Primrose 2017 Review

A maze of lanes that can catch out the best.

The Primrose 2017 organised by South Hams MC had promised a good, fun night in the lanes of Devon including 10 miles of forestry. 160 miles were ahead of the crews, some of which had traveled from as far as Carmarthen, taking on some of Devon’s tightest lanes through the maze of junctions in the South Ham’s area.

For me, a new driver this weekend in the shape of double ASWMC Navigational Champion Phil Harris in his newly acquired Subaru Impreza, so the pressure was on a bit!

Times set. Cold and damp. Ready to go – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

Haldon Forest Diner was the start location, just off the A38 dual carriageway at the end of the M5, so very easy access. Everything was on site, noise, scrutineering, plenty of parking and documentation inside the diner. After catching up with some familiar faces and getting ready for the night ahead 20:45 soon came around and car 1 was leaving MTC1.

A short section took crews down the road and into the forests, following arrows (the few that were left after walkers had unfortunately trashed some of the hard work the club had been doing during the day!) and down to the plotting area. 2 Hour’s lied ahead for crews to get the route down on the map, 5 or 6 pages full of references using every road possible in the small area the event covered. As we were sat at the back of the forest the first section was a blast through the trees on the loose!

22:54 soon came around and car 1 was lined up at the control board ready to start. Long 45 left into long 30 right into slot hairpin right, 300 enter slalom right PC3 on exit. We were buzzing already! 30 right tightens into 90 right into long hairpin left, keep right of cone for the first code board. The forest went on with a good crowd of spectators at a couple points, 2 TC’s, 5 PC’s 9 RC’s later and we were out of the forest’s not having dropped any time yet! Give way left and we headed into the lanes, slot 90 left at the end of the building and I missed it… Come on Pidgeon, this wasn’t a good start! 200 90 right into 45 left into 90 right and were 3ft in the hedge… Come on Harris! We were both laughing though and wondering where the next patch of ice was going to be, but hopefully that was both of our mistakes out the way for the night!

Down to TC10 and we had missed our minute by 1 second, gutted! But hopefully cleaning the forest would put us in a good position. A loop around Waddon to crews to the bridge over the A380 for the next control.

Through Ashcombe and up the back of Milton Hill to a great little section through the trees at the old castle dyke, it was pretty tight for the Impreza to squeeze through the tree’s and around one of the hairpin’s so we took it fairly slowly to make sure we got the 4 RC’s boards in there. Long way around the mapped triangle to get the correct approach for PC 15 and down to Little Haldon for the next few controls.

Past the top of Lindridge Park and into the first white (besides the forests) of the night, 2 cautions on this one so it was going to be interesting, but we’ve got a turbo Impreza, what could go wrong! One large hold put my face and the edge of my clipboard together which temporarily disabled me talking, but just around the corner we found James How & Nic Jones (MG ZR) stuck in a small ford which was the second caution. Both soon jumped out and attached a tow strap to the front of our car and they were soon pulled out of the ford, we knew we had dropped a minute as Mark Lennox & Ian Beamond (Mk2 Escort) were behind us as we left, thankfully our minute dropped was scrapped at the end as the stricken car would have halted the rest of the rally, something nobody would want early on!

A fantastic shot of the plotting area – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

TC21 was at the end of the white just below Ideford and the end of the first section. Tim Owen & Jake Ramsden (Saxo) were ontop at this point dropping just 2 minutes with Phil Harris/Daniel Pidgeon (Impreza) second on 3 minutes, Kevin Jones & Justin Davies (Corolla) in third also on 3 minutes (furthest cleanest being the first tie decider) and Alan Frame & Shaun Layland (Corsa) in fourth also on 3 minutes. Even with their swimming lesson How/Jones were in fifth on 4 minutes with Roger Holder & Peter Barnard (Impreza) in sixth on 4 minutes as well (engine cc being the second tie decider) Ian Orford & Martin Moore (Satria) and Lee James & Jonathan Hawkins (Mk2 Escort) were seventh and eighth respectively both on 7 minutes with Simon Heywood & Sam Treleaven (Civic) and Keith Lane & Martin Lane (Ka) rounding off the top 10 both on 8 minutes.

