As an introduction to rallying, this was some baptism by fire. Many thought the tests very hard - some too hard - so they withdrew from the tougher night sections, finding them very rough on the cars. And when you see some of the beautiful machinery in the car park you can understand why. The oldest car was a 1936 Alvis. The youngest….a 1967 MGBGT!

We went for it – and I remain staggered at how much abuse a 40 year old car will take and still be in (mostly) one piece at the end.

Full details of the event are on the Classic Rally Association website, with their reports and results here: http://www.classicrally.org.uk/rott2005/extra3.html

We even made the Rally Report at the end of Day 2. Sadly for all the wrong reasons:

Fellow newcomer Richard Watton was originally going to do the event with his wife Siobhan but when Michael Kunz's original drive fell through he instead became Richard's navigator - in the original plan Michael was going to be driving an Aston Martin so a James Bond theme had been planned but this would not have been quite in keeping with his new role as navigator in an MGB GT! They were last car in tonight having holed the radiator at the start of the evening.

We were last in. At the end of a towrope pulled by a LandRover. I’d braked very hard for a 90 right down to a time control and the already broken gearbox mounting had allowed the engine to rock forward and the fan had wacked the radiator. End of events for the evening. The ever optimistic Tony and Andy in the sweeper crew said we’d be ready to go in the morning. And we were. Radiator out, repaired and back in the car. We missed the morning section but caught up by lunchtime.

We had been doing very well on Day 2. We had completed all the tests and several regularities with zero penalties, which was quite an achievement. This requires so much concentration from both navigator and driver. Mike has to watch the maps, trips and times and give me a running commentary of instructions and I have to watch the road and do all I can to maintain an average speed.

Now 30mph does not sound a lot, but when you are doing it at night on very steep and windy roads with frequent junctions and time or passage controls it is very hard….And, if you go the wrong way and have to retrace your route before you can get going again, then you’re really under pressure.

The rally consisted of transit sections to get you between tests / navigation sections and regularities and you are constantly watching the clock, looking out for tricky directions – some designed to catch you out – and ensuring you are ready for the next test.

The night driving can be very hard – especially in rain (or sleet we had in one case) and on Friday nights’ regularity we were on an old army base called Warkop. The terrain consisted of tarmac, mud, shale and grass. Lots of potholes and bumps and all taken as fast as your nerve will permit. In complete darkness with no map, just a set of tulip instructions as your guide.

Night halts were pretty late for us. Friday we were having two new tyres fitted at midnight and Saturday we were in by about 10pm having had a 7am start. At the end of a long day, when you have been concentrating so hard on all that is going on, you are really tired.

These events are supposed to be testing; on man and machinery. They remain as true to the period as possible and you get to drive on stunning empty roads. We could go for an hour or more and see only the odd rally car, crossing the most desolate of landscapes from the lochs and glens of Scotland to the Derbyshire Dales, the Lake District and the North Yorkshire moors.

So, given that we lost time changing a wheel because of a puncture (and me putting the car ever so slightly in a ditch), the radiator and battery issues, our 48th place overall and 6th in class was a bit of a result.

Overall Restults - 5th Rally of the Tests

2Frank Fennell(IRL) / Kevin Savage(GB) 1962 - Mercedes Benz 300SE 0:04:41 1 1 /c6
5 Mickey Gabbett(IRL) / Michael Jackson(IRL) 1965 - Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 0:07:12 2 1 /c5
29 Bert Dolk(NL) / Jan Berkhof(NL) 1959 - Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint 0:07:13 3 1 /c7
10 Cornelius Goedegebuur(NL) / Ben Roetgerink(NL) 1964 - Jaguar Mk2 0:07:17 4 2 /c6
11 James O'Mahony(IRL) / Paddy McDonnell(IRL) 1964 - Volvo 122S 0:07:30 5 2 /c5
3 John Bateson(GB) / Mark I'Anson(GB) 1960 - MGA 1600 Roadster 0:08:00 6 2 /c7
12 Gerry Brown(GB) / Brian Johnson(GB) 1961 - Ford Zodiac 0:08:53 7 3 /c6
28 Robert Ganly(IRL) / Paul Bosdet(GB) 1965 - Volvo 122S 0:08:55 8 3 /c5
41 Kevin Haselden(GB) / David Kirkham(GB) 1967 - Mini Cooper 0:11:54 9 1 /c10
8 Charles Graves(GB) / Ron Palmer(GB) 1958 - Jaguar XK150 FHC 0:12:19 10 1 /c9

Class 11 Results - Post 1962 Cars over 1600cc

45 Howard Warren(GB) / Brian Goff(GB) 1965 - Porsche 911 0:19:32 24 1 /c11
44 Tony Rogers(GB) / Ian Chew(GB) 1967 - Triumph TR5 0:23:41 30 2 /c11
40 Patrick Batten(GB) / David Holmes(GB) 1965 - Sunbeam Rapier 0:30:05 34 3 /c11
78 Marcel Geurts(NL) / Alfons Geurts(NL) 1967 - Mercedes-Benz 280SL 0:35:22 39 4 /c11
62 Leo Schildkamp(NL) / Robert Schildkamp(NL) 1967 - Volvo 123 GT 0:38:48 41 5 /c11
84 Richard Watton(GB) / Michael Kunz(USA) 1967 - MGB GT 1:23:16 48 6 /c11
72 Stuart Tait(GB) / Fred Deeks(GB) 1968 - MGC 2:03:38 58 7 /c11
47 Barbara Morris(GB) / Sylvia McCrae(GB) 1968 - Volvo P1800S 2:04:06 59 8 /c11
31 Stephen Williams(GB) / Janice Williams(GB) 1967 - MGB GT 2:32:05 65 9 /c11
81 Ron Gee(GB) / Beryl Gee(GB) 1969 - Mercedes-Benz 280SL 2:33:07 66 10 /c11
76 Andy Jess(GB) / Richard Learner(GB) 1967 - Sunbeam Alpine Retired ~
83 John Hilberry(GB) / Moira Hilberry(GB) 1965 - MGB Retired

Pictures of the Rally are on the Tony Large website: http://www.tonylargephotographic.co.uk/ Look under Rallying, page 46