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Written by Keith Cronin
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Sunday, 11 July 2010 20:55 |
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Well, I think that I have been through every emotion known to man as we take the win on the 2010 Isle of Man International Rally. After the battle we had with Mark Higgins last year, I thought I would never win this rally.
On the first loop of 3 stages I was frustrated as I knew the car should have been handling better and our times were not really what they could have been.
Then at the first service the TEG servicemen made a couple of adjustments that transformed the car and we were fastest on the next two stages. Then on stage six, where our intention was to take the rally lead if posssible, ourselves and Gwyndaf were the only cars to finish the stage as Alastair rolled and blocked the stage.
Gwyndaf also had a problem as he was off the road briefly and dropped over 2 minutes. So from there we led the rally and it was very difficult to pick a pace that was competitive as the conditions could only be described as horrendous.
I have certainly never before had to drive in such conditions let alone try to drive competitively.
What one forgets at times like this is that the conditions are the same foreverybody so when we thought that we should have been pushing harder but could not, Gwyndaf could not push either as the conditions were in control. There were a number of times over the last few stages where both Barry and myself were passengers in the car as it was aquaplaning everywhere.
It was important to maintain a pace that we were comfortable with under the conditions.
Thankfully, everything worked in our favour and now we hope to have a good run in Ulster, where I've competed twice before and savoured the good and the bad as we won Gp N in 2008 but went off on stage 6 in 2009.
Hopefully we can continue a good run and save our championship!
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Written by Keith Cronin
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Friday, 09 July 2010 22:12 |
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What a day!!
This is my fourth visit to this island over the last 3 years and I am still learning about this island and the unique conditions here. This morning we started with a reasonable pace but the car was not handling like i wanted it. We were second best to Gwyndaf after that first loop and a slight change to the setup meant that we were more confident on the second loop of stages.
We were fastest on all three of these which saw us take the lead in the rally when Gwyndaf was off the road for about 2mins. Stage six was also Alastairs last stage as he rolled out of the rally, without injury thankfully. We were very lucky on stage six ourselves as the windscreen misted up slightly and we clipped a bank in fifth gear. I had backed off because of the windscreen and if we had been on full attack when we clipped the bank we would more than likely have had a big accident.
The weather then got even worse and we took it nice and easy for a few stages, preserving our lead. Then on the last stage of the day we knew we had a reasonable setup and the right tyres so we had a good cut at the stage and were fastest, although Gwyndaf was only 2s slower. More importantly we streched the gap to the people behind us and now there is almost 3min between us and third place.
Hopefully tomorrow will go as well.....
more then...
Keith |
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Written by Keith Cronin
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Tuesday, 06 July 2010 23:23 |
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I'm really looking forward to this weekends Isle of Man International Rally. Last year was my first time doing the event and it was very enjoyable and we had such a great battle with Mark Higgins it made it a very memorable weekend.
Mark, of course, got the better of us last year, but only just! I must admit that I was disappointed during the week when I learned that he will not be doing this year's event, as he is a great competitor and trying to beat him on his home event would be a challenge.
Gwyndaf Evans will, I'm sure, provide us with stern opposition on the island and I know how competitive the JRM car is, having driven it in Donegal. Without doubt the Championship leader Jonny Greer and Alastair Fisher will also keep us on our toes and it should be a competitive weekend.
We had a brief test in the car last weekend and we think that we have isolated the handling problem that has been making our lives difficult this year. Fixing the problem may not be so straightforward, but we hope that there will be improvements from our previous visit to 'The Rock' this year when we were second on the Manx National Rally.
Hopefully I will get time to update over the weekend ......with good news!!
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Donegal 2010 - One to forget ! |
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Written by Keith Cronin
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Saturday, 19 June 2010 22:23 |
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Having endured many problems on the opening day in Donegal, we were all hoping that the rest of the weekend would be better for all concerned. Then, on the first stage this morning, on a 90 degree right hand corner we carried slightly too much speed thru the corner and we slid wide, which resulted in us going off! With minimal damage to the car we could have re-joined the rally, but having endured a serious time-loss yesterday this was not really a practical option.
Later, the whole proceedings took a more serious turn when a competitor was tragically killed as the result of an accident.
This puts our weekend in perspective and at this time my immediate thoughts are with the family of the deceased.
Our thoughts and words will never compensate them for their loss!!!!
RIP !! |
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Written by Keith Cronin
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Friday, 18 June 2010 22:22 |
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Never having competed in Donegal before, I was in awe of some of the Classic stages and was looking forward to having a good 'crack' at them. Friday evening , though, was always intended to be an evening of familiarisation, both with the car and the countryside.
Everything started well enough when on the first stage we were 3rd fastest, having been beaten only by the 2 WRC cars in front. Confident that better was in store for us as we left the start line of Stage 2 the Turbo decided that it had enough! As anyone with experience of Turbo failure can explain the resulting power is similar to a Honda '50', so we hobbled to the stage finish and into service to solve the problem.
The JRM engineers managed to change the Turbo, but we were still unable to verify if that was definitively the problem, however, we eventually left service incurring 1.5min in penalties.
On the following 2 stages the car was not responding properly and it was eventually discovered that a software problem was preventing the proper functioning of the car.
Over the next 2 stages we think we have isolated the problem and hopefully it can be rectified at first service in the morning!!
I must say that the JRM team have been extremely helpful in relation to the problems and hopefully they will be rectified tomorrow.
A new day and hopefully a new beginning! |
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