National newspaper journalist Tom Cary just wins international licence after tense struggle to finish line in ailing car
Journalist Tom Cary’s hopes of becoming an international co-driver within five short events were nearly dashed, when a drive shaft broke on their ProSpeed Castrol Ford Fiesta at the Tempest Rally (Aldershot, 07 November) forcing Cary and driver, Sky Sports Tony Jardine, to nurse the crippled car home in a tense finish.
As the Castrol Fiesta made its way round Special Stage Six, ProSpeed driver Tony Jardine suddenly felt the shaft go.
He said, “We had been warned that the military test ground stage would be rough and full of pot holes, but we didn’t realise how bad it could be as it just snapped the drive shaft. We had to pull off the track for a short while as we struggled for gears and then got going again propelled by just one drive shaft. We had to nurse and persuade the car to the finish line for the rest of the afternoon, it was a close call.”
The crux of this weekend’s event lay in Tom obtaining a fifth signature which would fully qualify him as an international navigator in time for Rally Scotland which takes place in two weeks. A non-finish meant no signature for the licence and no entry into the Intercontinental Rally Championship finale in Scotland.
Tom Cary said, “It was touch and go whether we would make it. At one point I really felt our chances of getting to Rally Scotland had been scuppered. We had no choice other than to nurse the car for the next 60 miles as we dropped to dead last in the event, but it didn’t matter, it was about survival, we would have pushed the car to the finish if we’d had to.”
The day did not start on the best of notes when Tom Cary realised his pace notes were not in chronological order. Furthermore, his expectant wife, Sarah, had come to watch her husband Tom at this pivotal rally but only managed to see the Castrol Fiesta crawl past her vantage point with its hazard lights flashing.
“It’s been really unfortunate especially as my wife had come to watch and hadn’t realised there was a problem with the car as we crawled around the Rushmoor Stage. She just assumed we were very slow!” Tom exclaimed.
For Olly Marshall and the ProSpeed team it was a trying day. Marshall said, “Tony and Tom had to be very patient and sensitive with the car in order not to snap the remaining drive shaft. Further disappointment lay in store after they had crawled all the way back from Longmoor to service as we could not replace the severed shaft as bits of it were jammed in the gear box. I had to tell them they had to be even more patient and get the car all the way to the end of the rally. It takes a lot to snap a drive shaft like that but the severity of those pot holes and the speed of the car as it went over them just caused an instant problem. We will now strip and totally rebuild the gearbox and shafts before Rally Scotland.”
Marshall continued, “One good thing was that Tom has managed to conquer the car sickness which so afflicted him at the last event on the Cheviot Rally. He now has special motion sickness bands fitted to his wrists which seem to have done the trick. I have a pair myself – they’re great!”
Andy Beale, development engineer for McLaren Automotive, who assists the ProSpeed team on-event was disappointed with the technical failures.
“The car is normally reliable but the Tempest Rally has always had a reputation for being rough and tough, and so it proved. The frustrating part was not being able to fit a new drive shaft in the 20 minute service due to fragments jammed in the gear box – that was some shockwave to shatter a shaft like that. However, despite the rough conditions of the stages, our Kumho tyres soaked up all the punishment.”
The Castrol / ProSpeed team have two weeks in which to re-prepare the car before Rally Scotland (16 - 18 November), the final round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
