After finishing fifth on his British Rally Championship debut, Dumfries youngster David Bogie gave us an insight into the build-up to the Bulldog International Rally of North Wales, and the problems he suffered during the event.
“We’d tested the car on the Monday before the event and everything looked really positive. The car showed loads of potential,” the 21-year-old, who drove his all-new JR Motorsports-prepared Mitsubishi Evo X in anger for the first time in the Bulldog, explained today.
“We then made a couple of improvements for the shakedown on the Thursday, but as a precaution we took off the existing turbo and replaced it with a brand new one which, we obviously assumed, would be better for the rally.
“No sooner had we started the first stage on the Saturday than I realised the car was well down on power and the car just wasn’t pulling the way it should. Normally the turbo would boost to 2-bar, but we were only getting 1-bar.
The additional problem was there was no way the guys could replace and refit a new turbo in the limited time we had at the service halts, so we just had to stick with it all day. Frustrating, but in the end to get fifth wasn’t such a bad result, given that we were seriously handicapped by a loss of power.
“I also found I was overdriving the car in an effort to get more pace out of it. That in turn just meant I was scrappy through a couple of stages and that ultimately cost me time. That, and the fact I stalled the car at the start of stage four which cost me around 20-seconds.
“It’s also taking me a little while to get used to driving the Evo X compared to the Evo IX I used to win the Evo Challenge last year. The old car I just had to rev to 4500-revs before changing; the Evo X needs 6000-revs before I can shift up. We also didn’t have a shift-indicator fixed to the car, so I was doing everything by ear … and these cars are all so quiet now it wasn’t easy.
“But we’ll make some significant changes and improvements before the next round, the Pirelli in Carlisle later this month. Apart from the shift-indicator, we should have launch control and the sump guard raised because at times during the Bulldog we were bottoming out.
“What people have to remember is we’re developing this car totally from new. It’s never been rallying before. The great thing is we know it has terrific potential and it’ll get better and better as the season goes on. I’m confident we could be pushing for a podium in the Pirelli.”
JM