Finally, the day had arrived! Our first rally of 2020. Will we finish? How will we place in our modest little Rover 214?

The car was loaded onto the trailer, and we set out on our two and a half hour journey to Grantham. We arrived at a local campsite, where we met friends who were also competing on the rally. We gave the car a once over and tucked into homemade chilly made by Helena. A good socially distanced natter preceded an early night, with our alarm clock set for a 6am wake up call.

The morning soon came round, and we were up and dressed in a flash, ready for an exciting days rallying. We made the short journey to Fulbeck airfield, and set up our service area. Running as car 53, our time to arrive at Time Control wasn’t until 10.48 so we did one final spanner check on the car.

Before I knew it, Sam my co-driver was shouting at me to get in the car, and we were on our way to Special Stage One. Sam was on the ball considering the early start, insisting that we didn’t enter time control until our designated time. Our start time was displayed, and we made our way to the start line.

This is it, the moment we’d been waiting for all year! My hand firmly holding the handbrake, clutch on the bite, and Sam counting us down on the intercom. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!

SS1 was a cautious first run. It was slippery in places, and parts of the stage were loose gravel. We managed to get round without hitting any stage furniture and returned to service with huge grins on our faces. News was coming in that some competitors had received time penalties for arriving at time control early.

SS2 was more of the same, as it was a rerun of SS1. We did pick up a little more pace, shaving 24 seconds off our previous run. I was gaining confidence with the Rover already. Once back into service, Ade made some checks to our suspension. It is really rough in places, but the little Rover seemed to be taking it in its stride. We’re currently 4 ^th in Class, and I’m happy with that.

Special Stage 3 was cancelled due to a car going off and it needing to be recovered. We were turned round from the start line and told to return to service. This unfortunately meant we were given a notional time for SS3, resulting in us dropping to 5 ^th in Class through no fault of our own. Disappointing, but that’s rallying!

We started Stage 4 determined to get our 4 ^th in class position back, and set off over this shorter stage ready to give it everything. Another stage complete, but sadly losing a few seconds when we came face on with a bail. However, on arrival into service we heard we had managed to take back 4 ^th in class. We were just three seconds in front for the battle for 4 ^th place.

The final two stages of the day were drama free, with good runs on both SS5 & SS6. We met Car 52, a 1600 Mini, on the merge on both the final stages, giving us some welcome entertainment. We couldn’t catch them on the straights, but through the chicanes we were on their tail.

Fulbeck, as a venue has to be one of my favourites on the calendar, and I didn’t think I could have so much fun in a 1400 front wheel drive car. One final drive back to service, again with huge grins on our faces. We were met by friends, three other crews, only one of which finished the event. Now to check those results.

We did it! We managed to keep 4 ^th in Class, increasing our lead by 47 seconds over the last two stages. I couldn’t be happier with that!

Our next rally is the Cotswold Stages on the 31 ^st October, at Down Ampney, a similar venue on a disused airfield. Once again, I will be taking over the Social Media accounts to bring you updates as they happen. Stay tuned!