by Rob Wilkins
TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH GUY WILKS: CLICK HERE
Britain's Guy Wilks has been competing in the
FIA World Rally Championship and the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship this season.
Crash.net Radio caught up with him at the recent Castle Combe Rallyday show in the UK and got all the gossip on both of his campaigns...
Crash.net:
Guy, this is your first time at the Rallyday. What do you think of it?
Guy Wilks:
I am very impressed. It is a nice environment and it has a really good atmosphere. I am astounded to be honest by the number of cars – past and present and road going versions. It is unbelievable. If you are a rallying enthusiast it is a fantastic day.
Crash.net:
Your BRC team-mate, Gwyndaf Evans has been out on track in the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC car. Have you ever driven it?
GW:
I drove it at Goodwood and had real fun in it up the hill. It was quite nice - although it wasn't in full tarmac set-up - just to evaluate the car for myself. Obviously I have been driving a Ford Focus WRC car this year as well in the world championship, but I am not driving today. I am just here watching.
Crash.net:
You have been competing in the WRC this year in a privately entered Ford run by Ramsport - as you mentioned a moment ago. How pleased have you been with your year so far?
GW:
It has been a little bit frustrating to be honest. We didn't have a great start to the season but in the last three rallies we have had top ten results in the WRC in Greece, Finland and also in Germany. But they have not been clean runs and if we had had cleans run we could have scored points on all of them really. It was a pity not to come away from those events with points because we have driven really well. We have been on the pace with the likes of
Petter Solberg and OK he is not having the best of times at the moment, but still he has been world champion and he has got the grit and determination to come through it. But it also shows what we can do in an old car against his newer car. We are just desperate really to get a chance in a more modern and update car and give it a crack and see what we can do.
Crash.net:
How much of a difference does it make being in an older car?
GW:
It is quite large now with the damper travel on the gravel, but it is mainly with the engine. The engine characteristics now are phenomenal with the power and torque they are getting out of these new cars – the Citroens, the Subarus and the newer Fords. That is where you tend to lose out with these older cars. My car is still a good tarmac car and in Germany where it is smooth tarmac, it is still very good and very capable. But the problem is more power. In 20 kilometre stages we are 10-12 seconds off the fastest times. We are losing between 0.5 to 0.7 seconds per kilometre to the likes of Sebastien [Loeb] and
Francois Duval. If you took that calculation and worked it out over that event and took away the problems we had in Germany we would be top three. We are just desperate to get a chance really.