Lane/Lane were leading the Expert class with Steve Pearce & Mark Butler (Corsa) in second on nine minutes and Gareth Andrews & Luke Quinnell (Proton Compact) in third on 11. The Novice class saw Ben Friffin & Nick Chapman (106) leading dropping 10 minutes with Martin Curzon & Rob Thomas (Mk1 Escort) in second on 19 minutes and Iwan Jenkins & Keith Bould (Micra) in third on 3 hours and 39 minutes (remember it’s time penalties on this event, not fails, so 30 minutes’ penalty for missing a TC can be costly!) The event ran a joint permit of Nat B and Clubman, allowing those crews who want to take a step between 12 cars and Nat B event but not need to have a licence, so class 4, the clubman’s, saw Clive Chapman & Ian Perry (Rover 25) in first dropping just 9 minutes, Stephen O’Mara & Isobel Golightly (Puma) were in second dropping 17 minutes and David Roger & Simon Fuidge (Pajero) in third with 42 minutes.

A neutral section took crews up to the edge of Chudleigh for the start of the next short section round the back of Kingsteignton and up to Chudleigh Knighton for TC24. Several masters and a handful of experts cleaned this short section as well as novices Griffin/Chapman. Second novices were Curzon/Thomas dropping 7 minutes and third was Jenkins/Bould dropping 35. Chapman/Perry were leading the clubman class still dropping just 1 minute with Roper/Fuidge and O’Mara/Golightly on 37 and 1 hour 5 minutes respectively.

And that was the first quarter of the night complete. Into Fuel along Bovey straight to catch up with that was going on so far and to allow some crews to jump back on their original times.
Before long we were following car 2 down the A38 towards the start of the second section just outside of Goodstone.

Along an interesting yellow running next to the dual carriageway and to the edge of Ashburton. Give way straight on into hairpin left and back up to Coombe Cross for TC27. Just before here was the second caution which was on the notice board at the start, again more water. The best quote I’ve heard describing it is from Jonathan Hawkins “a puddle that the titanic probably sank in” it was massive! Some crews decided to turn around and cut route picking up some penalties, but we pushed on through, when the lights went under the water and everything went dark I have to admit I got a little worried!! Unfortunately, the water did claim one victim, James/Hawkins making it through but having major electrical problems just down the road.

Stuck point number 2 for James How… – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

A small loop around East Down via another one of the 41 NAMs before getting to RC20 where we found How/Jones stuck again beached on a triangle! It was someone else’s turn to pull them out this time! We managed to get the code board and left them to flag someone down, a shame that Andy from M&H was here, there’s only so many photos you can take of James stuck!

A loop down to Denbury and back up to Wotton Cross into TC29 before going up Beacon Hill and back to the other side of Denbury on some of the faster roads in the area. Across the A381 and around Dainton Quarry before crossing the A road again just south of Ipplepen. Following the railway via some tricky slots and tight bridges to Tally Ho and Mount Barton. The route twisted its way around Broadhempston, Ashburton, Woolston Green and Buckfastleigh before TC45 which was the end of this tricky section on map 202.

Jones/Davies were quickest cleaning the whole section with Harris/Pidgeon also clean and moving up to first overall. Owen/Ramsden were third quickest dropping just a minute with Frame/Layland dropping 4. Fifth quickest were Dave Clifford & Peter Blackett (318) dropping 5 minutes and moving them up to 7th overall. Paul Watts & Paul Waterton (MG ZR) dropped 6 minutes moving them up the 8th overall. Tenth quickest through the section were Steve Conner & Mark Dunkerley (Puma) dropping 10 minutes and also moving them up to 10th overall.
Pearce/Butler were quickest experts dropping 15 minutes and moving them into the lead in class. Paul Price & Alf Chanter (205) were second quickest dropping 18 minutes with Tom Jefferis & Andrew Lowe (Mk2 Escort) rounding off the top three on 21 minutes and moving them up to second in class.

Griffin/Chapman were still dominating the novice class dropping 17 minutes with Aubrey Page & Shaun Tolman (Rover 200) in second dropping 2 hours 7 minutes and moving them into third in class. Third novices were Curzon/Thomas missing most of the section and picking up 5 hours and 36 minutes, but still holding onto second in class!

Roper/Fuidge moved up to first clubmans dropping 2 hours and 17 minutes in the section with Chapman/Perry dropping 4 hours 20 and dropping them to second in class. O’Mara/Golightly were one crew who cut the flood and picked up several penalties but still in the event and holding onto third in class.

