Skoda Rally Blog

This weekend was an unusual one. Firstly, because I was doing a tarmac event – as a driver, other than Christmas with my sister, the first one since 2005, I think – certainly since 2006 when Rally GB took over my rallying for each year (or more to the point, my entire disposable income for the year!). And secondly because my navigator was to be my girlfriend, Tammie.

Tammie has no interest in cars whatsoever – they are a form of transport for her and nothing more. She knows nothing about motorsport, but wanted to see what it’d be like to take part in my hobby, and I thought that would be a great idea – not because I expected to “convert” her, or even that she’d particularly enjoy it, but so she’d have an idea about something that I love doing that she currently has no experience of. This is not to say that she hasn’t been supportive – she has been – but she wanted to know more about what it’s like to do a rally, and this seemed the best way to do that.

Our original plan was for the kids to come with us, and for friends to look after them and to babysit them while we were out, but the weather forecast was for rain on the Sunday which would have meant a miserable time for them, so it ended up being just Tammie and me that went, armed with Mark’s van and my pop-up tent – scrutineering was on the Saturday with the rally itself on the Sunday. After a bit of a false start, we left about 2:30, and got to Abingdon for 4:30, unloaded the car, and went through the usual stuff of noise testing and scrutineering which all went fine. We found a place in the service area (next to the Furzeland WRCmobile) and left the car there, while we went to the quiet camping area to set up as I wanted a good night’s sleep.

Pump it up!

With everything set up, we wondered about, with Tammie asking a few questions about the cars that were there, and being surprised at how much some of the cars cost, particularly in the case of the high-spec Mk2 Escorts; I guess I’ve become used to the massive price tags, but they really are a shock to anyone who hasn’t, which might say a lot about the sport. There was some entertainment put on which was OK, and we trundled off to bed at about 10…. only to find that there are some less considerate people about than you’d expect. In the “quiet camping” area, there was a massive motorhome with a Porsche sprint car behind it. And behind that – their generator, which was noisy. Carefully placed as far away from them as possible, but nearer to everyone else. Why people don’t think about it (or park in the normal camping area) I have no idea, but unfortunately the rules said “generators off at 11”, and they turned it off at about 10:50, with cheers from all around the camping area, so clearly we weren’t the only ones annoyed by it.

Sunday dawned bright, and after putting the tent and all the gear away, it was time to get into rally mode, so we went and got ‘set up’. I say set up, I mean got a tarpaulin out of the car with a few tyres to hold it down, that is the extent of the setup. I checked the tyre pressures and swapped the front tyres over as I’d put them on the wrong way round on Friday, and we were ready to go.

Ready to go.

We had an hour spare, so we went to watch the cars come through the complex by the service area, and it was manic; we saw all sorts of shenanigans including one car spinning on a hairpin giving it too much power, with a car right behind them that they almost hit, and a few cars shortcut the hairpin completely after the cones had been thrown all over the place. It was soon time to get going, so we went and got strapped in, and headed off for the first stage, and typically there was a delay, so Tammie had to go and get out to check with the arrival control marshals who said all was well. She got strapped in and we got the usual arrival procedure down, and were ready to start the stage. Off we went, the car felt nice and quick, a massive change to my usual “wait for the Skoda to get going”, and the first few corners went OK. I wasn’t 100% on my braking in the car as I’ve never had the brakes really up to temperature on tarmac, so I was fairly cautious, but they worked fine, and we headed into the concrete ‘tunnel’ before the complex and then out the other side. Unfortunately Tammie had got a bit lost, but I was OK as I’d remembered what was there from looking at the maps, and the next few corners were fine. Next up, the tight/narrow section, where later on one of the other cars was off so we’d be missing it out, but we headed into the first bomb dump, and Tammie was back in position, calling the next two corners which were a right and another right… which once we were out of, I put my foot down and the car went forward and then revved up.

No drive. Something had broken, which was a nightmare – we’d done about a mile and a half, if that. More pressingly, we were blocking a narrow section of the stage, so Tammie got out to warn the following crew while I tried to move the car, but the marshals were on the ball, and had closed the section as well as coming over to help move the car, which wasn’t an option as we then hit it into a little hill.

Dammit, we were out. Once the stage had completed we were moved to another area by the ever-friendly marshals, and then out into another area where the recovery crews were later on, and we watched SS2, while I tried to cheer up. Another expensive DNF, this time not getting going at all, really. The antics of some of the other drivers took the edge off – it was interesting seeing the different approaches people were taking to their driving and the corners as well as some impatient people knocking others out the way, etc.

The recovery crew were quick and efficient once they had an opening to get us off the stage, and soon enough we were towed back to service, so it was a case of get packed up, get the trailer and then (somehow) get the car onto the trailer (my winch is rubbish).  I needn’t have worried – as soon as the car was lined up ready to go onto the trailer (with the help of Jason Riggs from BDCC) a group of people appeared and pushed the car onto the trailer without any effort while Tammie steered it.  Most had already walked off before I had a chance to thank them, so if that was you, then thanks!  Rally people, as helpful as ever, putting a bit of a shine on an otherwise bad day.  A two hour drive home was uneventful if a bit galling as it was about 1:58 longer than we’d spent in the car, but I guess that’s rallying – if you can’t take not finishing then you probably don’t deserve to finish.  I just think it’s becoming a bit of a habit; I’ve not actually completed an event in the Ibiza.  Time for a rethink.