Jack Frost Stages, Croft Racing Circuit - 13.1.2008

Virtually exactly one year to the day since our last outing the 2007 Jack Frost Stages a report for which never got written in disgust at yet another engine failure we were back again to Croft for the 2008 running of this event.

Having spent the previous Saturday at Dave Walker's rolling road to have the engine mapped again following the addition of a Dave Andrew's head, new cams and new 45mm Jenvey throttle bodies we were quietly optimistic at our prospects. Croft is a God forsaken place and especially so at 6am on a Sunday morning however scrutineering and signing on formalities completed we walked the course to see what Mr Wright and his Darlington and DMC crew had in store for us.

The second bend in was horrendously tight. For those of you who know Croft it was through the circuit access gate at the end of the spectator banking and looked impossibly tight how you would get a Little Tykes push along car through was a puzzle never mind a full size motor!

For a change it was wet, well we would not be at Croft if it was anything else and we set off into SS1 with a full set of Pirelli's finest wet weather boots. The 2nd corner proved to be as tight as it looked and we hit the NSR wheel and arch on the gatepost with a stout thump, unbeknown to us this had bent the rear axle and the fun was to start on the very next corner when a lurid 360 degree spin ensued only just missing backing into the armco.

The fun continued with a massive spin at the kink before Sunny In and a spin at Tower which saw us hit a pile of wagon tyres hard enough to puncture the radiator when the bumper insert was pushed back into it. Not wanting to destroy another engine we decided to pull off early after only one lap and save the engine but incur a 10 minute maximum penalty, not good bog last after SS1!

With only 40 minutes between SS1 and SS2 we were hard pushed to repair all the damage. However we lined up for another go after making a few suspension tweaks and changing the tyres without penalty and bang on time. Only one big spin this time and we stopped the clocks with an unimpressive 5:31, for 56th fastest time!

A few more repairs were made between SS2 and SS3 and Martin attempted to dial out the horrendous oversteer we were experiencing. This gave us 31st fastest time on SS3 but now it was under-steering like hell but at least we had moved up to the heady heights of 81st place overall.

SS4 was better. A few more tweaks to the suspension meant we had a car that was at least predictable in it's handling and 12th fastest time was a vast improvement.

SS5 through SS8 continued without much incident bar another couple of spins and as a result we finished an uncharacteristic 60th overall and 15th in class which bearing in mind 2 years ago saw us 2nd overall and 1st in class is a bit of a backward step!!!!!!

Thanks to Terry and his crew for yet another slickly run event although I'm not sure about that "BLOODY" gatepost. Back in the garage after a quick measure the rear axle is out of true and must have been the main contributory factor to the unpredictable and downright scary oversteer. Just 4 weeks to put it right and we're out on the North West Stages. See you there.

Andy Ward

Christmas Stages, Croft Racing Circuit - 30.12.2006

Another rally season started at Croft on Saturday 30th December but our run of lousy bad luck hasn't altered. With a band new engine and gearbox and the overheating problem now well and truly solved we had high hopes for round one of the 2007 Tyrespot North of England Tarmac Rally Championship but yet again unforeseen mechanical failure robbed us of a potentially excellent result.

Very wet weather greeted us for the 8 stage, 40 mile Christmas Stages and wets were definitely the order of the day, we set off into SS1 at 9.25 and stopped the clocks with only one minor tank slapper on a 5.35. Back in the service area Martin noticed that the battery light was not coming on when the keys were turned and a quick check with the volt meter on the battery showed the alternator was delivering no charge back to the battery. A quick run round the pits found us a battery charger thanks to Barry Lindsey and we put the battery on charge until the very last second before we were due at STC 2. Martin now spending more time watching the road rather than the gauges set a time 11 seconds quicker for a 5.24 with no dramas to speak of.

Battery back on charge prior to SS3 we checked the wiring over but we were unfortunately confident the alternator had given up the ghost. SS3 involved using the circuit pit lane in the wrong direction and we clipped the chicane damaging the NSF wing, however the worst moment was braking for the first chicane out from the start when it looked like we were about to hit a fence post only narrowly missing it and hitting a bale head on instead, very lucky. SS4 went with no further dramas and a quick check of the results at the half way point showed us in 11th place overall, 1st in class and 1st two wheel drive car after a fleet of much more powerful 4X4 turbo cars.

Then it all went terribly wrong. Waiting for the start of SS5 the engine would not restart under its own power and the car had to be bump started. As we drove the stage the problem got worse as Martin desperately tried to keep the engine running as it tried to die under braking on every occasion. As we turned off towards the finish at the last split the engine died for good and we coasted to a halt with only half a mile to go. Martin decided he wasn't going to be beaten and legged it back to the pits for the 'power pack'. Once clipped to the battery the engine burst back into life but obviously the bonnet wouldn't shut and the inevitable happened the bonnet flew up and smashed the windscreen (again!) as we tried to complete the stage.

The scrutineer would only let us restart if we wore safety goggles and put helicopter tape over the worst cracks in the screen, this we dutifully did, but the visibility in the rain was appalling and after on a mile or so we took the decision to pull off the stage before we crashed and go home the engine dying for good as we crossed the flying finish of SS6. Another Christmas Stages washout.

Anyway we are now refitting a heated screen and acquiring two alternators so we have a spare in future and we need to put that event behind us and look forward to the first rally of 2007, the Jack Frost Stages at the same venue in a fortnight's time. Thanks to Chris, Matthew, Robert, Daniel, William and Mandy for servicing and putting up with yet another crisis and to Jenny and Craig from Ponds Forge ISC for trailing up in the lousy weather to watch and support, pity we couldn't achieve the result that the half way point times looked to promise.

Tour of Mull 2006

As a one off guest appearance, as the ZR was temporarily out of action, I was invited in early October, to co-drive 7 times Mull entrant Mike Curry around the island in his Peugeot 205 Gti on the 20th anniversary of him first attempting the event. This was an offer I could not refuse as I had spectated on the island many times and Martin and myself had intended to have a go at this event for the last couple of years only for major mechanical failure close to entry date scuppering our intentions.

Mike first did the event in 1986 in a Hillman Imp but unfortunately went off on the Calgary Bay Stage, he has since campaigned a Clan Crusader on three occasions and his Peugeot on three further occasions achieving his best ever finish of 64th overall in 2004. Due to house moving and etc, Mike had not competed since last year's Tour of Mull and therefore had said to the organisers he did not mind running last on the road if necessary as long as he got a start on what could be potentially his last ever rally. Well he got his wish and we were seeded at car 159 with only the course opening car behind us!

We spend Monday through Wednesday of the event recceing the island in my Alhambra MPV which sat so high gives you a totally wrong perspective of the road, but Mike had previously recce'd the event in a Discovery and then run the Clan, talk about the sublime to the ridiculous. You really need to recce the event in a road-going version of your rally car but that just adds even more expense when you are entering on a shoe string budget.

A few minor alterations to the notes made I then limbered up for the event of the week at the Isle of Mull Hotel in Craignure - The Tunnocks chocolate teacake eating competition! An excellent, if I do say so myself, 2nd overall was achieved at my first attempt which won me a clock, a mug and a bobble hat and as I was only beaten by 1 i.e. 21 to 22 to the winner in the 4 minutes allowed I've got to go back and see if I can win this one next year. A couple of large whiskeys before hand at the farm we were staying at couldn't have helped so must stick to a strict training regime next year ................... maybe?

We sailed through noise, scrutineering at the Tobermoray distillery and documentation on Friday and went off back to our digs to await our start time of 10.30 pm. the first car having left the ramp 2.5 hours earlier!!! Well there were a few spectators left mostly piss*d but we were off. SS1 was Mishnish Lochs from Tobermoray to Dervaig 6.55 miles of tortuous tarmac to get things under way. When we arrived at the stage start there was a delay due to another piss*d up spectator riding his bike down the stage. I do think that in order to sort out this yearly problem of drunken spectators on SS1, they should move the first stage away from Tobermoray so the p*ss-heads can't walk the 0.48 of a mile up from the town centre and cause trouble, just a thought.

SS1 went okay but we only just beat the target time by 3 seconds. SS2 was much longer taking us from the bottom of the hill road to Torlosk then down Loch Tuath for 14.46 miles. We caught a 1600 Ford Puma at the 8 mile point on this stage who quickly got out of our way, thanks lads and then headed off to service at Craignure before the two horrible 2.84 mile runs of Ardtun at the bottom end of the island. In my opinion these two should be scrapped, with the run back to Craignure from Salen, then service and then a hour down to these two stages you spend 2 hours in the middle of the night doing nothing and then you get two consecutive runs at a very slippery, gravel strewn stage that does nothing for the event, ask Dougi Hall!!!

