TeamWoodSpeed

Top ten finish for the Woodford brothers in Driffield

An eventful Armstrong Massey Stages rally saw the team take their first finish with the Rallyesport Ka, 29^th overall and 9^th in class.

As Paul explains: “Stage one started badly, with the new brakes fading badly and the set up on the car not right. We had a bit of a moment at the finish of the stage too when dust prevented us from seeing the finish boards and we ended up spinning past the service area in front of all the teams and spectators – not good!”

Despite the bad start, and Paul finding no confidence in the car, changes were made to the rear suspension, tyre pressures and brake bias in time for stage 2. The second stage went much better, with the softer rear suspension riding the rough stages better and the brakes finally having bedded in, having been through the all important first heat cycle.

The team were 11^th out of 13^th in class by the end of the first loop of stages. The rest of the day ran smoothly too, but the engine failure from Blyton was still on Paul’s mind:

“I kept calling out to Mike to check the oil pressure and water temp, to make sure everything was running ok – I think he called those more than he did the corners!”

A difficult rally for many of the drivers, punctures, serious accidents and penalties would ruin the day for some, but even clipping a chicane flat out on the penultimate stage didn’t end the rally for Teamwoodspeed. The car returned to service before the final stage of the day with half an hour and damage to the front right corner following the chicane incident. It was left to Darren, Tom and James to make frantic repairs to get the car out for SS8.

The pair made it back out to finish the day with a top 10 class finish. Now the car has proved it can be reliable, and Paul has started to gain confidence in the little Ford, it’s time for the team to prepare the car for the next event, which is yet to be confirmed.

The Ka is down on power compared to many of its rivals, but that doesn’t stop Paul from wanting to get the most from the car’s current set up before looking at alternative engine options:

“For now, we’ve got a lot to do to get comfortable in the car, but today has taught me a lot about how it handles and how to get the most from it. We took things easy because we didn’t know the car and had a new engine to nurse home, but I’m confident we can settle into a rhythm sooner, next time out.”

For now though, it’s off to British Aerospace for the car following repairs this week where it will be displayed along with the Red Arrows as part of the aircraft factory open day.

The team would like to thank all the people who supported them on the Armstrong Massey, particularly the service crew who were nothing short of spectacular all day. Thanks also go to Phil Andrews Photography for taking some spectacular shots of the team in action!

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