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!

London-Lisbon day 8

Another fantastic day on some of Europe’s best and deserted roads. The weather has been sunny and the scenery outstanding.

The rallying went particularly well with very few penalties. We had film cameraman Gary’s go-pro in the car for one section and thankfully we were almost perfect where many others got lost!

The final steep and windy section was a triumph. Very brisk driving saw only 4 seconds lost over very tough terrain.

Still 12th OA and third in class but the gaps are closer…..

London-Lisbon day 7

A shorter and easier day in the hills south of the Pyrenees in Spain. All went well with very few penalties. A great tasting menu dinner in the hotel this evening with Michael, Andrew and Mel.

We are currently 12th OA and 3rd in class.

London-Lisbon day 6

Another wonderful sunny day in the southern Pyrenees with ever more stunning scenery and quiet roads. We made a minimum of errors and came up a place to 12th OA but still 3rd in class

London-Lisbon day 5

Another fabulous day. We ran in seeded order, this normally means it’s competitive/difficult, it was! Happily we made few errors and no ‘shopping’ was done.

The roads were quiet except for the odd agricultural vehicle and farm animals. Some people saw more of the above than we did!

Epic scenery over tiny mountain passes added to the fun.

We gained a couple of places, up to 13th but still 3rd in class, but it’s close.

London-Lisbon day 4

A much longer and busier day today the went pretty well after a couple of dramas.

The longest regularity so far was scheduled for an hour with 7 timing points. Towards the start we inadvertently visited a farm, although very nice it wasn’t the correct route and we found the right way about a minute later. Fortunately the next timing point was not close do with some fleet driving and accurate navigation we caught up the time and managed a zero penalty!

Today was one of the best rallying I’ve done in recent events. We are now 15th OA and 3rd in class.

London Lisbon day 3

Another great day on the road with 6 regularities and a driving test on a kart track.

The car has had some suspension improvements that have transformed the handling and the test was quick, well, for a big car against nimble sports cars.

We had a day with minimal penalties up until the afternoon coffee stop when the penultimate regularity went wrong when I misinterpreted an instruction and we wrong slotted into a car park, this cost us 1 minute at the second control. The last regularity was a bit scruffy too. We are now 16th overall and 3rd in class.

London-Lisbon day2

A tricky day, it started with a brake problem where the fluid was leaking into the servo and causing a very long pedal. This happened overnight on the boat but the sweep team managed to loop out the servo and we were back on the road without any time loss. This unfortunately put us on the back foot and we made a bit of a mess of the first two regularities but recovered after lunch at the marvellous Lohéac Motor Museum.

The afternoon went well with only a few seconds lost. We are now 14th overall and second in class. 11 seconds cover 1st to 3rd in our class!