POWELL AND FENNELL - Costa Rica NACAM Rally - July 7

[rcadiz]

Folks,

It's that time again. John and Mike are back at it for Round 3 of the NACAM Rally Championship. The Trini crew heads off later today to meet up with the Jamaican boys in Costa Rica later tonight. The Rally is in the same format as you are by now accustomed to.

This time its total of 8 stages which will cover approx. 125km. 2 stages will be run forward and reverse, very similar to a local Rally. Keep checking the post for pictures, and information.

Thanks again to Duane for linking me up with the 7D. Heading over with a few go-pros and lots of camera gear, so stay tuned.

[foss]

good luck team trini!!

[tr1ad]

how much of you all going this time robbie

[RapToR]

*awaits *

[sliderz1]

subscribed

[W2J]

Good Luck Team Powell, Robbie looking foward to your updates bro.

[kurpal_v2]

Stay safe and avoid standing water bro!

[rcadiz]

Well this is the stuff that you usually read about in stories, because it is honestly unbelievable. Unfortunately for the Team the bad luck has continued.

You will all remember the last event in Oaxaca with the radiator and fan.....and engine.

Well we have arrived in San Jose Costa Rica to lightening and thunderstorms which should have been the warning signs. Not sure where to begin but first off Mike Fennell never made it the flight, apparently his passport was on the brink of the 6mth expiration and Costa Rica would not have let him in, so he has got his passport sorted out, but won't be able to join us until Friday evening, so i guess we may all be helping Penti with pace notes on Friday and Mike will just have to sit and read on Saturday. Thankfully it is just 2 stages forward and reverse so it should be manageable. That said though it is still a 125km Rally. If he doesn't make it however, it will be me and Sobbie drawing straws for the hot seat.

Now for the 'great' news on the car.

Apparently they did not strap the cars in the container properly on the way to Costa Rica. You know where i am going with this......John and Ricardo Trivino's car were in the same container and it seems they started the Rally a bit early on the way down. The short 40ft stage was literally pounded the un-strapped cars the whole way down. Seems the fight between these 2 has extended to their machinery. Long story short, lights, bumpers, bonnets, and other fun stuff have all been damaged in some way. Nothing that will prevent the cars from racing but they will be looking more like a pair of fighters after a 12-round matchup.

John's service truck is stuck in customs and will not be cleared in time. And guess what's in the service truck, yup you guessed it - the spare radiator and fan which are needed asap, as these were damaged in the last round. So the hunt is on today for those parts, as well as the crew is working feverishly to make the car look pretty again for the ceremonial start tomorrow. Not sure if we will able to get things like tail lights and a bonnet but they will surely do their best. That FIA scrutineer is going to be in a tricky position given that none of this is any of the driver's faults.

So its a gloomy day in San Jose, but if you know Penti, despite all of this he is in good spirits. Even after hearing all this when we arrived last night, we ended up liming in San Jose last night with the whole Rally, and sat and shared war stories with Trivino until some early hour this morning. We are 2 hours back from Trini time so you know.

Pics to come as soon as i have something to take a picture of. For now, Robbie, Sobbie, Penti, and posse are chilling in San Jose. The Rally is 4 hours drive north which we are supposed to be doing later this evening.

[tr1ad]

have no fear, the flag will still fly high

[foss]

nice write up!..

all the best to the team!

[ronsin1]

good time to ask my boss to send me costa rica :mrgreen;

[AutoSport]

This is just too consistent to not have a factor that is the cause of this mal-consistency. And yuh know where I going with the conspiracy theory!

By a process of elimination, we have to find the “somebody” who moving with a monkey on their back. So pull straws to see who staying far away, one at a time. This is just too much to be happening to one team.

I remember many years ago, we going to Barbados to rally, three cars on the boat, and the boat never reach Barbados. It pass through Grenada, somebody was owing somebody else, and the boat was arrested in Grenada – long story cars never reach Barbados on time – but the relationship with the Bajans was so good, they lent us cars to Rally!

I just feel that it have two supporters, one is a driver, one is a so-called navigator and they trying to dislodge somebody.

Going and check out a friend and see if I could get a ticket for him to Costa Rica – oh by the way he is an exorcist!

[tr1ad]

robbie... bess yuh eh follow powell

[rcadiz]

Well we are in Liberia (not the country). We made the 4hour trek from San Jose last night on a slightly treacherous 200km stretch of road. There are no highways in Costa Rica, so this was their main road which is single lane most of the way. At night its quiet for regular commuters but like a race track for semi trucks. You meet a big rig every 5 minutes going and there's a few passing you every minute coming the other way. And they all travel at 100kph. And this on a road similar to the Valencia stretch on the way to Salybia if you know the road.

