The final round of the Australian Rally Championships 4WD National Series, Scouts Rally South Australia is upon us and Mick and Bernie are on the cusp of being crowned the 4WD National Series Winners.
Lets look back at how the year has gone so far.
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TEAM NEWS: Rally Australia in review
The Repco Rally Team have completed yet another successful Rally Australia and have come away with not only a 2nd place podium position but have also increased their championship lead to 68 points2.
The event began well for Mick and Bernie with a solid performance in the Power Stage on the Thursday morning, however the true test would come on the Friday when teams set out to tackle the fast flowing shire roads near Macksville, 80km south of Coffs Harbour.
The first 3 stages of the morning loop were completely new stages, many likened them to the fast flowing roads that are the Nambucca stage which is run on Saturday, after the morning loop Mick and Bernie were performing well and in 3rd place overall against a strong 4WD field.
The team needed to perform well in the afternoon to keep the momentum going into a shortened Saturday program, and that they did, they improving their times considerably to the morning’s loop and ended the day in 3rd place overall with almost a minute gap to 4th position.
As mentioned the Saturday program was shortened due to the full WRC program and only one pass of the TV stage Valla would be completed.
Heat 2 saw Justin Dowel DNF from the event, this gave the team a little more breathing room in terms of the championship standings, the day was long however, with two passes of the long Nambucca stage and back to back anything could happen and the overall lead changed, Mick and Bernie put in yet another solid drive and with no car dramas to report they moved up into 2nd position going into the final day and only a minute behind leaders Marcus and Scott Walkem in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.
Going into the final day the team had a total of 5 stages to complete, with just over a minute gap to 1st anything could happen, a strong performance could see a Rally Australia win, all were it began in 2009. The team performed at its best, reduced the gap to first place and came away with a Heat win, however the championship points race was just as important so held their ground to equal last years Rally Australia result coming in 2nd place overall to the Walkem brothers who took the overall win.
We asked Mick how his week was.
Q: So another Rally Australia, another solid strong performance, and another 2nd place result, how was the weekend overall?
MP: We had a very clear “championship” focused event, we wanted to win however increasing our championship lead in the Australian 4WD Rally Series was our main priority. Apart from losing some time on Saturday morning, it all went smoothly.
Q: Dust was becoming a major issue with 4 minute gaps being applied how was the dust for you especially on stages like Newry Long? And Nambucca?
MP: We didn’t have any dust issues throughout the event to speak of.
Q: With a 2nd overall the car must have performed well, any issues to speak of?
MP: The Evo 10 was amazing, the team at RaceTorque prepared a very strong, fast and reliable car for us. We could have done 2 more days rallying without any issues.
Q: Coming in to the round we asked if you made any changes, how do you think the changes went? Improvement?
MP: The rear diff change before the event worked well, we swapped the original diff back on Saturday night as the Sunday stages were very different. We won leg 3 after the diff change was made, so we were very happy with that.
Q: With your nearest rivals both receiving DNF’s from the event your lead going in to the final round means you are on the cusp of winning the Australian 4WD Rally Series, how are you feeling about this? We know you are known as Mr Cool but there must be some excitement building at what could possibly lie ahead?
MP: It will come down to the last event to decide the winner, I’m super keen to get to SA and attack the stages. We rolled in 2013 and came home after testing with car issues last year. So this year we going for gold. I’ll be excited once the job is done.
Q: Will you be doing any private testing prior to RallySA in October?
MP: We will be focusing on SA only at this stage, the car will receive some more RaceTorque TLC. Bernie and I will be reviewing last years incar and analyse Rally Australia footage.
Now with just 1 round remaining the teams focus is on South Australia, an event where they have not had much luck in the past, however a series win has not been on the cards, only 19 points are whats needed to secure the win, time will tell.
Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and here for all the latest news as the Repco Rally Team goes for the Win.
TEAM NEWS: ARC ECB Round 4 – Rally Australia – 2015 – Gallery
ARC Rally NEWS: Patton Attributes Success To Clear Focus
The official Australian Rally Championship website recently interviewed Mick on his new found success and two from two wins in the Championship.
Having self-prepared and run his own cars previously, including the past two seasons at the wheel of a front drive Volkswagen Polo, Patton made the decision this season to have the experienced Race Torque operation take care of things both between and on rallies. And it’s a decision, he says, that’s transformed his mindset.
“I don’t even worry about things, the cars good and ready to go,” explained Patton of his fresh approach this year. “I know I have a great team behind me, a truck full of spares if required, and it means I can worry about the important stuff as a driver like getting out there and focusing on the stages.”
