Long Time

After not posting for nearly a month now i thought i best update things.

First of all ill start with the Dukeries. Well what an strande and difficult event it was. We set off on Friday afternoon in torential rain, and as we arrived at Southwell racecourse we noticed that the surrounding fields were very sodden and muddy. It didnt cross my mind on how bad thing were until we got to signing on and we were handed an ammendment stating that stage 5 had been cnacelled due to flooding and that were going to have a longer service.

The morning of the event, was a bitter morning with a little drizzle, and didnt put the best of starts on the rally. As we arrived at the race course, we noticed alot of cars in one field instead of being spread out on to the hard standing, our suspicions were comfirmed as we saw that the race course was under water and that there was very little space that was still hard standing.

We started the 1st stage very steadily as it was Ians 2nd ever event, first on gravel and 1st on notes. He slowly increased his pace over the 1st stage and turned into the Ian i had met at swinderby, very quick, committed and fluent. we set a fairly respectable time on the first stage. But it was on the second stage that we really got going, although we had a few woes when we could hear the rear suspension knocking hard we managed to keep the hammer down and get a good time through the stage. With having no road section between stages 2 and 3 we couldnt check the rear suspension, we then took the decision to back off slightly but not enough to loose much time.

After looking at the time sheets after stage 3, we noticed we had actually pulled 15 seconds out of the more experienced and quicker crews around us. After stage 3 we had a chance to check the rear suspension, and we noticed a bolt was coming loose, but with little time we couldnt repair it and decided to continue with caution. Stage 4 was tighter and twistier than the 3 previous stages. We realised this when we cut a tight HRP R too tight and went onto two wheels which meant we couldnt make it around the hairpin and had to reverse. The rest of the stage passed without problem.

At service we managed to repair the suspension and re-new all our confidence.

Stage 6, was the longest of the rally (stage 2 and 3 joined) and was very rutted due to the previous use. We discovered how bad the ruts were when we hit a bad rut at about 80mph, launching the rear into the air and making the car unstable, we then crossed over the ruts (were we previously turned Right) and the car jumped again and landed in the grass at the side of the road, but with Ians calmness he mange to recover it with very few seconds lost.

The real dramas started after stage 6 and on the way to stage 7. As we pulled up to a set of traffic lights, the car juddered, then as we went to set off we could not select a gear. As we were tight on time the andernaline started to pump, we managed to direct the chase to us, and with some fetteling (thanks Paul) we manged to get some gears, but as we had shattered one clutch plate, we could not stop (if possible) as we would dmage the car more getting going.

As we had lost time fixing the car, we were running last car on the road and therefore with slower cars infront of us. After receaving a push start on ss7 startline, we got going well into the stage and passing another car and managing to end the stage.

The road secyion after this stage was awfully nerve racking as we were unsure if the car would last and with more noises starting to come from the engine we were very relieved to get to the finish.

DUKERIES PREVIEW

Seventeen year old Joe Cruttenden will partner Ian Bainbridge for the second time in the Dukeries Rally this weekend. After their somewhat memorable debut together, this will be the first time they have competed together in the forests and is also the first time Ian has competed in the woods himself. Joe said;

"We plan to take it steady over the first couple of stages to get usedto the conditions and then hopefully build up the pace over the finalstages"

The crew predict it will be a big learning curve and aim to reach the finish of the event with no incidents.

Picture courtesy of James Redman Iamges

And report written by Jon Jackson