Leg 2 Edinburgh to Carlisle RAC Rally of the Tests

From the first regularity of Leg 2, crews had an idea they would be in for a long, hard but entertaining day, as the variety of terrain through Scotland and England brought pure driving challenges. From hill climbs to racetracks, narrow hillside tracks to farmyards and Roman roads, there was something different for everyone in the UK’s most competitive regularity rally, the RAC Rally of the Tests.

The most impressive venues were the heritage forest tracks that Clerk of the Course Andy Pullan, and his team had managed to secure. Castle O’er, the Forest of Ae, Kershope, names to conjure with. In rally parlance, the Roger Albert Clark Rally, the WRC RAC, the British Rally Championship have made them famous over many years, and now HERO-ERA renowned territory as well. As an example, the classic Kershope forest back in England, started as a long test with two further regularities in the hallowed forest.

Following a short lunch break at the ‘Pink Palace’ of Drumlanrig in Scotland, crews went straight into a regularity, but not just any tarmac reg winding around the lanes. No, this started in front of the magnificent Drumlanrig Castle, taking crews around the slippery roads of the estate before heading onto tarmac then suddenly off road and into the forest! There were climbs up the forest hillsides then harpins and narrow gravel roads under canopies of close trees – it certainly had a Heinz 57 Variety all in one regularity called High Enoch, then the glorious and smooth Forest of Ae often used in Rally Scotland, the RAC and the BRC.

Throughout all of this, the hardest and longest day of the rally, twice RAC Rally of the Tests winners, Dan Willan and Niall Frost, managed to actually tighten their grip on the event out front by 1m 48 seconds from second place chasers John King and Oli Waldock in their Toyota MR2. The Volvo PV544 brake failure scare of yesterday was long behind Willan and Frost as they turned up the heat of the following pack more than just a little.

The battle for the final podium place raged all day. Amy Henchoz and Callum Guy in their wicked sounding V8-engined Sunbeam Tiger is leading Paul Crosby and Ali Procter by just one second as they head into the final Leg on Sunday. However, both had ‘moments’ at the Larkhall Kart track test, an impressive venue used on the RoTT for the very first time, and used for high level karting, as Lewis Hamilton will remember when he won races there on his way up to F1.

Callum Guy so nearly hit the pit - wall as the Tiger’s tail snapped out quickly, but with rapid oversteer from the Scot, he just held on. Just as dramatically, but this time mechanically, Paul Crosby was out of the Mini Cooper S at the end of the Larkhall test with the bonnet open and not looking likely to re-start. It was a throttle cable, but the ex - race engineer Crosby made a rig to keep it going until help could be found!

Paul Crosby: “We snapped one of the four throttle cables as we have got four amals on the front of the engine, and one of those cables snapped just at the end of the first test on that Kart Track. So, we botched it together with a spare throttle cable and managed to drive it here to the coffee halt where the wonderful mechanics now fixed it properly!” Battle can re-commence on Sunday for all the podium positions – there is still a long way to go and the rally gods haven’t finished tampering yet!

The RAC Rally of the Tests is organised and run in the traditional format of the original RAC rallies prior to them becoming special stage events, ultimately in the World Rally Championship. They were demanding and relentless then, just as they are now. The toll on machinery is still high, and the pace and level of competition can takes it out of on crews.

Irish rally man Andrew Boland is on his first RoTT in his Ford Escort RS2000 navigated by the experienced Tony Brooks, but somehow they managed to back into a low wall damaging the back of the distinctive yellow Ford.

Bron Burrell and Suzanne Barker limped their way into the first rest halt this morning with the front of ‘Puff the Magic Wagon.’ Bron’s Austin Maxi from the 1970 World Cup Rally, collapsed on the left front. The hydrolastic suspension on the 70’s chariot had not been able to take the punishment, so the HERO-ERA Mechanical Assistance crew had to shore it up with wood which meant keeping going but no tests! Bron was livid at first; “in the car I was swearing my head off, we had been going so well. But in the end it’s part of the sport and you just have t accept it!”

Also in ‘casualty corner’ was Thomas Koemer and Udo Schauss who had stopped in Kershope forest with electrical issues. Thomas is usually very quick on the tests as he is an ex-racing driver, and in fact was third quickest overall of the morning’s test times, so he is hoping to fix the Porsche 911 and re-join so he can demonstrate his exuberant style again on the last day.

Second fastest overall on test ties during the morning was Rikki Proffitt in another Porsche 911, he may now slip ahead of Thomas in the standings.

Pain can run deep in rally terms when suddenly the performance in the rally is thwarted by mechanical issues. But equally, there are twists of fate that can help crews stumble into a fix!

Mike Cochrane and Angus McQueen were well inside the top ten and enjoying a great run in the Ford Cortina when the gearbox lost it’s teeth! Angus takes up the story; “We had broken some teeth on the gearbox, three teeth have came out when we drained it, so we got them out the way, and we'll run on with a few missing teeth, and then change the gearbox tonight. No we don’t have a spare box but incredibly a guy who happened to be coming here just to look at the cars, and you wouldn't believe it, he lives in Dumfries, he's got a gearbox in his loft and said we can have it! I know this is a crazy sport isn't it, but the generosity of enthusiasts is sometimes overwhelming!”

Equally fortuitous and yet grateful for an enthusiast’s generosity of spirit, were Tim and Ruth Birkin after their Triumph TR4A broke it’s trailing arms yesterday. A Scottish enthusiast in Glasgow, not only had a pair, but was willing to meet Ruth halfway to deliver the parts. But Ruth had no transport, step up HERO-ERA Competition team member Stanka Obermajerova who dropped what she was doing and drove Ruth towards Glasgow in the dead of night. Ruth said: “Stanka was great, but the gentleman generously refused any kind of payment, so up stepped Stanka again, this time with a HERO-ERA cap which brought a big smile to his face.”

As Tim Birkin recounted; “Although we were so grateful to re-start the rally, we had a terrible day! We took a wrong forest track and ended up by the tape as it was a no through track. There were huge ditches each side meaning I couldn’t turn around, so I tried a charge and handbrake turn, but just as I did it, the ignition went off and jammed so we couldn’t start the car! We got going but then lost our spare wheel off the boot. We honestly thought somebody had stolen it at a rest halt. Later the sweeps arrived with the wheel saying they had a present for us, it had dropped off on a test! The generosity of some people and the sprit in rallying always amazes us.”