Welling & Catford return to tarmac for On The Run Adelaide Hills Tarmac Rally 2012
Adelaide Hills Tarmac Rally (AHTR) will travel the Adelaide Hills & Fleurieu Peninsula 18th – 20th May 2012 with a strong field of Australian Tarmac Rally & SARC teams seeking to enjoy the region’s tarmac roads and compete for points in their respective rally championships. Regular state tarmac competitors, David Welling (aged 26) and Tristan Catford (aged 25), have combined resources to present a Mitsubishi Evolution 6 RS in competitive trim for this year’s 26 stage tarmac rally.
Welling, CNC Machinist from Semaphore Park, and Catford, Property Valuer from Jamestown, both return to National Tarmac Rallying after being forced to retire during both the 2010 and 2011 South Australian Tarmac Rally Championships. The pair share the common passion for tarmac rally and when both faced with the challenge to rebuild and present competition cars ready for this year’s championship, the decision was made to focus on David’s early modern classed Evo 6 RS.
“I have always been drawn into rallying, watching the Classic Adelaide rally events in the early years inspired me to work hard and build a competition car. Unfortunately the Evo 6 RS was damaged in its first tarmac event during AHTR 2010, and after officiating for AHTR 2011, it was then time to rebuild and set sights on AHTR 2012” said Welling.
Tarmac Rally demands the highest quality safety equipment. Alex Bennett Motorsport Engineering (Macclesfield) designed and fabricated the impressive roll cage on Welling’s Evo 6 RS, and provided valuable support during the recent body repairs, along with Ross Bartlett at Autocar Creations (Strathalbyn).
The team present a very competitive package thanks to recent tarmac rally regulation freedoms. Evo specialist, Steve Knight Racetech (Lonsdale) provided all the essential engine management and suspension tuning to develop the Evo 6 RS to 2012 compliant specifications. Thanks must also go to Bob and John at Murphy Automotive Engineering (Royal Park) for their input and help in extensive car preparation and setup, calling on their many decades of experience in motorsport.
“We have come a long way in the last few months and working with the right people should hopefully pay dividends. We are realistic that a finish is an outright win to us in our return to tarmac rally, but we hope the Evo 6 RS may just surprise a few teams” suggested Welling.
Showing plenty of promise in previous tarmac events driving an Evo 9, this year, Catford provides diversity and experience to the team from the navigator’s seat. “I am very excited to have the opportunity work with Welling and call the pace notes at AHTR. It is certainly going to take some time to adjust not sitting behind the steering wheel, however I look forward to the co-driving challenge” explained Catford.
