POWELL AND FENNELL - Peru NACAM Rally - September 8-9

[RDevil]

Excellent reporting and pics by rcadiz, keep up the good work!
Good luck team T&T

[sliderz1]

oh my at "views"

ladies look foine!

[rcadiz]

So its Saturday night and we are finally finished with the car. The pit crew got started about 10am this morning and finished about 12 hours later. Not too much to mention with the car thankfully. They found a broken cross member and replaced it. All the repairs from Costa Rica were taken care of - repaired brake line, wheel speed sensor, oil cooler etc. The cosmetic repairs were also completed. The biggest task was to mount back the transfer case that was taken down in Costa Rica at the Scrutineer's request. Of course it was not sealed so the chances of them asking for it to be done again after this event is quite possible.

The car along with the other the other NACAM competitors - Trivino, Izquierdo etc were all being prepped in the same garage. Sort of like what you would expect to see in Brett's garage in Barbados in the days leading up to Rally Bim.

The biggest challenge remains the tuning. Trying to get performance out of a car at 12,000ft is like trying to wake up a drunk man who's passed out on a couch. The air is so thin, and John has to run on good old 95 octane Pump Gas (the promised fuel never arrived). Although Trivino is on 103, the altitude will only allow for a limited amount of oxygen so its not necessarily a huge advantage.

The 1st stage is at 8:30am tomorrow, and they will be doing 3 loops of 3 stages in one direction only. The NACAM cars will run first and the rest of the Rally (Peru Championship) will run behind them in the order. John and Mike are fully rested and should be in a good frame of mind tomorrow. Once he can keep focussed on the goal which is to finish ahead of Trivino, he should be ok. Nicolas Fuchs also in the Rally tomorrow is the top Peruvian driver and ranked 6th in PWRC having won an event already this year. John needs to forget about any other competitors and just focus on why he is here - to get the points.

So we shall see tomorrow. look out for updates via text to Duane and whoever else is near to a computer to post. I will do my best in and out of setting cameras etc.

For now enjoy the pics, i am going to get a few hours sleep.

Our first view of the car




Phil giving the Izquierdo brothers advice on the engine they lost in Costa Rica


Busted cross member


The repaired side of the car




Working on the car well into the night


The scrutineer, everyone's favourite official arrives at 7pm to ask all the usual questions


Trivino's crew finishing up




And finally after just over 12 hours of work.....the finished product.

[link]

excellent updates, Robert
at this point, everyone is once again upbeat & optimistic that 'penti' will prevail today
good luck to all
rgds

[Sir Dawg]

Well done Robbie, appreciate the updates much. Doh frighten, one day you and Sobbie will have your own homecoming crew waitin fuh you guys in Piarco. Good luck to JP and Fennell. Have ah good one guys!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

at 10am -4 GMT

Rally started, lots of problems with fuel. They drove up on 90 octane and managed to get 98 in the service park. Team a little rattled but we will see what the first 3 stages bring.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

at the end of stage 3 the Peruvian drivers are showing their experience on the home turf. Added to that the race fuel for the NACAM competitors never arrived so they are using pump fuel

Nicolas Fuchs, who ranks 6th in the PWRC, is currently leading the rally with Orlandini in 2nd and Tommasino in 3rd. All local drivers.

4th place currently is Trevino about 28 seconds off the leader and Powell about 3 or 4 seconds behind him followed closely by Isquirdo.

The altitude is already bad for the cars, but the poor fuel is making it ever worst.

Will keep updates coming as I get them from Robbie

[AutoSport]

at the end of stage 3 the Peruvian drivers are showing their experience on the home turf. Added to that the race fuel for the NACAM competitors never arrived so they are using pump fuel

Nicolas Fuchs, who ranks 6th in the PWRC, is currently leading the rally with Orlandini in 2nd and Tommasino in 3rd. All local drivers.

4th place currently is Trevino about 28 seconds off the leader and Powell about 3 or 4 seconds behind him followed closely by Isquirdo.

The altitude is already bad for the cars, but the poor fuel is making it ever worst.

Will keep updates coming as I get them from Robbie

Guess the home-town boys have the correct fuel too!