We then did the 4.63 mile of Loch Scridain stage followed by the 8.38 mile of Gribun. This later stage has the best pace note call of the rally after some comedian had cemented an 18 inch high concrete gnome to the top of the sea wall to make the call !!R6/C at gnome, (only on Mull eh?). These two stage went okay but having had no results we had no idea whether we were last or 60th? We then arrived at the start of SS7 Calgary Bay clockwise but due to an incident on the stage we were held in limbo for over an hour which allowed us to play the 'Guess what sort of car was off at the bend on Gribun with the other car parked on top of it game'! with other stranded competitors. It later turned out to be a 106, damaged or what?

We finally ended up running Calgary non-competitive as the organisers were fast approaching the end of the road closing order and there were still in the order of 30 cars to go through. This then took us to SS8, Mishnish 2, but this time Dervaig to Tobermoray to end the nights activities. I have to admit here to being utterly knackered with the long delay at the start of Calgary not helping matters and my pace note calling on this one was not good, telling Mike most of the time where he had been not where he was going. Anyway we finished the first night in 88th place 62 places up on our seeding and without any damage.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny for the start of SS9 10.99 miles of Loch Tuath again, I do like this stage and we set a reasonable pace, however the crew of the Budget Rally Car Hire Impreza had had a big one over a double cautioned bump L2 and had rolled it into a ball of scrap, necessitating the use of the air ambulance for the crew.

 We then had two repeat runs of a truncated Calgary Bay stage running anti-clockwise starting from the toilet block by the beach. The steps on the fast straight on this stage have become notorious for accidents and Peter Jackson lost it here rolling his MK2 several times to create a pick up truck version along with another white MK2 who had had a similar off.

The next stage was Mishnish 3, Mike setting a time 44 seconds faster in day light than the previous night and this time I was spot on with the notes.

We then had a short service in Tobermoray before heading out down to do Gribun and Loch Scridain again but this time running north to south. When we arrived there was a huge queue of cars, as due to previous accidents there was no ambulance cover and eventually the organisers had no choice but to cancel these two stages. We all got turned around which meant we could not visit the last MTC of the day. This caused some fun later than evening with 35 competitors, including us, being text'd to say we were all OTL and had to report to pre-Saturday night trophy rally scrutineering. A phone call to Deputy Clerk of Course, Alan Whittaker soon put that right and we were given a new start time of 22.06 now being 66th overall.

The first stage of the night, SS15, was the longest of the event at 21.94 miles and 28 pages of notes to take us the full length of Loch Tuath and the whole way round Calgary Bay clockwise to the bottom of the hill road. This stage went on forever and with one or two pace note miss calls, the syncros crunching every time Mike changed down from 3rd to 2nd and a progressively worsening outer CV joint that made horrendous noises under acceleration and braking we set a time of 27.33. We then repeated Mishnish again to set Mike's fastest time in darkness over this stage before heading for service in 57th place overall.

After service we repeated Loch Scridain and Gribun without incident and so we came to the last stage of the event, the full Hill Road, Torlosk to Dervaig followed by the Glen Aros Road to give 14.29 miles. At this point we took the decision that a finish was now a priority as it would be stupid to break the ever worsening OSF driveshaft on the last stage, throwing away all the hard work of the last two days.

We cruised over the stage in a time of 16.48 losing 4 places to finish 61st overall and Mike's best ever result. The feeling of elation to reach the last control outside Aros Hall in Tobermoray and collecting the finishers award was fantastic, competitors all shaking each others hands on a job well done just to complete the event. Got to do this again in the MG, the bug has now bitten.

Many thanks to Mike and Lindsay for inviting me to do the event, Dave for servicing and always being there at the right moment, David and Chris for keeping me fed on my frequent visits down to the Sheilings where they were staying. All the marshals who remained friendly and chatty even at 4 o clock in the morning, the organisers for a very slick and well run event, Chris again for being my teacake un-wrapper and service crew at the teacake eating contest, Glyn and Gaynor Forster for their hospitality at Kentallen Farm and Caledonian McBraine ferries, but they will never know why.

Cheers

Andy Ward

Lindisfarne Rally, Otterburn Ranges - 10.9.2006

Another miserable day of mechanical failures was all we had to show for our first foray onto the Otterburn Military Ranges since they resurfaced all the roads in 2004. The event consisted of 11 stages totalling 110 stage miles over 5 legs. Leg 1 and 2 being 4 stages each, leg 4 a single 14.5 mile stage and leg 4 and 5 being repeated runs at a massive 21.68 miles stage.

We had been seeded at car 31 just in front of the first BMW rear wheel drive challenge car as it was a round or their championship and the Peugeot 205 Challenge. Don't know what has happened to our seeding but the last two events have been crap and we seem to be going backwards despite declaring no finishes below 10th and a 2nd overall in with that lot. The seeding seemed particularly important especially with 30 second interval running even on the 21 milers.

We were determined to get a good finish as we still had a chance of taking the ANCC Tarmac Championship if we could beat Chris Platt in his Tigra and then get a good finish on The Adrian Barker Memorial Rally at Wilbarston on the 22nd October. To this end we set off on the 11.5 mile SS1 at a quick but no risk pace. The notes worked well but at around the half way point Martin noticed the engine temperature had started to climb and by the end of the stage we were once again boiling, a repeat of the Pendragon Stages fault that we were convinced we had cured. We pulled up and added some water dropping back in the field behind the first Peugeot Challenge car ar 37.

We again added water on the road section after SS2 and again after the short 2.5 mile SS3 but it wasn't looking good and we took the decision to try and save the engine by withdrawing after SS4 back at service. SS4 went without a hitch and we followed Car 37 over the last few jumps back to Redesdale Camp having taken 30 seconds out of him even with a sick engine. Helmets off we trundled back to service with the engine temperature high even on the road section. Then on the track back to the airstrip the car suddenly jumped out of 5th gear which was odd. Martin put it back in gear and we continued to service. But back in the service area all was not well, the sumpguard was covered in gear oil and we could see a large crack in the casing, instant retirement never mind the overheating problem.

At the time we were 19th overall and 3rd in class one second back from 2nd in class which wasn't bad bearing in mind we could use nothing like full revs and had coasted the last stage to get back to service.

So that is it for this year with the engine going back to Scholar for a check over and rebuild and the gearbox going back to the Midlands for the same we have a ZR pedal car for now. As small consolation it looks like we have won our class in The Tyrespot North of England Tarmac Rally Championship but what could have been. The ZR shows enormous potential finishing first 2WD and well inside the top 10 for three rallies on the trot and then without warning it kicks you in the b*llocks, we have definitely decided it's a she!!!

At least as a year end finale I am getting to do Mull as a co-driver for the first time with Mike Curry in his 205 but seeded last on the road it will be daylight before we start SS1 on Friday night! As for Martin he has been locked in a darkened, padded room with no access to any sharp objects or power tools until he forgives the car.

Andy Ward

W.A. Developments Pendragon Stages - 27.8.2006

At our third attempt we finally got a finish on this rally but what a day, mechanical problems, offs, a puncture, we had the lot but most importantly we got a good helping of much needed championship points and a lot more experience of using notes and of the venues used on this event.

No matter what you say using other peoples notes blind without a recce it is not good and there is no substitute for knowing the venues through continuously doing the event year on year. We had never seen most of Warcop or the long Lowther despite getting as far as SS5 last year and it was therefore bloody hard work to set any competitive times. I make no wonder various people have said Barry Lindsay looked very committed and Dougi Hall was making outrageous cuts, you can only do this with knowledge of the stages and that is something due to mechanical woes in previous years we were sadly lacking.

SS1 & 2  were 9 miles blasts around the ranges and we were caught on the wrong tyres. It was raining heavily in the service area and right up until the point where we could have changed tyres form the management car is was still wet but 10 miles further down the road at Warcop itself it was bone dry so we were on the back foot from the start on wets when slicks were the order of the day, at least for SS1 & 2.

It went OK if relatively slowly for half the stage until we came to a SQR R over crest and a 2R 3L complex around a portacabin. The road was extremely muddy from earlier cars cutting the corner and we slide into a fence on the mud, smashing the indicator and bending the wing. Other than that minor off we finished the first stage without further mishap but as we crossed the flying finish and pulled up at the control there was steam pouring out from under the bonnet. A quick look and we could see that the expansion tank was boiling and the water temperature gauge was up to three quarters and rising. we almost called a draw there and then but decided to carry on as the temperature gauge then began to fall.

