Rally of the Tests 2019

Here we go again.. sunny Torquay is our starting point and we Finish on Sunday in Chester.

The evening prologue that determines the seeding for tomorrow starts in a couple of hours and all the maps are plotted and I’m ready to go.

This year I’m competing with my old friend Michael Kunz In his stealthy Volvo 240. We did LeJog in this unlikely rally car a couple of years ago and it’s got a lot of good Points; warm, comfortable, quiet, strong and fast enough, however, it’s quite big and not very agile on the tests.

This should be a lot of fun.

Three Castles day 3

The final day promised rain but it held off until the afternoon. The first tests on the Great Orm were fast but had some stupid reversing manoeuvres, I thought these were removed from historic rallies years ago to save transmission damage?, and a ridiculous tight three cone hairpin complex that even a mini couldn’t turn round in one manoeuvre.

The first regularity was perfect with three zeros in a row. Then the second was almost as good dropping 4 seconds over six timing points. More tests and a regularity followed and we returned very happy to Llandudno with our performance for the event.

Were were 28th overall but I was second best navigator on the event only 4 seconds behind the winner.

This event is primarily an event for fast sports cars on tests so we had no chance of a high overall position from day one. In the sake of fair competition the results need to be on class improvement to give everyone a reasonable chance of success.

However we had a great time and laughed a lot!!!

Three Castles day 2

A great day rallying!

Today was navigators day. Seven well thought out regularities and only two tests. Our performance on the regularities was excellent. 26 timing points and over a dozen zero scores. I’m very pleased. The tests were fun, one on a Kart track and one on army land, the kart track had us laughing all the way round!

We are 25th at the moment but tomorrow is a day of tests, this sadly disadvantages us as the car is a bit big and slow compared to 911s and Escorts.

There needs to be a fairer scoring system that levels the playing field.

Three Castles 2019 day 1

The first days weather was typically Welsh, Grey and damp. However the tests were fun and slippery and today’s regularities not over difficult but made challenging with quite a few oncoming cars interfering with our progress. Were are outclassed on the tests particularly as they are scored on scratch timing. We gave over a minute to our class leader in penalties but the regularities were good, including 4 zeros.

Tomorrow is the navigators day with lots of tricky sections, let’s see how it goes….

Three Castles 2019

It’s three years since I did this event and the weather is very different. Last time it was 20deg with glorious sun, this time grey and wet, very Welsh!

Scrutineering and paperwork today. Lots of ‘colouring in’ on the route book and careful notes made of the more tricky bits. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and it looks to be challenging for both driver and navigator…

A few pictures from the promenade at Llandudno, our home for the next four nights. Notice the cars seem to be getting newer but the crews older somehow?

London-Lisbon day 10

The final day, and what a tight one!

4 regularities and four tests. The second one caught us, and many others, out at an ambiguous junction. This cost 41 seconds plus the final control on the section was round a very tight turn and step up to the marshal; another 10 seconds. We had hoped to catch the Porsche in front of us and were relieved to find they too had made the same mistake!

After the regs and the first 2 tests we were 12 seconds in front of the Porsche but we knew we were likely to get 6 seconds on each on the final two with the Porsche connecting no penalties. Michael drove brilliantly and we managed to pip the Porsche to 11th place overall retaining our 3rd in class.

After 3224km, 54 regs, and 196 timing points the conclusion is that this was a very special event. Well done to all the organisers and their teams for doing such a fantastic job. I can’t wait until the next one!!!

London-Lisbon day 9

With one day to go the screws were tightened. Fast regularities with accurate navigation required all day. The morning was good with only a few seconds dropped and after lunch an eight control section over 45 mins was epic. Our progress was excellent until a very tight turn uphill to the control caught the old car out. It just wouldn’t climb the hill on cobbles, with clutch smoke pouring out we managed to get up the hill on the fourth or fifth attempt. This cost a minute that spoilt the day but I don’t think it has changed our results position.

More fantastic roads and scenery!