05/11/2023
Salford van hire Neil Howard stages rally, Blue Porsche Cayman car 49
Yesterday at Oulton Park, this was probably my worst ever performance on an event since my very first one back in 1987!
With Lauren Hewitt co-driving, seeded at car 49 we got a shock when the car wouldn’t even drive off the start line, no traction at all, we managed to slither around the first stage with no grip, slipping and sliding on every corner but we finally got to the end of the stage unscathed in 79th position.
Stage 2, 3&4 were all the same story. It was so embarrassing being overtaken by so many cars and trying to avoid baulking and avoiding them. I can assure you it was something wrong with the car and not my driving skills, I was fighting with the car but getting nowhere slowly. Very sorry to all the cars that I might have delayed, it was frightening in our car for me & Lauren, in fact it was seriously dangerous, so many sideways or more moments and near spins (although I never actually spun or went on the grass which was quite amazing) !
We attempted stage 5 and somehow got to the end after several near misses with other competitors (sorry) and the car trying it’s best to kill us. We made the decision to call it a day and retire from the event after that, grateful that we and the car were unscathed. We were going nowhere and there was nothing to gain or prove.
Thanks to BLMCC for putting on a great event and also all the Marshalls & organisers.
I realised that this was the first event I’ve entered in the last 3 years in wet weather, the Cayman had proved good on dry tarmac on previous events. The conclusion is that the car is probably much too heavily sprung, it has no compliance, just spins up the rear wheels, no squat under acceleration. I’m now investigating this!
Thanks to all the team and supporters, you know who you are!
