What a strange sensation... we've actually completed a rally!
After a day of frantic last minute preparation on Saturday, we drove over to Wigan in readiness for the rally on the Sunday.
We pulled into 3 Sisters at about 7.45 in readiness for scrutineering that was scheduled in for an 8am start and unloaded the 'Tro from the trailer. Scrutineering was reasonably smooth but slightly worryi
ng when the car in front was failed due to the registration plate being on the bonnet... the same place as my own! Luckily my car had actually been logbooked with the registration in that position so it wasn't a problem!
After much discussion over the preceding weeks we had decided that we would run the event on road tyres, the thinking behind it being that the slicks wouldn't be able to generate enough heat. The weather forecast was also looking ominous with rain and snow forecast for Sunday so again, with a choice limited to slicks or road tyres, the roadies were looking like the wiser choice!
Pulling up to the start line for the first stage everything that had been discussed and that I had learnt over the past few years as a co-driver passed briefly through my mind. Whilst the circuit was small and the stages reasonably simple, there was a good variation of corners and I'd had a bit of a think about how I'd tackle them when we'd walked it earlier. This all went out of the window when the light turned green!
Driving a car normally, or even quickly, on the road does nothing to prepare you for a stage rally. Whether you're in a WRC or a slightly battered Metro, you're there to push the car and driver to the limit to try to be as fast as possible. My experience of this was limited to say the least and the opening series of stages would be about firstly me testing my own ability and then about seeing what the car could do.
One of the first things I had to get used to was driving and stopping a
car that was missing all the fancy gizmo's that we're got used to over the 20+ years since the Metro was built - no fancy electronic differentials... no ABS... no power steering. An immediate feature was the way the car behaved under braking and acceleration - the car got sideways very easily when I hit the brakes and started to turn into the corner but it generally felt like it was controlled when I hit the accelerator. Coming out of the corners was a different matter, the car had the power but just was not able to put it down with the wheels spinning hopelessly before gripping and slingshotting me out of the corner.
With such a tight, twisty track and only the one long straight, the stages were challenging for both myself as I threw the car into and (usually) around the corner and for Clive as a navigator, especially on the early stages that featured multiple splits.
After a couple of exciting, fast stages in the dry to get the adrenalin flowing, the weather decided to take a hand as we headed to stage 3 when the heavens opened! With standing water on the track and my demister deciding to stop working, this quickly proved to be my worst stage in the rally. Coming out of a tight right hander into a quick left/right series of turns, the car got unbalanced and, when the front end suddenly gripped the read end pivoted around throwing me off the track. This was followed a few corners later with a second spin as I tried to get the power on too soon coming out of a K left... round and round I went again onto the grass.
The wet weather and track continued on and off for the next three stages and, after losing the car twice so close together, I had decided to take a more conservative approach. This was reflected in my stage times which were the slower than anybody else's on stages 3/4/5. Looking back at this is a little disappointing in one respect as I was reasonably competitive with the tail end cars on the opening stages and, as the track dried out, my times were again there or there abouts - far from being a front runner but not the slowest either!
My final position was 39th - last of the running cars, with 10 cars that had dropped out. I feel I could have finished higher if I'd not spun on stage 3 and maybe I could have pushed a bit harder but I wasn't willing to trash my car on my first rally! The car was very slippery when conditions were wet and after going past the final flying finish the car flicked horribly and I nearly ended up in the barriers... not the ending I would have wanted!
Put into perspective, I gained experience in driving in conditions which tend to be the norm in the UK and also highlighted a couple of places where I might need to look at improving with regards to the car - an LSD would definitely help me coming out of the corners, as would some decent tyres as in the wet I couldn't get any traction at all . My times were not the fastest but neither were they the slowest on all stages and I finished the rally, which was my primary objective and also got to push myself and get the experience of driving a rally stage.
After a day of frantic last minute preparation on Saturday, we drove over to Wigan in readiness for the rally on the Sunday.
We pulled into 3 Sisters at about 7.45 in readiness for scrutineering that was scheduled in for an 8am start and unloaded the 'Tro from the trailer. Scrutineering was reasonably smooth but slightly worryi
ng when the car in front was failed due to the registration plate being on the bonnet... the same place as my own! Luckily my car had actually been logbooked with the registration in that position so it wasn't a problem!After much discussion over the preceding weeks we had decided that we would run the event on road tyres, the thinking behind it being that the slicks wouldn't be able to generate enough heat. The weather forecast was also looking ominous with rain and snow forecast for Sunday so again, with a choice limited to slicks or road tyres, the roadies were looking like the wiser choice!
Pulling up to the start line for the first stage everything that had been discussed and that I had learnt over the past few years as a co-driver passed briefly through my mind. Whilst the circuit was small and the stages reasonably simple, there was a good variation of corners and I'd had a bit of a think about how I'd tackle them when we'd walked it earlier. This all went out of the window when the light turned green!
Driving a car normally, or even quickly, on the road does nothing to prepare you for a stage rally. Whether you're in a WRC or a slightly battered Metro, you're there to push the car and driver to the limit to try to be as fast as possible. My experience of this was limited to say the least and the opening series of stages would be about firstly me testing my own ability and then about seeing what the car could do.
One of the first things I had to get used to was driving and stopping a
car that was missing all the fancy gizmo's that we're got used to over the 20+ years since the Metro was built - no fancy electronic differentials... no ABS... no power steering. An immediate feature was the way the car behaved under braking and acceleration - the car got sideways very easily when I hit the brakes and started to turn into the corner but it generally felt like it was controlled when I hit the accelerator. Coming out of the corners was a different matter, the car had the power but just was not able to put it down with the wheels spinning hopelessly before gripping and slingshotting me out of the corner.With such a tight, twisty track and only the one long straight, the stages were challenging for both myself as I threw the car into and (usually) around the corner and for Clive as a navigator, especially on the early stages that featured multiple splits.
After a couple of exciting, fast stages in the dry to get the adrenalin flowing, the weather decided to take a hand as we headed to stage 3 when the heavens opened! With standing water on the track and my demister deciding to stop working, this quickly proved to be my worst stage in the rally. Coming out of a tight right hander into a quick left/right series of turns, the car got unbalanced and, when the front end suddenly gripped the read end pivoted around throwing me off the track. This was followed a few corners later with a second spin as I tried to get the power on too soon coming out of a K left... round and round I went again onto the grass.
The wet weather and track continued on and off for the next three stages and, after losing the car twice so close together, I had decided to take a more conservative approach. This was reflected in my stage times which were the slower than anybody else's on stages 3/4/5. Looking back at this is a little disappointing in one respect as I was reasonably competitive with the tail end cars on the opening stages and, as the track dried out, my times were again there or there abouts - far from being a front runner but not the slowest either!
My final position was 39th - last of the running cars, with 10 cars that had dropped out. I feel I could have finished higher if I'd not spun on stage 3 and maybe I could have pushed a bit harder but I wasn't willing to trash my car on my first rally! The car was very slippery when conditions were wet and after going past the final flying finish the car flicked horribly and I nearly ended up in the barriers... not the ending I would have wanted!
Put into perspective, I gained experience in driving in conditions which tend to be the norm in the UK and also highlighted a couple of places where I might need to look at improving with regards to the car - an LSD would definitely help me coming out of the corners, as would some decent tyres as in the wet I couldn't get any traction at all . My times were not the fastest but neither were they the slowest on all stages and I finished the rally, which was my primary objective and also got to push myself and get the experience of driving a rally stage.
Mant thnks to Rob Lees: rob@roblees.freeserve.co.uk for use of the photographs!
