Clutch Problems at Sandblast | South Carolina
Clutch issues plagued the SCL Racing Rally Car for the first race of the 2016 season. In the off season the team swapped the automatic transmission for a 5 speed manual into the rally spec Mazda Protege expecting much better results than 2015. A faulty clutch which began slipping the day of the race had the team scrambling to find a replacement. A brand new ACT clutch was overnighted to the teams hotel however snow storms in the midwest caused a 2 day delay in delivery, missing race day. "We decided to run the car as-is and chance it." said team owner Neeraj Gupta. "We felt that we could make it through the 1 day event by keeping the revs low and babying the clutch." This strategy proved effective until the very last stage where on the last mile before the finish the clutch finally gave out. With no ability to move the car under its own power the team was towed all the way to final control. Driver Neeraj Gupta and Co-Driver Peterson Martins still received a 10th place finish in 2WD but were expecting a top 5 finish. They will have plenty of time to sort out the issues before the Magnum Opus Rally in Michigan. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more and check out www.NASArallysport.com for information on how to get into rally! Eat. Sleep. Race. Repeat!
