The original idea with this rally was to emulate the first one by going from Bordeaux to Bristol, but in the end, for various reasons, this was just not possible. But after some interested and interesting suggestions from the people who had already entered, we ended up with something that turned out to be better than the original idea. The last-ever Claret & Classics thus did not so much re-create the first rally as re-visit several places that had proved popular in the past on various events, as a sort of homage.

The choice of start venue was an example of this. On one of my rallies in the past we finished in Biarritz, and included a stay at the excellent (if HUGELY expensive) Hotel du Palais, the former summer palace of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie. "Could we possibly go back there?" several people asked me, grovelling at my feet in sackcloth and ashes and murmuring pretty-please over and over in undertones - and who was I to thwart the wishes of my competitors? Previous competitors also remembered a few years back that the rally visited a small family vineyard in the St Emilion/Lussac area where the entire village turned out for us, and where we had a long and delicious lunch out among the vines. Well, we went there again. In the Armagnac region we visited the Chateau de Ravignan, deep in the heart of the Landes, which produces that rarity nowadays, true vintage Armagnac, all from one year, while in the Cognac region too, we didn't go to the obvious, the ordinary tourist-trail big houses, interesting though they are (I'm always partial to a bit of Hennessy myself), but to a small family-run cognac and pineau house in the countryside. And finally, for the final final, what the French call the "der des ders", the "dernier des derniers", we ended up in Saumur on the Loire, once again as guests of the wine firm of Bouvet-Ladubay, for a last-ever dinner and dance in their cellars.

On the event the first day, the Practice Day, poodled around in the foothills of the Pyrenees and even thrust a brief foray into Spain, with the final control being just over the border, the day's winner being Chris and Jane Hu nt Cooke in their 1954 M.G.TF. The next two days saw the delightful situation of the winning car on both days being the oldest car on the event, the 1925 Sunbeam Super Sports of Roger and Maggie Adams, wafting a ghostly trail of Castrol R in the air behind it, and one big one in the eye for those people who say that old cars are out of their depth on events like this. And the next day saw the second oldest car winning in its turn, the 1934 Bentley of John and Margaret Ball (they went on to do even better later on; read on), proving it was no mere flash in the pan. The next day was won by the Hunt Cookes again, while the last day of all, and thus the last ever, was won by Mike and Julie Sanders in their 1958 Jaguar Mk 1 saloon, a personal delight to them because it was their first ever true daily win, and also because it meant that this had been their first ever such event where they escaped picking up even one maximum during the whole week.

Since on Deeley events awards are spread downwards so that, with the sole exception of Team Awards, everyone only ever takes the one (otherwise one person might end up with Overall and Class and a couple of Dailies or whatever, so it's clearly fairer, and nicer, to spread things out), this does mean that some daily winners didn't actually get the Daily Award because they had in fact won something better, Overall or Class or whatever. But a lot of people came away happy. The list of award winners at the last-ever "Claret & Classics" therefore reads as follows:

FIRST OVERALL: John Ball/Margaret Ball (1934 Bentley Tourer)
SECOND OVERALL: Mike Sanders/Julie Sanders (1958 Jaguar Mk 1)
FIRST IN CLASS ONE: Chris Hunt Cooke/Jane Hunt Cooke (1954 M.G.TF)
FIRST IN CLASS TWO: Gerald Westcott/Carol Westcott (1968 Austin Healey 3000)
FIRST IN CLASS THREE: Barrie Joyce/Tina Joyce (1982 Porsche 911)
DAILY WINNER PRACTICE DAY: Pete Upton/Clem Upton (1985 Jaguar XJ-S)
DAILY WINNER DAY ONE: Roger Adams/Maggie Adams (1925 Sunbeam Super Sports)
DAILY WINNER DAY TWO: Duncan Hopkinson/Kay Hopkinson (1959 Jaguar Mk 1)
DAILY WINNER DAY THREE: Karen Betts/Dave Hemingway (1990 Ferrari 348)
DAILY WINNER DAY FOUR: David Steel/Judy Steel (1965 Jaguar Mk 2)
DAILY WINNER DAY FIVE: Peter Attenburrow/Annie Attenburrow (1958 Jaguar XK150)
MIDWAY AWARD: Rob Brown/Carole Brown (1953 Jaguar XK120)
LAST OVERALL FINISHER AWARD: Jan Heftye Blehr/Elly Rouwendal (1972 Mercedes)
KNOCKOUT AWARD: Tony Arnold/Dave Hughes (1965 M.G.B)
TEAM AWARD: Duncan & Kay Hopkinson (1959 Jaguar); Mike & Julie Sanders (1958 Jaguar); Peter & Annie Attenburrow (1958 Jaguar); Linda Orme & Richard Dix (1965 M.G.B.)
and last but far from least
SPIRIT OF THE RALLY AWARD: Monica Carter (navigator 1972 M.G.B.)
especially apt as Monica had been on the first-ever C&C back in 1984.