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1123hrs Team co-ordinator Ken Rees and two technicians (including Petter's No.1 tech, Steve Whitehead) drive one the team's Subaru Legacy estate cars to the accident scene. The technicians make an initial damage assessment, put a cover over the car and stay with it. Ken and the drivers return to the service area.
1204hrs Petter's car is brought to the team's service area on the back of a breakdown truck. Using trolley jacks and muscle power, 15 technicians drag it into the service area. Privacy screens are put up, the car cover comes off and the team's senior engineers get their first proper look at the damage.
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1219hrs If the car is unsafe, Petter's rally is over. Operations Director Paul Howarth, Petter's engineer FX Demaison and Steve Whitehead make an inch-by-inch inspection of the most critical component, the roll cage. Despite data loggers confirming an initial impact of 15g, the cage is undamaged. A group of 10 Subaru World Rally Team technicians start to remove damaged panels and components.
1257hrs FIA technical delegate Jerome Touquet checks the roll cage and confirms the car is suitable for repair.
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1326hrs Nineteen hours and two minutes before it is due to leave for the first stage, the car is being broken apart. As components come off, the scale of the repair job becomes clearer. Already on the replacement parts list are the engine (cam belt mechanism broken in impact) gearbox (bell housing cracked) left-front wing, bonnet, headlights, radiator pack (including mounting panel) front and rear bumpers, left-rear inner and outer wheel arches, left-rear sill, left-rear door, boot-lid, rear lights, seatbelts, HANS straps, wheel hubs, suspension uprights, prop-shaft, rear differential and all electronic control units (ECU's).
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1406hrs The car is stripped of major mechanical components. Measurements confirm that the engine and gearbox were pushed back in the accident. Technicians assemble the team's mobile chassis jig and start work on getting the bodyshell straight. Initial straightening is made using a mixture of 6lb lump hammers and 16lb sledge hammers. More delicate adjustments are carried out with ratchet straps, chains and hydraulic rams.
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1722hrs The front chassis legs are perfectly straight. The split left-rear chassis leg has been welded together and the inner boot floor and rear arch are repaired. A new outer wheel arch panel and sill cover is bonded to the shell. Up to 20 technicians are working on the repair job. Groups of technicians rotate to keep fresh and alert. Re assembly begins.
1735hrs Engine, gearbox, propshaft and rear differential are fitted. Work starts on fitting suspension components, drive shafts and plumbing in the engine and gearbox.
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2008hrs Official start ceremony in Trier city centre. In front of thousands of fans, competitors drive over the start ramp. Wearing their racing overalls, Petter and Phil walk over.
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2240hrs A new radiator cross member and headlight mounting panel arrive with a courier who has driven from the team's base in the UK. Up to 17 technicians are working on the car. Just before he goes to bed, Solberg gets a telephone update from Howarth - he thinks there is a 90 per cent chance the car will be ready to go in the morning. The engine is started for the first time.
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0000hrs With eight and a half hours remaining. Eight technicians leave Bostalsee for the team hotel and some sleep. Engine engineer Vincent Dumarski, data engineer Charles Hodge, Demaison, Whitehead, Howarth and three technicians stay on. Work is concentrated on the body shell, engine and transmission.
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0145hrs First road test. Howarth and Hodge take the car on a 35km test drive and systems check on the roads around Bostalsee.
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0230hrs Back to the service area and the flat patch. The alignment is double checked and suspension settings applied (chosen by Petter after his fourth pass through the shakedown stage). Final inspections and spanner checks are made.
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0329hrs Finished. Car cover goes on. Faced with a 1.5hr round trip to the hotel, Howarth and the other workers catch some sleep in the team's trucks.
0630hrs Solberg's event crew arrives in service. A fresh group of technicians inspect the car and prepare it for the first group of stages. Since shakedown, almost every part of the car (except the body shell and wiring loom) has been replaced. Eighty nine new components or sub assemblies have been fitted. From start to finish, the repair job has taken more than 300 man-hours.
0730hrs Solberg arrives in service and hugs each of his technicians.
0838hrs Solberg leaves service and starts the rally on time.
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2006
2005
