My report from the nav's side.

A lot of people expected Tristan to basically go out there in a blur of red mist and DNF early, but I was sure from the amount of work that he had put in to getting to the event that he really wanted to finish, but to learn in the process.

Saturday morning was interesting as Tristan was quite nervous and spent most of his time walking to the toilets at the start. The car was immaculate with it being one of the cleanest rally cars I have seen.

First stage was good, Tristan eased into it didn't do anything stupid and was starting to go faster by the end of it, was a shame to see Andrei off so early.

Stage 2, told at the start that it was really slippery in sections. Tristan drove conservatively but made it through, beeping the horn at all the cars that had gone off in the slippery bits.

Stage 3, few issues with the distances in the road book being out, coming up to the !!! RGL onto narrow bridge, managed to do well to get thru with no real drama's loved stage from the last call, 4.8km Flying Finish.

Stage 4, Knodingbul, had a blast, Tristan really getting into a groove and starting to show some speed, a few more cars off.

Stage 5, Tristan getting up to speed early into the stage, drove well and improved his time by over a minute.

Stage 6, with the amendments made to the distances, we were nearly 2 minutes quicker and picking up a lot of pace, corner speeds were climbing as well but Tristan still within his limits.

Stage 7, Knodingbul 2, what a stage, we were over a minute quicker than the first run and both had grins at the end of the stage.

Transport to stage 8 the Charge light kept coming on, this is the only problem we had with the car for the event. Drove the transport on low beam to preserve battery.

Stage 8, short and sweet with a 10sec improvement over the reverse run of the first stage.

Overall a great event, lots of DNF's though and some of those from just not driving to the conditions. Was great to finally get to do a rally with Tristan. Looking forward to many more.

The event was won by Steve Forsberg in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6, with Tristan back in 16th, although 1st in class P6 after leader Richard Troup made a rare mistake and went off mid rally.

Canberra people, you should try to get to this event next year, the roads are great, organisation good, finish venue was good as well.

The team would like to thank our three service crew, Mark, Jake and Dean. Also the teams newest sponsor ORA Products for joining the team.

Bring on the next event.

Ray

Tristan's Debut Rally

Tristan Kent to make his Rally debut this weekend as a driver. The Rally of the Manning Valley to be held in the forests around the NSW Coastal town of Taree on Saturday 23rd of August marks the beginning of Tristan's driving career. With Ray sitting next to Tristan this weekend to offer some experience to a novice driver, it's quite a challenge.

Ray and Tristan are both exciteda bout competing in the rally, the trusty Subaru RX turbo has been immaculately prepared, has to be one of the cleanest rally cars around.

Tristan has been waiting for this day for many years, the false starts with CAMS this year have been disappointing but those days are over, with Tristan proudly sporting some brand new P plates on the Subaru.

We will update this website on Sunday night with some photos, some incar footage and some results. Also check out www.bmsc.com.au for any updates and some good event reports on the forums.

Tristan and Ray will be competing in several more events this year with an intended full assault on ACT Club