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Brick and Steel Border Counties 21-03-2009 - Members Reports (updated 6/4/09)
The rally started in Jedburgh, and went over the border for stages either side of the A68 before service at Redesdale camp on the Otterburn army ranges.
Then a long stage in Harwood, service again, and back into Scotland for two stages in Wauchope.
It was a beautiful sunny day, actually warm in Kielder and Otterburn; how can this be?
By the way, what did you mean ''No Cut''? John Rintoul disobeying orders again. photo copyright rally-photo.com
Enthused by the ''potential top six result'' on the Snowman - denied to us after our wee slide down a banking, wiping out the culvert warning sign and resting on a tree stump two miles from the end of the rally - we''ve signed up for the Scottish Rally Championship and felt obliged to try our hand again on the Border Counties.
We did it on the cheap by arriving first thing in the morning for scrutineering. As you''d expect it we were slagged to death by Wullie, Gordon and Rab (scrutineers) who were deprived of their usual treble schnapps and brandy cocktails the night before cos they''d to get up early......
From the ceremonial start in Jed we almost fell into the trap of following the road book for stage 1....... but that applied to the National ''A'' night stages on the previous evening in a different forest !!! ''Yer man'' noticed it tho, and we safely headed for stage 3, although a few poor sods didn''t and were o.t.l. before they''d recovered.
The first stage wasn''t as i''d remembered the Border forests- instead of fast hard and cambered, they were loose pebbly and helluvva dusty.
Now I know what Loeb''s on about when he says he''s sweeping the stage - however he''d probably have beaten us wi an electric milk float pulling a couple o'' dead donkeys.
We were cautious after a few close up views of the ditches, and the ''notes'' were a bit clumsy. Davy Hughes behind us gained about twenty seconds so we let him in front of us at the next control.
On SS4 we managed a near perfect start, relieved that there would be less pressure form behind, but we tried too hard, slid wide on a left 5 a couple of miles into the stage and dropped her broadside into the ditch. Drivers side !!!!! can you believe it !!!!
Dropping down the gears as we slid into the ditch, John was gein it wellie egged on by spectators. The car bucked heaved louped and whacked off bushes at 45 degrees for about a hundred metres before we were propelled skyward and rejoined the road.......
A quick check on the brakes and steering proved ok and we gained pace, only to come across Davy Hughes Mitsubishi nose down and arse up a few corners on in a ditch.
As we progressed the stage the car was handling handling like an Aldi shopping trolley wi siezed castors. We realised that something was amiss when the smell of burning rubber filled the cab - we''d a nearside front puncture but limped out the stage.
We''d a fraught service trying to stick and cable tie the bits back on that were dangling, (I fancy shares in Pop Rivets and Cable Tie companies) but we got on with the job in hand. New harder tyres were fitted and after the 14 mile Harwood Stage we settled into a safe rythm and salvaged a worthwhile 24th overall.
Sump guard, front panel and sill surgery this month before a flee on the Granite 25th April.
JR
Finished 24th overall, 4th in class 12.
Finished 33rd overall, 2nd in class 7.
Another one-off run for me in the DC7 Vending 205, Duncan''s regular Ecosse 205 Challenge navigator was unavailable.
The wee two-wheel drives get to run in front of the big bangers on this event, so we had the benefit of roads that were not yet full of boulders and ruts, but even the nicest bits are still Kielder, plenty stones at the edges, and deep ditches.
The first stage was 7 miles in Ogre Hill, and started with a long uphill stretch to remind you that these are not powerful cars, but then you got some downhill bits to cheer you up again. A tidy run though here, towards the end there were dust clouds at all the corners so we reckoned we were catching the previous car. 66th on that stage.
A quarter of a mile down the A68, then into the Kielder Forest Drive for another 7+ miles in Redesdale. Another tidy drive, and again we were running in the previous car''s dust in the second half of the stage, but a bit of ditch-hooking left the exhaust trailing on the ground.
After the stop control we used a couple of road minutes to burn our hands tieing up the remains of the exhaust system to the axle beam, but a couple of miles before service the cable ties melted and it dropped down again.
58th after the second stage.
We had lost the back box and didn''t have a spare, but the service crew made a better job of strapping the middle bit to the axle, and off we went to to Harwood for the longest stage of the rally, just under 15 miles.
Harwood started well, after a few miles we were in the previous car''s dust again, but on the long straights it became obvious that the bog standard 160,000 mile engine was losing its enthusiasm. It stalled at a junction, spectators pushed us till it fired up and off we went again, but clearly struggling. Another 205 flew past, our car just refused to chase it, and finally seized at the next junction, 0.4 miles from the end of the stage.
Game over, please insert money.
That''s my third non-finish in a row, but if you can''t take a joke, you shouldn''t have joined.
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