Back onto map 191 for the next section before the second fuel halt. Up Ashburton Down and around the bottom of Rippon and Bag Tor’s to where we Jones/Davies somewhere took a wrong slot and ended up beached on a white. I’m not 100% sure where they went but a shame as they were in a 3-way battle for the lead! Hopefully the crew won’t let that tarnish the event and they’ll come back in the future to battle for the lead again. Down to Sigford and around a large interesting white triangle before coming into TC50 at Bickington and the end of the second quarter. That’s right, only half way through!!!

Tom Jefferis & Andrew Lowe making a splash – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

Owen/Ramsden were on a mission cleaning the section and moving them back up to the overall lead. Harris/Pidgeon were second quickest dropping 1 minute along with Holder/Barnard in third. Four crews dropped 2 minutes on this section with Conner/Dunkerley furthest cleanest taking fourth in the section with Clifford/Blackett, How/Jones and Frame/Layland taking fifth, sixth and seventh.

Andrews/Quinnell were quickest Experts dropping 4 minutes and also moving them up to second experts. Pearce/Butler were still in it dropping just 5 minutes and holding onto the class lead with Andy Hamlyn & Darren Stevens (MK-5) dropping 9 minutes to complete the top three.

Griffin/Chapman were in the front of the novice class again dropping 8 minutes with Page/Tolman dropping 19 minutes and moving up to second in class. Jenkins/Bould took third in class on that section dropping 1 hour 3 minutes.

Clubmans saw Chapman/Perry back onto dropping 6 minutes with O’Mara/Golightly (aptly named Team Go’Mara) close behind on 7 minutes. Roger Puidge held onto the class lead though dropping 18 minutes.

Back to Bovey Straight for Petrol and bit of a break to catch up with all the other going’s on. Unfortunately, a few crews dropped out at this petrol, Orford/Moore, Page/Tolman, Jenkins/Bould and Curzon/Thomas all not submitting any times afterwards and calling it a day.

Before too long everyone was heading off to the final section of the night. Yep, that’s right, just one section of 70 miles! No neutrals after the start, this was the last battle!

Starting just south of Moretonhampstead the first road we knew was very tight as it’s been used before! It’s a small gorge cut out in the rock that twists its way up the hill, including NAM hairpins and tree’s sticking out of the rock faces making it very tight in a blob eye Impreza! Another triangle at the top of the hill before a fast blast down through the Teignbridge District and back to the top of Bovey Tracey to a white behind the Hospital. To say this was interesting was a bit of an understatement! Chris Smale was at the PC on the way into the white and said watch out for the start, it’s a bit rough, you obviously didn’t go down the rest Chris! A caution “Keep left of gate” caught a few people out 500 yards into the white sending people into a field for a bit of shopping, maybe the caution was at the start of the white or should have been keep right? Who knows, luckily, we didn’t go in the field but half way down the white we did question if we were going down the right road, which probably has never seen a car! I’m sure the Pajero had fun down here!!! The MX-5 on the other hand…

Back up the hill to Five Lanes which turned out to be a 7 road crossroad, thankfully just keep turning right so it was easy enough to stay on the right road. Down to a tight NAM section with several 90’s at Frost Farm before going back up to Five Lanes and up to Teign Village where we caution Tim & Jake in the Saxo. Fair play to those boys, the next bit of road was about 1.5km of twisty B road and they were pushing on! Thanks for letting us past at the end though when we slotted back into the lanes and soon pulled away on the muddy icy roads. Around Canonteigh Barton and through the woods at the top of the hill before dropping down to the edge of Tottiford and Kennick Reservoirs for the next TC at the dam. Round the top of Kennick Reservoir and up to Blackingstone Rock for a very tight give way hairpin right.

Not the cleanest of nights for Mark Lennox & Ian Beamond – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

Up to Heltor Rock and the double triangle NAM, a regular South Hams trick, it’s very tight and caught out Lennox/Beamond where they dropped several minutes rocking the car off the triangle. I’ve got to say, fair play to Phil, some of the ways we took triangles were very interesting!!! But we didn’t miss any. Along the wet white’s north of Bridford, the first one thankfully being a little wider now so we could use the bank and flooded track, which in a previous year claimed me and Pat Thomas in his Nova!

Across the River Teign and to Leigh Cross for the tight slot under the bridge before heading up the back of Haldon Forest to yet another interesting triangle. This one’s I’m naming Baller’s, as Andy Ballantyne warned us if we would use it, a very small tarmacked slot 90 left pointed us to the sky at the giveway right, no way were we going to get around that without getting stuck so we turned left and headed down the triangle backwards towards the RC board before slotting hairpin right in reverse and then off to the right heading the right way, it was all very confusing at the time but Phil knew what he was doing! To be fair we didn’t lose too much time at all! Five more NAMs took us past the Haldon Forest Cycle Centre and into TC 69, we were on our minute by 2 seconds! That was a close one!

