by Geoff Mayes
Julian Reynolds was left quietly cursing a hairpin on the fourth stage of the Swansea Bay National Rally last weekend after a broken driveshaft cost him any chance of fighting for victory on the event.
Reynolds, co-driven by Patrick Walsh, had been looking for a strong run on the rally, one which he won outright two years ago but things began to go wrong on the very first stage.
He ran wide on a corner and shortly afterwards the car stopped. It took nearly 30 seconds to trace the problem to the master switch, which had been knocked to the ‘off' position, possibly by some undergrowth.
Despite this time loss, Reynolds still only dropped 9 seconds to the pace setting Evo of Phillip Morrow.
Reynolds then began to stage a fight back, going quickest on Rhondda, before giving best to Morrow on stage 3. By now the two protagonists were rapidly leaving the rest of the Evo Challenge field behind them.
However things deteriorated for Reynolds on Rheola, stage 4. A driveshaft in the transmission broke on a slippery hairpin and he was forced to limp out of the stage at a greatly reduced pace, dropping over 2 minutes.
Frantic work in service and the kind generosity of the SG Petch team, who lent him a driveshaft, helped get the Welshman back out onto the stages. He promptly took 16 seconds out of Morrow on the re-run through Margam Park, but it was too little too late and in the end he had to settle for tenth overall and fourth in the Evo Challenge standings.
“It was so tricky out there today and the slippery nature puts such a strain on the car, but it was still gut wrenching when the driveshaft broke,” said Reynolds. “We've shown all year that we have the pace but now we just need a clean run to reap the rewards.
“A big thanks to SG Petch for lending us the shaft, to Promax for their help and advice and of course to Dorian Rees Motorsport for doing a superb job on a car they are still familiarizing themselves with.
“I was running on Hankooks for the first time today and was very impressed with the grip they offered.”
The next round of the Evo Challenge is the Ulster Rally and Reynolds is currently considering his options - he lies third in the championship fight at this stage.
![Julian Reynolds [Pic credit: Stuart Woodier - www.rallyaction.co.uk]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/355674.jpg)
