Binks on the edge

Power steering problems threaten British driver’s event.

As engineers franticly work to cure a power steering problem on his Fiesta, David Binks is wondering when his luck will change.

Binks’ problems started in timed practice yesterday when the power steering failed on his car and he went off into the gravel trap. “Going off damaged to the rear anti-roll bar but we fixed that and sorted out the steering problem before the first heat so I thought we were okay,” said Binks, “Then when we started the car to go out to race something happened to the power steering, the pump was running at maximum pressure and it blew the seals out of the rack.”

Having missed the first heat because of the problem, Binks and the Best Buy team changed the steering pump and rack and ran the car briefly round the paddock to check it last night. “Everything seemed to be working okay so we were ready for the second heat and I was concentrating on that. There are a few quick drivers in the first race so I thinking about that and tactics. Then, when we started the car for the warm-up we had the same problem as yesterday, too much pressure and steering fluid everywhere. We’ve changed everything so now we are trying to understand what the problem is,” said Binks who looks like missing the warm-up while his team check the car.

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