For the event, we decided to try a new brand of tyre, to see if we could stop the punctures occurring. Over the 1st few stages we took a little while to adapt to the open style of the tread and dropped a little time. But once we got acclimatised to them we were back on our usual pace and managed to take a comfortable 3rd, and got a little closer to the leaders. At one point we thought we had got 2nd, but unfortunately the crew that were in 3rd managed to over-turn a penalty against them and reclaim 2nd. Unfortunately, once again we claimed a puncture, luckily we only dropped 15 seconds as it was close to the finish, and Matt did well to drive out on it with little loss. 3rd in class and 69th O/A was the end result.
We then had a short break before the Quinton Rally, based in South Wales. In the break Matt and I decided to go to the Rallyschool in Shropshire and have a little test, this went well and gave some new confidence going into the Quinton.
On the 1st stage we dropped 4 seconds, this was partly due to catching the hanging dust of the car in front, and due to 1 little moment. On the 2nd and 3rd stages we then managed to get 9 seconds back, and take a 4 second lead in service 1. After this we lost 25 seconds on stage 4 as it started rain heavily as we sat on the start line, this put a little downer on the rally so far for us. But we kept our chins up and just attacked in the remaining 4 stages. Surprisingly, over the last 4 stages we and the car in 2nd were equal on times! But we had a 7 second deficit to 3rd in class, so on the last stage we went on a big attack, and drove the best stage of our season, managing to take 12 seconds back and thus claiming 3rd by 5 seconds, it was close! After the rally we got some great words of encouragement off World Championship co-driver, Nicky Grist! It also meant we hold a secure 2nd in Rally First and lead the Junior and Under-25 championships!
For me though, my highlight of the year so far has to be getting asked to do The Rally Isle of Man, in the International section. I was to do this with Belgian N1 champion of 2007 and 2008, Renaud Bronkart. It would the 1st time I had written my own notes, and the 1st time Renaud had used English notes! The rally consisted of 20 stages, 12 on Friday and 8 on Saturday. Unfortunately, we had to be in a class with all the 1600cc Suzuki Swifts (we were in a 1300cc Micra), luckily there was also a 1400cc MG ZR in our class, so we could compare times with them.
Unfortunately, the 1st stage was cancelled due to an accident earlier in the field, this added to tension. But once we got going, it went well. We went steady at the start to make sure Renaud understood the notes, but we soon picked the pace up as Renaud adapted excellently to the notes. Unfortunately stages 4 and 12 were also cancelled (in total 40 stage miles), but the rest of the day went well. On Saturday, it was quite wet, which unfortunately wasn’t good for us. We dropped a lot of time to the MG as they had better tyres to cope with the conditions, but we had a 10 minute lead over them as they snapped a shaft and dropped time. All was going well with 1 stage to go. It was then we started having trouble getting a gear. Then about 4 miles in, all gears went as we came out of a hairpin left. Renaud managed to, luckily, jam it into 2nd and coast it into the finish. We managed to finish the rally with 1 gear (including me pushing from a standing start) and beat the MG but 4 minutes, in a great 23rd O/A and 6th in class.
My next rally will be the Woodpecker on the 5th of September with Matt Griffin. I am also hoping to have some great news to announce very shortly!
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