Young gun Waylon Sims is looking on the bright side after a mixed debut of his Peugeot 207 in Canberra and aims to take the hard lessons learnt and put them to good use as his team continues to develop the car.
It was a dramatic debut for Sims and the Peugeot at the National Capital Rally. In the week prior to the event the car's engine blew during testing and with less than twenty kilometres of time in the car prior to the start of the ARMOR ALL Power Stage, Sims was understandably anxious.
“Because we blew the engine up the week before the rally, combined with a few other little dramas along the way, we came here really not knowing what to expect,” he said.
“My aim really was just to learn the car and to see what was going to break so we could fix for later in the season, and we definitely broke a few things but learnt plenty about the car, too, which is positive.”
After being granted a wild card entry into the top six shoot out on the ARMOR ALL Power Stage, Sims immediately struck trouble when he smacked a wash-out in the road on the transport out of the stage, damaging the car and ending his morning.
With the car repaired, Sims started Saturday’s rally stages with renewed confidence only to be sidelined on just the second stage. By Sunday the car was beginning to respond and Sims drove aggressively only for a drive shaft to break before a fire started in the rear of the car.
“We had a coil plug pop off and because that cylinder wasn’t firing it was dumping raw fuel into the exhaust, so the catalytic convertor was filling up with fuel and catching fire which burnt all the paint on the underside of the boot,” he explained.
“We’re going to take the car home now, work on some improvements, go back to the drawing board in a couple of areas. Our aim is to get all that done with enough time and budget to get the car to the International Rally of Queensland.”
“Our main area of concern is the drive shafts. We’ve got a WRC drive shaft, but because they’re four-wheel drive and we’re only putting power through the front wheels, if you hit a big rock and you’re a bit heavy on the throttle they just break,” Sims added.
Sims though was quick to look on the bright side and felt the car had proven enough during its stuttering start in Canberra to give the team cause for optimism.
“When the car was going well, now that I’ve had a chance to learn the car a bit and start to push the car to its limits, it’s very, very good and very easy to drive. The stage before the drive shaft broke I was really able to push the car 100% and it felt great.”
“With the improvements we’ve got planned for the car and a few refinements from the weekend, we really should be getting close to that front running pace,” Sims beamed.
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