SS2 again went OK but we were on the boil again and the tyres were now definitely on their way out. We caught up with the management car on the way to Lowther and Mike and Dave informed us that they had had it on good authority is was wet under the trees on the super special so we topped the engine up with about 2 litres of water and left the tyres alone.

They were right and we bounced and crashed our way round the short 1 mile stage twice, good for spectators but not nice to drive.

We then moved on to SS5 the long Lowther. Now this is a proper stage you can get your teeth into and apart from hitting the chicane we broke down at last year creasing the NSF wing and smashing the OSF wing mirror it went well setting a reasonably competitive time. SS6 was cancelled due to Dave Jenkinson's accident in his MK2 so after scrounging some more water from a marshal we headed back to service.

We swapped to slicks and headed back for the Warcop ranges. Again all was fine as we gained confidence in the unchecked notes until we arrived at a 5L, deceptive 6R and nearly had a major off as we involuntarily jumped the junction and almost fell into a ditch on the other side.

SS8 didn't go well with a nearside rear puncture virtually from the first corner. Left handers were fine but right handers were a nightmare and we dropped the best part of a minute and a half to our previous time over the 8.5 mile stage. Luckily Mike and Dave were waiting for us at emergency service just past the finish and we swapped tyres, filled up with water again and fuel and headed off for two reverse running of the Lowther super special without incident.

SS 11 was a reverse running of the earlier long Lowther stages and because we had lost a fair chunk of time topping up constantly with water at every opportunity we were running well down the order with much slower cars and this was on top of the baulking problems we were having due to our crap seeding. Three miles into the stage we caught a red 106 who had nowhere to move over so we lost a shedful of time travelling two millimetres behind his rear bumper.

At the start of SS12 he let us go first but we caught our 30 second man again, a black 205, but this time the driver took to the grass to get out of our way so we did not loose as much time as on the previous stage. I must say that our seeding sucked how can you put your last 5 best results in, none of which were less than 10th overall and one was a 2nd overall and get a seeding of 40th??? It made it dangerous catching so many slower cars.

SS13 and we had another off going straight on into a swamp at a 3R 5L and losing about a minute, many thanks to all the spectators that pushed us back out, with the numbers there we were obviously not the first or last but more of that later.

And finally the last stage and more of the baulking nightmare. We caught our 30 second man, a bloody great Sierra 4X4, after only two miles and thankfully he eventually fell off into the same swamp that we had gone into previously, we also caught and passed our minute man, great seeding............. NOT!!! So we made it two the end and limped back to the finish the water temperature gauge again off the scale.

25th overall and 4th in class was the reward for all our efforts but what a day, all character building and good input for next year and it has elevated Martin to 7th in the NETRC and me to 5th, with both of us now enjoying healthy Class 3 leads.

Time to put the damage right and sort the overheating problem before the Lindisfarne in 12 days time. Many thanks to Mandy, Daniel, William and Lindsay for packing up the service area and to Dave and Mike for running the management car and servicing for us all day, we certainly kept them busy.

Cheers

Andy Ward

Turnbull Trophy Rally, Albemarle Barracks

Short and not very sweet, sums this one up. A 4am start for 4 competitive miles. Due to the ever increasing power output and subsequent ability to generate heat the ZR's  had been fitted with an oil cooler along with the new Scholar 1.9 engine for what was going to be a potentially hot event, this turned out to be a big mistake.

We arrived at about 6.30am at this, new to us, venue and with noise and scrutineering out of the way without a hitch we cycled the course. What an excellent venue from fast and flowing to twisty and tight and the surface was in excellent condition not having been used for a rally since 1997. Gerry Fitzelle had brought along his ex-works MG S1600 so we had some stiff opposition for class and top FWD honours along with Franz Verbaas in his litre Astra kit car. But it was a battle that never got going as we completed lap 1 of the 3 lap stage, Martin noticed smoke pouring out from under the bonnet and immediately cut the engine coasting to a halt at the side of the stage.

A quick dive under the bonnet confirmed our fears one of the brand new oil cooler pipes had split and the ensuing oil leak had started a fire on the red hot exhaust manifold. Using the handheld the fire was quickly extinguished but a quick look at the dipstick showed no oil in the sump, could our new engine be knackered already?

We had to sit it out until the end of SS4 before we could recover the car and head for home but thankfully after by-passing the pipe back in the garage and refilling it with oil, it sounded fine, for once we might have been lucky but now we need to find out why a brand new 300 psi rated oil pipe has apparently failed and caused an almost catastrophic engine failure.

See you on the Pendragon.

Andy Ward

Parkhead Building Supplies Tarmac Stages, Ingliston

From crap meals to blown engines, this Edinburgh weekend had it all. We travelled up Friday night and arrived at the Dreghorn Junction Travel Inn at about 8 pm. The adjacent Little Chef was a convenient if not inspiring eating spot but the food was a disgrace (no salad) and Martin ended up almost throwing his meal at the Chef. "F***ing 7 quid for that crap" is a quote that will go down in the annals of history. Anyway enough of that, now to the rally!!!

Scrutineering, noise and signing on out of the way, we walked the course and were very impressed, having not done the event for 4 years, with how the organisers had set up the stage to use all the venue, with fast sections, a variety of corners (ok plenty of 90's) a big jump and a tricky set of splits to keep co-drivers on their toes to give a very challenging 5.3 miles.

We hit SS1 at 9.08 and just before the start I said to Martin think of the stage as last night's meal, just to throw some more fuel on the fire!!! We flew, only catching one car that moved out of our way a.s.a.p., thanks lads, to set a 4th fastest overall, 6.26 and first two wheel drive, behind Tom Morris's 6R4, John Marshall's Impreza and the Rintoul's brothers EVO 6, with Ricky Wheeler's Escort MK2 just 2 seconds further back. However all was not well and Martin had noticed that the engine temperature had risen to about three quarters, when it is normally rock steady at half way on the gauge.

SS2 was a bit of a nightmare, first of all we caught Ricky Wheeler's MK2 at the first merge and he would not move over, Martin almost broad-siding him twice as he struggled to stop and turn in for corners in front of us. With Wheeler out of the way at the split we caught and passed the Clio again, who again willingly moved over, however at the next corner we clipped a wagon tyre on the apex of a square right and launched the ZR up onto two wheels where is hung for what seemed an age until Martin skilfully managed to wrestle it back down onto 4 wheels. The Clio lads afterwards said it went that high they could have almost driven under us, hmmm too close for comfort me thinks!!! Martin then noticed that the engine temperature was soaring again and at the end of the stage it was in the red with steam was pouring out from under the bonnet. We had gone 3 seconds faster but thanks to be baulked, Wheeler had set a time 4 seconds faster than us and taken us for 4th overall by two seconds.

We dived under the bonnet at service and the car had lost a lot of water. To try and help the engine Martin wired the water pump to run continuously and we decided to back off and short shift the gears to keep the revs down in the hope the engine would last the day for a big helping of North of England Championship points.

SS3 saw us pass an Impreza turning in for a medium left and Martin now took the yump with just a slight lift which gave us awesome air and a reasonably soft landing, ain't Proflex brilliant!!! We also had a minor off taking a fast left slightly too fast and almost side swiped John Harland's Darrian as we regained the track Oops!

The temperature had again soared but the engine still sounded ok, so we decided to carry on. SS4 again went ok passing the same Impreza under-braking for the 90 right after the split but  having no other dramas apart form the engine temperature, it was not looking good.

SS5 was a reverse of the previous two stages but without the big yump and as we got into the main complex we saw that the Rintoul's EVO was parked up, moving us up to leading NERC contenders and taking a bit more pressure off, as Barry Lindsay the next contender was some 45 seconds further back. However it was not to be and about 4 corners from the end the engine went sick lapsing onto three cylinders and pouring clouds of ominous white smoke from the exhaust - GAME OVER.

I went and got the trailer trashing a mudguard, a marker light and my tow bar in the process when I hit a large steel gate post with it, bloody good job Martin had towed the rally car up to Edinburgh with his Passat or we would have been well kna*ckered!

Anyway on the way home we again ventured into a Little Chef (masochists or what?) but this time in Yorkshire and just to prove it can be done, we had an excellent meal (plenty of salad!!!), thanks. Also a big thanks to everyone up in Scotland for a friendly welcome, an excellent venue and a superbly run event.

