T&T Teams head to Rally Jamaica 2011 - T&T POWELL WINS!!!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Just got this update from Robbie Cadiz (VP of the TTRC)
Robbie is navigating for Ainsley Lochan, they will be rallying a 1600cc FWD Mitsubishi Colt (Mirage) in Jamaica this weekend

Greetings from Jamrock folks. The teams of John Powell/ Nicholas Telfer and Ainsley Lochan/Robert Cadiz flew up to Jamaica on Tuesday this week to take part in Rally Jamaica 2011. So far the week has been fantastic, great weather and the pace-noting has been the order of the day as the Rally consists of 150km of very very loose gravel stages.

Rally Headquarters and home base is the Knutsford Court which is a great Hotel in downtown Kingston. The Rally has changed a bit this year with no stages in the mines as in previous years and all the stages are located approximately 45min drive from the hotel.

The stages:
- New Works / Freshhh - 5.5km
- Bybrook / Tru-Juice - 9.2km
- Bybrook / Tru-Juice 2 - 6.3km
- Wakefield (Water Splash) - 5.8km
- Bernard Lodge - 16km

Friday Night: Opening Ceremony in New Kingston (no stage)
The entire Rally will be run in the Bog Walk area which is a massive acreage Orange Tree Estate.
Saturday Stages:
New Works - 3fwd
Bybrook - 3fwd
Lunch
New Works - 3rev
Bybrook - 3rev

These stages are fast and a combination of very loose gravel and grass. The gravel is manageable and a little rougher surface than what we expect from Bronte and Cedar, however the Grass is going to be very slippery up to mid-morning with the dew. If you think Trinidad is bad with dust, the dust up here is fine like concrete dust, almost limestone like, and each passing vehicle will leave a huge cloud. It is bad up here. Any vehicle catching another is going to literally have to hit them to pass, that is if you can even see it.

After today's recce after a few days of cars passing through the trees lining the stages are white, almost like a winter scene. We will see how this goes with the 1-min interval.
New Works has a lot more grass, and Bybrook is the more technical one for sure, jumps and more jumps.

Sunday stages consist of a shortened Bybrook and a lovely stage called Wakefield - home of the famous watersplash. Thankfully the stages are very close together and the transits are very manageable. Sunday consists of:
Bybrook 2 - 2fwd
Wakefield - 2fwd
lunch
Wakefield - 2rev
Bybrook - 2rev

and then comes the mammoth Bernard Lodge. This is a 16km flat out sprint through the largest cane field i have ever seen in my life. Some times the road is wide and has the distance of a small runway. Given that this is the penultimate stage of the Rally, it will be a serious mind game. If you are still in the running, this stage is serious make or break. Engines and brakes are going to be seriously tested on this 16km. If cars are white smoking at the Super Special in New Kingston on Sunday evening it will be because they left a few pistons in Bernard Lodge.

The lineup consists of 12 4WD and the rest 2WD.
1. Gary Gregg - Ford Focus WRC
2. Sean Gill - Suzuki SX4 WRC
3. John Powell - Subaru S14 WRC
4. Leslie Madden - Subaru 2004 WRC (homebuilt)

Mixed up in there is Harold Morley in his Subaru, and Jeffery Panton (RT11 Winner) in Penti's Evo X. Lochan and myself are in a 1600cc Mivec Colt and are part of the JA2 class. It is definitely the most competitive class in 2WD, and we will be going up against 4 starlets, a Corolla, and Mitsubishi Lancer GT. in this class are Mathew Gore, and Kyle Gregg who will be the ones to catch. We are #26, and very happy to let the big boys go through while Lochan gets accustomed to no Rear Diff.

The rented Mitsubishi 2WD

Anyways the pace notes are almost done, the car is almost prepped. Huge Huge thanks to Bobby Marshall for prepping his second car for us to use. Ricky Bobby has been crucial to us getting ready for this weekend. The Jamaican hospitality has been fantastic with small events every night leading up to the event, and the stages are all in good shape, making for a very enjoyable experience.

Will keep you guys posted as best as i can.

taking a run at Track & Records Sport Bar in Kingston

Lochan at the wheel near the garage

[wagon r]

.....so wish I could be there. Damn you Dumplin..! Better make the trini photogs proud and good luck to Team TnT...!

[crazybalhead]

Tracks and Records is a real CORK bar. Duane, there is a touch screen on the table in the booths, with ability to split into four, you can surf the net, order drinks, play music, watch videos, record videos with a camera in the booth, and email it from right there. marketing genius man. And right next door is a boss restaurant area with Indian, Sushi, Italian and others. BESS.

Wish ah was there to see the rally too.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ ah know - I was there in August

http://www.trinituner.com/v3/2011/09/02/john-s14/
for those who did't see the coverage of Sun & Stars rally in BIM
this is the S14 Impreza WRC that John Powell will be driving in Jamaica

[cinco]

nice!
btw Ricky Bobby lol

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Rally Jamaica just started at 8:30am (9:30am in T&T)

this is the livery on Ainsley & Robbie's car

Will send pics of John's car later today

I heard it's raining alot there - so the concern about the heavy dust is mostly gone - just to worry about the mud now



GOOD LUCK GUYS!

