What an action packed weekend it was for me. Friday and Saturday were spent rushing to get the car ready for the launch then came the launch followed by a wedding reception I couldn't miss and then followed the rally Sunday. A bit knackering to say the least but enjoyed to the max.

I managed to get two test runs in with the car one at Vaucluse (a few laps around the track with and without antilag) and the other at Black Bess on the little bit of tar road left to try and get a feel for the active tarmac mapping. This however was cut short due to a mounting bolt backing off in the rear diff housing but I still managed to get a sense of how much quicker the cornering speed felt.

So my first impression was how well the car road over the bumps with the extra wheel travel. I was also impressed with how smoothe the gearbox was and how comfortable the cockpit felt. The brakes didn't feel bad being their still gravel spec and I couldn't say that the car felt more powerful than the V but that remains to be seen. All in all I was happy and ready to get some seat time in the rally.
Saturday afternoon of the launch came around and the battery decided to pack up on us so we had to jump her to get up on the ramp and I think this may have spiked the computer somewhere along the line. Anyway the fun started from there as the computer decided to play games with us jumping in to different mappings. We couldn't get the active disconnected for the dexterity and sure had a battle with her around the barrels which was made worse by Barry and his grp N 6 making it look so easy. Thanks Bar!! Panic stations then set in and after waking poor Harry Hockley out of his bed it was decided that for the rally we would just run it in whatever mapping we could get and just drive for the seat time. Sounded good enough for me and off to the wedding I went.

Sunday morning rolled around and so did I out of bed after a heavy date with a dance floor. The plan was to take the stages in the morning to feel out the car and the edges of the road of course being on the left now and then to up the pace after lunch to see what she could do. After leaving the start line on stage one the car felt a little sluggish and I thought it might just be me but then after hearing the M9 boys had given me 6 secs on that stage alone I knew something was a little off. The following stage checks confirmed a lack of boost probably linked to the previous problems and from there on it was a fight to keep grp N off my back. As the day progressed I started to get into the car and by the muddy stage at Redland I think it was safe to say the active was not activated. Shucks what a pity!!

After lunch we pushed some more and started to have some fun with some really nice slides especially the last stage at Luke Hill. Well if you can't be fast look pretty!! All in all I rather enjoyed my first outing and I'm sure the team will come together and sort all our little problems as we draw closer to the carnival. Many thanks to all involved in the Simpson Motors team for getting this car together in such a short space of time. Brent Murphy being no exception service crew Sean, Jim, Eddy and Adam our sponsors Courts, Automotive Art, Kerridge, Garbage Master and Yokohama and last but not least my navi James who now has to sit in the traffic lane.

Mice out.

ps My apologies to Sean (crew chief) and Ralph (body shop) for that Luke Hill moment. Sorry guys I didn't know you would be at that corner but it was my Birthday and I did have to make up for the dexterity. So happy Birthday to me then!!