“It’s made a huge difference! In the past I’d probably spend the night before a rally working on the car and hoping it’s right for tomorrow. Where as now I can work with Bernie (Webb, co-driver) on the pace notes and watching incar footage of the stages ahead.”
“I just love the Evo X, and I love working with Race Torque, it’s a winning combination. It’s the best decision I ever made with my rallying!” Mick added.
You can read the rest of the article on the Australian Rally Championship Website.
Be sure to check back over the next week as the team countdowns to the International Rally of Queensland.
ARC News: Patton cements 2015 plans after success at the QUIT Forest Rally
The official Australian Rally Championship website has spoken to Mick about his recent victory at the first round of the championship, the QUIT Forest Rally, they spoke about the switch from running your own car to driving a prepared car from someone else, as well as his focus for the rest of the year.
“It was an absolutely amazing weekend, I had a smile on my face from start to finish!” said an ecstatic Patton after claiming victory in the Australian 4WD category in Western Australia.
You can read the full interview here.
Be sure to check out our recent QUIT Forest Rally Gallery, as well as our Facebook page.
Team News: That winning feeling, Success for the Repco Rally Team in WA.
Mick and Bernie have taken honours in the Australian 4WD Rally series of the QUIT Forest Rally, the 1st Round of the Australian Rally Championship.
Mick won 2 of the 9 stages on offer in Heat 2 and consistently came in 2nd and third all day, their success is largely due to Micks regained confidence in the car and the ability to have a clean error/issue free event.
We asked Mick a few questions before the team packed up to leave Nannup.
Mick, How does it feel to win your first ARC round?
It feels amazing to win a round of the Australian 4wd rally series, and amazing to win in Western Australia where we haven’t had the best of luck in the last couple of years, in fact, I am quite speechless.
Coming in to the new year and in particular this round, what had you hoped to achieve for the event?
Our expectations were to come to WA and learn the car, the team and to have fun and smile again, like I mentioned the last two years we haven’t even made it past Heat 1.
How does winning a round with no issues and excursions, especially when so many teams around you had issues on the first day, affect your confidence and in particular coming in to the next round and your home event in Canberra?
It was great to have had zero issues during the event, the Race Torque team built and run an amazing car. I can take this going into the next round giving us a greater understanding of what to expect.
Is there anything that you can improve on or work on to make you go even quicker?
All we can do is keep getting seat time in the car, we have 6 weeks to review this event, work on our notes and see where we need to improve.
And thats a wrap, a huge congratulations to Mick and Bernie from their Media team, stay tuned to the RRT website for an interview with Bernie, full galleries from the event and a preview of the next round in the Championship, the National Capital Rally.
Team News: Heat 1 done and dusted
The Repco Rally Team has successfully completed Heat 1 of the QUIT Forest Rally, after a few less than favourable experiences in the previous years the team was excited to be moving in to the Sunday of competition.
The team currently sits in 2nd overall in the 4WD Classification of the ARC, just 16sec behind 1st place Markovic or WA.
We asked Mick how his day went in particular how he managed to keep a clean line when many teams around him were dropping like flies.
After a full day of competitive driving in the car how does it feel to be sitting in 2nd overall in the 4WD classification?
Coming 2nd is awesome, some bad luck to others but our times were really good.
Quite a few of your competitors were experiencing difficulties today did you have any problems?
No problems today, race torque guys were awesome.
How does it feel in the new car after a full day in the forest?
Really good, having the 2WD experience behind me has really helped.
You are only 16sec behind Markovic in the 4Wd section will you be pushing for the win tomorrow?
Heat 2 started well tonight finishing in 2nd behind Justin Dowell, tomorrow’s plan is todo the same as today, keep it clean and stay out of trouble, if we do that we will be extremely happy.
Quite a few competitors mentioned that Sunday was the more difficult heat, having driven the stages previously do you agree and if so why?
All stages are similar I find, slippery and fun.
With just 8 stages remaining tomorrow will be an exciting day, stay tuned to our website and facebook page for updates during the rally.
Team News: The year that was 2014 – in two halves
A memorable year for the Repco Rally Team, in many ways amazing, in many ways not so, with a few rounds everyone would care to forget, needless to say its all character building, and as they say ‘Thats Rallying’.
A year in which the team would see its greatest success and that would see the Highest of Highs and also the lowest of lows, a year where a small Rally Team from Canberra would band together to compete at the highest level of rallying in Australia in a professional and enthusiastic manner no matter the outcome, a team that would work tirelessly to present and a deliver a car that would not only present well but perform at its best.
