Jon Armstrong has been upfront about one of his main shortcomings. He needs to be a more adept mechanic.
The Irish driver has taken steps to improve his skills in recent times – visiting M-Sport’s HQ last year to help build the Ford Fiesta Rally2 he drove in the European Rally Championship.
This week, he’s been doing the same thing – working on his Ford Puma Rally1 ahead of one of the toughest World Rally Championship events, Safari Rally Kenya.
Understanding a rally car in great detail is vital when it comes to performing emergency repairs in the wild – as Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne had to in Monte Carlo. But nothing beats real-world experience.
Thinking outside the box, M-Sport has a plan for that.
“The weak point they [Armstrong and Byrne] have at the moment is the mechanical side, and you can never learn enough on that,” M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told DirtFish.
“So they’re coming for three, four days, both Shane and Jon, to try and do some work in the workshop with the guys – and that will be something we’ll continue over the course of the year because that’s ultimately what will become very important on certain rallies, and at the moment they’re still quite green in that area.
“I had a quick chat with Jon about it as well, and looking beyond Kenya we came up with the idea that maybe we’ll put Jon on the spanners in the Croatia test on the day Josh [McErlean] is driving and try and do some working on the car when it’s hot, if it’s raining or whatever – when the car’s actually running on event.”
This is a clever move, as Armstrong can then work on the rally car in a more raw environment – just like he will have to throughout the course of the season. Learning in the workshop is great, but consistent conditions are no guarantee on an actual rally.
“Doing something in the workshop is fine, but it’s never as realistic and gives the same opportunities as when you’re on an actual event or a test,” Millener concurred. “So that’s the area we’re going to work as a team with them hard.
Armstrong's driving has impressed, but he has work to do on the spanners
“But, you know, in terms of driving side of things, Jon’s got a lot of plans himself to understand where he’s losing out and where he’s gaining in the splits and things. But again, you know, we’ve got to be realistic with the progress and the direction we take.”
Armstrong told DirtFish: “It’s something that we do need to be good at. Whenever we go into the rougher rallies coming up, I think it’s going to be important to be a bit more on it with the timing side of it. Because we know we can do it, it’s just doing it quickly.
“It’s something you just need to keep yourself familiar with. I’m by no means the best mechanic, but I think you can do it through determination – and also you need to be a bit ignorant almost to make it happen too. When things are bent and broken you have to be quite forceful to get it all fixed again!”
