Josh McErlean’s Friday afternoon at Safari Rally Kenya was compromised by a spare wheel coming loose and smashing out the bottom of his Ford Puma Rally1’s trunk.
Unsure what the issue was he traversed the demanding Camp Moran stage for the second time, the 25-year-old stopped his car during the test, suspicious it may have been catching fire.
But instead, his spare wheel had been bouncing around and ripped away the carbon fiber bodywork – leaving McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treacy to complete the rest of the loop wearing goggles and masks to combat the protruding dust, and Treacy to shout the pacenotes to his driver due to the increased noise.
McErlean told DirtFish: “There was a lot of dust coming into the car, a lot of heat coming onto the back of our necks and the car was quite loud. So I thought the exhaust had broken and then the fumes were coming from it, but it was the dust.
“We basically stopped on the stage to check if it wasn’t on fire and then at the end of the stage we realized the spare wheel had come loose and broke through the carbon fibre at the rear, so all the dirt was coming in and obviously the loud exhaust noise was coming.
Both crew members wore goggles and masks to combat dust coming into the car
“So the next stage we went into road mode to basically not overheat the exhaust and then the last two stages we went into stage mode just to… they were shorter and the temperatures were cooler, so it’s been proper.”
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener said the team will investigate how the spare wheel was able to come loose, but now was too early.
“We’ve only just got the car back,” Millener told DirtFish, “so we know for sure it was tight going out of the tire marking, but there are so many impacts and so many vibrations and everything here.
“I don’t know – maybe the strap is a little bit loose or maybe it wasn’t totally sealed right even though it was tight. I’m not going to pass blame on anyone, it’s happened. Like you say, it could have been very dangerous, but the good thing is actually a spare wheel can’t get past the seats because they’re so close together.
“But what they [McErlean and Treacy] didn’t realize is what it was. You know, they stopped twice in that stage to have a look from the outside, but it was actually the wheel causing damage on the inside and that was what was causing the burning smell.
“So, to be fair to them, they did everything 100% right. So, really good job for them in a difficult day.”
Millener said the Irishmen did everything right in the situation
McErlean was pleased by his own perseverance, likening it to his efforts to free his Puma from deep snow on the final day of last month’s Rally Sweden, when it looked for all the world like the Irishman was destined for retirement.
“Yeah, it’s a bit like Sweden. You just can’t give up, ever,” he said, “especially in this rally.
“OK, we’re, I don’t know, five minutes off the lead, but I think the weather tomorrow is meant to rain, so you never know.”
On the potential severity of the spare wheel coming loose, he added: “We need to look into what happened, because there’s a lot more things that could go wrong there.”
