Cambrian Rally 2011

Well ive been to the Cambrian twice before and with it being a bit of a mission ive said id probably give it a miss in the future.... but this Friday il be driving up to north Wales to what should be a great rally!

Sadly it will be Burtons last BTRDA round in the Peugeot Cosworth and I hope he can give it a good send off, but on a positive note Steve Perez is out in the Stratos so we should have to of the best sounding things ever going through the forests!

Entry List...

http://www.cambrianrally.co.uk/downl...ist_seeded.pdf

Spectator Info...

http://www.cambrianrally.co.uk/downl...tators_map.pdf

Yeah, always enjoy the Cambrian - good stages, that recently have been underused. Shame it clashes with the IRC Rally Scotland - i'll just have to Sky+ that.
As you say, the final BTRDA round for the Peugeot-Cosworth.......sad, and a ridiculous rule change.

I know it cant always be easy, but date clashes must surely be avoidable?

Anyways at the moment it looks like it could be a very wet and windy day! Im thinking of doing Penamachno South in the morning and then Alwen Forest in the afternoon but il just see how it goes and I may just stick it out in Penmachno for the day!

I'm going to Pen South for the day. Hopefully the weather isn't too bad, but we'll just have to wait and see!

Mick O'Brien has pulled his entry as his new Focus WRC won't be ready in time, but Peter Stephenson is a late entry in a 06 Focus WRC. Hugh Hunter is out in a newly acquired 03 Focus WRC. Should be a good day, and will be good to see people in Llandudno on the Friday too :)

Hunter in an 03 Focus should be quite something, he was quick enough in the old one! What Focus is O'brien getting?

Im hoping to get to scrutineering but il be lucky to be there by 7 with a decent run for a Friday!

Well it was a good rally but not a great one in the end, with many crews retiring before the end of stage 2 including Andy Burton whos engine blew up probably less than half a mile from where I was stood! I got to hear it twice which was something, but sadly my last memory of it will be being towed out of the stage with alot of oil dripping on the track. Also out early was Steve Perez who I dont think even completed stage 1 and David Wright along with many others! We had Project Mobility stop where we were on the second stage, it sounded like the manifold had split as the landy was so bloomin loud and looked like it was struggling for power!

Walking back to the car at Penmachno North I was amazed to find a Mini had rolled 30 odd foot down a very steep bank but luckily the crew seemed to be ok with one of them chatting to the recovery crews. Apparently it was going to take 2 hours work just to clear a route out and ive read that when they did get it out it took 2 land rovers to do a double winch to do so!

Still saw some good driving and it was amusing to watch the FWD cars struggle out of the mud of the uphill hairpin we were at on stage 2, then suddenly launch forwards once they were on the gravel. Tom Cave was very impressive in the Evo WRC, I hadnt even expected that it would be that model!

Anyways I didnt take any pictures in the end as the light was so crap in the morning and I decided just to spend the day watching with the people I met looking for a decent speccy spot!