The engine on first examination, back in Martin's garage, looks to have probably holed or severely damaged number one piston, so the engine will have to come out for a proper look before we decide whether or not to commit to Weeton in 8 weeks time. The fuel tank is also leaking which we cannot fathom out and this will also have to come out to find the cause, so we look like having a busy few weeks putting the car back into proper order and Martin thought we were going to get away with just painting and fitting a new front bumper.............yer right!

Andy Ward

Charterhall Stages, Scottish Borders

Charterhall is a hard venue to get right but Martin's tyre choice and suspension set up hit the nail on the head this year. Things didn't go too well Friday night and we missed scrutineering due to traffic, road accidents on the A1 and a Tom Tom sat nav that couldn't find the bloody venue, so we headed straight for the digs, a hot meal and a few beers before deciding to get up to sort out one or two things still on the car at 5am the following morning.

Full of coffee and the kids Frosties, Martin and I headed up to the venue and set up our service area in the pitch black, we then increased the ride height a further 10mm using threaded bits on the Proflex we had never used before and downloaded the wet weather engine map into the ECU. We then scrutineered and signed on before walking the first stage. Nothing we saw changed Martin's mind on the tyre choice of Dunlop forest tyres and although this now meant we had to run standard brakes to fit the 15" wheels, Martin felt that the extra traction the Dunlop's would give more than outweighed the downgrading of the brakes.

Border Ecosse Motor Club has to be congratulated for all there efforts from last year though and the stages had obviously had a lot of work on them, being swept clean of most of the large stones, the large potholes had been filled with concrete and one or two of the really rough bits had been missed out giving 55 miles over 7 stages.

We hit SS1 at 9.07am and Martin revelled in the traction and grip levels the Dunlop forest tyres afforded but we were losing time having to brake earlier and brake fade, even with Mintex competition pads, was setting in after only the first lap. However our time was reasonable for a 20th overall 6.24 and following a near miss with a concrete post we set a slightly slower 6.26 on SS2.

On SS3 approaching the 90 left before the potato pallets Martin had gone back into big brake mode and tried to stop the car in the same distance as normal but it soon became obvious we weren't going to make the corner, so a deft pull on the handbrake saw us arrive backwards, just failing to pole axe car 5 amidships as Martin set off again. However worse was to happen to a 205 further down the field and he hit the potato pallets backwards at speed which then fell on top of his car turning it instantly into a 205 GTi pick up truck.

SS4 went better, now with the dry weather map down-loaded to the ECU and the tyres swapped front to back. I finally caught up with the results after this stage as we had a 1.5 hour break for lunch before the much longer SS5 & 6 and we were down in 19th place, 2nd in class and 3rd 2WD behind Hamish Kinloch's Corolla 2 litre and Barry Clark's 1600cc Fiesta ST. However there was something definitely wrong with the times for these two competitors on SS1 along with the time for car 22 and they all looked to have been given a time 30 seconds faster than they had actually taken. I queried the time and after SS5 the results guy said all the paperwork tied up but he agreed something seemed wrong. After SS6 and before the final stage of the day it still hadn't been resolved and although we had blitzed SS6 taking 19 seconds out of the Corolla and 7 seconds out of the Fiesta we were still 4 seconds down on the class lead (Hamish Kinloch) and 6 seconds down on first 2WD (Barry Clark's Fiesta).

George Hay, the clerk of the course, went and spoke to all three competitors involve and they all finally admitted their times were wrong for SS1, instantly giving us a 26 second class lead and a 23 second lead on first 2WD, thanks for the honestly lads. This took the pressure off and we did the final 5.5 miles of SS7 fairly safe in the knowledge the class was ours and so was 1st 2WD. Having said that Martin still took a further 12 seconds out of the Corolla for good measure.

So the final result, 13th overall, 1st in class 3 and 1st 2WD, not a bad haul bearing in mind the last 4 attempts by the pair of us at Charterhall have been fairly disastrous. Many thanks to all involved, marshals, officials and especially George Hay for sorting out the timing errors before we had to banzai the last stage. See you all at Ingliston in three weeks time.

Andy Ward

North West Stages - Multi - Venue Blackpool

We started the North West Stages with a plan that no matter what, we were going for a good finish to try and claw back some of the points we lost with the Christmas Stages fiasco in December, which as a result saw us both languishing in 12th place in the North of England Tarmac Championship (NETRC). To that end we were not going to be drawn into any class battles on the event as the points were more important than a pot on the event itself.

Finishing on the event would be hard enough in itself, with its new two day format, with 30 stages across 5 venues, 20 on Saturday, 4 in darkness and 10 on Sunday covering nearly 100 stage miles and 150 road miles and a maximum service time of 20 minutes at best.

We had opted to scrutineer Saturday morning to save the expense of two nights at the Travel Lodge and we had plenty of time to scrutineer, set up the service area and sort out the paperwork before we were due at MC1 down at the cenotaph in Blackpool at 11.18.

SS1 was a 3.6 mile blast along the various promenades that make up Blackpool's sea defences with plenty of chicanes, fast straights and tights hairpins. We set a 4.09 for a perfectly seeded 18th fastest time which reduced to a 4.06 on our second run at the stage.

We then set off for the first pair of Weeton Stages, mileage at this venue making up the bulk of the rally's competitive route with 6 stages there Saturday and 4 Sunday. The run through the two stages went without hitch the tyre choice of intermediates, we had gone with for the Promenade Stages, now proving to be way to soft for Weeton and they went off at about the half way point of the first stage and we struggled big time for grip throughout the second stage. I also noticed when we got the first set of results that we had been credited with a time for SS3 one minute slower than we had actually achieved and that wasn't finally put right until that evening.

SS5 and 6 now on slicks were quick blasts round the Clifton Water Works which are awesome little stages but saw the demise of one of the pre-rally favourites John Stone when he crashed his 6R4 heavily over the flying finish because of mud strewn across the last kink. This led to the cancellation of SS6 to get the rally back on time. We then moved on to a tricky pair of stages at Lytham Hall that saw very quick bits at the start and finish of the stage with a treacherously slippery bit in the middle amongst the trees. Again a softly softly approach was needed especially on the muddy parts with the car on slicks.

We then went back to service which was followed by two spectator stages around the twisty Pontins Holiday Camp chalets. Martin loved these and set top 10 times on both, the handbrake getting maximum usage to keep the MG in line. We then moved on again to good old Weeton which we completed with no dramas and then did another couple of longer stages at Clifton. Lytham followed again and we had moments on both stages with a near miss on a tree on the first of the pair when we slid wide on the mud and a half spin at the hairpin the next time round when Martin didn't judge his use of the hydraulic handbrake quite right. Two more Weeton Stages followed in darkness which put a new twist on proceedings and we finished the day with two shorter blasts along the Prom Stages in complete darkness. Our result was at the end of day one, 13th overall and 2nd in class some 1 minute 12 seconds back from Ian Curwen who was first in class in his quick Mark 2 Escort but more importantly we were on for 14 NETRC points for second overall contender behind Tim Finch in his Cossie on a day that had seen the demise of most of the rest of the championship opposition. In fact such had been the rate of attrition, that only 55 of the original 104 starters were due to restart day 2.

Sunday dawned bright and breezy with just a hint of rain in the air and for a novelty we were off to Weeton for two more 5.5 mile stages. The first of which saw us gifted the class lead when Ian Curwen hit a kerb and broke his suspension retiring on the spot. However on our second run through the stage we almost did the same stopping only the thickness of a fag paper from a kerb when we had a straight on at a 90 left moment on the loose gravel. We then did two new Lytham Hall stages which saw us have to run through liquid cow manure in the farm section that added a delightful aromas to the car by the time we got back to Pontins for two more reverse direction spectator stages, Martin setting a 3rd fastest 2.16 overall on the second of the pair, that also saw the demise of Robert Dick's Darrian with a split sump moving us up to 11th overall. A pair of stages again around Weeton followed with the Impreza in front of us expiring with engine problems giving us a top 10 placing. We completed a final two stages around Clifton and arrived back at the final control 10th overall, first two wheel drive and first in class C, not a bad result bearing in mind our stated intention of going for a finish. Which all goes to prove you cannot do a multi-venue event like you do a single venue and a bit of caution is the order of the day, only 41 car eventually being classified as finishers!!!

As a result we have moved up to 3rd overall in the championship, 2 points behind Chris Platt's Tigra but with Tim Finch claiming his 3rd maximum set of points he is looking more and more unbeatable this year. However we now lead the ANCC Championship both overall and the tarmac series so that could be something we look to concentrate more on later this year. Many thanks to all the marshals, the organisers and our service crew for some sterling work and we will be back next year all being well, meanwhile time for bed it was a bloody hard event on driver and co-driver alike and Charterhall's coming!!!

