Team clutches on to next rally

Stuart Connor passes an Alfa Romeo on the Alphera Dutton Rally circuit.

INEXPERIENCE, a cooked clutch and broken left rear-view mirror drove the Gray/Connor racing team into 55th place overall in the Alphera Dutton Rally in Victoria.

The team of Sergeant Andrew Gray, an avionics instructor at RAAF Base Wagga, and former Air Force member Stuart Connor drove SGT Gray’s modified VX SS Commodore, competing as driver and co-driver respectively.

Drivers and co-drivers race the same track but compete separately against other drivers and co-drivers in a class determined by the car.

A team result is also posted. SGT Gray finished equal 37th out of 87 drivers on handicap and equal fourth outright out of a class of nine.

Stuart Connor finished equal 39th out of 72 drivers on handicap and fifth outright in a class of eight. SGT Gray said their inexperience cost them places.

“In our class, the competition was beatable, but I made mistakes,” SGT Gray said.

“I hit three witches’ hats and missed a gate, which added 20 seconds to my overall time. I probably would’ve won third in class if not for those mistakes. We can’t compete directly with the higher classes, but we can do better.”

The car was a little worse for wear. “Stu smoked the clutch halfway through day one, but it was OK after it cooled down and held together for the rest of the rally.

“With all the things that could go wrong on the circuits I was embarrassed to cause the only real damage to the car – I broke the left wing mirror reversing out of the motel on the morning of day two.” SGT Gray said the pair learned a great deal.

“We didn’t have any motorkhana experience. Some layout diagrams provided weren’t very accurate or showed altitude changes, so we were forced to use the first run at each event as a ‘sighting’ run,” he said.

The team developed some good contacts, most notably V8 Supercars drivers Steve Richards and Mike Exell, who provided advice and technical tips which they’ll use when they take part next year.

“We are already planning upgrades to the car, and are saving the entry fee. Thanks to Steve and Mike’s advice we plan to go with 500Hp.

We want to get some more sponsors online and will be doing club events,” SGT Gray said.

Eighty-eight teams participated in the 27-event rally from August 6-8.

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