Ladders in the Midlands uk: RAC Rally 2010 Midland Rally Sport report

Midland Rallysport- sponsored by Hewitt Ladders Ltd

Baz Wheeler & John Pickavance

Roger Albert Clark Rally 2010-12-09

The first stage was a short blast around the showground provided a taster of the slippery conditions to come, a half spin and a stall after the handbrake stuck on we finished the stage 5^th overall in the open event. The road section to Dalby was an event in itself battling our way through 2 way traffic up a narrow lane with snow drifts either side, our remoulds worked well better than the forest tyres of several other cars as John had to get out and push them on more than one occasion. Into Dalby and the rally started proper as we lined up on the start line I flicked on the spotlights to be confronted by a blizzard, We set off trying to find the best traction and trying to find a consistent pace. We made the end of the stage the only real drama being a collision with a big pile of frozen snow due to a branch half blocking the stage.

A return to service and a quick go with the porta power soon straightened out the front wing and arch and we where off again.

Another blast round the showground without the spin this time saw us move up to 4^th before heading back to Dalby again, the hold up on the road section this time was even worse the main roads now displaying a good covering of snow too.

The second run through Dalby was even more slippery than the first no trees this time though, the car seemed to be working well in the cold conditions with low oil temperature being the only minor worry. We had consolidated our position and where now second overall.

The road section back caused more damage when we stopped to let another RS2000 pass us and he promptly ran into us.

Back to service and a check over all that was required before leaving the car in parc ferme, and heading off to Scarborough in search of our digs.

Saturday morning saw us tackle a very icy Olivers mount with another half spin at the hairpin but set a second fastest time dropping 2 seconds to Hemingway and maintaining our position. Another run of this stage and second fastest again, this time only 1 second behind the leader.

We set off on the road section to Langdale and the gearbox started making a few noises and got stuck in 4^th gear, we continued with a long wait to see if the stage would actually even run due to the state of the roads to and from the stage.

The stage ran and the conditions where really challenging with the snow really deep in places and it took major effort just to keep the car on line and out of the snow drifts, the gearbox now deteriorating rapidly I was happy just to make the end of the stage intact, even more pleased as we where still 2^nd having set a 3^rd quickest time.

We crawled back to service with the gearbox, traffic and road conditions getting worse.

We booked into service which had now been reduced to only 20 minutes, the lads did a fantastic job changing the box and we booked out with a 2 ½ minute road penalty. That’s pretty much where things took a turn for the worse, we had barely left the service area and the car cut out, we managed to go another couple of miles before the fuel pump cried enough. With no spare we thought this could be the end of our rally, until Lee managed to locate one in malton, several hours later and the pump was installed but the car still didn’t run properly, we had no choice but to set off for Carlisle on the only road still open out of Yorkshire!

Sunday dawned and we set about the car changing everything from plugs, leads, coils still no joy. As a last resort we removed the fuel tank and found it full of dirt and water, some fresh fuel and we re-scrutineered with about 2 minutes to spare. We set off for the Scottish borders relieved to be able to continue all be it now under super rally rules..

We stopped about 5 miles before the Ae stage and looked at the conditions around us, I decided on snow tyres and set off for the stage start. As we neared the start I was thinking I had made a really bad choice as there was virtually no snow. We had no option but to carry on, we set off into the stage and I started to remember what a fantastic fast and flowing stage it is climbing up the side of the valley, the remould tyres worked better than I dared to hope without the covering of snow I had expected to find, after about 6 miles we caught and passed the car in front of us, the conditions became a little changeable with black ice in places ready to catch you out, the tyres where now starting to go off resulting in us overshooting on a fast down hill left hander and becoming stuck long enough to be passed by the car we had overtaken, we managed to extricate ourselves from the scenery and caught and passed the car in front again before finishing the stage with a third fastest time.

A quick change of rear tyres and we set off for Twiglees leaving the chase car crew to rebuild the rear brakes on the Range Rover.

Twiglees proved to be our best stage setting fastest time by 6 seconds in tricky and sometimes sheet ice conditions.

Into service with no problems before tackling the very slippery Heathall stage in front of the service crews. Back to Ae for another fast stage this time dropping the pace slightly and managing a creditable 4^th. Before back to service and another run of Heathall this time in darkness and even more slippery with the temperatures dropping. Back to Twiglees again and an uneventful run netted 3^rd fastest before heading back towards Carlisle and the Newcastleton stages. We started the stage in deep snow struggling to get traction pretty early in the stage we caught the Avenger in front and the Escort in front of him too, the Escort moved to let the Avenger by as we went to go through too he pretty much ran us into the ditch and we where stuck until rescued by a Land Rover later on, we where in good company though with another 2 escorts in the same ditch causing much amusement to some of the following Belgian crews.

A hot meal and an open fire back at the cottage was a welcome sight for all of us who where now feeling tired and in need of a beer.

Monday dawned with the Kielder stages having been cancelled due to the shear amount of snow making them impassable, instead the organisers had somehow managed to set up two stages in Kershope.

The first run through proved to be very slippery but great fun and we managed 3^rd fastest without any real drama and the remoulds still working well.

We lined up for the last stage in picture postcard conditions with snow in the trees and clear blue sky, we set off I thought we would have a bit of a push to set one last quick time to finish, however this proved to almost be our final undoing with an excursion into a ditch and being lifted out by 12 blokes before finishing the last 2 ½ miles on 3 tyres having finally managed to kill one of my 145 remoulds. We changed the rear tyres for Dunlops at the stop line and could barely get out of the stage without going off they had so little grip.

We made it to the ceremonial finish in Carlisle City Centre to find out that we where 9^th overall and 4^th in class and had a few minutes to reflect on the rally as a whole, the moto for the rally is re-live the Memories, I would say that I spent four days doing just that.

Would I do it again? OH YES