Jack Frost Stages - Croft Racing Circuit

Well another Croft and somehow it seemed all a bit anti-climatic after high hopes following last years 2nd overall, 1st in class and that was when we had a 1600 not an 1800.

Scrutineering passed okay after a minor panic over the location of my Snell 2000 sticker in my helmet which was eventually found under the lining at the rear, stupid place to put it or what, we went for a cold damp walk around SS1, to check out what Darlington Motor Club had laid on for us, paying special attention to the splits and merges...........can't think why?

It all looked pretty straight forward lacking a lot of the chicanes Northallerton had used for the Christmas Stages which would of course favour the more powerful cars with braking and nimbleness not be such a necessity and it was still very slippery underfoot.

9.18 and thirty seconds and we were off into SS1. Bloody hell no traction the wheels only stopped spinning from the start when Martin brake for the first chicane, hmmm not good. The Mitsubishi EVO 6 in front of us must have taken at least 5 seconds out of us over the first 100 yards!!! At every fast corner as Martin fed the power in the car wanted to push itself off into the barriers and at a slow 90 left in the tree bit we had a minor off, clouting a wagon tyre and stalling the engine which cost us 5 seconds or so. With no further dramas apart from power induced front wheel slides we stopped the clocks for an unremarkable 5.17, 13th overall and 3rd in class behind Richard Wormald's Astra 2.0 litre and John Deegan's Civic Type R.

At the front John Stone in his newly built 6R4 was kicking Tony Bardy's ass having already pulled out a 4 second lead.

SS2 was a repeat of SS1 and we stopped the clocks 9 seconds faster on a 5.08 for 11th fastest time which moved us up to 2nd in class but still 13th overall as John Deegan dropped back but we were passed by other competitors.

This pattern more or less repeated itself for the rest of the day with us setting 11th, 12th or 13th fastest times on each stage and no matter what we did with tyre choice or suspension set up traction continued to be an issue with horrendous wheel spin everywhere. Running at car 8 we didn't even have the fun of trying to outbrake other competitors into the chicanes as we very rarely saw any other car at all in close proximity.

However the fun really started at the front though when before SS5, an MSA scrutineer informed everyone that he would be checking for the mandatory at Croft spare wheel at the end of the stage and car 4, event leader by a country mile, John Stone got caught out with no spare along with the crews of cars 12 and 17. They continued to run under threat of exclusion and by the end of SS8, John had beat Tony Bardy far and square by 36 seconds coincidently the same margin he had beaten us by last year.

For our part we completed the event in 13th overall, dropping two places in the dark to Barry Renwick's and Barry Hogg's EVOs but we retained 2nd in class, 30 seconds behind Richard Wormald's 7th placed class 3 winning Astra and 6 seconds behind the class 2 winning Vauxhall Tigra of Chris Platt in 8th overall. The only other problem for us being a broken alternator wire which we had to fix between SS4 and 5.

But that was not the end of it and after Tony Bardy successfully protested John Stone for not carrying the mandatory spare wheel, John, David Jones and Nick Stamper were excluded from the results moving everyone up two places, us to 11th.

Not a good end to a relatively trouble free and well run, punctual event and as there were 6 other North of England crews in front of us it only gave us 9 points and 10 points respectively leaving Martin in 12th overall so far this year and me 9th in the 2006 Tyrespot North of England Tarmac Championship.

Anyway we can now look forward to the Legend Fires North West Stages having had our entry acceptance in the post on Saturday. The event starts from Blackpool Cenotaph at 12 noon on Saturday 25th February, see you there maybe?

Andy Ward

Christmas Stages Rally - Croft Racing Circuit

The Christmas Stages Rally at Croft yesterday (27.12.2005) turned out to be the most unjust event we have ever done. The tone of the event was set early on when scrutineering was scheduled for Boxing Day, which with both of us having young families went down a treat with our respective other halves who are hard enough to keep on our sides when we are doing events every other week never mind taking another day out to do scrutineering as well. We also got a crap seeding at Car 25 despite having no results declared on the entry form less than 7th overall and having come 2nd overall at Croft in January 2005 the seeding didn't make any sense, especially as after SS1 when an equally crappily seeded car 24 was 2nd overall and we were 3rd overall.

On arrival at scrutineering the fun continued when the clutch cable failed and we had to push the car through noise and scrutineering before signing on totally knackered after shoving the car the best part of half a mile!!! Back in the garage at home the offending item took 15 minutes to put right but at the time of failure was 80 miles away, you don't expect to have to take all your spares to signing on!!!

The morning of the event led to frantic phone calls between us on whether or not to take the 15" alloy wheels equipped with snow tyres and the correspondingly smaller brakes as it had snowed heavily over night at home and none of the three weather forecasts we had seen could agree on the likelihood of snow at Croft. In the end Martin put a pair in the car and we hoped we wouldn't need them.

As we travelled up the A1 the conditions actually got better with just a light dusting of snow at Croft itself which had of course frozen. However this year it was made slightly easier as the ice was white instead of black and therefore you could see it! We finally opted for Pirelli full wets and made our way to the start of SS1.

Picture courtesy of Mark Lowe

A thaw began almost immediately with sleet falling for the start of SS1, which Martin blitzed with a 6.26 to set 3rd fastest time overall, 1st in class behind Tim Finch (6.15) in his Cossie and a very quick Chris Platt in his 1600cc Vauxhall Tigra (going to have to watch you this year, mate!) on 6.24.

SS2 repeated the novel use of Croft and we set a 6.12 dropping to 5th overall and 2nd in class behind Dave Bellerby's Mk2 Escort having been baulked by Car 27 for half a lap and then having to avoid a collision between Carl Tuer's Satria and Mark Constantine's Corsa at the merge, nice pirouettes lads!

SS3 again continued Northallerton Motor Club's novel use of Croft circuit and we managed to outbrake a Cossie into one of the chicanes creasing my wing and smashing the offside wing mirror for a relatively clear run for an 8th fastest 6.16 but a further drop to 7th overall, 2nd in class, now the 4WD brigade had got their act together on the very wet and slippery surface.

Picture courtesy of Ian Hardy Photography visit www.ianhardy.net

On SS4 we set a 6th fastest 5.54 but had a two wheel moment at the old chicane when Martin clipped some wagon tyres and launched us up onto two wheels, however it elevated us back to 6th overall and 2nd in class with the top ten at the half way point being as follows.

Then the fun really started. The stage direction was reversed for SS5 and as we approached the second split on the stage I called it three times but we just didn't see it and wrong slotted down towards the flying finish. We could have tried to turn round but with the penalty of exclusion for doing so we decided better of it getting an instant 12 minute maximum for a wrong direction. I jumped out of the car after getting our time and ran back to where the split was on the stage diagram to see what had gone wrong. As I ran towards it, Chris Platt locked up and stopped dead uncertain of which way to go and then the next car through was almost arse-ended by a car going for the flying finish as he also tried to work out where the split actually was. This continued for the next 10 minutes with most crews having moments trying to spot the split.

The problem was that the split and the board marking it were actually hidden by the compound wall at the back of the pit garages and as you approached it at speed it was on you before you could turn. I then took it up with the clerk of the course who said he wasn't going to do anything about it as only we and car 9 and missed it and we were the only one's whinging about it, however he did concede to look at the warning signs to make sure it was correct.

We decided to do SS6 and continue our protest after that stage. Martin again blitzed the stage in 5.40 for 5th fastest time but following the SS5 maximum we were now 5th from last. Martin this time spoke to the clerk of the course who was adamant it was our fault and was going to do nothing about it stating that Martin should either drive slower or sort his navigator out. I spoke to the marshals at the split after SS6 and they confirmed that 4 cars had reversed back up the stage, one even doing a u-turn and at least 20 other cars had had moments deciding which way to go. The sector marshal even said he had had a discussion with the MSA safety officer in the morning about the split being unsafe but he had been ignored.

With at least 20 North of England Tarmac Rally Championship registered cars now in front of us it seemed pointless to risk the car in the continuing snow flurries and impending darkness for one lousy point so we retired and put the ZR on the trailer.