Around the top of Kenford before going back North West to Ken and down to Kenton Yump. A few more tight junctions around the back of Starcross before coming down the Hill behind Dawlish. Slot hairpin right into the Long Lane white and into TC77. We were held here for 10 minutes as there we a few problems up ahead, but this gave Phil time to go and speak to Jake and see what the times were doing. It was close and not long to go!

Before long our time to go came around, Long Lane is a 2km long white which probably feels like a offroad track in a MX-5, but in the Impreza we just stormed through. There were hardly any corners so I started calling out where the holes in the road were, but Phil just ploughed through every one without any problem! Give way right at the end but we gave way too early and ended up in a driveway… We had lost all the time we had gained in the white turning around and it was now time to push! Around Langdon Barton and back up Telegraph Hill for the final forestry section. Overshooting the slot into the forest and also onto the NAM track we were trying a little too hard, thankfully Phil was great through the forest and we came into TC81 dropping just 1 minute, most people cleaned it but I was glad it was just a minute with the problems we had! Back out onto the yellow and down the road to find Kev Wills at the entrance to the forest again, unfortunately the gate was locked, losing about a kilometre of forest, but that was it. The end of the event!

We headed back to the Diner not knowing what the other crews had dropped on the final section.

The Mills were waiting at the diner and ready to start putting everyone’s times into the system. Hat’s off to them for another great job getting all the results done quickly! Also, having positions displayed at both petrol halts was great to keep track of how everyone was doing.

The Lane’s getting a helping hand from Andy Hamlyn on a steep icy 90 right – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

Harris/Pidgeon were quickest on the final 70 mile section dropping 1 minute (the final control!) with Heywood/Treleaven dropping 2 minutes and Owen/Ramsden dropping 3. Holder/Barnard dropped 4 minutes in fourth with How/Jones in fifth dropping 8. Quickest Experts on the section were Pearce/Butler dropping 21 minutes, also the 10th quickest time overall. Andrews/Quinnell were second quickest Experts dropping 29 minutes with Hamlyn/Stevens very close behind dropping 30.

Novices Griffin/Chapman dropped 40 minutes and being the only Novice left going with O’Mara/Golightly putting in the best Clubman performance dropping 1 hour 24. Chapman/Perry and Roger/Fuidge dropped 1:56 and 2 hours respectively to bring all the clubman contenders back to the finish of the event.

Aaron Lillicrap & Lizzie Pope (Mini) had a problematic night, struggling to start after plotting and having several wrong slots, miss slots, puddles, rough whites and all sorts! Fair play to them though for making it to the end, they did have a monumental time of 10 hours and 27 minutes, but they made it! Paul Prance & Derek Drayton (Megane) also had a troublesome night, they made it to the end but didn’t manage to visit three quarters of controls through the night so were classed as non-finishers.

After a very good breakfast the diner and a quick catch up with everyone results were out. We had won by just 1 minute! Chuffed is an understatement to be honest, to come away with the win on such a tricky night with some of the competition that were there was a real achievement. Big thanks to Phil for piloting the Impreza around all night, I did think it was all going to go wrong in a few icy and foggy spots, but he held onto it and pushed on to take his third win with three different navigators on the event.

Massive thanks to Kev Wills, Richard Brooks, Sarah Eakers-Coles and the rest of the team at South Hams MC for putting on such a good event. A fantastic route taking crews to some of the best lanes in the UK. Everyone has to witness the lanes of 191 and 202 at some point, even if you never go back, they are some of the best lanes in the country.

Thanks also to the guys at the start, Scrutineering and Noise, Signing On, the guys at the Diner for feeding everyone before and after the event, Rally Roots for another sterling job on the results, M&H Photography for following everyone around to grab so spectacular shots. Finally, to all the marshals out on the night, some of who we saw 3 or 4 times in different places. Temperatures were below freezing, cars we were passing on route were all frozen so it must have been a cold night, and they always seemed chirpy when we arrived. I can’t remember everyone I’m afraid and some I don’t know names for, but Sue Barnard and crew, Jean Parker and crew, Mr & Mrs Lennox and crew, Andrew Appleby, Chris Smale and Crew, David Thorpe and Crew, Marc Treleaven and Crew, Peter Coles and Crew and everyone else that was out there! Thank you all for letting us enjoy our night.

