Malcolm Wilson Rally 2009
Mr’s Jarman and Cansdale couldn’t wait until the weekend for the Masons Arms infamous mixed grill, so they set of from bury on Thursday, with Damien, Brian and Charlie meeting up in time for scrutineering on Friday afternoon.
Post scrutineering it was back to Eth and Pauls for another great dinner. This was the first year the team actually stayed in the comfort of the Masons Arms B &B. So after a good feed and an early night Glyn and Damien made their way to the start at Malcolm Wilsons home to Ford World Rally Team. With A low seeding at car 52 (after finishing 14th in 2007) the duo were aiming to break into the top 30 with such a strong entry including 16 World
Rally Cars. After laughing at the car in front nearly falling off the ceremonial start ramp, Glyn nearly replicated his actions and almost dropped a wheel off himself!
SS1 & 2 were tackled with caution and were found to be very slippy, nonetheless a reasonable start to blow the cobwebs away, as this was the first gravel rally of the year for the pair. A half spin on a tight hairpin in Comb lead to the loss of the front bumper, although neither crew member realised until the finish control asked what they had hit! It was only watching the stage back on our new in car camera that allowed us to see that it was at the hairpin that the bumper came off!
SS3 was uneventful, but it was SS4 at Greystoke that provided the thrill of the day. A quite technical stage often claims a number of victims, however Glyn drove faultlessly and really attacked the 6 and half mile stage to put in a great time.
At first service we were 32nd overall an improvement on our seeding, at this point we decide 25th at the end of the day would be a realistic target
after getting into the swing of things on SS4.
After an hour and half drive to Grizedale to tackle the stage we rolled on in December 07. The 11 mile stage was the roughest and slippiest we had
ever known it. A short link section in the forest took us to the second test in Grizedale, SS6. 2/3 of the way through the stage we began to experience
a loud intermittent, rotational knocking sound from the off side rear. Assuming the worse we thought it was the diff and backed off for the rest of
the stage to prevent doing any more damage. However, at management service Darren quickly put our minds to rest informing us that one of the mud scrappers had come loose from the hub and had been flapping around catching on the wheel. After removing it w continued to 2nd service
where we discovered a heavy landing had bent the wheel causing it to break the scrapper that eventually came loose.
For the final stage back at Greystoke we were disappointed to find that the stage had been shortened by four miles. An enjoyable run through took us to 22nd Overall. All in all a good result four our first gravel rally in 4 months. It was a great bonus being able to watch back the stages on the in car
camera between bits of footage involving Glyn checking his hair!
Thank you to Eth, Paul and family, of the Masons Arms, Gilcrux. As usual we couldn’t have wished for better company during our trip to the lake District.
Essex Charity Stages
After finishing a close second overall for this event in 2003 we were looking for a win this year.
The stages here at Bradwell suit glyns driving style, as these were similar events to those he used to do in a mark2 escort many many moons ago, before he caught the 4x4 turbo bug.
Spectators were able to see quite a bit from the service area so we decided to make a long weekend of it, arriving at Bradwell in our new soon to be trademark "team" wear, with our respective other halves and kids in tow.
Staying at a caravan park near the powerstation, on the sea front, we (as usuall) made the most of the drinking facilities soon after setting up camp (except Darren who had joined the pikee movement for the weekend in his caravan, whilst the rest of us roughed it in tents).
After a few more drinks and the customary "rally cigars" (rapidly replacing ciggaretts for a few team members who shall remain nameless mr's Cansdale & Jarman that have "quit" the habit!) After a small win on the bingo it was left for Damien Darren and Ben to enter the 5-10 year olds dancing competition and lead the way for the kids.
After a very similar second evening at the bar on site, we all managed an early night. The morning was met with driver and co-driver having a partnership grunting session (pooing, nothing else!) in the gents. After several more trips to the same venu before 6am we were ready to take the car 2miles down the road for signing on and scruiteneering.
