This was the last event of our first season rallying and meant a 5.30 start to head up to Durham on the Saturday morning ready for scrutineering at 2pm. We got through scrutineering OK (apart from a loose steering wheel!) and headed off to the hotel to go through the maps for the rally and then get an early night..  

We were due to set off at 7am the next morning for the 20 mile drive from the hotel to the rally. The car started OK and had been running for 5 minutes but stalled as I was reversing out of the car park. It then refused to start. After 5 minutes of trying to start the car and checking the basics it was time to call the service crew, BRS, who had set off 10 minutes earlier. Colin and Ronnie from BRS arrived and tried various things but still the car would not start. So, out came the tow rope and we started to tow the car to the rally. As we were towing we managed to start the car. We pulled over, unattached the tow rope, and went to set off. Unfortunately, the car stalled again and would not start. Back came the tow vehicle and we started towing again. The car started again, albeit running very rough. A few miles later the car had warmed up and seemed to be behaving itself so we stopped and unhitched the tow rope.    

We finally got to the rally about 40 minutes later than expected leaving us little time to prepare, and no time for breakfast!. The first stage was delayed nearly an hour due to accidents - I dared not turn the ignition off in case the car did not start. Finally, it was our start time. Off we headed. First impressions were that it was VERY slippery. At junction 19, about two thirds of the way through the first stage we came across spectators in the road telling us to slow down - a MKII Escort had gone off in the trees. Unfortunately, this distracted me looking for their SOS board and then we went off about 50 metres further down the road. We were well and truly stuck in mud although no damage to the car. About 6 spectators arrived and tried to help us out but we were going nowhere. Fortunately, these spectators managed to get the MKII Escort out and they then towed us out. We were back in the rally! I hit the horn to thank the spectators who had helped and then the horn stuck on. A two tone air horn on constantly meant everyone knew we were coming! We got to the end of stage 1 and I thought we would have time to collect our thoughts but we had just 3 minutes before starting stage 2. Off we headed again. Stage 2 was even more slippy - at one point we were heading down a narrow track with a valley on one side and a big ditch on the other, the tail of the car was all over the place and I glanced at the speedo to see we were doing 105mph! A few corners later and our luck had run out again. Going into a right hand bend, the back of the car suddenly broke to the right rather than the left and threw us into a deep ditch. We got out and I scratched my head as to what had happened and resigned myself to the fact that we were out of the rally. Again, spectators appeared and after a few minutes had managed to haul us out of the ditch and we were back in action again.

Stage 3 and 4 were pretty uneventful as I was determined to keep the car on the road. Stage 5 (11 miles) was to be run in the dark so we fitted out new light pod. The tracks had dried out quite a lot by this time and the car felt much more in control. We had a good run and actually caught the car in front. Unfortunately, there were no passing places for about 1.5 miles so we also got caught by the following car. We finally got past the car on a hairpin bend and headed off again. Having a car right behind me with its spotlights flickering in my mirrors distracted me and I missed a call for a 90 degree right turn. I only realised as we went passed it at 50mph. We hit a bank and were airborne. It was a surreal moment as the lights were pointing in the air and I had no idea what was ahead - valley, trees, pond..... Fortunately for us it was a muddy field and after a few bounces we came to a halt. No sooner as we had come to a halt about 20 spectators appeared and hauled us back onto the road - turned out it was our buddies from stage 2 again! We finally made it to the finish which was more than can be said for over a 3rd of the field and manage to claim 5th place in the BMW challenge and collect our first trophies.

It was a bad rally for us, but it was worse for a lot of others. Getting some silverware was a nice way to end our first season but we know we have a lot to do to prepare for next seasons challenge. This preparation will start with a trip to Sweden in February for a weeks ice rallying tuition.

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