ORC Canal Rally 2024 Report

Lady Luck was not on the team’s side at the weekend’s ORC Canal Rally, where Scott Barnes and Andy Hall rode a typical rally emotional rollercoaster, with some impressive performance shown but ultimately retiring due to mechanical issues.

The weekend began with glorious sunshine for Saturday’s recce day and with technical checks completed the team looked forward to the first West Flemish round of this years Flanders International Rally Challenge (FIRC). The smooth stages looked like they would suit the 1600cc Peugeot 106 well, but the weather forecast was extremely uncertain.

Sunday morning came, and with it, lot’s of rain! A complete contrast to the day before, although things were expected to dry up as the day went on. Wet tyres were bolted onto the car and Scott and Andy headed out for the first loop of three stages.

Rain continued as the team headed into the first stage and in Scott’s words the guys had a “steady run” through the 7km Wielsbeke test. The timesheets said otherwise- a phenomenal 11th fastest overall time! Being 9th fastest in the modern field was some improvement on the seeding at Car 57. An excellent start.

Onto stage two and the guys were really starting to get into the swing of things. The stage flowed extremely well, however about half way through the team hit the edge of a concrete driveway in one of the cuts. A front left puncture was carried to the end of the stage with the crew losing a chunk of time. The tyre was swapped over at the end of the stage but with no spare wet tyre available they had to run with a soft slick on the rear of the Peugeot 106 for the 3rd stage of the loop.

Conditions were undesirably wet in SS3, Hulste, with lots of standing water making the car a real handful with one slick tyre, but the team survived and brought the car back to service.

Despite losing time in SS2, after the first loop the team were in a very respectable 18th overall, and sitting 2nd in the FIRC standings just 12 seconds behind last years champion Rene Walraven. The first loop had shaken off the pre-rally nerves, and they were feeling ready to go again on the next loop.

Stage 4 was very mucky with lots of mud that had been dragged out from the cuts, although the weather had now brightened up and there were some dry patches starting to emerge. The team were still having to run with a mixed tyre package (3 wets and 1 soft on the car, with a soft spare in the boot), but given the mucky conditions, this was probably the best compromise for SS4.

With now full sun and wind, the Belgian roads dried very quickly and as Scott and Andy headed into Stage 5 they were met with mostly dry conditions. It was an enjoyable stage for the team, with fast and flowing roads. However being the longest stage of the loop at 14.5km, the wets on the front axle overheated in the dry, meaning some time lost, particularly towards the end of the stage. Despite this, the time was again fantastic. Another superb 11th fastest overall time saw Scott gaining on FIRC championship rival Walraven to sit now only 4.5 seconds off last years champion. The fight was on!

Given the now warm weather, the team set about changing the tyres to try and fit the soft slicks on the front for the final stage of the loop. With a lack of time on the road section, they were only able to swap the soft from the rear onto the front, and went into stage 6 with 1 wet and 1 slick on the front, which was definitely sub-optimal, causing the car to pull to one side.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the stage an unrelated mechanical issue struck. Sadly the team were forced to stop at the side of the road and could not continue. Lucky to get away without any major damage. The team were naturally frustrated given that through no fault of their own, a strong result had been taken from them.

Thankfully the service crew were fast to respond with spares, found the teams location quickly and were able to repair the car stage side. Scott and Andy were able to drive the 106 out of an escape road and head back to service, hoping to restart under super rally rules in the afternoon. 

It was then noticed in service that the clutch had started to make an odd sound. Without the time to change it and after closer inspection, it was decided to retire the car. With the next event in mind it was not worth risking further damage to the car.

From the outset, Scott exceeded the pace that would have been expected from his starting position, and the pairing are confident that they can retain that pace when they return at Rally van Wervik in a little under 3 weeks time.

Scott would like to express a special thanks to his service crew, who definitely earned their beer tokens this weekend, without them it wouldn’t be possible.

Scott would also like to thank his partners for their continued support- Boyles Plumbing and Heating, Performance Automotive and Satchell Engineering.

Unfortunately a weekend that just wasn’t meant to be. With motorsport it’s something that we have to accept, and we are all already looking ahead with our minds onto the next one which isn’t far away.

The next event for the team will be the Rally van Wervik on the 15th June which will see both the Peugeot and Subaru out competing on the Belgian lanes.

Finally, we have a special announcement later this week, so keep an eye out on the page for some exciting news!