We are at breakfast now planning the day which has its challenges. No navigator - Mike is arriving this evening so either me or Sobby has to do notes with John. And then Mike will re-write them later tonight. The crew worked on the car all evening yesterday and they have made some good progress. The only thing left out now is the radiator fan which is supposed to arrive this morning. The cars are all on a transporter which arrives this morning as well.

Its a rush but Phil Marks, and the crew from Dom Buckley are usually up to the challenge despite the odd lesson in British vocabulary when you ask them 'how's it going?' I think the real challenge will be the new engine however which has not yet been broken in.

Its Friday, pace notes, and ceremonial start later tonight, and some how figure out how to break in the new beast under the hood. The fun has begun!

[rcadiz]

[rcadiz]

One of the problems with the shipping from Mexico is that you cannot drive into Mexico or drive out of Mexico with any trucks as part of their border patrol policy. So all the freight had to be unstuffed, checked, re-stuffed and new paperwork done. So the logistics become very complicated.

The transporter for the cars was loaded in San Jose, notice the damage to John and Trivino's car, and the boys working overtime to get it ready to travel up to Liberia

[tr1ad]

alone again.... naturally....

[sio]

Rough start, But good luck guys know the team will do the best with what they have.

[AutoSport]

alone again.... naturally....

"Lord, just me help to identify which one of these rascals in the team walking around with the blight, and if I could do it today the first big cliff I come to, on the way back after the pace-noting is cleaners for the wretch"

Murphy hiding some place and we just cannot see him!

Anyway those with good intent will say all the prayers for you Sir.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Just got this update from Robbie via Whatsapp

Pace notes done. Mike has just arrived and me and sobby running him through the stages now quick before it gets dark. Izquierdo blew engine in testing. John lending him parts of the old engine to hopefully fix tonight. Our Car is good got a fan. Ceremonial start is at 7:00, 9pm your time.

Stages are very fast, pieces of bog walk, and roller coaster. Switches to Tarmac in both stages for about 2km

Stages have 3 different surfaces, gravel, kind of a clay and Tarmac. Smooth and flowing mostly but some areas will rattle your teeth with bumps.

They have everything - open , tight, and 3 water splashes so we already warning John

Weather is great. Sunny and about 28 degrees

"bog walk" is a gravel stage in Jamaica and "roller coaster" is the nick name for the Longdenville stage behind Abel's plant that TTRC used some years ago.

[wagon r]

sweet...! Best of luck to Penti and Mike..

[wagonrunner]

sweet...! Best of luck to Penti and Mike..

ditto

[brandon005]

Wish I could have found a live stream for this

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Just got another update from Robbie

Rally started almost an hour late. Seems there are some tarmac sectios of the stage that pass through some housing areas and the marshalls were having issues with residents and spectators.

John started second this morning.

Top contender Izquierdo destroyed 4 pistons last night - he runs on pump fuel and ended up running too lean. Izquierdo's team tried to repair but was unable to do so in time. They are out of the rally.

2 drivers to look for in the top running are not NACAM competitors but local Costa Rican stars: José Montalto - a young Pirelli test driver in a very well prepared N15 Subaru (Montalto started 3rd behind John with Trevino first in the seeding order at the start of the rally)and another young driver in a Subaru N10, will find out his name soon.

All group N cars are allowed no dog-box so they are on regular/stock gearboxes.

Weather forecasts for rain - but right now it is clear skies and sweltering heat.

1st stage is now complete.

[IRSHAAD]

TC2 1.- John Powell 9:36 2.- Jose Andres Montalto @JoseMontalto 9:43 3.- Ricardo Trivino 9:48

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

John just put 12 on Trivino and 7 on Jose after stage 2

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Montalto in the stock box has 6th gear which probably counted for a few seconds over the 5-speed evo

Stage 2
1.- John Powell 9:36 2.- Jose Andres Montalto @JoseMontalto 9:43 3.- Ricardo Trivino 9:48

[tr1ad]

WOI WOI

[IRSHAAD]

Some pics from Costa Rica

[dredman1]

Pace notes done. Mike has just arrived and me and sobby running him through the stages now quick before it gets dark. Izquierdo blew engine in testing. John lending him parts of the old engine to hopefully fix tonight. Our Car is good got a fan. Ceremonial start is at 7:00, 9pm your time.

Love hearing stuff like this. Real sportsmanship there, especially as John's a foreigner in another country. It shows how true he is to the sport.