Syd Stelvio - London to Lisbon Day 1
*Brooklands to Le Touquet – 260km
A visit to historic Brooklands is always a treat, but especially so when it is the starting location for a 2000km rally through Europe. As the spring sun shone down upon the famous Brooklands banking, the 47 crews who are taking part in the 2026 London to Lisbon rally began to muster in front of the storied sheds and workshops of this fantastic facility. Departing from here is now a tradition for the biennial event, and the first test on the concrete curves of the old oval is a favourite amongst the returning crews and a treat for those that are taking part in this rally for the first time.
Today would be a reasonably relaxed affair, with a pair of tests and three regularities to entertain the crews as they hustled towards the Kent coast and the Channel Tunnel. The first car away was the oldest machine in the field, the 1929 Chrysler 75 Roadster of Pieck van Hoven and Thea van Gelderen, though with his fancy vintage suit Pieck will now be known as ‘Pieck van Capone’, though nobody could confirm whether or not he had a trunk full of Moonshine, or indeed what he keeps in his violin case.
Being thrown straight into a test is a great way to shed any early rally nerves, and some took the opportunity to throw a marker down for the rest of the competition, with three crews completing the section in less than a minute. Those hitting the loud pedal early were David and Debbie Bundy, Tom and Rachel Woodcock and Peter and Louise Myles, in Triumph, Datsun and Porsche respectively and all coming in at 59 seconds. Mike and Sarah Thorne managed to stop the clock at 56 seconds, but sadly a cone fault added to their total time.
If the drivers and navigators hadn’t been inspired by the first bit of competitive action, then driving almost under the delta wing of Concorde as they left Brooklands couldn’t have failed to perk them up, as Speedbird bid all of the cars farewell and safe travels, and the open road beckoned. The events first regularity followed soon after, offering the navigators something to get their teeth into, after the drivers had been allowed to play at the start.
This was followed with another test at the Lingfield Racetrack, which just to clarify is a Horse Racing Facility. The test was a loose trot around the infield, after a descent through a flooded tunnel, and on this occasion the best in test was taken by Peter and Louise Miles, managing to guide the Porsche 911 around the dirt in 52 seconds. Keegan Horton and Morgan Hill did actually manage to get their Lancia Beta Coupe around the course in 49 seconds but missed a code board and so incurred a test penalty. In fact, they missed the code board at such a pace, the Al Italia liveried Lancia took off over the bridge that the board was supposed to be slowing the cars down for, the airborne Italian car briefly appearing on the air traffic control screens of the nearby Gatwick Airport.
Clearly fizzing with post-test adrenalin, a fair number of crews managed to miss the double orange arrows directing the cars out of the track and instead continued around the oval. Perhaps they fancied their chances of winning the 2:15, or just wanted a nose around, either way in this instance they were a furrow short of a furlong.
The second regularity of the day followed soon after, another light-hearted affair (other than the surprise temporary traffic lights that appeared out of thin air) in the same vein as reg 1. The third and final competitive section though would buck this trend and throw the field into disarray with a tight and twisty regularity with plenty of opportunities to wrong slot, and five timing points for the crews to get right – or perhaps wrong. It’s fair to say there were cars all over the South Downs, though at least the sun was still shining. There were plenty of locals out spectating as well, clearly nobody works on a Wednesday afternoon in this part of the world, as the residents of the hamlets along the route took to their deck chairs to clap and cheer the cars through.
The days final time control followed quickly after the reg, and with the timing done for the day there was the simple job of a short drive to the tunnel and then the final run into Le Touquet for the evenings halt. Unfortunately, these miles would not pass without incident, including a collision on the road for David Wilson and Stewart Rust. Thankfully, everyone involved is ok, though the number 16 Fiat has seen better days, but the chaps are hoping to rejoin in the next few days, albeit in a different car. In addition to this there was also a mechanical retirement for Stephan Wagner and Gianna Theofilidou, as the clutch in their Ferrari 365GT4 expired at passport control. They too hope to rejoin over the coming days.
An eventful day then for a first day on the road, that sees Dick and Harry Baines at the top of the time sheets with an early lead of 29 seconds over defending ‘Lisbon champions Graham Platts and Neil Ripley in second, just three seconds ahead of Dave and Jackie Batchelor in third. Tomorrow the event leaves Le Touquet and heads to Le Mans, finishing at the end of the famous Mulsanne, where the first day on the continent will be under our belts.
Syd.