Coming in to the 2014 season Mick had high expectations, the team had worked together in 2013 to develop the VW Polo, a year that also had its ups and downs but overall a year which would give the team a good stepping stone to work off to leap into 2014. “Coming in to the early stages of 2014 our expectations were to essentially see what the new engine package would achieve with the start of our development process, we wanted to take good results from each event, finish every stage, and bring the car home in one piece bagging as many championship points along the way” said Mick
The first round of the ARC was held in Canberra, the National Capital Rally, the teams home event, there were new teams in the mix now so the competition around the team was very even.
The team had spent considerable time in the off season developing the new engine package for the VW Polo, however due to time constraints the new engine had not been tested, this however was not going to be the test for the weekend. Canberra is known for its varying conditions resulting from the ever changing weather which have been known to cause chaos, the 2014 National Capital Rally was no different.
Heat 1 was wet, it did not stop all day and on stage 2 Mick had an unfortunate encounter with a post which resulted in damage to the rear of the car and in effect having to drop 2 stages to fix the damage.
Heat 2 was much better, not only had the weather settled, the roads were more consistent and differ greatly to heat 1, Mick and Bernie were able to maintain the flow of the car, it was just a matter of finishing the event and gaining as many points for the season.
Mick commented on the team’s performance after the event, “The car is handling extremely well, the best it ever has, after a full season last year we have finally come to understand the car and are able to make changes on the fly at various events, this brings confidence to both Bernie and I, we made minimal changes to the car over the weekend, we tweaked dampener adjustments as opposed to previous events where we were always trying to get close to the sweet spots, we feel we have found it now, so its a real positive for us as a team moving forward.” said Mick.
The final results saw the team finish in 5th position outright, bagging a healthy 42 points going into Round 2 the QUIT Forest Rally
Coming in to the second round and arguably the favourite for all teams the QUIT Forest rally in Western Australia would see the Repco Rally Team Polo with improvements from canberra with re the restrictor so the top speed limitations where no more.
After a successful start at the Trade Hire Busselton Super Special Stage at the opening of the rally on the Friday night, Mick and Bernie were excited going in to the forest stages of Heat 1, however disaster struck, on the second stage of the day (Ferndale) an apparent electrical fire caused major damage resulting in the teams forced withdrawal from the remainder of the event.
The result was a major disappointment for the team, however they did manage to get out on stage and watch their rivals tear through the forests, Mick even managed to grab our team photographers camera, lets just say we don’t think Michael has much to worry about :).
The team had a long break before the next round of the championship where they headed to Queensland for the International Rally of Queensland.
After the fire in the last round and the 2nd fire in as many years the team needed to dig deep for the 3rd round and the International Rally of Queensland (IROQ).
“The fire in WA really put us behind where we wanted to be, to lose an entire weekend was so frustrating. So coming into Queensland we really wanted to pick up where we left off.” said Mick
The team enjoyed their first relatively disaster free event, an issue late into the first day was the only setback. The turbo dump pipe cracked blowing exhaust heat on to the firewall, this melted paint and resulted in smoke in the cabin, after the disaster that was Western Australia the team took no chances and skipped the last two stages of the day to source the problem and fix it, the heat also managed to melt a gearbox mount, both easy fixes during service and the team was back on the road for Heat 2.
The team however identified a key area in which their VW Polo was struggling, the gearbox. While it is the same six-speed sequential gearbox the car was fitted with last season, the change from the two-litre, normally aspirated engine to this year’s turbo-charged engine has significantly affected the gear ratios.
“We always knew that was something we needed to change, but in order of priorities we always knew that there were other areas of the car that needed to be worked on first.” Mick said.
At the Power Stage, which featured an incredibly long straight, the TV crew reported that Scott Pedder clocked the top speed at approximately 185km/h, in comparison the Repco Rally Team Polo reached a top speed all weekend of 162km/h.
“We knew we had some work to do on our gear ratios.” Mick said. “Unfortunately with what we currently have we’re limited to a top speed of about 160 kilometres an hour.”
“It’s all about the power and the torque of the turbo engine compared to the old engine last year. I think last year we had good top speed, but now that the engine is producing power in different places effectively we’ve lost 1st gear, in fact we start most stages now in 2nd gear!”
Heading to the next Round in South Australia, an event renowned for its super fast shire roads, the team is determined to overcome the gearbox hurdle to unleash some top end speed from his VW.
“With the help of Neal Bates Automotive, they are helping us work out the internals of the gearbox and what ratios we will put into it which will help us get that top end speed.”
“The aim will be to have that sorted by the time we get to those fast roads in South Australia but it will all depend on just how quickly parts can be sourced out of Sadev in France. But that’s definitely the plan!”
The team finished round 3 in 5th overall, but more importantly the car came back to their Canberra HQ in one piece.
Stay tuned for the rest of the season in review next week.