Looking forward to this one. I've done quite a bit of practice on a few of the stages, though I'm not very good on snow and the bumpy gravel stages. Definitely looking forward to see my pace here, as this is the car I'll be driving next season, against other cars of the same class.
SS1 - Whew, a wee bit nervous for that one. I guess nerves is proportional to the amount of practice (and hence investment
). A couple of seconds of my practice time, but ntb.
SS2 - Whee, a couple of moments there! Landed the wrong way over a crest around mid-stage and just managed to keep it out of the way of some marshalls. Then right near the end I hit a snow bank head on and the car flipped over. Then very slowly started to roll... and tipped back the right way, whew. Damaged the steering, but so close to the end it didn't matter too much. Lost maybe ~15 seconds all up. Had a good feeling through the stage though, so pretty happy.
SS3 - I know from practice that I always screw up the first chicane on my first attempt, so took it nice and slow here. Stage was ok, about 5 seconds off my practice time. It's so strange to be nervous rallying, I haven't for quite a long time!
SS4 - That was all right. A really enjoyable flowing stage. I was a couple of seconds off practice time, but ntb. Maybe a bit tentative over all the blind crests.
SS5 - Ouf, that one didn't feel good. Lots of understeer. Hit a tree with the rear of my car at the beginning of the stage, but didn't do any damage.
SS6 - Didn't have a good feeling at first. I went offroad, and had to reverse back onto the stage. After that I calmed myself a bit and then had a great feeling in the car.
SS7 - Only had one practice run on this stage, couldn't really get a good feeling. About mid-way through I had a spin and stall, just managing to save myself falling down the cliff. Lost maybe ~10-15 seconds. Second half of the stage felt a lot better though.
SS8 - Clipped a wall in the downhill section which sent me off down the side of the hill with a CFH. Lost about 25 seconds, so NTB, and I survived, at least.
Whew, pretty intense rally. Cheers to the organizers and participants. Cheers also to Jack for that thrilling chase, good job, you smashed me on Mineshaft.
Pretty happy with my driving, 3 big mistakes, but otherwise OK. I feel like my pace has improved a lot with all the practice, I think next time I'll make sure to practice all the stages though.
Good luck to all those still to run.