It’s our first rally of the year, and what a great way to start it. At our favourite local venue, Weston Park. Will we manage to keep those newly painted wing mirrors in position?

Another early start as usual, but Pete and I were ready to take on the AGBO stages in the Rover. This would be our first outing as a pair, while Sam takes a year out. This year, we’ve decided to run on 14-inch alloys, with Hancook tyres for the tarmac events. Our start time soon arrived and we were on our way on SS1. The handling of the car was very different on the new tyres, and some playing around with tyre pressures was required. This, coupled with new discs and pads, meant that the first half of our day was all about building confidence and bedding in the new brakes. We had almost completed the first stage with both wing mirrors intact. However, my confidence was building by the time we got to the final chicane. It was very tight between the bales and the passenger side mirror exploded on our exit.

As we went through the morning stages, our times were improving and I was finding I could brake later before the chicanes. The brakes were working great and the new tyres were now warm and scrubbed in.

By SS7, the reverse direction and my preferred way to run, I was ready to push on a bit. There were a couple of sections were Pete had to calm me down and a couple of ‘moments’ were had. One moment to note, was the exit from the courtyard. We came out over the bridge and the car just started to go, but thankfully I held it together and we entered the chicane without any drama.

SS8 was cancelled, so it was on with SS9 and SS10. These last two stages include the famous watersplash, which makes for some really nice photo opportunities!

At the start of SS10, we were 8^th in class. We were happy with that considering our day was a little cautious. During the final stage I was going for one last push, and everything was going well until the last corner on this final stage. There were two fast right handers with bales on the inside and grass to the left. We came through a little too fast, clipping the grass on the last corner which sent us into a spin. Sadly, there are no spectators at this end of the stage to capture our lovely pirouette. The excursion cost us a place in the class, having lost 15 seconds, so we finished the rally 9^th in class.

This was also round one of the Heart of England Rally Championship, and we finished 3^rd in class with more entrants than last year. Pleased with that!

Pete and I have worked well as a team in the car, and add to that our wonderful service crew, John, Ade, Helena and Rob, we finished another rally!

Our next rally is only a few days away. Round two of the championship is the ‘Get it Sideways’ Stages at Down Ampney. This is another favourite venue amongst many of the championship crews, so everyone will be out to get some points.

Now, I need to wash the car and through some spanners over it!