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Pembo- North West Stages – 21st February 2004

Posted on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 @ 05:51:58 BST by audioc

Alan Pemberton
Martin Young

Audi Coupe quattro

I am never one to complain about seeding and I have always accepted that on a tarmac event it will always just be a start number. Car 71 had been prepared for several weeks with minimal maintenance to be done after Park Hall. New stiffer wishbone bushes had been sourced and fitted and some new competition brake pads fitted. The navigator for this prestigious event was Martin Young who had ably got me round Park Hall in December and was next to me at the early retirement at Weeton in September. Martin lives in Leyland and knows the road sections between venues, making life comfortable in the car between stages. Service and Management car had been combined and was headed up by the guy who had originally built the car and his old navigator, reunited for this event. Dave and Rob were up for this event as much as we were.

Friday eveningwas straight forward with noise and scruitineering and our ‘parc ferme’ being in the prison. A very secure place to leave a very valuable car. In the morning they were prepared to let the car out but not me! Service set up, Dave and Rob fuelled up, tooled up and ready to provide assistance where and when needed the cold frosty start was looming. With plenty of well wishes in the service area we were off to the official Start ramp in the Flag Square in Preston Centre. A quick interview and off to Weeton Barracks for stages 1 and 2.

The last time we were at Weeton as a crew the Quattro broke the centre diff after 1.2 miles of the first stage, so I would be lying if I said that wasn’t on my mind. The road section warmed the oil and got thing up to temperature before all the 320bhp was needed. Two miles in to stage 1 we had a big power slide that turned into a none recoverable spin as we found some ‘marbles’ on a long 90 right. Moving to SS3 & SS4 at Clifton the tighter and twistier venue proved to be slippy in places and was true quattro country! I had set this stage up in 2003 and could remember most of it and was by now settling into the event. The long straight before the finish at Clifton was just long enough for us to see 115mph as we crossed the flying finish and there was some need for very heavy braking to stop at the control. Next was Leyland, again in 2001 I had set the stage up and was looking forward to showing my old Club Knutsford & District what the car could do! My only caution was the water splash and what speed would we see on the outer oval. Showing a little courtesy at the water splash and knowing how tight the inner loop could be I give this stage more caution than attack. We did manage to see close to 120mph before some rather heavy late braking for a chicane on the outer loop managing to ‘flat spot’ a tyre whilst travelling sideways towards the chicane. The first leg was completed and the service was the team lunch stop with Martins wife, Sue, providing plenty of food to feed the whole team. (Thanks Sue).

The next leg of the rally was a repeat of leg 1 with only slight changes to each stage. During the first leg we had caught and passed several cars and thanks to those who were aware of the looming Audi Quattro and left us enough room. At Clifton we had our closest overtaking manoeuvre. Heading toward the split, 1 & 2 left and 3 right, we were catching a Puma. As we headed closer towards the split the Puma pulled left to let us pass on the right. Unbeknown to the Puma driver I wanted right split as did he. He suddenly indicated right and went to move right by which time I was alongside him. We both made the split and he latter commented about us taking more than 30 seconds out of him (because he started 30 secs before us and we caught and passed him and still finished well ahead of him) in a 3.5 mile stage and how fast we must have been. He thought that we had not done enough laps!

The only concern at this point was a ‘road speed noise’ and I suspected a wheel bearing but turned out to be the flat spot was bigger than expected. It was bright shinny metal over several square inches. With that changed before Leyland, just as well as its quite a high speed stage, we were ready for it.

Half way through SS11, Leyland 3, we broke the gearbox with a suspected layshaft leaving us with only 1,3,& 5. We continued and completed SS12 (Leyland 4) and were 8 sec quicker. We made it back to Service 2 were there was little we could do to solve the problem. We left Service making some interesting noises and I must admit it crossed my mind that the Management car should now be towing the trailer, but we only had 4 stages to go and it was mobile. We completed SS13,Weeton 5, but Weeton 6, SS14 was completed in 3rd gear only and again we were 18 secs quick than Weeton 5 when we had 3 gears, (we did have a puncture on SS13). At the end of stage the gearbox wet itself depositing all its oil at the stop finish line. With no oil in the gearbox we decided we should call it a day. We may have only had 2 stages to go but a long motorway section to finish was not on the cards for the car. The service crew were all for putting it on its side and deploying metal repair filler, but no it was not to be. We also knew that the closing car was a Audi 90 quattro and a gearbox change may save the day but with only 15 mins this was a dreamers thought (me).

Overall a great day and some respectable times.

Thanks to Martin who did a sterling job all day and your name is staying on the side of the car! A very big thanks to Dave and Rob who served the needs of the car all day, and yes I will look at those wheel studs! Thanks to Sue who provided the catering and finally to all those who said 'hello'.

Next events should be Anglesey (may be not just got regs £180 for 38 stage miles – don’t think so!) and Leyland – Proflex Stages

...and no more stickers please....just single sponsorship deal. We may be quicker with less vinyl!

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Associated Topics

Audi in Motorsport

Pembo's Rallying Antics in the quattro

Series 3 & 4 80, 90, Coupe & Cabriolet

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