Skoda Rally Blog

Today has been very odd – a number of things have changed, making it quite unusual. Firstly, the scrutineering time and so on, and then preparation for the evening. And suddenly it was time to go down to Canford Arena and get going, but it was still really quiet there – a lot of people missing (including Gary Hayter – we were later to find out he’d had ECU failure earlier and spent the day sorting that out!) and it just didn’t seem “right” somehow, but we got into the car and ready to book in when…. a 15 minute delay. Apparently a spectator had fallen over and broken their leg meaning we’d have to wait while an ambulance retrieved them and the stage could go live. Which gave us a chance to adjust the harness straps, which was handy, and then off to Bournemouth. One of the demo 6R4s was broken down outside my house, so he’d made it all of 2 miles – nightmare. When we got to SS1 start queue, it was time for Burley to give Clair the engagement ring he’d picked up earlier, in front of a big crowd! Nice to see old and new faces, and give an interview for Globecast, again like a big kid, I was as ever OTT, no doubt!

And then into the stage. We’d been told it was a bit wet and sandy and it certainly was. VERY tight in the chicane coming onto the pier, and then very sandy and wet there and all the way along the seafront. The chicanes were as tight as ever, and a marshal in a high-vis jacket hiding in a shelter made it very difficult to judge one of the faster corners accurately, which was a real pain. The car wouldn’t quite ‘clear’ but went OK. Time wasn’t great – 2:01, but I didn’t bin it. Back round to the start of SS2, and then into that again. There was an Evo in front of us on the start line which put out a hideous cloud of crap when it went from the line, and we were off again! This time I got things closer to being right, which made us an extra 4 seconds, doing it in 1:57. However, a messy bit of writing from a marshal has meant we’ve been given a time of 2:17. As always, problems on SS1/2 with timing. Grrr!!!! I know marshals give their time to help, but they really should make sure they write clearly – for us it just means a bit of a target for tomorrow, but for some it might mean real issues. Anyway, at the end of SS2 I saw the Evo pulled over after the finish with steam coming out of the front, bonnet open. Oh dear.

Coming back was a bit tight for time – we needed to stop for fuel at a petrol station, and dawdling drivers elsewhere meant we could drive straight in. And leave everything for the morning – we have a 9:51 start time, so we may as well do everything then, only wheels to change anyway, and check everything over. I found out after getting home that one of the B9 cars (#92, a very quick Peugeot 106) has retired already, so there are now 4 in class, and second place is looking a possibility if we keep it together. IF.