Thoughts on the 1996 Season

Ravens Rock Rally - A second visit to Ireland, and our second visit to Waterford. Last year Ravens Rock was run in a heat wave. This year, the weather was much more Irish, i.e. scattered showers! The weather in Ireland has an amazing habit of changing just before stage starts, and Ravens Rock had some good examples of this.

Again the organisation was a shambles, which again resulted in four of the nine stages being lost. There were some bad accidents, but the organisers did not seem to know how to cope. One example that was particularly galling was when a works Nissan that was being used as a course opening car stopped in mid stage. The entire rally had to drive the stage at normal road speeds. There was absolutely no reason for the stage cancellation, apart from the works Nissan parked with plenty of room for other cars to pass. The stages were good when they ran, but we will not be rushing back for this event. The stages were very fast, which does not suit the Metro, which is more at home in the tight twisty stuff. We were relieved to finish 77th overall, 4th in class to score some championship points.

Yellow Brick Road Rally - A reluctant visit to Newcastle for an event which Sue did not enjoy two years ago. Other competitors clearly felt the same. This was the worst supported round of the series, with around 60 starters. Again though, the weather was excellent, but there was excessive use of a limited number of stages, and a lot of road miles. The Yellow Brick had also stretched to two days, which meant a very long weekend and two nights accommodation. We did have company on the journey to Newcastle, with Neil Cloughley back on the Motoring News trail again. For the Yellow Brick, Neil had a different co-driver. The hot seat had been vacated by Catherine Phillipson, and was now occupied by Debbie Waterworth.

Will all Neil's co-drivers be dark haired females? Debbie had the advantage of being single. We were not 100% convinced that all of Neil's thoughts were on the driving during the event ...

After a good start, on every long stage, the Metro started misfiring. We felt that the engine was on the way out, there was no power at high revs and a disturbing rattle from under the bonnet. We were aiming for a finish from early on in the event. In any case, the Metro was not a match for two Honda VTec's in our class. The misfire was a shame as Neil Cloughley was again competing against us, and we often met Neil on 'double lappers', with some interesting chases. Neil pipped us by just 11 seconds at the finish. We finished 40th overall and 4th in class. We looked forward to revenge on the Mewla National! After the Yellow Brick, the Metro had passed all tests with flying colours, so we were mystified about the cause of the lack of power and noise on the Yellow Brick.

Oxborrow, who had the misfortune of crashing into a Portaloo in full view of all the service crews watching the stage! Malcolm well and truly made a bog of it! A Toyota Corolla in our class also hit a huge log at around 20mph with sufficient force to move the log 10 yards. The Corolla would be a different shape again the next day!

The second day of the Mewla was traumatic. The engine misfire returned on the first long stage, but was immediately fixed this time by some emergency repairs by Dave Gough. After jamming the fan on all day, the engine never missed a beat, and we were competitive again. It goes to show that no amount of testing can simulate a competitive stage, even a rolling road. The weather went from bad to worse. Experiencing aqua-planing at 80 mph and wheel spin in 4th gear is not recommended! The weather changed from stage to stage and within each stage. With some power back under the bonnet, we enjoyed ourselves, especially as several competitors in our class suffered. One person to suffer more than most was John Price, who was caught doing an illegal recce overnight. JP was not allowed to start the second day, despite being one of the leading drivers, and sponsor of the Welsh Tarmac Championship. We were well pleased to finish 42nd overall, 3rd in class.

Gosden House / Cedar Engineering Slalom Autotest - some light relief before Wexford, competing in Graham's Vauxhall Nova. We normally compete against each other in autotests and PCT's, but this time Sue competed and Graham watched! Thanks to Jeremy White and Colin Weeks for an excellent days tests. It is a pity that more people cannot be persuaded to use their road cars on a grass autotest. It is a great way to spend a day!

Wexford Rally - A first visit to the Wexford rally, and the first new location for a rally for nearly 2 years. We had heard rave reviews of Wexford, and we were soon to find out why. Wexford is similar in format to West Cork, but the stages are much quicker. We have never been so fast so often on stages, they are seriously quick! The RAC 'Blue Book' rules do not apply in Ireland, where they have the RIAC's 'Green Book'. We averaged over 65mph on one stage. We shudder to think of the speed of the quicker cars.

For Wexford, we had the company of Roger Binyon and Christine Daniels in the MG Montego. Roger had entered the event in a TPR 4100, but this was not built in time, so the Montego was brought back into service. This time the Monty was powered by a Rover prototype touring car engine. The car sounded really mean, but unfortunately expired after a few stages with the engine management stopping.

We wish Roger better luck when the TPR eventually materialises. He is still waiting for the car to be finished.

The organisation of Wexford was as good as can be expected in Ireland. The number of spectators was amazing, and the atmosphere was excellent. The officials, even the scrutineers, are friendly. The results service was good, and the result for us was brilliant. Paul Harewood, a fellow Metro competitor, failed to finish after the engine expired. We stood no chance of catching Howard Moore in his Honda Civic, so we were happy to settle for 42nd overall and 2nd in class on the event. We were delighted to clinch 2nd in class for the Motoring News championship. Due to business commitments, Sue was unable to attempt the Tour of Mull. It was a relief to clinch the 2nd in class in the championship on Wexford. It would have been frustrating had we lost it by not being able to do the final event.