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Pembo- report- Proflex Stages, Leyland Test Centre - 29th May 2004

Posted on Tuesday, June 01, 2004 @ 09:48:02 BST by audioc

Alan Pemberton Martin Young
Audi Coupe Quattro 20 valve turbo
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You may have read previously that the car is still being developed from the original 2.3 20 valve normally aspirated road going car it started life as. With the 2.2 20 valve turbo engine fitted and modified to about 320bhp the brain surgeon had been at work again. With the boost spring replaced and the ECU remapped again an estimated 420bhp could be expected but you must remember that for competition purposes a 34mm restrictor has to be installed directly in front of the turbo impellor, so reducing the air flow into the turbo. This car has not been on a rolling road yet and an expected 380bhp was perhaps closer than the germans known 420bhp with the same engine and same modification....The gearbox had been replaced and the old one was deemed unrepairable! This was after the last time out on North West Stages when at the same venue as this event the gearbox let go at over 100mph. When I break something I break it proper. Tim Cooper, now of QRSport in Cheshire, had increased the boost and remapped the car to suit. The big brakes, callipers sourced from an RS2 and the discs and bells from a 6R4 had also been fitted ahead of the development schedule. If you have more power and you hope to be travelling quicker towards a chicane or hairpin bend you do need to have bigger brakes. Yes, the saying is that brakes only slow you down, but we rally drivers do think they are a good idea!

So with more power and bigger brakes and a banked oval test track this was going to be a good day. However the weather decided it was going to rain for the first time in 3 weeks! Leyland is a test centre used by many vehicle manufacturers to run their cars to the limit with hills, bends and a mile of banked oval. Have I mentioned the banked oval…well it is banks so much so that you can’t stand up at the top of it and cars doing 100mph do not have to steer around the oval.

There were only 8 stages all day with 1&2 being the same and 3&4 a slight variation on 1&2. Stages 5&6 being reverse of 3&4 and 7&8 being reverse of 1&2. Got all that? Well you had 2 laps of the inner track and 3 laps of the banked oval with several tight and not so tight chicanes to slow you down with some very tricky splits. There is also a water splash at Leyland filled at the organisers digression, and for this event it was no more that 3 inches.

I am always anxious at the start of any rally, just want to get a few stages under my belt. The car performed well but it was noticeably slower than expected and lacked something. Was it me or was it the car? We had Dave Askem servicing for the day and I thought it could be fuel pressure. After checking it all out and even checking the temperature sensors we thought it could be bad fuel. The day progressed and we were slipping down the leader board. A lowly 35th was not where I wanted to be after the first 4 stages. I realised that driving the car on ¾ throttle was better that on full throttle. Something not quite right!

So it came to the reverse direction stages. I had never driven this venue in ‘reverse’ direction. With the weather drying and desperate measures called for we changed to moulded slick tyres. Some people were still on intermediates and some had been on the moulded slicks all day, even in the rain! Martin got an ear full of screams of delight as I turned into the first corner and the car did to! Remembering to only use ¾ throttle was the key. Not right, but it worked.

We finished the event 22nd overall and 8th in class, which is the toughest class (Turbo and 4WD) against cars such as an old Colin McCrae car, Subaru - P8 WRC. This was a fight back and we were please to finish with some championship points and the car in one piece.

Thanks to Martin for not stabbing me in the leg! His wife Sue for feeding the team and Dave Askem for servicing (drinking tea and eating the food – he did change a few wheels), who is now off to get his old UR shell seam welded and prepared for rallying with my old, which is his old 2.3 20 valve normally aspirated engine. Team Audi Quattro will be seen out in the North West soon. Watch this space.

Our next event is the 2 day weekend 26th & 27th June at Anglesey Circuit. Contact me for further details or see the web site;

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Audi in Motorsport

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Pembo's Rallying Antics in the quattro

Series 3 & 4 80, 90, Coupe & Cabriolet



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