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23/6/01 Dukeries Stages. Car 96 G. Steggles/E. Bain
By eck. We drove down to Mansfield in the rally car then back to Leeds on the
Friday night for scrutineering and then up at 6.00 to drive down again on the
Saturday! On the plus side the car is averaging 45 to the gallon at 70 mph!!
Jim and Michelle Plevey was chasing for us and Malcolm Jagger/ Steve Lancaster
servicing. The sun was shining and all was right with the world. We changed
from my road tyres to brand new forest rubber and headed out to stage 1. Into
the first corner sideways, opposite lock and wondering why there was no grip.
Held it together though. Not a bad stage except I've got to keep it in over
blind brows. Second stage was rough, very rough. I can't say enough about how
rough it was. We came out with an ominous knock from the front end. Driveshaft
I thought. Taking it easier through the other stages it seemed to go off so
when in Blooms Gorse I nailed it again. The car was flying, literally. Down
the hill into a 90 left short straight and 90 left again uphill with crests
and we hit the first one flat which had the rear of the car more airborne than
the front and the front must have been 3 foot off the track. I thought to myself
"don't let off, don't let off!" so I didn't and we hit the next the
rear was all over the place. I still kept it in and the car survived but the
knock was back. At service we found the bottom ball joint loose, the wheel bearing
loose the strut top loose the screen had cracked the brand new kevlar tank guard
was severely scuffed and holed in two places and the car needed a wash.
On the second half of the rally we went for a finish but I was now getting to
grips with the car in the forests.
There was one stage that we were taken to through a severely pot holed lane
and as we travelled along it went eerily quiet. Looking around I got the feeling
we were in a graveyard. Over the tops of some banking you could make out rusting
old shells in flat plains of dried mud. There were no birds singing and we passed
a burnt out pram rusting on the side of the track. It opened out and in front
of us was a sight to rival the best scrap yard with loads of burnt out cars
littering the landscape! I counted about 14 that I could see. I nearly got out
to see if my cossy was there. We passed under a bridge and suddenly the countryside
sprang into action again with birds singing and shrubs and trees……
Oh yes the rally. Well we finished and afterwards we decided that we had enjoyed
it although by the time we had gone through the stages were beyond belief. 51
cars retired that's 1/3 of the entry. We came in 88th and 13th in class which
isn't bad for a mediocre car and crew. The fact is we finished again through
all odds (all of them bad) and had a good day out in the sunshine and dust.
Just got to rebuild the car before the next 1 in 2 weeks time ( Armstrong Massey).
Thanks go to my service team of Malcolm Jagger and Steve Lancaster and chase
team of Jim and Michelle Plevey.
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