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“I spent last weekend in the very wet and muddy conditions of Mid Wales whilst competing on "The Bulldog Rally", the last round of the Khumo National Clubman's Championship.
Due to a bit of bad luck earlier in the season I was unfortunately not in a position to win the Championship outright so decided to try and go as fast as I could to gain a few places and prove to my other competitors that I am a forced to be reckoned with. Also in the rally was a former world champion, Stig Blomqist, who I was very interested to compare times against.
Rallying is one of the few sports I know of where you can compete against the likes of Stig over the same course at the same time. His car is a new professionally built MK2 Escort as opposed to my 1976 home prepared car.
Although it was raining all day making the surface very muddy and slippery I was very surprised to find myself second fastest on the opening stage of the day. Either I had caught the four wheel drive cars asleep at the start ( there were at least four Subaru Imprezas and three Mitsubishi EVOs entered ) or my idea of driving flat out was working.
I continued attacking, thinking that with their level of grip, the four wheel drive cars would start taking time back off me and to my surprise at service 9 about halfway through the event ) I found out I was first overall by 3.4 seconds. I also found that I was only 32 seconds down on Stig Blomquist, not bad at all considering he was running on smooth tracks at the front of the field and I was on worn rutted tracks that about 150 cars had already traversed.
As I left the service area I decided to throw caution to the wind and as I had nothing to loose ( I could not win the championship) I decided to try for an outright win. This was not one of my best decisions! About halfway through the next stage I entered a sharp left-hander a bit too fast, the car drifted out onto some loose shingle which left me no grip for braking and I slipped off the edge of the track down a steep bank. The end of my rally!
I know I was setting a very good time as one of my close rivals was following one minute behind me. We timed from our accident to when he appeared and it was approximately one and a half minutes, hence I had already taken half a minute out of him, however as the old adage says" to finish first, first you have to finish" and I did not.
We had to wait in the forest for two hours till a tow truck was allowed in to pull us back onto the track, this took him about three minutes, and we then started the car and drove back to the finish venue. Luckily there was no damage to the car, only my pride in overdriving myself.
In the end I finished sixth overall and second in class in the championship. Not a very good result but luck did not seem to be on my side this year. I got the gearbox jammed in gear on the opening round and slipped off on two others (I have not done this for many years!), the other three rounds were strong results, lets hope I can get a full string of them in 2005.
The car is now due to be stripped down in the next few weeks for a winter re-build for a full attack on the championship next year.”
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“It was a long drive from Kent to the west coast of Scotland near Stranraer (eight hours non stop) but it was worth it. The weather stayed dry for most of the day which kept the stages very fast, we were flat out in fifth gear on many occasions (over 100mph) which in a twenty five year old rear wheel drive car in the forest is quite fast enough for me.
In previous years on this event I have suffered four punctures one year and last year two punctures, one that caused the wheel to break and damage the axle causing retirement. This year I tried to drive carefully through the rough sections, not going sideways, which is when you tend to get a sharp stone through the sidewall of the tyre, and it seemed to pay off. I did not get one puncture.
With the stages being so fast you need to be very brave, listen and have full confidence in what the navigator is telling you. If you back off even a little bit on a fast left or right you loose time to others. However, is very difficult not to, when travelling at speed a corner or brow can look worse to the eye than the notes are telling you, I did back off quite a few times only to regret it as soon as I got to the corner. I do not really regret it as I do this as a hobby and can not afford to reshell the car if I had a big accident. I enjoy finishing an event and bringing the car home in one piece, if I get a good result as well then this is a bonus.
Due to driving a bit steadier than usual thus trying not to pick up punctures I eventually finished the day third overall of the championship contenders and first in class. I am now lying fifth overall in the championship and first in class. If it hadn't been for the seasons first event when I got the gearbox stuck in gear I would be lying third overall and in a good position to challenge for the title in the next and last round. This however is not the case and all I can hope for is a good clean run and that some of my competitors above me have a bit of bad luck, anyone of them that does not finish means another place higher in the championship for me.
Due to the Scottish stages being quite rough with big stones littering the road I now have quite a bit of work to do on the car prior to its next outing on October 23rd, the Bulldog Rally run out of Shrewsbury. I have a radiator leak, starter motor has packed up, both silencers in the exhaust have been torn open by the rocks, stone damage to a rear wheel arch, and these are just a few of the problems I know about, once we start inspecting the car I am sure we will find a lot more!”
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“I had a good run at the weekend managing to finish second out of the championship contenders. I was 5th overall in the rally and the second two wheel drive car (the first three places were filled with a Subaru Impreza and two Mitsubishi Evos).
The weather started off wet and quite misty in the hills of South Wales which meant the stages were very slippy. As my car has in excess of 260bhp driving through the rear wheels, it meant I could not take full advantage of my power on the fast stages. I spent most of the morning fighting for grip and just spinning the wheels.
At first service in Walters Arena (one third of the way through the event) I was lying in third place for the championship and decided to put some extra cuts in the rear tyres in an attempt to gain some extra traction and therefore speed. This worked well and by the second service (two thirds of the way through the event) I was lying second overall and just 10 seconds off first.
By this time we had covered 30 stage miles spread over four stages as used by the Rally of Wales (formerly the RAC Rally). The fifth and final stage was Resolven and 15.45 miles long. I elected to use cut tyres again for this and as the day had dryed out by now decided to have a real go at the stage in an attempt to take 10 seconds off my competitor and win the event.
The stage is very fast and I stopped the clock at 15 mins 36.5 secs. An average of almost exactly 60 mph, unfortunately my rival did not have any problems and although I beat him through the stage I could only take 6.3 secs off him leaving me 3.7 seconds behind him at the end of the day.
