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94

Opportunityknocks

Art Markus gets to know the Volkswagen Junior RallyTeam and drives Simon Davison's immaculately

prepared 170bhp Golf GTI11There are always companies willing to

back top drivers", said JohnMeszaros, Volkswagen UK

Marketing Manager, when the VolkswagenJunior Rally Team was introduced to the pressfor the first time.

"What we want to do is help four youngrally drivers achieve their rallying ambitionand prove their ability. We believe this kind ofhelp is the only way British rally drivers aregoing to reach the top."

Meszaros touched on a problem that isbecoming of increasing concern to seriousobservers of rallying; the ever-widening gapbetween the grass roots of rallying at clublevel and the stratospheric heights of theinternational sport. Unfortunately, only veryfew have any influence over the apparentlyout-of-control development of a technologicalwar in top-level rallying, and even fewer seeminclined to do anything about it.

It is not very many years ago that the Britishclubman could start his premier home event,the RAC Rally, in a car that at least looked theequal of Mikkola's, Blomqvist's, or Vatanen's.If he was wealthy enough, his machine-

provided it was the ubiquitous Ford Escort-could virtually bethe same. This, surely wasone of the unique appeals of rallying. It offeredthe chance of competing against the giants ofthe sport, and on what could be perceived asmore-or-Iess equal terms.

That fond illusion has been'comprehensively shattered in the last fewyears. The average clubman can no longerbuild a works replica of an Audi quattro S1,Lancia S4, or Peugeot 205 T16, no matter howdeep his pockets - see page 70. If one were toequate rallying to racing, it is as if nothingexists between Formula One and FF16001

The irony of course is that while thesupercars may be doing untold harm to thelong-term future and prosperity of rallying, thepublic at large loves them, and turns out inhuge numbers to see them perform, leading toconcern that a major crowd disaster is lookingnot just likely, but virtually inevitable. Theconsequences do not bear thinking about, butone thing is certain: control of the sport,seemingly so lacking at present from within,would quickly pass to those without.

Of course, the gap between club and

international rallying is not just one of financeand technology. It is becoming increasinglydifficult for even the most promising youngdrivers to bridge that gap. That is why theestablishment ofthe Volkswagen Junior RallyTeam is so important, and laudable.

A quick recap, for those who may havemissed the announcement of the VolkswagenJunior Rally Team in the weekly press: theteam comprises four young drivers and theireo-drivers, each representing one ofthe hometerritories, and they have been provided withidentical Group A Golf GTls, complete withVolkswagen Transporter, service barge andtrailer. They are to compete in the MarlboroNational Rally Championship, with the addedincentive that the most successful of the fourcrews will get a full works-backed drive in the1986 Lombard RAC Rally in November. Notcounting the further support from Shell Oils

Making some clockwise introductions ... TheVAG Junior Team from England, Ireland,Scotland and Wales. In action, Simon Davisonabout to attack a grassy verge, disdainfullywitnessed by our circuit-loving author.

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UK (fuels and lubricants), Michelin (tyres),Sachs (suspension dampers), Hella (lights),Recaro (seats) and Ronal (alloy wheels), theoperation is said to be costing VAG UK some£250,000 - a figure which seems to us not inthe least exaggerated.

Not surprisingly, there was no shortage ofapplicants when the scheme was announcedlate in '85; over 350 aspiring young rallydrivers were in the queue. The selection panelwas concerned not only with a driver's record,and with his potential, but also with his abilityas an ambassador for the sport and, byinference, Volkswagen itself. It seems to havesucceeded.

On their very first event, the Skip BrownRally in February, the team scored aremarkable success when the experiencedSimon Davison, representing England, camein sixth overall, winning Group A by acomfortable margin in icy, difficult conditions.

And on a final session in Scotland the weekbefore the Skip Brown, at which severalmembers of the specialist press were inattendance, all eight Junior Team membersacquitted themselves very well in the PR role-a factor which plays such an important part ina driver's future success these days. Therewas not a mumbler or a floor-gazer amongthem as they told us how grateful they were,how great the cars were, etc.