A Mini adventure – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

So that’s two top class event’s in the South West so far this year. Next up in the area is the Festival, another great event.

Results can be found on www.britishroadrallying.com/primrose-2017-results

Daniel Pidgeon, Navigator – Car 3, Subaru Impreza – 1st Overall

 

“Rallying is good for your health. It’s official!”

Please insert CD, and press OK to burn “Primrose 17 Mix Tape”. The following files will be burned to disc: “Sleeping in my car by Roxette” “Insomina, by faithless”. “Joyride, also by Roxette”. “Crash boom bang, once again, Roxette” “Night swimming by REM”.

Any fan of mid 90’s music and 12 car rallies (especially those that love Roxette) will get where I’m coming from here…

So the scene was set. Isobel and I were to embark on our first event together. For the first time in the Puma, and both of us in our first ever Nat B event. And only my 4th ever 12 car / rally. Nothing like going in at the deep end! And speaking of the “deep end” due to an unfortunate water-based incident on the last 12 car the puma was once again another eBay special buy (read emergency purchase), a whole £200 worth of would-be rally car bought and prepped in less than 2 weeks for under the price of a return flight to Spain…

The start of the event at the Haldon Forest Diner was a great way to catch up with everyone, swap notes and tips, and find out what cars we would be rallying with tonight. There was everything from our little Puma, right up to some seriously tricked out mk2 Escorts with straight cut sequential gearboxes and engines with more money spent on them than most spend on an entire car! That said, you can still enter, compete, and as we found; do quite well… with an incredibly modest budget.

So after the driver’s briefing and at our car 33 time of 20:17 we started the first section, which can quite possibly only be described as “epic”. A straight up dash through the gravel tracks of Haldon Forest – it was honestly difficult to split the concentration between the racing line and just how fantastic the scenery was – even in the pitch black with the moon and stars, the forest was glorious. And the best thing ever was we were allowed to rally through it! By this point the temperature had dropped below freezing and the car was scrabbling for grip, each front wheel clawing into the loose surface, the Yamaha-derived 1.7 growling with a healthy tone digging in to find the torque to pull the car along.

2 Hours of plotting time before the night ahead – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

After a furious dash, we arrived at the first MTC and were presented with the grid references for the rest of the evening. The next 2 hours were spent getting all the information down on the maps and organising our arrival times. Then it was back off into the forest for another few miles on the loose, slippery, but fast sections. By this point we were actually making good progress having only dropped the odd minute here and there. Buoyed by this excellent start we pressed on further. The route took us back onto the road and then out into into the wilds of the South Hams, and towards Kingsteignton and the whites and yellows sneaking around the outskirst of Newton Abbot.  We were keeping pace, even on some of the bouncy and rutted tracks (where PCs and RCs had been skilfully hidden!) right up until we hit our first snag. What appeared to be some very deep water where a road had flooded, was, actually, just that. The white-and-black marker posts along the side of the road had only the top third visible. With memories of how well my early 2000’s Ford cars perform underwater still very recent, we decided it might be best if we cut this part of the route. Unfortunately,  as we had lost the rhythm and momentum, it took us a while to first get un-lost, and then try and plot to the next section. The poor marshal at the nearest PC (sorry whoever you are!) Must have been very confused as we demonstrated multiple swift and graceful ballet-like U-turns. (Remind me to add “Dead or Alive – you spin me right round” to that playlist)

Fortunately, the next milestones were a petrol stop and lateness recovery, so aside from picking up a few penalties for missed code boards, we were still in the rally.

We pressed on into the early hours. Parked cars around us beginning to freeze solid for the evening, barley anyone else on the roads, the only lights left on are the streetlights and road signs – all the “sane” (boring!) public fast asleep. Perfect rallying conditions!

We had a lovely scenic tour of Bovey Tracey village, taking in the village centre about four or five times, seeking the correct road through and out the other side – well, towns aren’t represented very helpfully on OS maps are they? Finally, on the right track we were at the LRTC with a good margin to be able to stop for our second rally picnic. It was at this time, around 2am where the first wave of tiredness started to bite. Having been on the go for a good 3-4 hours at this point without stopping, it was only when we came to rest when we realised that a) we were actually completely exhausted  b) we were probably quite bonkers and c) we both hadn’t stopped grinning from ear to ear and were looking forward to the next section!

