Sunday 23 October 2011

Rally - Tweak of the Week

To-day's UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages provided a fair old fight over the Otterburn ranges with Damian Cole taking a 21 second victory in his Focus over the Impreza WRC of Steve Simpson, but in a cruel twist of fate, Michael Glendinning lost out on a brief lead when his gearbox broke. John Indri was third in the Darrian from Andy Davison in the BMW, and what a sight that was, the M3 slippin' and a slidin' all over the place on the damp and greasy tarmac.

Jim Sharp was fifth in the Subaru from Adrian Spencer, but David Hardie lost out on a top four finish with a puncture on the penultimate test.

( Full report in next week's 'Motorsport News' - out Wednesday! )

But what tickled me most of all was what one of the front runners was up to during the cold and wet morning conditions. Tyre warmers are banned in British rallying, but said competitor had his road car sitting beside his wagon with the engine running, and then I found out why. With seconds to go before the start of the next stage and the car still up on axle stands, he went over to the car, opened the door and took out four wheels and tyres. The car was sitting there with the heater at full blast and his front seats reclined so that he could load in all of his wheels and tyres.

So the question is - how do you define a tyre warmer?

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