Skoda Rally Blog

Well, it’s done! I’ve done my first rally. And finished it too! 45th of 60. A quick precis is in order:

Stayed at a really nice B&B, on a working farm near Smeatharpe. Great food, great beds, everything spot on. Well recommended, except I can’t remember the name of the place! Got to Smeatharpe at 7:30am, and went straight for the noise test (just 83dB, which is way under the 100dB limit), and then scrutineering, the only problem was that there were no dust caps on the valves. But they weren’t the “race” tyres, so he didn’t worry too much. Got everything set up, signed on, got everything togther (Kev marked all the maps up), and it wasn’t too long before we set out – I wouldn’t say I was “nervous”, but I was definitely keyed up and ready to go. Got quite scared as there seemed to be very little grip on the stage – we were sliding all over the place under braking and steering was difficult, with the car understeering everywhere. However, it was first time out, and we got on OK – Kev’s directions were good and clear, and I was happy that I was driving safely, if not quickly. It was all over in a flash, despite it taking 7m26s, which was the slowest of the day! Back to service, and we found that the front tyre pressure was 45psi! Way way way too much! We put them down, and the next stage (which was the same again) was much better – the car handled better and was stable (and grippy) on the brakes, and did 6m30s, a big improvement.

I won’t babble on about the whole day, but needless to say I got overtaken by someone, and happened to be able to get out of his way. And when the stage was over, he was nice enough to come and thank me! It was good when he came past, ‘cos I could hold onto him for a bit, and see how to take chicanes – he took some liberties with ’em and I followed suit. In fact, he would be the one to overtake me all day, so I took his speed as a marker; if he didn’t catch me for a bit then I felt I was going better, although it later transpired that once was because he span(!) and once was because he was stuck in 1st – no wonder I pulled away from him.

Overall, one of the most excellent experiences of my life. Much better than any “give it a try” rally thing, or a track day. This was serious stuff – really good seeing just how fast you could go; sod everyone else, really. A great, great time. I think Kev enjoyed it, and we have a massive debt to Conrad for coming as the service crew; he didn’t have a huge amount to do, but just being there was a massive boost and really appreciated, and the things he did were great too. And he got a chance to look at a whole lot of Mk 2 escorts, which he loves. Most of the videos he took were of Mk2s! There is some footage of the Skoda in action, but it’s dead short, and really looks as if we’re taking it easy; I can assure you that we were ragging the hell out of it at the time! We’ll have to wait for the photos from the ‘official’ photographer; he’d placed himself at locations where you’d be giving the car some grief, so they should be good…..

Roll on July 31st, that’s what I think!

Well, I say roll, I don’t mean “roll”. OK? Been there, done that, not planning on repeating it….