Chris Rice returned to the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship on the Proflex Manx Rally – the double Asphalt Group N champion hiring a Subaru Impreza from Dylan Davies Rallying for a limited programme in 2025, before an all-out assault on the BTRDA series in a new car in 2026.
The Gloucestershire driver is well-known for campaigning his Impreza (which was originally built by Prodrive for Hans Stacey, a former Dutch rally champion and Dakar Rally truck winner) – winning the Group N titles in 2009 and 2010, before converting it to a Class B machine by means of a six-speed gearbox and slightly bigger front brakes.
Chris still has that car, although the rarity of the older two-door Impreza and their eligibility for Historic rallying is pushing prices up, so he is somewhat reluctant to rally it in case of any mishaps!
Over to Chris to explain what exactly happened to him and co-driver Gareth Price on the Manx Rally:
“Despite having a similar hatchback Impreza as a road car which I used for a Nurburgring trip last year, the N14/R4 rally car felt quite different on shakedown,” says Chris.
“Dylan had adjusted the seat based on me telling him over the ‘phone that I’m quite tall and all seemed good when I first sat in the car, but when I put my helmet on it was touching the roll cage. On the shakedown stage the brake pedal felt a little long and there was more initial body roll on turn in than I was accustomed to. Back in service Dylan and his team were quick to re-adjust the seat, bleed the brakes and add a few clicks of low-speed compression damping to the suspension.
“On the road section to SS1 the brakes felt better, and the body roll seemed reduced. Not wanting to be too slow out of the blocks, but also not having had any seat time in the car beside the very sedate run through the shakedown, I set off into SS1 at what I thought was a ‘reasonable’ pace. The result was 56th on the stage, which I was happy with and hoped to improve upon on the following stages.
“SS2 we dropped a little time and on SS3 we had a big moment under braking for a hairpin right off the fast main road. The back of the car stepping out directing us towards the substantial sea wall. Fortunately, I caught it and avoided hitting anything, the confidence was knocked and a bit more time lost.
“A similar but not as dramatic lock-up of the rear wheels for a hairpin left on SS4 revealed that the brake bias needed adjusting but that would have to wait until service as I didn’t know which way to turn the adjuster in the car.
“SS5 we completed without incident but a blow from the exhaust was becoming apparent.
“Following the first leg we took a bit of brake bias off the rear and the service crew discovered that the exhaust blow was from the turbo gasket, which was one of the few parts they didn’t have a spare of. Calls were made and messages sent, and a spare was organised to be sent overnight from TEG; we’d have to survive Leg 2 and hope the gasket didn’t get too much worse. Additional heat protection was added to try and mitigate the effects of any leaking hot exhaust gasses and it was decided to run without anti-lag for the same reason.
“We were approximately ten seconds slower through SS6 and almost 30 seconds slower through SS7 and 8.
“I was looking forward to SS9 as I settle into the longer stages, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be as an accident saw SS9 and 10 cancelled – maybe a blessing in disguise as at least we didn’t have to nurse the gasket any further.
“In the morning the new gasket had arrived and was quickly fitted by the Dylan Davies Rallying team.
“We were looking forward to the Baldwins stages to see how the more supple and longer travel suspension set-up of the R4 dampers would allow us to attack the Druidale Road. We had a safe run through S11 to set 49th fastest time and were back in the game; or so we thought. A couple of miles into the road section to SS12 and after shifting from sixth down to fifth gear the car lost all drive. The cam drum of the sequential gearbox was selecting gears but no torque was getting to the wheels, forward or backwards. However, when the trailer arrived the car was able to be driven on. We await the diagnosis with interest!”
So that was the Manx, but what now for the rest of the season?
“I am very keen to contest my home event, the Hills Ford Stages, having had an entry in twice before but failed to make the start after a small fire on another event and the cancellation of the event following the death of the Queen,” adds Chris.
“I’m also always happy to be rallying on Epynt, so it is highly likely I will contest that round too.
“A concerted effort will be needed over the summer though to finally finish the newer Subaru which I have talked about for so long.
“If I can then prove the pace and reliability of the car on the last two rounds I will be seeking some form of sponsorship for a full Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship campaign in 2026.”
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