Of course, it is not surprising that the DavidSutton Motorsport prepared Group A GolfGTls met with their approval, when youconsider what most of them had been drivingimmediately before.

Welshman Steve Davies' rallying pastencompasses the inevitable Escort in 1300 andRS2000 forms, Davies winning the WelshDivision One Championship in the latterduring 1983. In 1984, he became the youngest-ever driver to win a Motoring NewslBTRDAround. In 1985, Davies and eo-driver NickyGrist abandoned the RS2000 in favour of aVauxhall Nova for the Nova Challenge, buttheir efforts were largely thwarted bymechanical problems, and little success wasachieved. For Davies, as for the other drivers,selection for the Volkswagen Junior Team wasa Godsend, boosting a career that mightotherwise have been running out of impetus.

Northern Ireland's Robin Phillips' story

In his new steed, Simon Davison successfullybegan the defence of his National Group Acrown by winning the class and finishing sixthoverall on the recent Skip Brown Rally.

begins with a Fiesta XR2 in 1982, which wasquickly supplanted by a Mini, with which hecame second in the Northern Ireland SprintChampionship. The Mini was replaced by anRS2000 for '84, but after only two eventsRobin turned to rallying with a Group B TalbotSamba, scoring some noteworthy successeswith this machine in '84, and, in Group A form,in 1985. Phillips' eo-driver is Bobby Willis.

Perhaps the man to benefit most from hisselection is Scotsman Callum Guy, whoseprevious rally steed was a Hillman Avenger.On the occasions when this worthy machinewas able to meet Guy's perhaps unreasonabledemands, some amazing results wereachieved, including eighth overall and secondin class on the '85 Scottish, and second overallon the Festival Rally. More often, though, the

"He's got an old head on youngshoulders"

Fred Henderson

cars fragility, or over-enthusiasm on the partof the driver, resulted in retirement. AshleyStrachan will be co-driving for Guy, and if hecan temper some of his driver's fiery Scotstemperament. these two could spring a fewsu rprises.

Hottest tip for success, though, must beEnglishman Simon Davison, with DaveNicholson. Quite apart from his extensivefront-wheel drive experience, Davison is thepresent Group A Shell Oils/Autosport BritishNational RAC Rally Champion, a feat he will behoping to repeat in this year's Marlboro-supported Championship. One could possiblyaccuse the selection panel of hedging theirbets on this one, as Davison has alreadydemonstrated that he has the ability, and theconnections, to make it on his own - he willalso be driving one of Bill Blydenstein's wellsorted and reliable Nissan 240RSs on theOpen Rally Championship. However, he isdetermined to make the most of his .Volkswagen opportunity, and indeed, he

_97_:~

amply vindicated the panel's judgement onthe Skip Brown Rally.

Davison's comparatively tender years belyhis experience. His career started in 1982 in anEscort 1300, in which five events wereattempted. The following year Davison tackledthe short-lived Escort Turbo Championship,tasting both success and failure over twoseasons; he is no stranger to powerful front-wheel drive cars. Last year he used a VauxhallAstra GTE in the National Rally Championship,placing first in class on four occasions, andsecond on three - a performance goodenough to win the Group A crown.

Fellow Durham rally enthusiast, the vastlyexperienced Fred Henderson, who, followinga long and fruitful rally driving career, iscurrently the manager of Colway Tyres' highlysuccessful motor sport venture, has followedSimon's progress with interest. "He'sobviously very committed. He hasoccasionally surprised me with his speed. Ofcourse, this will be a make-or-break yearforhim. He is obviously a FWD man - you've gotto be tidy with them". A thoughtful pause ..."Yes, he's got potential. Not an internationalsuperstar, perhaps, but" - another pause - "ARussell Brookes maybe.

"Of course, the reason he seems so good atthe moment is that there is no-one goodaround him - not many of them really thinkabout that."

That is perhaps the single quality that setsDavison apart from the other VolkswagenJunior Rally Team members, and indeed frommany of the countless other aspiring youngrally drivers in Britain; his thoughtful, almoststudious approach. "He's got an old head onyoung shoulders", as Henderson puts it.

