Dutch Woes

Guy Woodcock and Dave Williams continued in their quest to win the Formula 2 Championship in Holland in 2007, however on the last event, the Barneveld Rally, they finished second Formula 2 behind the works specification super 1600 Clio of Jan De Winkel meaning that he won the Driver’s Formula 2 Championship with Guy finishing second but it left Dave to win the Co-Driver’s award.

The event was probably one of the most compact events the crew had competed on with the recce starting at 7am on Saturday morning, the rally starting at 1pm and finishing at 9pm, with a total of 125km of competitive mileage set on 10 different stages. The crew had a traumatic start for the first two stages having made some alterations to the brake bias resulting in two lock ups and spins on Stage 1 but saw them coming to the first service still in a creditable 16^th place, only 10 seconds behind the Renault Clio. In service there was a minor problem with the alternator belt which was tightened, unfortunately it appeared to have been damaged and eventually threw itself off on the stage which resulted in the crew having to stop and put on a new belt as it also drives the water pump.  That effectively would have put paid to their event but the car directly in front of them had a large accident and the stage was stopped and ambulance called, so when they eventually got back into the car and completed the stage in some 24 minutes, all times after car 23 (they were car 24), got a scratch time.  Therefore they continued to press throughout the day ending up finishing 13^th overall, 1^st in class, 2^nd Formula 2 and competed on the last 2 stages in the dark which is quite entertaining in Holland due to the lack of definition of the roads and the high number of reflective red and white barriers they had put up around the roads, means you need to have a good spread of lights rather than any direct spots and braking points become even more critical.

The crew now go into the final round of the Championship which is a two day event in the far east of Holland, recce in the morning and rally in the afternoon on both days.  This is also the round of the 205 and BMW 325 Championships with a high number of British crews competing on it. One point is the excellent result achieved on the Barneveld Rally by David Mann and Alun Cook who finished second overall in their WRC Subaru, only 9 seconds behind the eventual winner.  David’s pace has increased throughout the year and the likelihood is that if he returns next year he could be on course to win or certainly challenge for the overall Championship title.

Onto 2008, plans are afoot to continue hopefully with the Dutch Championship due to some support being achieved from Companies over there.  The crew are particularly thankful to the support they have received throughout 2007 and in the past from Kumho Tyres, CES, Proflex, Mintex and Lechler Coatings, as well as for the last three events in Holland from FABORY Fasteners and especially the assistance received from Edwin Abbring in sorting out various deals and advice.  Finally last but not least to the crew for keeping the car reliable throughout the season and Dave for reading the notes.

Hopefully we can return for a good season in 2008 and will keep you informed of how we get on in the last round and our plans for 2008 in next month’s issue.

Regards Guy Woodcock