But with this never-say-die attitude, John and Team will press on.
And they know we have our prayers flowing all the way down to them and up the mountains too!
Incredible learning experience for all.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

John much more comfortable after 3 stages. Leading Trivino by 1 sec, and izquierdo by 25 sec. Fuchs is ahead by 1:35, and flying

[QuietRiot]

Nice News after a good Sunday Lunch.

[mrkessy]

Stages really do look beautiful...but apparently i dont know how to embed...sorry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYTPld87G8E

[SubaBlu]

What d a$$, what class those Foresters in?
And that was a near roll, popped an axle I guess....

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

John might be a few second back with 3 more stages to go. Didn't get their times for 4 but John put 8 on Trivino on stage 5 and then lost 15 on stage 6 with a suspected gearbox oil leak.... All good going into 7,8,9. Battle is hot

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Rcadiz: John just passed us at 7, something is wrong he's cruising ... Car is hurt , maybe

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Maybe gearbox who knows

[SubaBlu]

What's the latest?????

[drinker41]

more of todays footage i believe

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

What's the latest?????

rcadiz: Broken axel, and bottom turbo hose, he will finish but he's limping for 3 stages so he is going to be down the order. Sad

[SubaBlu]

Unofficial results are they placed 3rd.
Problems with the car were a busted boost hose and maybe a broken rear axle.
Robbie will fill in the details tonight hopefully.

[rcadiz]

Folks,

We are back at the Hotel now, going through a 1000 pics and vids. John was leading Trivino by a small margin at stage 3, then:
Stage 4 - put 2 sec
Stage 5 - put 8 sec
Stage 6 - Lost 17 sec due to a oil leak on the gearbox which turned out to be a minor issue and was repaired.

Stage 7, 8, 9 was the last leg

Stage 7 - Throttle stuck on the line, it eventually sorted itself out, then after 1km into the 15km stage, John popped a rear axle, forcing him to drive 2WD, then going up a hill on the same stage one of the turbo hoses blew off. You could not write bad luck like this...He lost the fight with Trivino, then lost 2nd place to Izquierdo. So he took an extremely well deserved 3rd but should have had first. This is just another event that John showed all the potential only to be upset by some mechanical gremlin.

The Prize Giving was amazing in the small town. John and Mike both had to hold the ceremonial sheep and drink champagne with the Mayor, ....not kidding. Anyways Fuch ran away with 1st but is not counted toward points as he is only doing one of the NACAM legs...so it ended up:
1. Trivino
2. Izquierdo
3. Powell

Exhausted as you can imagine, so will update pics later or tomorrow.

[rcadiz]

Hold these until i can do more....

[IRSHAAD]

Just a suggestion...if before the next nacam rally that john n his crew do som testin with d car to wrk out any last bugs before d actuall rally...

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ Irshaad the problem there is logistics. They usually don't get the car at the event until a few hours before the rally.

John and Mike both had to hold the ceremonial sheep

[IRSHAAD]

^ Irshaad the problem there is logistics. They usually don't get the car at the event until a few hours before the rally.

Oh thats hard...hope good luck prevails for the last two events.....

[wagon r]

...is Robbie fault....and now that is Robbie and Sobby, things have only gotten worse....!!

[sio]

Stress, Hard luck again boys, Looking for better next round

[rcadiz]

...is Robbie fault....and now that is Robbie and Sobby, things have only gotten worse....!!

Gerry you is not the same man who make all the WRC cars shut down in Bim? haha i hear the MCBI ban yuh for next year........hahahaha

[wagon r]

...is Robbie fault....and now that is Robbie and Sobby, things have only gotten worse....!!

Gerry you is not the same man who make all the WRC cars shut down in Bim? haha i hear the MCBI ban yuh for next year........hahahaha

...get yuh facts straight, Skeete finish (doh mind he run off into a playing field), Bourne alternator belt strip, Panton gearbox was on strike and Dean, I eh kno. Roger finish and Neil cut all dem arse in his 2WD flat black killa....!

But after Mexico, where John and Mike placed 2nd, since you started going.....................

[tr1ad]

But after Mexico, where John and Mike placed 2nd, since you started going.....................

saying that since day 1

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

allyuh men harsh yes