Cetus Stages 2013

Cetus Stages 2013

Cetus Stages 2013 11-05-2013

Talbot Sunbeam 2.0 Driver - Simon Verstraeten Co-Driver Dayle Traynor Class D Result- 2nd in class 11th O/a Its started off a very wet day at the Cetus solutions stages at Three Sisters Race circuit in Wigan. We had been seeded 6th overall after some good results here in the past finishing in the top 5 In the event the last time it was run back in March. Stage 1&2 the weather was pretty miserable and we went out running the wrong tyres for stage 1. We tootled around the circuit at a slow pace as we generally do well here and it didn't feel like it normally does. The FWD boys had the advantage here as the Talbot Sunbeam proved to be a pain in the wet due to being so lightweight, RWD and produces quite a nice amount of power. At the end of stage 1 we were lying 13th overall setting a stage time of 2.52. Stage 2 saw us getting to grips with the car a little better and completed a stage time of 2.48, 4 seconds quicker than the previous stage this also jumped us upto 12th overall in the rally. Stage 3 was a decent stage for us and I had been egging Simon on to get his foot down and it appear to have worked. We set the 7th fastest time this stage which was a big improvement on the previous two stages. We were now lying 10th overall and we were going in the right direction. The day carried on pretty much the same until the afternoon when the rain had stopped and we managed to get the moulded slicks on the car which meant we started to set faster times but sadly not fast enough. Coming into the last stage we were 3 seconds behind the car that was 1st in our class. We knew with a dry track that we could go out and gain the 3 seconds to win Class D. During the stage though we suffered fuel starvation which I calculated cost us 4 seconds off out stage time which would result in a 2nd in class. At the end of the Cetus Stages we finished 11th overall and 2nd in Class D which wasn't a bad result considering the morning weather and I’m sure if not for the rain in the morning it would have been higher. It was a great battle between us and a Ford Escort which came first in our class only beating us by 1 second at the end of the day and if we hadn't suffered the fuel starvation issue we would have snatched the class win. I also spoke to a reporter who writes for Pacenote and Motorsport news and told him how I wished to raise more awareness of the visual Impairments Nystagmus and Ocular Albinism which I suffer from.