Ross Cox Follow Up: Carnage at Benarkin
We struck up a conversation about rally with Ross Cox of Brisbane, Australia back a couple months back. Soon after publishing that story, Ross came to us with some more information and we really wanted to share it with you, but we thought it might get lost if we just added it to the end of the previous story. That said, today we’ve got a follow up on Ross; A little info on his co-driver, some video, and a recap on the carnage at the KCF Short Stages at Benarkin last month.
A clip of Ross and Jason demonstrating what R. Sout means at Gallangowan 2009.
The bloke calling the shots from the silly seat in the R. Sout Galant VR4 is, more often than not, Jason Page. Jason hails from Albury/Wodonga in New South Wales and is an instrument technician by trade. He rides a motorbike to work and Ross tell us that, for fun, Jason goes mountain biking with his mates.
Conveniently enough, Jason happens to live and work close to Ross, which makes getting together to sort out pre-rally paperwork a drama free experience. An integral part of the team, Jason often wears the go-fer hat when there’s work to be done on the rally car.
Image: Mat Jones Photos
Ross tell us, “We are starting to gel and I find, on pace-note events, I trust his timing and description and am better able to concentrate on driving.” Jason and Ross have been a team since 2008, an ordinary year, in which they experienced a broken wheel hub at one event and a blown engine at another putting paid to their year.
2009 was better, as the boys shared the P6 Class win with Alan and Gavin in a Mazda Familia 4wd (GLC, Protege).
In-car with Ross and Jason on Kandanga in 2008.
We’ll let Ross share the recent Benarkin story in his own words…
2010, event wise, was off to a crook start with wet weather meaning the first event, the first round of the KCF Short Course Rally Series, was cancelled. Eventually, the KCF was run on the weekend of the 17th April and as luck would have it, Jason had gone to Turkey to commemorate the worst loss of a battle in Australia’s wartime history, ANZAC Day, the landing at Gallipoli.
An old friend Barrie stepped in the ‘silly seat’ and we went to Benarkin for the first event of the season. The weather had again stepped in and the event, previously two stages run three times was changed to a single 23km stage.
There was a fair bit of carnage and a number of cars had suspension failure, flat tyres and/or broken wheels. Barrie and I drove to the conditions with a 16.27, 16.25 and 16.28 for the three runs.
At the end of the event we had finished outright third!!!And first in P6 Class. Woo Hoo. We followed a Subaru STI first and an EVO 1 in second. Great result for the 21 year old car.
A slippery corner at KCF Short Stages at Benarkin 2009.
Ross is looking forward to the next couple events. He’ll run one without Jason as he will be out of state working, but he’ll be back for the pinnacle event, a round of the Asia-Pacific Championship being held in South-East Queensland on the 30th July-2nd August. It is a two day rally, tough on cars and all crew but a hoot just the same.
Gearbox Magazine would like to thank Ross for keeping in touch with us after the original interview. Though we may not meet many of the people we interview, in going through the process, we find ourselves becoming big fans.
Main image courtesy: Kristian Hayes
