KX53 BKV was present at the new Lancer WRC's debut at the 2004 Rallye Monte Carlo, being driven by Gigi Galli. They did a good job that included a 4th stage time, but Gigi's inexprience on the Monte cost him dearly: they slid just a bit too wide, and the car got stuck in a ditch. Game over.
 |
| Hundreds of thousands of spectators awaited the debut of the Lancer WRC (Mitsubishi) |
Just like KX53 BKY, she made the trip Mexico for WRC's Round 3, and her driver was once again Gigi Galli. This event didn't fare better for the pairing, as a broken suspension (this time it was a material-related problem, not Galli's mistake) forced them into retirement on the second day's first stage.
 |
| The Mexican stages proved to be too rough for the new car (Mitsubishi) |
Then she disappeared for 4 years before returning as a 2005 spec car at the Rallijs Cesis 2007 with Ivars Vasaraudzis, who piloted her to her first victory!
 |
| En route to her first win, 2007 Rallijs Cesis (Janis Asaris) |
Up next was the Otepää Rally (Estonian Championship) with Urmo Aava, who also took her to the top step of the podium with a dominant performance!
 |
| Sliding to her 2nd victory in a row, 2007 Otepää Rally (foto.urmo.ee) |
Her final event until now was the 2007 Rally Finland, with RRE/Ralliart Finland boss Kai Kuistila. The new pairing did well, and finished the rally in 13th position.
 |
| Jumping to 13th on the 2007 Rally Finland (Mitsubishi) |
The car also did Rallyday with Gwyndaf Evans and MML Sports.
Whereabouts
The car survived the Ralliart UK->MML transition and was even converted to 2005 spec, so it is very likely that the chassis still exists, although not being used nowadays.
Update 2014: Chassis #4 (which I don't know if still has the BKV plate) was put up for sale in 2014. September, alongside KR53 YPO. So it seems she is owned by Bob de Jong. It was stated that the car is still in 05 spec, as opposed to YPO, which has been converted to 07 spec. The price is 135.000 Euros. ;)
 |
| Pic from the ad, 2014. September |
Update 2015: Dick de Graf put up an ad with the chassis on the picture above, but now built up into a 07 spec WRC. What's interesting is that the car is carrying KP54 GXY numberplates, which should belong to C014. I'll try to get info on this ASAP.
 |
| The supposed C004 with C014's numberplates |
Update 2019:
Thanks to the information from Tristan Bailey, it seems like that C004 has found its way to Japan, and the previous DDG ad was a typo. So as Tristan found, this car was on display and driven around for some donuts as well. So a big thank you to Tristan for the infos, and he has some more interesting things up his sleeve. ;)
Update 2023:
The car was displayed at the 2023 Rally Japan WRC service park in Mitsubishi's lineup. The people there were told that the car was a test car in Japan, and is now at the Okazaki R&D centre.
 |
At the 2023 WRC Rally Japan service park (Rei Nakajima)
|
 |
At the 2023 WRC Rally Japan service park (Rei Nakajima)
|
|
Track record
Starts: 5
Wins: 2 (2007 Rally Otepää & Rallijs Cesis)
Podiums: 2
Retirements: 2 (2004 Rallye Monte Carlo & Rally Mexico)
Nincsenek megjegyzések:
Megjegyzés küldése