Darrian T9 – Vauxhall 2.0L XE
Jeremy emailed us after the Caerwent Rally, April 2017, when he finished 3rd Overall with a time of 01.17.57:
Just a short note to let you guys know about my result at Caerwent at the weekend.
We achieved 3rd overall and 1st in class and finished comprehensively ahead of multiple tarmac championship winner Damian Cole in his 2.5 Millington Escort.
Was very muddy and slippery on the first two stages, but when it cleaned up we had a good push and put in some respectable times.
Hope all is well with you and the team.
Jeremy emailed us after coming 5th overall, 1st in class and 1st 2wd car at the Tour of Caerwent Patriot Stages Rally on 25th Sept 2016:
‘We competed at Caerwent yesterday and finished 5th overall, 1st in class and 1st 2wd car. Only beaten by 4 WRC cars. The paddleshift and traction control systems worked perfectly. The paddleshift advantage comes in the breaking zone and enables me to commit to later braking points and the traction enables me to commit earlier coming out of a corner.’
Jeremy messaged us via Facebook after coming 2nd Overall at the Tour of Caerwent Rally on 27th March 2016
‘We had a good result at the Tour of Caerwent Rally yesterday in the SBD powered Darrian T9 – 2nd overall and 1st in class by over 2 minutes. We used Inters, then Slicks, then full Wets through the day so it was a great test of the new traction control which worked flawlessly. The paddle shift setup also worked perfectly so all in all a great test before heading to Ireland.’
Comment made by Jeremy on Facebook following the Brands Hatch Winter rally;
‘The support from Steve and the team was absolutely first class as always. The combination of extensive r&d, rigorous testing, a fantastic end product and an expert team all come together to make buying complete ready to go kits from SBD a no brainer!!’
Jeremy has upgraded his ECU to the MBE9A9, also added electronic throttle (EGAS), paddle shift, traction control and launch control. Simon at Sileck has built a complete new wiring harness for the car and apart form initial set up at the workshop, the first shake-down for the car was at the Brands Hatch Winter Stages on 31 January 2016. Steve went along to support Jeremy in the new set-up. The car worked extremely well out of the box and everything was functioning perfectly. On the first stage, Jeremy took it gently since he hadn’t driven the car for over 6 months and apart from a trip to the MOT station hadn’t been driven at all. Unfortunately on the way to the 2nd stage, a coolant pipe came loose and could not fixed in time to begin the stage, this mean he took a maximum time but the pressure was then off from having to try hard to win the rally especially beginning Car 1. Jeremy was then more relaxed for the rest of the day and settling back into driving the car and getting to grips with new set up. We only made relatively small adjustments to the launch and traction settings as the day progressed. His biggest problem was though that the tyres were very old and grip was hard to come by, but it was ideal for the test and his whole crew and family enjoyed the day.
Email received from Jeremy, February 2016 following the Brands Hatch Winter Stages, 31 January 2016:
‘Hi Steve,
Just a short note to say thank you for your support yesterday. It was great to have you there for the day and I really appreciate all your efforts to tweak various setting and to get the car working great.’
Picture:Colin Torkington
Jeremy and his co-driver Simon May were 2nd Overall, 1st in Class in the Brands Hatch Winter Stages Rally, January 2013
Email received from Jeremy, October 2012:
Just a quick note to let you know that the car performed excellently at the weekend. The engine run perfectly and feels very nice at the top end now. Definitely a big improvement.
Despite not having driven at Caerwent before we had a good results finishing 7th overall and 3rd in class (stage 1 was understandably slow but after a couple of stages we were right on the class pace).
Thanks again for your help and support getting this engine done.
The engine updates that have just been completed are our slipper pistons and long rods, with a compression ratio increase facilitated by the use of the high top slipper piston, new bottom end build mated to Jeremy’s existing cylinder head. Steve then carried out a mapping session on the road to finalise the new maps within Jeremy’s MBE9A4 ECU.
Jeremy Straker and Mark Straker were winners of the 2012 TRS (Essex) Ltd Brands Hatch Stage Rally.
They rally a Darrian with 2.0L XE with our earlier design 270bph taper throttle body kit which has been upgraded with the latest MBE9A4 ECU & wiring harness with additional gear position input which allowed us to use closed loop power shift. The latest MBE9A4 software is now able to vary the length of the power shift (flatshift) according to how long it takes the gear box to get into gear.
Mini Epynt Stages Rally, June 2010:
Jeremy & navigator Helen finished 1st in Class, 4th Overall.
Email received from Jeremy in March 2010 after Bovington Rally:
Hi Steve,
Just a quick note to say the new ECU and flatshift set up worked a treat at the weekend. Comments were that the flatshift sounded the best people have heard and much smoother than all others!!
I managed 4th Overall and 1st in class only being beaten by two WRC cars and a 2.4litre Mk1 Escort.
Thanks for all your help as always over the winter.
All the best, Jeremy
Report in the Sutton Guardian April 2009, with a photo of Jeremy’s Darrian:
Fast & Furious action at motors club’s rally
Sutton & Cheam Motor Club got their 50th anniversary celebrations off to a flying start with the Mini-Tempest rally last weekend. The motorsport society, which was formed back in 1959 held the popular event at the Longcross test facility & attracted a sizable number of competitors & spectators.
The rally was won by Essex’s John Indri in his MG Metro, who just held of Mark Straker in his Darrian T9.
SCMC vice-chairman Barry Gues admitted he was delighted with the turnout. He said:”The weather was perfect, the track was good & it combined for a great day. It was a great way for us to kick things of & really sets up the rest of the year.
