This weekend saw the Team Damage Control crew of Paul Alexander and Mike Panes travel to Yorkshire for the Trackrod National Rally. Held over the fast forest tracks of the Dalby complex in North Yorkshire, the event marked a distinct improvement for the team after a pre-event test allowed the crew to tune the transmission on their SRM Racing Mitsubishi to suit Paul's driving style.

Such was the improvement in the team's pace, that they found themselves with a 20 second lead after less than 20 stage miles. Indeed, the crew's first leg pace would have placed them inside the top ten of the International rally, around 1 second per mile off the pace of drivers such as Austin McHale, the current British Championship leader, and Steve Perez, the current National Rally Champion - both of whom had the benefit of a pre-event reconnaissance of the stages!

Picture courtesy Ian Hardy - www.ianhardy.net

Paul remarked, "I was surprised that we could take such an early lead, and even more so when we were told about the times of the International crews. I have made few silly mistakes this morning, so I'm sure that we could have been even quicker still. Having said that, I'm over the moon with the way the car and it’s Yokohama tyres are working now, and have exceeded my own expectations for the weekend already".

Sadly, the teams stunning run ended after the fifth of nine stages, when Paul discovered that the engine in his ex-Mitsubishi USA Lancer had lost much of its oil, and would surely be terminally damaged if he continued through stage 6 and back to service. This allowed Scottish Championship regular Alan Dickson to go onto win the event in his Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRC, ahead of Yorkshire rally legend Steve Bannister.

"We were obviously worried about damaging the engine, but even more concerned that if we continued the whole car could potentially go up in flames" stated co-driver Mike, "so it just wasn't worth risking driving on. The development of the car is clearly going in the right direction, and with more new parts in the pipeline, we're confident that we'll be back in a winning position very soon"

Paul added, "We've really taken a step forward this weekend, so I must thank David Higgins and the team at Mellors Elliot Motorsport who helped us at the pre-event test. We'd also like to thank all the Rainbow International guests who made it out into the forests to support us this weekend" The team now turn their attentions to what is likely to be their final event of the season, the Tempest Clubman Rally held around Aldershot on November 6th. Prospective supporters for 2005 are invited to join the team for corporate hospitality on the event.

Team Damage Control is extremely grateful for support from
ISS Damage Control
Rainbow International
Polypipe Civils Ltd
Co-Ordsport
Bill Gwynne Rallyschool International
Yokohama HPT
Doughty Precision Engineering
Mellors Elliot Motorsport
Shell Racing Fuels
David Higgins
Camsport