Had the weather been good (last years event turned out to be the hottest day of the year and I won it) I am pretty sure I would have won again. My car and driving style seem to suit fast dry stages. The next event is 11th Sept in the Galloway Hills in Scotland. The stages there are certainly fast and I am hoping for good weather to help me try to put more points on the board.
Due to my results in the early part of the season the overall championship does not look too clever for me at present, although there are still two events to go and if I could get two good results and some bad luck for some of my rivals then anything is possible!”
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“The Mutiny Rally in Mid Wales on 5th June did not go according to plan! The weather was very hot and the stages very dry and fast. The first stage was a real eye opener at 14.5 miles long (approx one third of the day's mileage). I stopped the clock second fastest and only 7.5 seconds down on first. Considering that I was beaten by a local man I felt quite good and decided to push him on the next stages.
Stage two went according to my plan and I set fastest time through the stage (five miles) and in the process managed to claw back 4 valuable seconds to be lying second overall and three seconds off the lead. Then it all went wrong. On stage three, another five mile stage, I left the start line determined to take back even more time off the leader.
Unfortunately there was a nasty bump about 1 mile into the stage, I hit this and it punctured a rear tyre. I did not know this immediately and chucked the car into the next ninety right corner. Due to the puncture the car did not handle as I expected and I slid off the road stopping on a soft bank at 45 degrees. Luck was not on my side as there were no spectators present at this spot to help man handle the car back on the road and due to the angle the car was too heavy for the two of us. Thus my day was over and all I could do was to watch all the other competitors through the stage and wait for a Land Rover to pull me out.
The only saving grace to the event apart from not putting a scratch on the car was that the other two leading competitors in the championship did not finish either, however the championship is slowly slipping away from me.”
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“Scrutineering for the event was held on Friday afternoon in bright sunshine at The Royal Pavilion LLangollen. Whilst there we found out that that the Dunlop tyre van would not be available for us at our service halt the following day. After asking some of the locals what the best tyre for the event was we were advised that if it stayed dry a Dunlop 82 was the tyre, if it rained a Dunlop 85. We decided to go for one pair of the 85 and two pairs of the 82 as it was such a nice day and the forcast only said maybe light showers.
This was to be a bad decision and loose us precious seconds the next day! First thing on the Saturday the weather was fine and we were sure we had made the best tyre choice. Whilst queuing up at the start and being interviewed for Sky TV we inspected the opposition’s tyre choices and decided we had chosen well.
The first stage of the day was very muddy as we were the first cars through (the rest of the day our event was following both the national and historic championships and therefore they would clean all the mud off the track). We set second fastest time through this stage only 3 seconds down on first and were quietly confident as we headed off to the second stage of the day.
It was during the road section to the second stage that the heavens opened and it did not then stop raining for the rest of the day! We now had the wrong tyres and most of the opposition the correct choice. The second stage was the longest of the day at a bit over 13 miles. We stopped the clock at 14.23 minutes, however this was a dreaded 26seconds off fastest and only 5th fastest. With 260hp it is very difficult to get good grip in the wet and you just end up spinning the wheels all the time.
We tried to push hard on stage three and finished it second but lost another 12 seconds. As we drove through to the service area we knew there was no chance of catching the leader as we did not have the correct tyres and decided that we would drive as carefully as possible trying to avoid any punctures and just get to the finish to put points on the board.
After service there were only two stages to go and as the rain had now been coming down for at least four hours these were not only very muddy but also slippery. We finished both of these fifth fastest which at the end of the day put us third overall and first in class. Not a bad result but not as I had hoped.
This means that we are leading our and are second overall in the whole championship. This doesn’t sound too bad if it was not for the fact that the same person has now won both the opening rounds. We now have an eight week gap before the third round which takes place in Builth Wells in mid Wales on June 5th. Hopefully by then the weather will be dry and I can attack the stages hard and use all my power.”
Kall Kwik Rally 22nd February 2004 - James Potter's Report
“Unfortunately it was a bad day all round. On stage three there was a tragic accident. Car 17 a Subaru Impreza left the road flat out in fifth gear (maybe 125mph ). The driver was lucky to escape with bad bruising and a broken ankle. The navigator (his sister and mother of two) unfortunately broke her neck in the impact and died.
The rally should have been stopped at this point ( which would have suited me as I was second in the championship by 2 seconds) however the organisers decided we should carry on. None of the competitors were in the mood to carry on as we all do this as a sport for fun and when a fellow competitor gets hurt, or worse in this paticular case, we all feel the pain.
Whilst we carried on my heart was not really in it and on a tight hairpin right I came down the gearbox to select first gear and the gearbox appeared to sieze up. The gearleaver was jammed and I had no drive. I thought my rally was over and got out the car. After we pushed the car to a safe place I got in to put the handbrake on, in anger I hit the gear lever and it poped back into its normal place and I had all gears again. I carried on but had by this point lost about three minutes which at the end of the day put me right down the overall results.
I have since spoken to my gearbox man who tells me this can sometimes happen and that the gearlever goes between the selector rods of 1st and 3rd gears and gets jammed. It is the first time in six years with this gearbox that it has happened and it is unfortunate that nobody had warned me of it in the past as then I would have only lost about 5 seconds.
Apart from that the car is OK and I will have to do well on all the rest of the championship rounds as you are only allowed to drop one round out of the six. The next champioship event is 3rd April in North Wales however I am planning to compete on my local event in Kent on 14th March to shake the car down and check the gearbox out.”