On the way home however we discovered that all times had been cancelled for all crews on SS5 and as to when the decision to do this was made no one seems to know, I rang a friend who was co-driving for someone else and even at the finish venue he didn't even know it had been cancelled. Seriously pissed off or what, if it turns out that it was because of all the maximums for reversing at the split then we need to take this further as with the stage cancelled our maximum would have been deleted and 13 points and 6th overall/2nd in class would have been coming our way instead of Jack sh*t.

Anyway damage to the car is minimal with just a crease or two in the nearside front wing and a trashed wing mirror (so nothing new there then!) so we will have to look to the Jack Frost Stages again at Croft in just over two weeks times to make amends.

Andy Ward

Footnote:

It now transpires that the stage was cancelled because Tim Finch/Paul Hughes (Car 15) who were leading the event at the time cut across the tyres at the split as they also had a moment due to arriving at the split blind. After much protesting, his co-driver noticed as a matter of course? that the judge of fact at the split had not signed on and as such his determinations were effectively null and void. Therefore the clerk of the course had no option but to cancel the stage, it is a pity no-one thought to inform all crews of that fact as this was only discovered two days later via the British Rally Forum website.

The club have also committed themselves to making improvements to this split next year if it is used again, sorry but that will be 365 days too late. We could have approached the split slower as many of you have pointed out, but when you are trying as hard as Martin does to keep a 2WD drive car mixing it with the 4WD stuff in the wet, it has to be eleven 10ths everywhere and you shouldn't have to stop and search for a split junction on a fast approach road, it ain't plot and bash now is it?

Keith A. Wood Memorial Rally Three Sisters - Perfect Seeding but Plastic Roller-skates reap the Harvest

The Keith A. Wood Memorial Rally at Three Sisters Race Circuit near Wigan yesterday was the first outing for the MG since the change of engine size and we had no idea whether an increase of 200cc would make any difference at all to the car's overall competitiveness. We knew we had our work cut out with 3 Darrians and Stuart Deeley's Lotus Europa on the entry list, collectively referred to as plastic roller-skates (due to their GRP construction and comparative weight), plus Richard Bank's WRC spec Escort Cossie, David Burn's Corsa Kit car and Brian Whiting's Fiesta Cossie and this was not even going through all the other assorted quick Escorts snapping at our heels on the entry list and now we were running in the up to 2000cc class we were already giving away a further 200cc to the opposition for good measure. However on arrival we found that at least one of our likely close rivals was in rather a different car to what we expected, Richard Banks having sold his Cossie and hired a F1000 Nissan Micra!!! Needless to say for safety reasons Richard opted to run at the back of the field instead of his seeding at Car 2 but his place was taken by car 73, Andrew Barker in an equally quick WRC spec Focus with an Impreza engine!

The track was damp for SS1 and we struggled for traction off the line even with super soft Pirelli moulded slicks to set a 2.39 for 10th overall. Another problem was that due to a slow results service we were not getting results until after a further two stages had elapsed so it was hard to work out whether or not we were losing or gaining ground and this pattern of lack of prompt stage time info continued throughout the day, at events we have done at Three Sisters in the past there has been a bang up to date leader board at the finish line which is a nice touch and very helpful.

As the day progressed problems ensued for other competitors close to us on times, with firstly Brian Whiting blowing his diff, then Bruce Edwards having an off in his Darrian after already getting a maximum due to transmission problems, Andrew Barker losing 3rd gear in his Focus and David Burns broke a front hub on his Corsa. This all served to move us up the leader board.

A change in running direction to clockwise from SS7 onwards helped our times as we were no longer having to start uphill and therefore this helped traction and we started to chip away at the times of some of the cars in front moving up to a joint 6th overall with Carwyn Ellis on times but 7th effectively as he had managed to beat us by one second on SS1. This is how it remained for the next few stages with Martin and Carwyn swapping the odd second here and there to still arrive on identical times for the start of SS9.

As we pulled for the start of SS10, the arrival control marshal let us know that SS11 and 12 would be cancelled due to the 6 pm Sunday curfew so SS10 became the last stage and we lost valuable stage mileage on an already very short event. It may be prudent in future that instead of accepting 75 entries which might do the club's bank balance a power of good they run with 60 entries and provide the promised mileage, just a thought?

Anyway after 10 stages we were still equal on times having set two consecutive 2.17's with Car 10 on SS9 and SS10 and we had to settle for 7th overall (perfect seeding) and 3rd in class due to our one second deficit on SS1. 6th overall and 2nd in class went to Carwyn Ellis's Mk2 Escort and 3rd overall and 1st in class went to John Harland's Darrian. The event again being won by Richard Dick in his very quick and very light Darrian. Not bad really well inside the top 10 and a class award at our first attempt in this engine capacity class. What was even more satisfying was that the car had run without a problem all day, had sustained absolutely no damage (nice one Martin!) and as far as we can tell is fault free as we put it to bed in the garage last night, quite a change from our last few outings (nice one ZR!).

This was probably our last event for this season as we need to earn a few quid, pay for Christmas  and get mundane stuff like the gearbox and diff checked out in readiness for next season's North of England Rally Championship opener at Croft on the 28th December, see you there!

W.A. Developments Pendragon Stages

Well yet another rally goes by and we have nothing to show for it except for a looming big bill. The MG has enormous potential but is proving to be both fragile and frustratingly unreliable at times.

This year's Pendragon Stages was again based at two sites, the Warcop Military Ranges and Lowther Park an old RAC Rally favourite from the 70's and 80's with a very tricky and bumpy super special thrown in around the neighbouring wildlife park. These two sites making up the 14 stage, 68 competitive mile event on Sunday the 28th August 2005.

SS1 was an 8.99 miler around the Warcop Ranges and we started to have fun from the start when over a big bump a drinks bottle dislodged itself from its stowage in the drivers door and started rolling about under Martin's feet!, not good especially if it got under the brake pedal. Martin eventually rescued it from under his feet and I got rid of it into my door pocket losing 40 seconds to eventual class winner Barry Lindsay in the process. Consequently we set a fairly slow time and set off round on the half mile trip back along the A66 for a repeat run.

The new pace note system we had adopted seemed to be working well until Martin, shortly after the start of SS2, tried to take a 5R over crest 10 mph too fast and we had a big off up a grass bank and back onto the road much to the surprise of a Mitsubishi EVO crew following close behind from the split, luckily there were no rocks or ruts.

We continued at a slightly slower rate for the next few corners just to make sure everything was okay and then sped up to the end without any further dramas, however the backend was kicking up high over every speed bump causing the odd moment or two so Martin decided he needed to soften the suspension at emergency service on the way to SS3 the Lowther Super Special. Our time at least for this stage was better only 8 seconds down on Lindsay and we had had an off.

A quick refuel, tweak of the suspension and a check of the tyre pressures and we were on our way. Then Chris our service crew, who was following close behind on the road, rang to say check the rear suspension as we appeared to have horrendous negative camber on the offside. At the next control we dived out to have a look and we confirmed Chris' observation, the rear axle was bent giving us about 15 degrees at least of negative camber on the offside and about 10 degrees on the nearside.

As there was nothing we could do about it, Martin struggled on around the two short super specials which were very bumpy with each bump seemingly determined to throw the MG off into the trees, not nice stages but ideal for spectators.

We the moved onto SS5 the longer 4.1 mile and old RAC Rally Lowther Stage and again we were on our own with no hope of service. The stage went okay until we reached the 3 mile mark, with Martin having to take a bit of caution over the bumps due the bent back axle, and then first the alternator warning light came on and then the power steering failed causing us to hit a big bale that made up a chicane on my side and then the engine stopped for good! We coasted onto the grass just past junction 10, surely it could not be a repeat of the Weeton nightmare especially as the engine had just had a major overhaul with special attention being paid to the bottom pulley retaining bolt.

A quick look under the bonnet confirmed the worst, it had unbolted itself again and released the cambelt drive pulley which consequently stopped the engine when the valves had hit the pistons! F***, not again!!!

There has got to be a reason for this identical failure and after being recovered by Chris from the stage once it closed we had a long discussion in the garage back at home on what the hell could have caused it. Martin thinks he knows why but his theory needs testing out during the week when we pull the engine and box out again.

As for the North of England, ANCC and ANWCC Championships this year we are probably now well stuffed especially as both Weeton in a fortnight and The Lindisfarne in 4 weeks now look doubtful. We will know better once we have had a proper look and a bit of a strip down.

Many thanks once again to our long suffering service crew, Chris and Dave, we will bring home the bacon for the team on a multi-venue one day if we can avoid bankruptcy long enough!!!

