Mt Buller Sprint then Rally of Melbourne

[raybak]

Well a busy two weeks ahead of me, heading to Victoria on Friday for the Mt Buller Tarmac Rally. I'll be codriving for Graeme Shaw in the soon to be retired EVO 6.5 Lancer.

Then off to Melbourne for the final round of the ARC, I'll be driving in my Charade GTti.

Managed to get the engine in the Charade today, we have done a full rebuild after our ROC accident. Hopefully by Thursday the car will be a runner, with some wiring, dash and front suspension still to complete. The guys worked all weekend on the car and it has turned out pretty good.

If you are in the Melbourne area, come adn see us at Rally of Melbourne, we will have the striking new livery.

Cheers

Ray

[raybak]

All systems go for Rally of Melbourne. Survived the wet and Snowy Mt Buller with a 32nd outright after having a great battle with Glen Ridge in his RX7 and Gerry Burges in his EVO 5. The EVO 6.5 will now be turned into gravel spec, the 10 is on it's way.

The Charade is just about finished, just waiting on the windscreen in the morning, then we will head off to Melbourne around lunchtime.

Thursday Recce, with Shane putting the final touches on the Charade while Andrew and I Recce. Looking forward to the roads, especially Mt Slide.

Cheers

Ray

[raybak]

Managed to get the car finished just before scrutineering. Plenty of hard work by everyone. Few dramas before the start, especially the air connection to the alternator :(

Day 1 was steady, working on getting used tot he gravel again. Finished 19th outright. Sunday was a good start but then the engine decided it didn't want to do the last 2 stages, finished about 400m before the flying finish on Ben Cairn. Engine overheated and I pulled the plug before any major damage. Nice rattle in the engine now.

We lost half the exhaust on the Saturday so the Charade sounds like a real rally car now. Other dramas were the rough roads causing the steering wheel to come loose, Andrew tightening the screws on it while I kept driving. Marginal Rd has to be one of the roughest and rockiest stages that i have ever been on, it is only marginally a road.

Would like to thank my team for such an awesome effort, Andrew for his codriving and mechanicing skills, Livewireshock for his team managing skills, Shane(Maverick) for his late night drinking skills and tuning test driver. Scotty for his Charade knowledge adn Mum for her Catering.

The whole team did well and thanks to them we have our first Australian Championship.

Team Baker Motorsport Australian P3 champions 2007

Ray

[Stalks]

Hi Ray. Can you tell me who was the poor bugger whose car burnt to the ground at Rally Melbourne? Looked pretty nasty, worst nightmare having to stand and watch that unfold before you....Thanks.

[raybak]

It was Tim Roberts in the VRC field.

The car was a write off.

There is a collection going around within the Victorian Rally community to help get Tim out there again for next year.

Ray

[Livewireshock]

I suppose I should thank you Ray for your thanks.

The weekend was fantastic fun & it was good seeing the little charade flash by on the RoM coverage. Maybe the Charade could get a run at Sno*drift Rally? Little chance of overheating there.