24 June 2004

BLOMQVIST AND ARROW MACH 2 RACING REMAIN UPBEAT AFTER MISSING QUALIFYING

The Arrow Mach 2 Racing team together with driver, Stig Blomqvist missed official qualifying for the Falken Tire Pikes Peak International Hill Climb today due to a turbo and engine failure during testing on Wednesday. The PPIHC Race Director, Phil Layton, has however allowed the team to still race in Saturday’s event.

Despite air freighting a replacement engine from the UK, there was not enough time for the team’s race technicians to install it into the Ford RS200E in time for the early morning qualifying today. The team’s engine technician, Geoff Page, is however confident that the new engine will be fitted and running by this afternoon. He commented “Whilst we are not yet certain why the turbo failed yesterday, it would appear that the air flow may have reached supersonic speed within the turbo and this caused the failure and subsequent damage to the engine. It was however prudent that we arranged to despatch the second engine as it has allowed us to be ready for this eventuality. I am confident that we will have car running again by Thursday afternoon ready for a provisional shakedown test at Pikes Peak International Raceway on Friday. The sub ten minute challenge on Saturday is definitely still on”

Indeed Page advises that there is an upside to the situation in that he has built the replacement engine to higher tolerances and feels that it will provide Stig Blomqvist with an even better chance of a sub 10 minute run on Saturday.

-ends-

Last modified: September 01, 2006