After the 1st 2 stages it appeared that we were around 4th or 5th over all, sitting just behind our good friend Mr Rayner and Richard, in their Mark2, and just in front of our other close friends Wug and Max, in their nearly identical (via Paint job) scooby.
The 3 rd and 4th stages were on more of loose surace, differing to that of the tarmac on the sea wall surrounding the powerstation. This was a bonus for us as we were able to get alot more traction than the rear wheel drive cars, resulting in fast stage times, taking nearly 20 seconds of Pete.
Service was univentfull, and the car appered to be running smothly, all looking good for the stages in the afternoon (in which, Glyn, almost with out exception seems to be a lot faster, as he shakes off the whiskey from the night before!)
However, not long after this the weather began to turn a little drizzley, fortunatly causing us few if any inconveniencies. As predicted the lads were pulling out the stops and clutching back seconds on the leader after every stage.
With three stages to go, the retirement of Pete and Richard after inspecting a ditch on the edge of one of the grass sections, we were sitting in 2nd place, 5 seconds behind the leader in an evo6 and 20 seconds clear of Wug and Max in 3rd place, we had it all to do......
On the last corner of the 2nd to last stage disaster struck, the driver side rear drive shaft broke, not carrying a spare and being 15miles from service this was not good news. Selecting full lock on the Diff, drove us out of the stage and on to the road section, it was at this point we realised we had little option other than to get towed back to service and miss a stage.
Darren was able to borrow a drive shaft and replace it fully functioning in under 10 mins!!We decided to do the last stages for the crack, as our results would not have any baring on the leaderboard after missing a stage.
At the start of the last stage who did we see broken down and unable to start the stage but the leaders in the evo!
All the team feeling a little deflatted packed up and decided to head for home stopping for chicken n chips opn the way home!
Verdict: Robbed!
nxt year!
Welsh International – 1st round of Subaru Challenge
It was a week of rushing leading to this event to get the car ready after a 70mph crash the weekend before on the Sommerset. Hard work, late nights and determination got the job done.
The 1st stage was very taken very cautiously after a loss of confidence with the crash still playing on our minds. The wet conditions did not help and Glyn summed it up " I drove like an old lady".
Our rally team was joined by Bambous and Mark crisp with their 02 impreza looked after by big Mark Woods from Rallispec for the weekend stopping in a very posh hotel so Gyln was told to leave his white dancing shoes (trainers) at home.
We did not let this bother us for long, as the stages dried out into the afternoon we gradually began to pick up the pace and find our rhythm (as it were).
A finish was a welcome result in itself, there were no dramas and it was good to get back into the swing of things. The result was a bonus for us. See results page.
Special thanks must be said to Darren for all his work as he was all-alone on service this event. But at last he proved he is no longer bad luck! Ben went fishing!
The Red Dragon – 2nd Subaru Challenge event
Had "Delivery boi" Ben back on board. (he was given this name when a local interpreted his title of logistics as a glorified delivery boi)
We had some nice digs as usual, at the fountain inn with a very affectionate land lady aka "mother" to Ben and Darren.
In their usual fashion it wasn’t long after settling in that Ben and Darren got back to their old prankster ways. And before he had finished his dinner "glun" had socks with no toes in and a grass skirt where he once had boxer shorts! They had been up to his hotel room and put the service crew scissors to extensive use on Glyns clothes and placed them back for him to find in the morning.
After a cosy nites sleep in a very small double bed more like an oversized single one Glyn and Damien woke up to a musical ass competition, only to be disappointed that it was raining.
Fortunately it was not overly wet and the stages began to dry as the day went on, this was the cars first outing on new silverstone tyres which we were very impressed with. Our progress made on last event after the crash was continued. Although we were aware we were making use of that middle peddle a little too often on the first of the 2 stages
We were able to put in a good stage time on stage 5 which felt like just like the old days. We also enjoyed Walters arena which we get quicker on every time we do it. By the end of the day we began to get rid of these breaking problems and everythings getting back to normal. This was shown in our stage times where we began to catch Gary Cooper (leading the SC) finishing a second a mile off his pace. And happy with overall result, see results.
