2006 in Review

2006 has been rather light for Paul Batten Racing when it comes to competition time, but extremely busy off the track with the creation of two new Competition Cars, new Sponsors, and new additions to the team.

“After the harsh 2005 the decision was made early to use 2006 as a re-building year, making changes to the team that in the long run would be beneficial to all involved” said team Driver Paul Batten. “With Craig now the team co-driver we intend on competing in selected state level events before with we tackle any national events. With the donation of a Hyundai Excel to the team, we had a perfect starting point to build our team while we prepared for bigger things in our Subaru". The excel was built over two months with help from Bonds Roll Bars, Hyon Auto Parts and Hyon Smash Repairs.

A debut at the Akademos proved to be an excellent starting point, It had been nine months since team driver Paul Batten had been behind the steering wheel of a rally car the decision was made early for Paul Batten Racing to run its own event and not to follow results and the fellow competitors Progress, Though the outright result was not there yet, the team saw several areas of improvement and where ready to tackle the next event with a straight and mechanically sound car.

With one event behind us, Paul Batten Racing wanted to continue moving forward and choose to compete in the North Easter Winter Rally Sprint. The team made several performance modifications all within the series regulations hoping that it may give Paul Batten Racing the wining edge. The event was a tremendous success and saw the team continue to move forward with a strong result.

Bega was the next rally where the team really saw this event as a chance to prove themselves against the interstate Excels. At the end of the first stage the team held a 12 second lead. The 2nd stage saw the Car stall going into a left hander, not allowing Paul the ability to turn into the corner sending the Hyundai Excel off the road. Though just off the road the car was beached and the team saw their lead disappear along with another 5 minutes. Once back on the road things were made worse by a bent control arm not allowing full control into corners. Making it back to service, the amazing work of Brad from Performance group allowed us to continue.

It was then where the team at Paul Batten Racing Came into there own winning the next three stages by over two minutes. The event was cut short due to bad weather but Paul Batten Racing walked away with smiles on there faces and wondered what could have been if the event ran full length.

Whilst the team continued to move forward with events in the Hyundai Excel, Paul Batten Racing took delivery of a 2006 Subaru STI. With the help from Sbaru, Japanese Wholesale Spares, Kangan Batman Tafe, Link ECU, AVO, www.Rallydrive.com.au, Hubble Photografix, Pirelli and Hyon Smash Repairs. Without the valuable support in the lead up to the Rally of Melbourne, it would not have been possible to debut the car so soon.

Strong results outright, in class and also in the state competition made an impression and we at Paul Batten Racing look forward to the 2007 Season with upgrades already beginning on the cars. Though as a Privateer we are finding it difficult to compete with a minor budget compared to that of the larger teams.

The impression that Paul Batten Racing left in the rallying community was reflected recently when Hyundai Australia allowed Paul Batten Racing to compete in one of their work’s Hyundai excel in the final round of the Victorian Hyundai Excel Series. Paul Batten Racing did not disappoint coming home a very impressive 8 th Outright and 1 st Excel by over Nine minutes.

Paul Batten Racing would like to take this opportunity to thank Hyundai Australia for the opportunity to compete in one of there cars and found both the car and the team very professional on all levels.

2007 will see Paul Batten Racing competing in more events across more series allowing the team to develop further.