2008 - Rally Queensland
Stewart and Co-driver Anthony McLoughlin showed they could mix it
with the ARCs' big guns at last weekends Rally Queensland. A fine
4th place on Saturdays Leg 1 gave a hint of the potential of the
teams ability.
After
a disrupted build up to the start of the event with around 2 days
lost after a testing mishap Stewart got down to business on Saturday
reeling of top 5 times regularly.
Failure of a couple of sensors was the only problem with the car
requiring attention at service. Stewart thought this may have cost
him some 30 seconds over the day.
Final
service for the day was routine except for the precautionary
replacement of 5th gear.
Leg 2,
as normal, was more competitive with teams who banked some points on
Saturday going harder chasing a podium spot at the end of the day.
Stewart and Anthony held there own through out the day.
- 6th
fastest on Million LA 2 special stage
- 4th on
Kandanga Long 2
- 6th on
Lesters Loop
- 5th on
Traverse Up
- 5th on
Tower Down
|
As the day went on
Stewart became concerned about the gear box. He managed to maintain
a good pace and keep well inside the top 10 until the last
stage when the gearbox cried enough and sadly Stewart and Anthony
retired losing a certain 5th place for the day and a possible
outright podium position.
The car is being
prepped for the next round of the ARC where Stewart hopes to build
up his ARC points account but entry to this round is on hold pending
more financial input through sponsorship.
2008 - Rally Queensland Preparations
The
lead up to Rally Queensland was going smoothly and to plan until
about 11am on Tuesday when Stewart had a light roll in the Corolla
during testing. Stewart and passenger escaped uninjured.
The damage was enough to require a visit to the panel shop for some
front end and passenger side panel repairs. The car was unaffected
structurally or mechanically. Repairs were completed Thursday
afternoon and the car was re-assembled back at SR automotive and was
ready to run Friday.
Stewart and Anthony Mcloughlin continued with their preparation and
carried out pace note recce Thursday.
2008 - Rally Queensland launch
Stewart completed Rally Queensland media day duties for the
organisers this week. He lapped the Nambour showgrounds the site of
one the special stages about 20 times. For extra ballast he carried
passengers on some runs and by all accounts they enjoyed themselves
immensely. From now until the rally its flat out on the workshop
preparing the car for our local event.
2008 - KCF Rally opportunities
The
KCF Rally scheduled for 31st May has provided Stewart with an ideal
opportunity to give his Group N(P) ex TRD Rally Team Corolla a run
before next months Rally Queensland.
Stewart is also providing a fantastic opportunity for a local
navigator, fresh from the famous Brisbane Sporting Car Clubs Rally
school, to gain experience with out ARC type pressure on this event;
and sees it as practical way he can contribute to developing new
rally talent in Queensland.
The
Corolla is back to A1 condition and the problem from Rally Canberra,
a short inside the wiring loom has been fixed.
2008 - Rally Of Canberra - All it takes is a 10 cent part.
After
missing the opening round of the ARC in Western Australia through
illness Stewart was keen to put forward his best effort at round 2
the Rally of Canberra.
The
team left their Kippa Ring base at SR Automotive, just North of
Brisbane and flew to Canberra a couple of days early to allow for
some fine tuning of both the Corolla and the driver under the
watchful eyes of TRD RallyTeam supremo Neal Bates and his team.
The
time spent at TRD Rally headquarters was well spent and Stewart
reported performance, handling and braking improvements to the car
during shakedown.
The
plan for day 1 of the rally was to be "steady as you go" and
consolidate for a planned attack on day 2. All was going OK and
times were very respectable with Stewart holding down a comfortable
6th place when the car started cutting out on some corners and then
completely lost power. Stewart quickly found the problem, and blamed
a fuse that kept blowing. To para-phrase the late Possum Bourne,
despite all the meticulous preparation we were let down by a 10
cent part, our so we thought, .
Despite thoughts we could send Stewart out with a handful of fuses
the car was un-drivable and potentially dangerous if it cut out mid
corner causing loss of power steering and in the interest of safety
and an eye on day 2 Stewart reluctantly withdrew.
Stewarts technicians helped by TRD Rally Team technicians failed to
uncover the cause of the problem before the deadline to restart of
day 2 and this sealed the fate of Stewarts Rally Canberra.
Positive were many though, and Stewart was genuinely excited by his
prospects on day 2 of the rally as he knew he was driving within
himself and the cars capabilities. Further to this the Rally of
Canberra showed the close ties with TRD Rally Team pays dividends
both in development and technical assistance on the events. This is
a "partnership" Stewart has worked on over time and he is seeing
benefits to his own crew in increased professionalism.
2007 - Rallying of Champions
Rallying of Champions as an event was a first for Queensland. Part
rally sprint, part rally and part rally cross. It was run over about
5 laps of a specially constructed course at Willowbank motorsport
precinct South of Ipswich.
Stewart led through out the day and into the night to take
comfortable win.
Toyota Rally SA
2006 Photos
Forest Rally 2006 photo gallery
ARC Photographer
- Stuart Bowes