Andy Ward

Browns Rallysport Weeton Camp Stages Rally

When we eventually hang up the Nomex in a few years time and take a vote on what was the worst rally we ever did, then I am sure the 19th June 2005's, Browns Rallysport Weeton Camp Stages will be pretty high on the list. There is a saying that goes "If it can go wrong it will go wrong" and boy can we vouch for that!

The usual early morning start saw us arrive at Weeton at 6.45am and after breezing noise and scrutineering we walked the first stage in 23 degree heat even at 7.30am, it was going to be a scorcher and the inside of a hot rally car was no place to be on a warm day like this.

Seeded at Car 3 we hit the first stage at 9.01 precisely following Dave Willet's MK2 and Richard Bank's Cossie into the Stage. All went well with no dramas until we came to the square right at the top of the straight past the assault course that takes you back toward the merge for lap 2. Without warning the backend broke away and Martin was lucky to catch it on full opposite lock. The pendulum effect then took over and we shot off the road on my side into the deep grass. Just as we were about to hit a large fence post we were stopped dead by hitting an equally hard fire hydrant sign. The impact felt bad but Martin managed to reverse off and rejoin the stage losing about 30 seconds. The next couple of corners were taken with a bit of caution just to make sure the car was okay and then we picked up to full speed stopping the clocks on a unremarkable 6.24 for 14th fastest time, already 31 seconds down on the leader Dave Willet.

Back at service we surveyed the damage which was mainly cosmetic having comprehensively stuffed the offside front wing and bumper (again, but not my side for a change). A change of tyres was called for as the Michelin's we had chosen weren't heating up quick enough (cause of the off?), so we swapped to Pirelli's finest and set off for SS2. This stage went much better with no hitches apart from a minor 2 or 3 second overshoot at the hairpin near the service area and we stopped the clocks for a 4th fastest 6.03 moving us up to just inside the top 10.

SS3 was not so good and as we went round the far hairpin the front nearside tyre burst, so loud that it could be heard over the noise of the engine. Martin struggled on, which is no easy feat with a flat front tyre that got worse as it disintegrated. To preserve the car we decided to pull off after one lap and take a maximum 12 minutes for the stage as we had already taken over 6 minutes for the first lap and back at service it proved to be a very wise decision. The wheel had split in half vertically so that the back bead of the rim was rubbing against the shock and spring and had taken a chunk out of the AP calliper.

We struggled to get a jack under the car but finally managed to change the offending flat and got ready for SS4. This one went well along with SS5 & 6 and we moved back up the leader board from a pathetic 57th overall to 25th overall and around 5th in class.

The came SS7................ coming out of the complex through the far gate Martin was suddenly struggling for gears and the gear stick felt like stirring rice pudding. We suddenly had a box full of neutrals and we didn't have to say anything about what we both thought it might be. Diving out of the car it was quickly apparent that the stabiliser rod that forms part of the gear linkage had come adrift  from the gearbox. By holding this firmly whilst Martin try to select a gear we managed to get 2nd. We then limped out of the stage for another 12 minute maximum and we dropped back to 51st overall and 7th in class. Now at this point you would have thought the answer for us would have been to put it back on the trailer and go home for a BBQ, a beer and a discussion of what might have been, but no. With only 5 North of England Rally Championship registered cars there, we were still on for a handful of point especially as one other contender was having equally bad luck which put us at 4th NERC registered car and 2nd in class behind Barry Lindsey who was also having gear linkage woes stuck in 3rd gear for an entire stage.

Unfortunately SS7 also saw the demise of friend Mike Curry and my daughter, Liz, on her first ever rally in his 205 GTi whilst they were holding onto a promising 18th overall. The GpA nearside bottom wishbone snapping as they approached a square right leaving the car as a unintentional chicane until the marshals managed to recover it to a safe position before the start of SS8.

Meanwhile we had reattached the gear linkage and refit the sumpguard that was getting covered in a worrying amount of oil but as we could not see the source of the leak we set off into SS8 which along with SS9 went fine again setting top 5 overall times, which shows what could have been.

Then on SS10 as we accelerated away from a square left something snapped under the car and the engine could be felt to rock back and forth under acceleration and braking. Again we limped round the whole stage dropping about 3 minutes but stopping the clocks 3 and a half minutes short of another maximum. We dived under the car in service having to remove the sumpguard yet again to get at the broken engine stabiliser bar that attaches across from the sump to the front bulkhead and stops the engine moving about. As we fixed this it started to throw it down with rain and having not parked the car under the rally shelter, we both got piss wet through for all our efforts into the bargain.

We also had to then swap all four tyres and refuel and in all the haste one important detail got missed.

We set off into SS11 and all went well until we picked up speed along the straight that passes the assault course. At about 70mph the bonnet blew up with such a force that it not only smashed the windscreen to smithereens but almost bent it double denting the roof into the bargain. I dived out and fashioned a repair the best I could, as unlike the old Metro which you could see under the bottom edge of the bonnet and continue, with the MG you can see f**k all! The air was blue at the end of the stage, but we had been here before 3 years ago at the same venue and putting the bonnet pins back in is any easy thing to miss when you are running out of service time.

The bonnet was treated to a good dose of big hammer and made to fit in a fashion and we set off to start SS12 half expecting to be turned away on visibility grounds. Not so and we completed SS12 in a fairly quick time despite the windscreen. As we turned the hairpin into the flying finish Martin found the power steering had packed in and we naturally assumed the belt had broken confirmed a few seconds later when the alternator light came on..................if only it had been that simple.

As we got back to service Martin selected reverse and the engine stalled never to restart. A quick luck under the bonnet and we could see that the engine front pulley had come off taking the alternator/power steering belt with it and the cambelt which was visible outside of its cover. The engine crank had obviously continued to turn without the cams so no doubt when we pull it apart in a few days time we will have a head full of bent valves.

How bad can a rally get? all we have to show for Weeton was a lowly 38th overall 7th in class, 3rd NERC registered car and a big bill, that includes in no particular order - 16 bent valves?, an offside front wing, a new windscreen, a new bonnet, a new rim and an engine stabiliser bar.

As we have no chance of fixing the damage before next Sunday, Swinderby's entry got pulled on the way home, thanks John (Cope) for your understanding. The engine and box will be removed this week and stripped to assess the full engine damage. We will also take this opportunity to send the box and diff off for checking and resetting but with holidays about to intervene we have no idea at this moment when we will be rallying the MG again.

If there was ever a time we needed a headline sponsor it's now, any serious offers?

Andy Ward

Proflex Stages Report

Well what a rally of contrasts from euphoria in the morning to absolute despair in the afternoon. It doesn't get much better or worse from a co-driver's point of view than this.

The big talking point of the event was the presence of the McRae clan, out in force to support Gordon Birtwhistle and Proflex UK. Colin was to drive the zero car, his own awesome red MK2 Escort, with his dad Jimmy co-driving/driving and sharing course car duties. Car 2 in deference to the Rintoul brothers having won the event last year and therefore being Car 1, was Alistair McRae in an even more awesome and menacing looking Escort MK2.

We had been seeded at Car 11 just outside the top 10 but after SS1 we soon sorted that one out moving up to 5th overall and 1st in class by about 12 seconds from Roger Priestnall's Satria, Chris Tooze, our other main pre-event class opposition, being a non-starter in his Corsa. Stage 1 though proved to be carnage for several top contenders, we  noticed that current North of England Championship leader Keith Davison had bitten the dust with transmission failure in his Darrian, John Stone was being push back to service with a broken radiator in his 6R4 and no spares and Jim and John Rintoul were out with a holed piston in their EVO6. Other stage one casualties included Alistair McRae with gearbox woes setting an off the pace 5.42 against our 5.18 and leader after SS1 Steve Simpson's Hyundai Accent's 5.04. Rumour had it though that Colin McRae has set a stage fastest 5.01 in his Mk2 and looked bloody awesome.

SS2 also went well stopping the clocks 14 seconds faster, now that Martin had got used to the much improved gear linkage, to give us a 5.04 which increased the margin to 6th overall, gave us a comfortable 20 second class lead and we were only 2 seconds behind Stuart Deeley's Europa in 4th place. This time with Jimmy McRae driving the MK2 course car he had equalled Colin's time again on a 5.01 but Steve Simpson had up the ante and stopped the clocks on a 4.53 in his Accent WRC. We had managed to lose our only mirror, the driver's door one, on one of the many barrel chicanes and as we had forgotten to refit the interior one this was going to give us one or two surprises as the day progressed.

