Whitey
05-01-2007, 08:59 PM
Excels DNF Bathurst Rally
Round 2 of the Excel Series was held as part of the Peter Rogers Real Estate Bathurst Rally last Saturday 7th May.
Only two of the three currently running Excels were entered for this round and there was much anticipation of the head to head comparison with the Gemini Series Cars.
Two teams faced the starter;
Glenn Farrant/Anna Ritson. Glenn's regular co-driver Jason Wood was not available, Anna Ritson from Canberra stepped in and ably filled his shoes.
Luke Anderson/Michael Ryan had completed the automatic to manual conversion and were looking for more speed.
David White's Excel was not entered as he was Co-driving for his regular Gemini series Driver Craig Franklin.
The event started with the usual run on Mt Panorama where both The Excels hit 185km/h on Conrod straight.
Stage two was a blat along a fast shire road, Hen & Chicken Lane. Both Excels set times marginally faster than the quickest Gemini. Farrant/Ritson led Anderson/Ryan by 11 seconds.
Stage 3 Essington, was the first true forest stage and was a mix of fast flowing roads interconnected with rough goat tracks with many dips and humps. There was much contention regarding the road book as many of the dips and humps seemed to be inappropriately cautioned. One of these humps caught out Anderson/Ryan who holed the radiator in the blue Excel and DNF'd.
Stage 4 Beemerang, saw many competitors get flat tyres, this included Farrant/Ritson who lost around 8 minutes changing a tyre mid-stage. The lost time did not matter, as the only Excel still running they could coast to the finish.
Stage 5, Arkstone, was the longest of the event at 33km the Burgundy Excel beating the quickest Gemini by more than 2 seconds per km.
Stage 6 saw Farrant's rally come to an end when he misjudged a corner and hit a bank, breaking the steering rack. They were able to limp to the stage end but the rally was over.
This years event continued the Bathurst rally's reputation of being a rally of attrition as neither Excel finished. The two positives that came from the event were that neither DNF was due to mechanical failure and the excellent speed of the Excels with limited development.
The next Excel Series Event is the Bega Valley Motors Rally on 12 June.
Round 2 of the Excel Series was held as part of the Peter Rogers Real Estate Bathurst Rally last Saturday 7th May.
Only two of the three currently running Excels were entered for this round and there was much anticipation of the head to head comparison with the Gemini Series Cars.
Two teams faced the starter;
Glenn Farrant/Anna Ritson. Glenn's regular co-driver Jason Wood was not available, Anna Ritson from Canberra stepped in and ably filled his shoes.
Luke Anderson/Michael Ryan had completed the automatic to manual conversion and were looking for more speed.
David White's Excel was not entered as he was Co-driving for his regular Gemini series Driver Craig Franklin.
The event started with the usual run on Mt Panorama where both The Excels hit 185km/h on Conrod straight.
Stage two was a blat along a fast shire road, Hen & Chicken Lane. Both Excels set times marginally faster than the quickest Gemini. Farrant/Ritson led Anderson/Ryan by 11 seconds.
Stage 3 Essington, was the first true forest stage and was a mix of fast flowing roads interconnected with rough goat tracks with many dips and humps. There was much contention regarding the road book as many of the dips and humps seemed to be inappropriately cautioned. One of these humps caught out Anderson/Ryan who holed the radiator in the blue Excel and DNF'd.
Stage 4 Beemerang, saw many competitors get flat tyres, this included Farrant/Ritson who lost around 8 minutes changing a tyre mid-stage. The lost time did not matter, as the only Excel still running they could coast to the finish.
Stage 5, Arkstone, was the longest of the event at 33km the Burgundy Excel beating the quickest Gemini by more than 2 seconds per km.
Stage 6 saw Farrant's rally come to an end when he misjudged a corner and hit a bank, breaking the steering rack. They were able to limp to the stage end but the rally was over.
This years event continued the Bathurst rally's reputation of being a rally of attrition as neither Excel finished. The two positives that came from the event were that neither DNF was due to mechanical failure and the excellent speed of the Excels with limited development.
The next Excel Series Event is the Bega Valley Motors Rally on 12 June.