Stefan Davis' Dreams Drifting Away as 205 Suffers in Panaround Rally

26 April 2005

Prospeed Scholarship Finalist and MSportUK.com Featured Driver, Stefan Davis competed with co-driver Craig Burgess this weekend on the Panaround Rally which followed day 1 of the first round of the British Rally Championship International Rally of Wales. The event was a loose gravel forest event based outside the town of Dolgellau.

The crew got off to a flying start setting 10th fastest overall time in the whole rally on stage one, even beating a Ford Focus World Rally Car which shows the commitment of the driving over the 16 mile forest stage. The crew pulled out for a quick car check by the service crew and found a disappointing but familiar sight. The engine bay was covered with oil and the engine’s condition was in question once again. The engine oil was mopped up and topped up and off they went a bit concerned into stage two.

The crew was pushing again on the second stage. Towards the end of the stage on a long straight where the crew were hitting speeds well over 100mph, the steering started to get progressively harder to use. The rack had begun to seize and the car was becoming more and more difficult to control. The crew still set an amazing 9th fastest overall time in the rally and 3rd fastest time in the Peugeot 1.9 Scholarship, their best ever stage time to date! They were in 7th position overall in the Panaround Rally, despite the mix of superior machinery. The steering problem however was to worsen and was a big problem. It was a wrestle just to get the car out of the junctions on the main road. This wasn’t good news, and with the combination of the slowly dying engine there was only one direction for the crew on the leader-board.

The crew was lying in 2nd place out of the 20 1.9 Scholarship runners and was looking in a strong position to keep their stance for the rest of the day. Stefan was leading the Junior Rally Scholarship category, but the mechanical parts of the car had a different plan. “it was nice to finally to put some times down with a running car. We knew we were 20 BHP down on power which is 20% compared to the other competitors but I knew we could still use what we had to get a good result. We had a great test day with Maxspeed Motorsport in South Wales last week and I got to explore the limits of the new car and got some great driving tips” Said the 25 year old.

They slipped down the time charts and could no longer keep up with the healthy cars on the two stages that followed. The crew where still lying in the top ten for the whole rally despite their problems but were now down to 6th place in the 1.9 Scholarship. Stefan commented “I am devastated that we couldn’t keep a hold on the lead on the Junior category and pull Simon in closer. I’m now worried that we won’t get sponsorship for a new engine to be out on the Pirelli. I can only get my begging bowl out and hope someone has a heart to help me and show everyone what I can do with a full powered car”

The crew where concerned about the health of the car going into Stage 5 and with not enough time at any point in the day to fix the faults on the car the crew had their fingers crossed the car would make it to the end. On the start line to the stage there was a delay. The stage had been cancelled as Matthew Wilson had suffered a big accident on a very fast downhill section.

The crew managed to drop no lower than sixth place in the Scholarship and got the points to go with it. They came away from the rally obviously disappointed but managed to get themselves up to fourth in the overall scholarship standings and in the knowledge that they will be pushing for podium points if they can get to the next rally.

It wasn’t all lost the crew received an award from the scholarship organiser for being the most committed driver on the day and received a prize for their efforts.

The next scholarship round is again following the British Rally Championship the Pirelli Rally based in Carlisle and the crew are looking forward to gaining back what should have been theirs.

See 2005 series calendar for British Rally Championship

Related Story 26.04.2005 - Irish Eyes are Smiling after British Rally Championship Opening Round