It’s been a busy few weeks for Darius Biesevičius and his Ford Fiesta N5, which he rents out to local and foreign drivers. A few weeks ago, a call from Estonia meant that the N5 car would be back in Estonia since Saaremaa last October. The Lithuanian team helped local Karl Martin Volver, who needed a quick replacement for the Rally Estonia National as his own car was taking a break from rallying. We asked Karl Martin about his debut with N5 equipment at this very special rally. Enjoy!
Tell a story: How did you end up in a Ford Fiesta N5?
We had test before rally estonia with our own car but it had engine failure. Had not enough time to rebuild it and needed to find solution for a new car. Our good friend Alius from Lithuania helped us out and gave us contact for Ford Fiesta N5 car. Luckily car was ready and Darius had only almost two days for preparing all stuff and start driving to Estonia. Here I want to say big thanks to him.
What were your first impressions of the car during testing?
First impression was pretty good, when they arrived in Estonia Tuesday evening, I made first test runs behind my garages. Car handling was very easy and had very good brakes also dampers worked nicely. We made adjustments for seat and steering wheel for next day test and prepare all other stuff. After first run I was quite surprised about this car handling, it was quite easy and how all dampers and geometry worked in corners was impressive. I didn’t expect something like that. Ford is more lazier car than my Skoda but I managed it well. Had more time behind the wheel. After few runs I felt quite good and understand the car so we started to make some adjustments with dampers and geometry. Ford had less power than my Skoda but alos Ford had 6 speed gearbox what I liked a lot, all shiftings was very smooth. Okay, yes, there was some minuses, on bigger jumps we needed to brake more because the landing was quite heavy and when you pulled handbrake then differential releasing time was long so I needed to think forward all the time when I used the handbrake. But to sum up I liked the car and if I could get more km-s with that I feel more comfortable and know how to adjust the car. Need to adjust diffs and all car balance for bigger push and better stage times. This car have very good potential just need more time to play with it.
It’s your second rally in the ERC, but your only national participation. Does it feel like an ERC rally, even though you are driving fewer kilometers?
Yeah we also drove Sunday’s Trophy so actually for me it was like complete ERC event. Sadly we had technical issue on Saturday but that’s racing everything can happen. Also had some brake problems on Sunday but we almost managed it and finished the rally what was the main target. Rally was quite rough for the car because we start after all ERC guys and had FWD car lines, so needed to make my own driving lines and some places it was not possible because of big ruts.
How did you feel with this car on the stages of the Rally Estonia?
It felt quite nice especially on the fast roads because the car was very stable and had nice force in the corner. Slower section needed to push little more and make some moves earlier because this car geometry is more lazy. On jumps we lost little time bacuse needed to brake and Rally Estonia we have a lot of jumps. Generaly I liked it.
You even managed to get a trophy from the rally. Tell us more about it
Yeah, luckily we managed to get Trophy win. It was quite challenging for me because we also had steering rack failure on Saturday and the new steering rack travel was more longer so I needed to turn the steering wheel more. In slow sections it was quite tricky but I managed it prety well. After first loop we had service where mechanics bleed the brakes, due to brake cylinder failure we had full front brakes and half rear brakes. Mechanics regulate the brakes fully front from balance bar that I have some brakes. SS13 we overheated thef front brakes and lost them completely so we switch to road mode and finish the stage. On the last stage luckily started to rain and for brakes it was much better. Last half of the stage I lost the brakes again but then I started to pump the pedal on the straights and have pressure for braking. Finished the last stages and also result wasn’t not so bad. Had some problems but I and the team managed it well so we finished the rally also car was in one piece, I’m happy about that.
After this weekend, could you recommend a car like this to other Estonian rally drivers?
Yes, car was actually very nice to drive and if you are driver you can make really good stage times with it. We had some technical issues but that’s racing everything can happen, even in WRC cars have problems. So want to thank all for this opportunity and maybe we can make some more cooperation for testing or even develope the car.
