![]() I do like New England and the dark stages spiced things up a bit. I’ll try and finish this up before the end to see how it goes. The AWD’s don’t like to be unstable, so hung on and limped home. Second stage I ran wide and hit the back end on a tree bursting a tyre. Onto the R5’s… these felt a lot lighter and less like hard work, I’m getting better in these, but still tend to overcook it. I think it was the one which we’ve all hit before, but at 98mph, game over. Progressing nicely, clipping corners where I could, I ran wide on a steady corner and over cut the next and took a face full of granite. I should have consolidated and accepted I wasn’t going to get the time back on the last stage, but where’s the fun in that. Stage 9 or 10 I managed to get 5 or 6 seconds back, but missed the 2 right and went into the crowd, for a 31 second penalty. It was close on most of the stages, I did manage to beat your times on a couple, but most of them I was 2 seconds slower per split. 20 seconds down inside the first 1/4 mile… you just have had a similar issue late on the stage as I clawed back some deficit. The Evo didn’t like this and I toppled onto the passenger side and stayed there. Stage 1 I was quick out of the blocks, but clipped the inside of the first hairpin. Overall I expect my new 2000cc run to be faster again, but it’s nice to see our progression. I think that’s down to a few facts: I didn’t have any punctures in the NR4s, the rest stops at each stage meant I could run soft tires all the way through, and we’ve improved as drivers and learned a bit of the course since we were last there. Looking back at when we ran the 2000cc class last time in New England, my NR4 run was almost 50 seconds quicker. Tough luck, as you were looking good up to that point. Looks like wasn’t so lucky and bought the farm in the final stage. Stage 12 had the same corner than caught me out on Stage 1, and while I did drift wide on the same corner, I managed to navigate around the rocks and back to the track with no extra penalty. Rest of the stages I was the trailblazer again, except for who had sadly retired earlier on.Īll of the remaining stages felt really good, right up until the end. Gained some time after that, but still only a 3s difference at the end. I was up by 0.2 seconds at the first split, but down by 0.2 seconds at the second split. Ran the last 9 stages for the NR4s last evening and had a great time. Looks like must have done the same, as we had very similar times for that stage. Got it stopped and was turning around, but went too far the wrong way and got a 40 second penalty. Stage 1 there was a blind 3 left that was much tighter than I was anticipating, shot off the road, whacked the rear on a big group of rocks just off the track, and went spearing in to the undergrowth. Another time I over-rotated and accelerated into the tree at the apex, so still room for improvement.įirst three stages went OK. I did manage one time where I went around one of the bales less than a foot away from it, which felt awesome. Hairpins are a bit tricky, as I have to do a full Scandinavian flick plus handbrake to get them around, but timing it so you hit the apex is also difficult. You can really chuck the tail out compared to the Group Bs and still haul it back, which is really fun. Initially they felt horrendously slow accelerating from a standstill, but that feeling has started to pass. The NR4s are definitely different to the Group Bs. ![]() I did run the NR4s first, as I wanted to keep the fun 2000cc to last (I decided on which was my official run before I turned a wheel). If we still need to, I’ll designate my 2000cc run as my “official” run. Wouldn’t have gotten me on the podium, but still an interesting comparison and great fun to drive. I think that was helped by the Lancia having better pull out of the hairpins. Even with the power deficit, it was only a 5 minute difference over a 1+ hour rally. Overall it was interesting to see the time difference between the Lancia and the Pug. Definitely not expected! The BMW may have been more up to my terrifying expectations with another 100 hp on top, but it looks as wide as a brick, er, outhouse, so I think I’ll stick with the 037. Sure it can still bite your head off in the fast stuff if you let it get away from you, but it almost felt slow after the hyperdrive of the Pug. Apart from that, after the 480 fire-breathing horses in the Pug, the 330 hp in the Lancia felt, dare I say it, almost pedestrian. The RWD characteristics definitely come out as you drive it more, and more counter-steer is definitely needed. Such is life!Īfter finishing up New Zealand with the Lancia 037 last night, I’ll walk back my statement slightly that it handles almost identically to the Pug. That’s the bane of AC, for every 1 great mod, there are 10 mediocre and 3 truly awful mods.
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