Glyn enjoyed his ever increasing status as a celebrity with the channel 5 motor sport crew with comments such as "sorry, you what luv?" to the interviewee.
With a hearty breakfast we left for home with only one incident. Envolving a few evian water bottles and Damien relieving himself whilst in motion in Darren’s van on full view to an oap’s coach party
Race report: Rally of the Midlands
Our first two-day event, our first on tarmac and the second point scoring round of the Subaru Challenge. With the leader of the championship not competing in the tarmac events it was important for us to make the most of his absence.
Once again Darren thought he would be servicing on his own, until we managed to find a more than adequate assistant in the form of Paul, who kindly offered to help us out once again at the last minute. Thank you Paul.
After scrutineering we made the short trip to our digs, where we were able to park the service vehicle, trailer and rally car round the corner at Colin Blower Motorsport.
The evening saw us visiting the local ale house for a beer, where we were fortunate enough top meet Emma the bar maid who pointed us in the direction of the chip shop for some grub. A night cap lead us back to the B&B where Glyn and Darren decided to say goodnight with a dead arm each that lead to full on fisty cuffs! Evolving Glyn drop kicking Darren off his bed and Darren hitting Glyn so hard he was lucky not to end up through the bedroom wall and in bed with the couple next door.
Glyn's good nights sleep was the cause of Damien's poor one as Jarmans snoring was so loud I was resorted to sticking loo roll in my ears and was worried that the furniture would not withstand the rattling.
From the Start in the town centre we tackled the most confusing stage we have ever faced, at the proving ground at Mira, it was a 16mile sea of cones and arrows, where the stage diagrams were not quite as the stage was set out. With a slow first stage time going to the second stage we were not full of confidence. Although we were happy to discover we were not the only ones to struggle and were actually 17th quickest. The next two stages were not the most exciting as we did 8 laps of Mallory Park with a few extra chicanes added. After sussing the correct route at Mira our next 2 attempts at the proving ground were a vast improvement with fast times, taking a lot of time of the other Subaru Challenge competitors.
At service we were well looked after by Silverstone Tyres and the Challenge organising team. At the end of the first Day we were lying 13th overall and 1st in the Subaru Challenge by one minute twenty two seconds.
At a holding area on the way to the ceremonial finish we were disappointed to see the metro 6R4s of cars 1 and 2 receiving an illegal service by their service team, which it states in the regulations is not allowed and will result in exclusion. However after pointing this out to the Competitor leasion officer no action was taken despite me making an official written query. This was a clear breach of the rules and some people, should they come to such a decision may have classed as cheating which the organising team chose to turn a blind eye to!
We attended the local for dinner where we were graced with the company of the local village idiot who took all his clothes off and danced the middle of the road outside the pub. He returned to call Glyn fat. Glyn responded as any mature grown adult should do, by saying he had had his mother and any way he looked like the bad guy from superman. Nice one. Paul escaped a near death experience in the middle of the night when he went to the toilet only to trip over a mysteriously placed teddy bear and narrowly avoid going head first over the banister and down the stairs. It latter emerged that Glyn had left the supersize teddy for Paul and Darren to find outside their door in the morning!
Going into the second day (Dazas Birthday) with such a big lead took a little of the pressure away for the second day and we agreed to take it easy as we had never done the stages before and we needed to finish with out any dramas costing us time. This was achieved no thanks to two mistakes by myself co driving on the road section, which I must apologise for! Although it cost us no time or penalties One of which resulted in the car getting stuck in reverse, thankfully resolved by an ever-resourceful Glyn and a penknife! Despite taking the day rather cautiously we were pleased to discover we continued to take time off our rivals and extend our lead in the Challenge and progress up the field to 8th overall. We suffered no major problems with the car and the only damage occurred straightening chicanes clipping both doors which will pop back out with out any problems.
