It is set to be an exciting year ahead for Gunnawyn Motorsport, located in West Gippsland. The team is currently preparing for the upcoming first round of the 2014 Focus On Furniture Victorian Rally Championship. Â
After two years of successful competition within the Grant Walker Parts Excel Series, rally driver Viv Dilkes-Frayne has stepped up a gear, acquiring David Nutter's Subaru WRX to contest the Victorian Rally Championship with outright honours set in his sights.
John Carney, team manager at Gunnawyn Motorsport will continue to provide valuable support and his wealth of experience at all levels of Australian rallying to the team this year. It will see the team take on the season as one of development with the goal to be right on the pace by the end of the year and pushing for results next year.
Viv Dilkes-Frayne testing his WRX before the first VRC round of 2014. (John Doutch photo)"I believe we have the perfect mix for a successful team goal. A proven competitive car, a talented driver, a good co-driver, experienced crew in Pakenham Upper local Graeme Kidgell and Upwey’s Chris Stone, good equipment and a lot of friends support & encouragement," John said.
Driving a Subaru rally car is a big step up in speed from the Hyundai Excel Viv Dilkes-Frayne has driven for the past 2 years.
"It's a big challenge for me and one I'm really looking forward to," he said. "Competing in the GWP Excel Series was great, but it was time to move up to a turbo 4wd rally car to see what we can do at state level. Watching the World Rally Championship in the 90s, I became a big fan of Subaru and the Impreza WRX. It's one of my favourite rally cars, so having the chance to now drive one in competition is a bit of a dream come true. This year will be all about development, doing as many kays as possible to learn how the car behaves at full race speed in the forest. Luckily, having driven a Subaru road car for the last few years it hasn't taken long for the new car to feel like home. I can't wait to see how it goes in competition."
Whilst Viv is very eager to be driving the WRX, he is also conscious of the difference in costs to run compared to his series winning Excel.
"The Hyundai was an affordable entry level car to start out in. With the extra speed of the Subaru, obviously comes extra cost. We're hoping to finalise some sponsorship arrangements before the first round to help with that side of things. It's a bit easier to get people excited about rallying in a WRX than an Excel. The best way to keep the costs down is to drive well and keep the car on the road. Since the focus this year is on finishing rallies rather than outright speed, that should help the budget too."
To help achieve success and to build a solid stable team, co-driver Cranbourne’s Tracey Dewhurst was brought on board to sit alongside Viv this year. "I was approached late last year by John & Viv, who were keen to get me on board for the full championship. With the goal set, it was really important to the team to have one co-driver in the car for a full season and to help develop from that also. I am very excited about the year ahead & can't wait for the first round."
The team held a test day yesterday under the watchful eye of Brendan Reeves at his Wedderburn track and are excited for the coming weekends rally.
With six days to go, 45 entries to date, the Focus On Furniture Victorian Rally Championship will kick off with Round one, the George Derrick Memorial Rally run by Car Club RMIT in the forests surround Heyfield on March 22nd. Details can be found on the Vic Rally website (vicrally.com.au)
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