Haddon Paddon: Test before Rally Portugal

All is well here in Portugal as we make the final preparations for next weeks rally. We recently completed a successful 2 day test in the south of Spain on a gravel stage that represented the characteristics of a typical Portuguese stage. You can see the following link to see video footage from the test:

The test itself was very successful. It was good to back on gravel – a surface where I know what I want our car to do. We also used the test as a general information gathering process to learn what different parts and set-up to do to the car, right or wrong. Over the two days we had a mixture of wet and dry conditions which was good for us as it allowed us to find the different set-ups that work in different conditions. Quite different to Group N where you would find an optimum set-up and fine tune accordingly. The Skoda S2000 car is very sensitive to changes and between wet and dry conditions, a quite different set-up is required.

We are confident following our test that we will have a fast car for Portugal which combined with the new upgraded latest specification engine that we now have, we are feeling good. Of course it will be a big battle, but it is good to come back to an event that we have experience on and enjoy.

Our photo competition is also nearing an end on our facebook page. We have selected two finalists whose photos have been posted on our page, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.347448755290920.70660.184390891596708&type=3. The photo with the most likes by Tuesday 27 March, 10am (NZT) will win a free tour with our team to Brother Rally of New Zealand. Remember you can also buy your own seats to join us at Rally of New Zealand or Rally Spain. See our website for more details.

That's all for now. We now have two days of recce ahead of us on Monday and Tuesday before Shakedown on Wednesday and the rally start on Thursday. We will keep you posted throughout the week.