the competitive stages on Sunday.”
“Saturday was tough mentally because when you’re losing time to the other Juniors you start to doubt your driving ability. To then come out on Sunday and go from losing over four seconds a kilometre to being within a few seconds of a stage win reinstates that confidence.”
“To be part of the battle was a great experience, and well done to the other Junior crews and Adam Casmiri for taking out the win. We’ll leave Coffs with the aim to develop the car even further and come back even more competitive for 2013.”
Luke would like to thank The Australian Swift Racing Series, RallySchool.com.au, the fantastic service crew and all of the volunteers and officials who made the weekend happen.
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