Broken driveshaft ends Ermelo Rally for Jones and Naidoo

If the thought of not finishing at the Legends Rally hurt, not finishing the Ermelo Rally stepped the pain up even more.

If you ever think that rallying is all about having the balls to go fast, you would only be half right. The other half is all about staying mentally strong when things don’t go your way.

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We were ready to go

Our Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) GR Yaris was ready to go for the Ermelo Rally. Not only were the necessary repairs completed after my mistake in Bronkhorstspruit, but some upgrades had also been made to the rear suspension.

We had a good shakedown session on Thursday afternoon. The car would only need a bolt check and a wash, and we would be racing on the weekend.

We were confident going into the seven stages of racing that the Friday of the Ermelo Rally would bring. And our plan was to start tentatively and build from there.

A rally can dish up all sorts of conditions with thick dust and a lack of visibility at the Ermelo Rally being just two. Picture: Stefan van Niekerk

Day 1 ran like clockwork

Which is exactly what we did. With winter clearly over, it was hot and dusty in the car. But we made it through the first six gravel stages of the day without incident.

And we also safely navigated a tricky seventh stage that was run that night on the grounds of Ermelo High School under the watchful eye of hundreds of spectators looking on.

Overnight we were sitting in 11th position overall and fourth in class. Saturday was going to be the day to do it all and get through the eight stages of the Ermelo Rally.

Everything seems to come at you faster under the cover of darkness. Picture: Stefan van Niekerk

And then it changed

We had a great run in the first two stages of the day, but not long into the 11th stage, coming out of a sharp left hand turn in churned up sand, the car broke the front left side shaft.

We didn’t want to immediately retire the car. The hope was to nurse it to the end of the stage to see if there was anything we could do. We really needed to stay in the Ermelo Rally.

But the clever electronics in the car would see to it that the rally abuse ended when it decided, not us. With all the power routed to the rear wheels, it was only a matter of time before the rear diff would overheat and be switched off.

This left us with no drive, and parked on the side of the road, with no more than two kilometres to go to the end of the stage. Sound familiar?

Try as we may, there was no way to get our TGRSA GR Yaris repaired on the fly. Picture: Stefan van Niekerk

Out of time and out of the rally

To make the disappointment even worse, once we eventually got back to the service park, the mechanics took all of 10 minutes to change the broken side shaft.

The car fired up and was roaring to go. But we had run out of time. And we were out of the Ermelo Rally when we had moved up onto the podium once again.

We must dust ourselves off once again and head to the Algoa Rally at the end of September with the right mindset, and have another go at the South African National Rally Championship.

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