Of course once we were moving again the adrenaline took over and all thoughts of a cosy duvet went out the window for the shouts of “90 left into 90 right over bridge wait at the control let me get my clipboard out” Go! Go! Go!!!!!

Tim Owen & Jake Ramsden slotting into a white on their way to second overall – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

And go we did. And we didn’t Go Lightly. (boom boom)

Thanks to the structure of the rally with the lateness recovery stops and ability to cut sections and re-plot, even when we got lost it wasn’t an issue, we just had to re-plot and make sure we kept within OTL time.

Next followed a fair few miles of tight and twisty yellows and whites, some quite narrow, rutted, bouncy and by this point, totally frozen over. Some fancy footwork and wheelwork required to fling around the 180 hairpins whilst Isobel kept on top of the timing, directions and route control – which, in my humble opinion, is quite a bit harder than the simple task of keeping all four wheels on the black stuff!!

Being the last car we had a bit of trouble with some of the code boards, be it they had been knocked over, covered in mud etc.  We also reached a section where we’d bunched up with three of the other competitors – also clearly perplexed as to their current whereabouts, seeing as we all passed each other in opposite directions about 5 times over 10 minutes!

Getting back on track we then reached some very interesting green lanes – I’d have been reaching for the diff lock lever had I been in the Land Rover! Amazingly (and I mean that literally) the little 2WD puma managed to scrape through, and we picked up an extra 7 RC boards in this fashion. And we were uplifted with the news from the next manned PC that actually not many had attempted these, let alone got them correct!

By 3:30am we had reached the second petrol stop and as we’d made good time, there was an opportunity to fill the car, empty the bladders, and catch up with our fellow competitors. Talking to my other running mate in a Puma, cutting the water out was a very good move – seems there were quite a few casualties for those who attempted the bathing option. Never ceases to amaze me the places car designers put their air intakes!!

So onwards for the final push… it was about a few things at this point – keeping on top of the waves of tiredeness, keeping the pace and speed up, and not making any silly mistakes – be that from either of the front seats. We were on target for a finish and for our first event, we were classing a finish as being our most important objective!

Towards the end, the last few TCs we were either stopped, re-routed or held for a period of time. Seems that there were a few incidents up ahead, and whilst, thankfully; everyone was ok, there were a few blockages on the route. I suppose, for me, it really dawned on me just how well we’d done. All the “firsts” I mentioned earlier… and yet we’d got this far.  Not bad for a pair of novices!

A bit of opposite lock through the forests – Photo by M&H Photography, http://www.mandh-photography.co.uk

The last section was another glorious blast through the forest in which we’d started, and getting the measure for the surface I was happy to push on a bit more. When we reached the final MTC and were told we had finished, without OTL… we simply looked at each other and burst into hysterical laughter. We had done it! Team Go-Mara’s maiden voyage was a success.

The car had held up exceedingly well. Given there was very little time to anything in the way of prep, it was a completely standard production model Ford Puma with a pair of spotlights added – and it completed (what ended up for us) around 200miles of intense rallying in about every conceivable condition on every surface, without so much as a complaint. Come the end the rear shoes started to stick in reverse, but I put this down to either getting some mud in the drums, or the fact that it was quite a punishing regime and actually if that was the only defect then one can’t really complain at that!

We both had a fantastic evening, and it is at this point that a worthy round of thanks needs to be handed out – Kev Wills and Rich Brooks for a terrific event – the hard work you put into making this a success can’t be overestimated. Thank you! Also to all the marshalls who braved sub-zero conditions to stand in and around remote villages in Devon to help us have fun. And to all the competitors, particularly those that have travelled a fair distance to be here (the lads from the valleys!) who were all cheerful, friendly, and willing to help. From a novice’s perspective, another terrific night of motorsport which represents about the best value for money motorsport event I can possibly think of…

And finally, if anyone needs any more convincing to buy a cheap small hatchback and have a go… check this out – Rallying is good for your health. It’s official! My watch logged 1,031 calories and 102minutes of exercise during the 9 hours which we were driving. At first I thought it had mistakenly thought I’d jogged the route or something, but checking the data my heart rate was at the same as a fairly vigorous exercise session for most of the evening. Adrenaline, focus and concentration burns calories… So my new year’s resolution is to continue with the 12 car diet 🙂

Steve O’Mara, Driver – Car 33, Ford Puma – 3rd Clubman

Thanks to M&H Photography (www.mandh-photography.co.uk) for all the photos. Make sure you check out their website for more examples and for details on how to purchase yourself a copy!