SS3 dispensed with the water splash and apart from creasing the nearside wing after a hefty hit on a chicane barrel, it again went well further increasing our class lead to about 30 seconds, however Stuart Deeley had finally woken up beating our stage time by 10 seconds and passing us at one point in the infield although due to the mirror problem we didn't know he was their until he was actually along side!

Then came SS4. Again all went well until as we passed the merge that allows cars on the infield section to join the outer oval just before the finish split, I was distracted by Car 13 coming on and cutting straight across the front of us. As a result I momentarily lost count of how many laps we had done. Martin thinking we had finished headed down the wrong side of the split and in towards the finish and I remember thinking thank God he has remembered what lap we are on. Wrong!, we had done a lap too few and as it was down to me as co-driver to keep tabs on the laps, it was my error.

I have to say at that point I was so pissed off I could have packed in rallying all together and ripped up my competition licence, having done more than a 100 events as co-driver that was the first incorrect route I had ever had and as the event counted for three Championships it was a very expensive mistake to make. No excuse but it was a common error, 10 other crews at least making the same mistake.

You could have cut the atmosphere in the car with a knife as we came back to service and Martin disappeared off to the results caravan to see what the damage was. After about half an hour he came up with a plan. We had been given a maximum for the stage effectively a 6 minute penalty and that had dropped us to 56th overall out of 64 runners, yes we weren't last, and 8th out of 9 runners in class. We had being beating the Sunbeam Car 42 who was currently third in class by about 30 seconds a stage prior to the cock-up and we were now over 2 minutes behind him. Martin decided that this was not an impossible gap to close over the next 4 stages as long as we went absolutely flat out. Hmmm you just knew this was going to be an exciting afternoon and after bolting on a new pair of Pirelli's on the front, we ventured back out to start SS5.

Now when Martin is on a mission the world passes in a blur and those barrels at the chicanes didn't have a hope in hell. On the limit wasn't the word for it and we stopped the clocks on a 4.55 for 4th fastest stage time. That pulled us back to within 1 minute 40 seconds of the Sunbeam moving us up to 6th in class and 53rd overall. SS6 was also mental moving us up again to 45th overall and 5th in class now 1 minute 8 seconds behind the Sunbeam. The car was also suffering my side looking like we had had a major off with the wing knackered, the indicator missing, the bumper split and the bonnet lip creased.

On it went with the relentless pursuit of a trophy and SS7 without the water splash this time was again on the absolute limit of adhesion every corner feeling like an accident waiting to happen. With one stage to go we had managed to pull back to 38th overall and 25 seconds off 3rd in class, it looked like we were going to do it.

SS8 was an absolute blinder, the out-braking manoeuvre on Car 12, an EVO6, into the chicane just before the start merge was a classic and Martin, a little less ragged this time, kept it millimetre perfect stopping the clocks on a 4.27 for our first ever overall fastest stage time, even beating Steve Simpson's Accent by 3 seconds. We also overtook the Sunbeam beating it by 1 minute 6 seconds in the end to take 3rd in class and 35th overall.

Well we got a pot not what we had hoped for but a pot all the same, presented to us by Alistair McRae no less and our first fastest stage time and it was worth chasing as that is now 5 single venue rallies on the trot where we had had trophies for class or overall. The car looks a bit worse for wear but it is all cosmetic and will be put right for Weeton in three weeks time. As far as the three Championships are concerned we have no idea at present how many ANWCC and ANCC contenders finished in front of us. But in the North of England Championship, as Both Jim Rintoul and Keith Davison non-finished and Barry Lindsey didn't enter, the damage may not be that bad.

Finally and rallying is always full of 'ifs and buts', but without the maximum and the 6 minute penalty that gave us, we would have been 5th overall and 1st in class by over a minute and a half.

Like the first and only penalty I incurred 20 years ago for booking into a control early, incorrect route is not something that I want to ever repeat, roll on Weeton where we are seeded at Car 3!

Andy Ward

Procare Stages Report

Having put right all the damage after Charterhall and made a few improvements to the MG including fitting a strut brace, a hydraulic handbrake and new front springs, our hopes were high for another good result following our last showing at Three Sisters in March.

We had received an excellent seeding as car 6 and saw our main opposition as Car 1 Ian Rowlance in his 6R4, Stuart Deeley in his Lotus Europa at Car 5, Richard Banks in his Cossie at Car 2 and Brian Whiting in his Fiesta Cosworth at Car 8. However Ian Rowlance was to be a non-starter and new serious opposition was to emerge from a reseeded car 36 in the shape Shaun Tomlinson in his EVO 6.

Scrutineering passed, we walked the tiny circuit more as a ritual than to gain any further knowledge and then went to the driver's briefing during which it absolutely pissed it down. Back in the service area we swapped over to full wets and joined the queue for SS1. We stopped the clocks with no real dramas two seconds behind Richard Bank's Cossie and 3 behind Stuart Deeley's Lotus for 3rd overall. SS2 again went with no dramas after swapping the front tyres for slicks for the rapidly drying track but on SS3 as we came round to the merge for our 2nd lap our offside rear wheel swapped paint with the Lotus's front bumper as Martin fought for position into the long bottom hairpin, close or what!

By lunchtime the track was completely dry and we were still holding onto 3rd overall, first in class in a bit of a no man's land, slowly failing back from the leading pair but not being caught from behind by the chasing pack with a good 11 seconds cushion back to Tomlinson's EVO in 4th.

The stages then swapped direction from SS7 onwards and we ran clockwise around the circuit again setting competition top 3 times and on SS8 we even set a time just one second shy of achieving our first ever fastest overall stage time. However the EVO 6 behind us had also begun a charge and by the end of SS9 had closed to within 8 seconds of us. Martin responded and on SS10 beat the EVO by 1 second to take the gap back to 9 seconds. On SS11 the EVO again beat us by 2 second to leave a gap of 7 seconds going into the last stage.

However Martin continued to push hard not wanting to relinquish our hard won 3rd overall standing and although the EVO again beat us by 3 seconds on SS12 it wasn't enough and we hung onto 3rd overall and 1st in class by a 4 second margin, our best ever Three Sisters result.

With no apparent damage to the car, we can now concentrate until the Proflex Stages on the 28th May, on making the MG even quicker for the ultra quick banked oval track that encircles the Leyland Test Track, see you there.

Andy Ward

Charterhall Stages Report

Well bringing home the bacon on this event with so many very quick four wheel drive cars entered was always going to be a mammoth task. The surface at Charterhall purports to be tarmac and the event is a round of the North of England Tarmac Championship but if anyone finds any tarmac amongst all the sheep sh*t, gravel, mud and f***ing rocks then they need to keep it and show it to the organisers so that we are all talking about the same substance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On stage one we joined the stage behind eventual class winner Iain Grubb in his 106 and despite Martin doing his utmost to pass him into the first fast corner we couldn't quite pull it off without both of us having a major accident at over 100mph, therefore we had to sit behind him and then a Mk1 Escort that pulled out in front of us on the second lap for over 9 miles of special stage. This cost us about 10 seconds and we lost the heated front screen and an indicator to stone damage following the other cars.

From then on no matter what Martin did to the suspension settings and tyre choice we just could not get the 200 bhp we have down to the ground and we had horrendous wheel spin everywhere even at three figures plus !!!!!!!!

We endured a puncture on Stage 2, various minor offs, another two wheel moment and on the final stage we were passed by an Impreza into the hairpin at the end of the main straight as we both braked on the limit from 110 mph which also finished off the windscreen, the other indicator and the front paintwork including the window pillars which now look like the car has been shot with a 12 bore shotgun!!!!!!!!!!

The damage is not good and all we had to show for all the damage was 18th overall and an award for 3rd in class behind 2 Peugeot 106's, which we cannot get our heads round how they could get their power down onto the gravel when we were struggling. Both Peugeots get used by their respective owners on forest events so perhaps the answer is in the shock absorber valving and they were both using basically forest suspension settings? This would make sense as the Proflex shocks we use originally came directly from Holland and were obviously valved for use on smooth continental tarmac events.

Other damage includes squashing the Tony Law exhaust system beyond repair with the constant stream of stones from the offside front wheel. The exhaust damage was unbelievable really and probably strangled the engine of power for several stages until we noticed it, however the car did not seem slow once it got back up to speed, it just seemed an eternity getting there as the car's engine bounced off the rev limiter in every gear with endless wheel spin.

We now have 5 weeks to put all the damage right before 3 Sisters again on the 8th of May, but we must make a positive decision as a crew to never ever do Charterhall again, the ZR was built as a tarmac racer not as an off roader, looking at the damage to many other cars incl