At the finish in Nuuneaton town centre we had the misfortune to pose for photos with 4 local Miss Nunneaton models. This was followed by interviews for channel five and a dvd, where we were awarded champagne, brakes for the car and our trophies. Job done.
Mewla Rally
The cars first outing since its rebuild, looking immaculate drawing a lot of attention, a credit to its restorers, Glyn and Darren.
The Mewla is notorious for its high speed tarmac, huge jumps and blind summits. Including Deers and Devils Leaps consisting of two fast massive jumps followed by tight testing corners in a bid to slow them down and make them safer.
We took a steady trip to mid Wales making the most of the campers facilities stopping several times for a brew en-route even in Focus DIY store car park!
A new member of the rally team joined us for the first time this week end, John, hitching a ride with Damien. Brian took great joy in introducing him to everyone we met. Unfortunately for Damien John was a contender for the world’s biggest spot title, taking residence on Damien’s right cheek.
After arriving at the international showground in Builth Wells and setting up camp we took a trip to taste the local ale ‘Brains’. Not that we needed anymore of them!
A few ales put us in good stead for the recce on Saturday. A Recce is crucial on this event and without out it competing would be dangerous, due to the nature of the stages. The Recce was time consuming but enjoyable, highlighting just how testing the Mewla was going to be. Darren and Brian passed the time constructively sorting tyres, spanner checking and cleaning the car.
Scrutiny went with out a hitch late that afternoon and all that was left was to enjoy Mrs Jarmans’ now infamous rally stew.
Thankfully the weather held up and the rain stayed away. As predicted our rally started cautiously with the times reflecting this, a little off the pace of the other Subaru Challenge competitors and even further behind the locals.
As the day progressed we concentrated on what we intended to achieve from the event rather than looking to force faster times for an overall position. Our main objectives were; to use the event as a confidence booster after the accident at Essex and to test the car after the rebuild and lastly to ensure a clean trouble free run.
The steady approach to the stages continued in the afternoon, although gradually times were getting faster over the summits and crests. We were taking heed of a marshals comment the day before "These roads are to be treated with respect, if not you can easily catch yourself out!" Unfortunately several other cars failed to take this approach, with 26 cars failing to finish the event. Bob Fowden running at car 3 wrote off his Subaru Impreza World Rally Car in a big accident that lead to a stage being cancelled and several ambulances being called to the ranges to cut free and take both him and his co-driver to hospital. I believe both of whom are ok.
The only drama of the day was a puncture on stage 11 in the mock up German village, realising their times would be irrelevant on the event our crew took their time changing the puncture on the stage soaking up the rare welsh sun, dropping six minutes changing the wheel.
At the end of the day we were all pleased with a finish and to learn that the car with stood the stress of competition and most importantly all in one piece.
After our day out at the Epynt ranges, both Glyn and Damien decided it is not an event they would be looking to do again in the near future.
We opted for a quiet uneventful night at the local tavern watching some cricket with the local Latvians. We were also invited to celebrate a local wedding due to take place at 3 o’clock the following day. Unfortunately it was clear to some of the locals that Damien was very tired and he was actually told to go home!
The camper proved itself again on the way home when we were able to pass the time parked up on the motorway by making a cup of tea and watching a dvd.
All I all it was a "Very Very nice" weekend despite not getting a podium finish in our championship. We are looking forward to getting back in the forest.
Plains rally
This was our first gravel event since the accident. It was nice to get back on to the surface we enjoy. We made the most of the camper leaving Huntingdon to drive to Welshpool at 9pm and spending the night in a lay bye 10miles from our destination at 1:30am. Being so close we were able to arrive early for scrutiny and signing on. This gave us time to polish the car sink a bacon buttie and buy a go kart!As one does! We found a pitch at a campsite 8miles from the start, with a shower and toilet in a shed which was nice. After the three s's and some rally stew we got in to bed (not the same one) to settle down and watched a dvd on the history of the impreza.