[QuietRiot]

After Day One John is in second place,seven seconds behind Sean Gill.Hopefully he could close the gap tomorrow and bring it home.Mr. Action and Robbie seem to have encountered mechanical problems and ended the day on a D.N.F. Panton is in fourth with John Group N EVO X.He seems to be driving it as though it is a WRC car.

[tr1ad]

powell leading...

thats what i see on rallyjamaica website

[rcadiz]

Updates:
Lochan and I started back at car #26, we were told to watch out for Mathew Gore (Starlet) and Kyle Gregg (Civic) who would be the ones to go out first in JA2 and 2WD overall. Bobby Marshall had some trouble early but in typical Ricky Bobby fashion he kept going until later that day when the car started to work a little better.

We started the day and from the first stage the car simply did not feel right, it was good with power but very intermittent when coming out of corners etc. After dropping an average of 20 seconds per stage to the group leaders we finally figured out the problem was plugs and a coil pack. These were changed and by stage 4 things started to settle. Then the bogging continued and we could only put it down to a possibility of low fuel in the fuel cell and maybe it moving around with no internal baffle tank. The stages have lots of corners and we were still fighting the bogging coming out of them. Somehow we managed to move up to 12th overall in the rally and 3rd overall in 2WD behind Gore and Gregg. Then on the last stage before lunch (9km) the bogging was particularly bad so Lochan kept his foot on the floor and decided to slow and steer with the handbrake. Well this ballsy approach did not pan out the way we had hoped and about 3km into the long stage we started to see smoke and that was all she wrote. Con rod came out to play and left a nice hole in the block. It was really unfortunate as Lochan was finally getting the hang of the Front wheel drive set up and i honestly believe that without the bugs we would have been in the fight for the top 3 2WD. Mathew Gore would have been very hard to stay with in the Starlet and he will probably win 2WD outright if he can hold off another starlet in JA4. Ricky Bobby is likely to take 3rd overall 2WD.

Its been hard to get times per stage but Powell, Gill, and Gregg were mixing it up all day yesterday and Gill was in front as of this morning. John has been pulling it back but they cancelled stage 14 as the flying finish was not in the right place as per the route book and i think John had pulled back on that very stage. Going into the brunch break i think Sean was in front by about 5 seconds. Gregg seems out by this point at about 40 sec back and the battle is on between Powell and Gill. The last stage is a 16km all out sprint with at least a 2-3km straight in the mix. Hopefully Powell can string something together to edge out Gill.

We are going down to the New Kingston street special about 4 so will keep you guys posted.

Stages are great, transits are a little long but very easy. The marshals are fantastic, and the overall is vibe is fantastic. All this event needs is a little more cars. I can honestly say many of our guys would do quite well here and the event would be very extremely entertaining to any of the TTRC coming up. Jah Bless.....going to find some Jerk

[rcadiz]

[sio]

Just spoke to Robbie, he made a little error, John is in 1st by 6sec heading into the final stage of the rally

[AutoSport]

Just spoke to Robbie, he made a little error, John is in 1st by 6sec heading into the final stage of the rally

Breds, that is a BIG error!

Hope he maintains this lead.

[rcadiz]

The standings I posted before we're without the last 16km stage. Gill was first on the stage and had to sweep. Powell obviously drove hard and put 6 sec on Gill to then go off to the New Kingston stage which counted. Powell is the confirmed winner of Rally Jamrock 2011..

[Mini]

Congrats to John and the rest of the T&T team

[wagon r]

..Congrats to Penti and Nick....done us proud..!

[Aaron 2NR]

congrats Team TT

[AutoSport]

Not sure if this is his first win at Rally Jamaica, but well done, he never gave up!

[Ignorant Ignis]

pics ...we need pics

.... congrats to penti and team

[foss]

well done team T&T

[jusbitter]

congrats to John and Nick,

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

watch those times!

Rally Jamaica 2011 Overall Results - Provisional

[Shifter Kart]

bwoy it had to happen sometime but i glad is penti tek it and not sean lol. Congrats guys. rally did wicked, super competitive all the way down the field, i cant remember the last time i saw a rally where ppl were still flat out on day 2

pics can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/JaTuner


oh, was nice meeting robbie and ainsley....shoulda never tell dem mi screen name though

[rcadiz]

bwoy it had to happen sometime but i glad is penti tek it and not sean lol. Congrats guys. rally did wicked, super competitive all the way down the field, i cant remember the last time i saw a rally where ppl were still flat out on day 2

pics can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/JaTuner


oh, was nice meeting robbie and ainsley....shoulda never tell dem mi screen name though

hahaha doh worry shifter, we go welcome you in trini in March 2012 to see Panton defend the Rally Trinidad trophy.......

[cinco]

congrats! fly that flag

[Rallyfignis]

What a weekend it was!!! Congrats guys!!!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ VX whole weekend? or you carry a few plastic of good trini rum?

[Rallyfignis]

plenty plastics!!! and appleton special when we were at the bars/clubs

[Wolla]

Well done fellas!!

Next up rally Trinidad 2012! We trinis have to take that back in 2012.