During that final Scottish test session beforethe Skip Brown Rally, eee rode shotgun witheach of the four drivers on a two-way blastalong a mock-up special stage. Narrow,lethally slippery with ice and hard-packedsnow, and with a rock-strewn stream runningparallel with it, the stage was a potentialminefield for four young rally drivers, barely intheir twenties, eager to impress. Onecombination of corners in particular, right inthe middle incorporating a low bridge,seemed purpose-built to punish the unwaryand the over-confident: the stone parapets of

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the bridge being just the right height to catchand pulverise an expensive Ronal wheel. Thatnobody so much as as scratched his allocatedcar is a tribute to the skill and judgement of allfour.

However, even on such a limitedacquaintance, Simon Davison's edge over therest was immediately apparent, to no-one'sgreat surprise. After all, his most recent rallymachine, a Group A Astra GTE, is much closerto the Golf than a Group A Samba, Nova, orHillman Avenger. Nonetheless, Davisonimpressed as the only man to really imposehimself on the car in the trying conditions. Notentirely a fair comparison, perhaps, andcertainly not one that is intended to reflect onthe abilities of the other three. But Davisonremains our tip for the top. His performancesin the Blydenstein-prepared Nissan should beof great interest - especially in the light ofwhat has already been achieved in this type ofcar by David Llewellin and Mark Lovell.

Leading up to their first.event, all the Golfdrivers commented on how easy the Sutton-prepared GTEs were to drive. We were curiousto experience this for ourselves, and so it wasthat Simon Davison recently presented his carat a Siberian test venue for us to try.

Each car represents a sizeable, £25,000chunk of Volkswaqen's quarter-million poundinvestment, but that is undou btedly reflectedin David Sutton's.imrnaculate preparation.Interestingly, it is exactly the same summentioned in connection with Alan Minshaw'sDemon Tweeks Group A racer, as sampled byus in"85 (Day TripperCCC, November '85). acar prepared by Andy Rouse to similarstandards. In fact the two cars, while wildlydifferent in function, are in fact remarkablysimilar, especially in as much as theyimmediately make a driver feel at ease.

We quickly became acclimatised toMinshaw's racer, and so it was with Davison'srally car. When buckled into the immenselyreassuring six-point Sabelt harness andsuperb Recaro seat, one is confronted with aVolkswagen Motorsport th ree-spoke wheeland a deceptively standard-lookingdashboard. Thoughtful touches abound, likethe beautifu Ily fabricated clutch footrest. andthe slightly raised platform beneath the pedalsto compensate for the lack of sound

deadening material and carpet.Off to the driver's left, where they can be

monitored by the eo-driver as well, areauxiliary gauges for oil temperature, fuelcontents and coolant temperature. A Haldarally computer sits directly in front of theeo-driver, while a bank of fuses occupies thelower part of the dash in easy reach of eitherman. A beautifully-constructed Matter roll-cage closely follows the inside contours of thecockpit, and doubtless makes a considerablecontribution to structural rigidity.

Starting the engine is simply a matter ofturning the key. Itfires up readily, and gives

Immaculate as ever, the cars have all beenprofessionally prepared by David SuttonMotorsport. Below: Tasting FWD for the firsttime, Callum Guy undertook some intensivetraining before making his first officialappearance on the Skip Brown Rally.

off an aggressive bark, but is impressivelyuntemperamental. Make no mistake though: ithas real bite - a solid 170bhp's worth. This isachieved with little apparent loss oftractability; it will pull smoothly, ifunspectacutarlv.from around 3000rpm, andwith real urgency from around 4000rpm.Maximum power is produced at 7200rpm,although that became largely academic duringthe course of our test. as the tachometer wasmalfunctioning, the needle simply swingingwildly back and forth across the dial. "That'son the list of things to look at", explainedDavison. "The car hasn't been touched since itfinished the Skip Brown Rally."

That factor also accounted for a ratherunresponsive brake pedal. The brakes, APventilated discs up front, standard discs at therear, with Ferodo DS11 pads all round, neededto be warmed before giving of their best, butthere remained the problem of a somewhatVW

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soggy pedal. "It just needs some new padsand a bleed", avowed Davison. "The brakesare normally brilliant."

Gearchahges through the strengthenedclose-ratio box can be accomplished withlightning speed, the engagement of fifth whenthird is required being the occasional penaltyfor haste and unfamiliarity when changing up,out of second; the movement from the third/fouth plane to fifth being satisfyingly small.

You can be sure Davison does not have thatproblem. But the factor that surprised andimpressed us most of all was the Golf'saplomb when riding bumpy terrain, bothwhen Davison was acting chauffeur, andduring our own spell at the wheel. Let usadmit here and now that the writer is aconfirmed circuit man. It is rare to have tocompensate for a bumpy surface on mostcircuits, but conversely, awkwardly-placedbumps on a circuit have to be treated withconsiderable respect; witness the notorious,and since smoothed, bump on the apex ofChurch corner at Thruxton, the cause of manya heart flutter, and sometimes worse.

Initially we were aghast when Davisonsimply tore over bumpy ground - apparentlyoblivious to the surface conditions - withoutso much as easing off the throttle. But thiswell-behaved Golf simply shrugged off suchtreatment. And yet both the handling androadholding are impeccable, the carsteadfastly refusing to spin despite ourcombined best efforts to upset it; tuming invery late and hardon an ice patch; clipping araised grassy verge on the inside: bouncing

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Steppe-ing out ... no matter what the angle ofattack, the Golf behaved impeccably duringour 'Siberian' tests.

onto two wheels. Davison, it must be said, gotthe car to adopt some lurid angles, but it stillrefused to let him down. If only the term'user-friendly' hadn't been done to death ....

Most of our driving took place on tee andhard-packed snow, on whieh the Golf showedsuperb stability, and a remarkable degree oftraction. However, on some sections, clearpatches oftarmac showing through the icegave a convincing demonstration of both carand driver.

It is well-known that conditions ofalternating traction and loss of traction are themost difficult for a powerful, FWD, LSD-equipped car to cope with, usually resulting insnatching of the steering wheel anddirectional instability. Again, the Golfshrugged-off these conditions, the power:assisted steering resisting any tendency tosnatch or wander as the w.heels alternatelyscrabbled for grip and then suddenly bit.

In these conditions, Davison also gave us avaluable insight into his own approach,skilfully modulating the throttle to ease thestrain on the driveshafts due to rapid torquereversals taking place as the wheels grippedand then spun wildly. Is it just coincidence thathe was the only Volkswagen Junior RallyTeam member not to suffer driveshaftproblems on the team's debut event?

It is remarkable how careful preparation canturn a production car of modest capabilities

and pretensions into an effective competitionvehicle. Who. would believe, for example, thatthe grossly understeering Rover Vitesse couldbe turned into a hugely succesful race and, toa lesser extent, rally car. What happens,though, when the basic produotion car has, 9Ypopular consenus, few, if any, flaws? It seemsthat good preparation can make an averagecar good, but it can only make a good carbetter.

The one question left unanswered by ourtest is: 'What next?' What will happen toCallum Guy, Robin Phillips, Steve Davies andSimon Davison after one of them has tackledthe RAC Rally? Between now and the start ofthe '87 season, Volkswagen UK will havesome extraordinarily difficult decisions tomake, always assuming of course that sourcesof finance are finite, and choices do nave to bemade ..

Naturally, VAG's motives aren't entirelymagnanimous. But if one, or indeed all, ofthese young drivers proves to beoutstandingly good, will Volkswagen.UK allowhim to be snatched by a rival manufacturer?Or-will VW continue to support his career,possibly throuqh the Audi side of-theorganisation? And if so, will the Junior RallyTeam be disbanded?

Intriguing questions, to which JohnMeszaros was unable - genuinely, we feelsure - to give any answers. .

One thing is for sure; for the Englishman,the Irishman, the Scotsman and theWelshman (there, we had to slip that one insomewhere!), 1986 will be a momentous year.

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