The 1st stage in the morning was encouraging we were only 15 seconds of Gary Cooper. The 2nd and 3rd stages were reasonably uneventfull but good fun. We were aware there was clearly room for improvement and we werent at our fastest, although Glyn's confidece was coming back as he began to listen to the notes and remain flat over the lesser crests. We were very cautious around the fresh air drops, and rightly so if you got it wrong here there was little chance of you returning or at best not very healthily. The car was performing well and the silverstone tyres were as usuall excellent. A handfull of seconds were lost when we had to slow down and squeeze past a mark 2 escort that had crashed in front of us.
Fortunatly there was little for Darren and Brian to do on management between stages and after the 3rd stage at service. At this point there was only 40 seconds seperating 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th in the subaru challenge. We were lying second.m Glyn and Damien took the time at service to relax and enjoy a massage offered by the Silverstone tyre team!
From service after a long tedious road section we were to experience our first 'moment' of the event; a 150 yard straight into a 4 left saw us slip a bit wide causing Glyn to get a bit crossed up with the steering and we clipped a lip of gravel on the outside of the corner spining us 180 degrees to face the opposite direction. Unfortunatly at this point of the track it was very narrow resulting in a 7 point turn to face back the correct the way, loosing us at least 30 seconds.
Time was lost on stage 5 also as a BEAR on the appex of a Hairpin Left distracted usand we stalled on the exit. ( Between you and ithe bear was a 3ft white teddy bear, but it sounds better if we call it a bear. So mums the word!!!) Despite the time we lost on stages 4 and 5 we were pleased to find that at the finish we were still 2nd in the championship battle.
After a breif encounter with some fish and chips we explored Welshpool. It wasnt long before we met Gary and John and their team in the pub, from there we found Nathan and Jessica, where you will be pleased to know tnarallyteam led the way on the dance floor in a local club. we may have lost the rally to Gary and team but we certainly beat them drinking. Having said this Gary's air guitar was a force to be reckoned with!
After another hour or so of social dancing and whale watching at Welshpool we did the sensible thing and got a taxi back to the Camper, where we had a few hours kip before a fry up and the trip home. We are getting back in the swing of things!
Trackrod Rally
This was an event we were looking forward to after finding our feet on the previous event, As Damien was in
As the national rally was only part of Rally Yorkshire we had a later start time than usual, which allowed us to watch the historics and the WRC cars do the half a mile super special stage 1 before we stared.
With SS1 only half a mile long there would be little room for error, and little opportunity to make time up over such a short distance. We took the first corner and ran a little wide loosing maybe a second, but otherwise had a clean run. At the end of the stage we realised that the electronic centre diff had not been activated explaining why we ran a little wide at the star of the stage. Despite this we were lying 10th overall after this stage.
The following 2 stages were nearly 10 miles each and saw Glyn get back in his swing of things. After SS3 we were 2nd in the Challenge and 7th overall.
The 4th stage was due to be a real tester 16 and a half miles of gravel stage in the forest. For us it proved to be a good one, we were able to gain a few seconds on Mr Cooper and also extend our lead on Rob who was in 3rd place.
Stage 5 was particularly rough in places and slippery in others, although not as bad as we had anticipated when considering the amount of rain that had fallen. Once again the Silverstone tyres seemed to be doing their job. At service we had a few extra grooves cut in our tyres to help the water disperse and us gain more friction, which boosted Glyn’s confidence in the wet leading to a tidy, clean, fast stage time on SS6.
Stage 7 saw the only hairy moment of the day on a rapid approach to a Sqr right. We had trouble slowing under breaking into the corner. The way the car handled made us think we were carrying a puncture on the rear near side. With this in mind and only 3miles left till the end of the stage we drove very cautiously to limit the damage to the car. Despite this we were only 1 second slower than our nearest competitor in the championship. At the end of the stage we were very confused but relieved at the same time to learn that there was no puncture, and whatever the problem was the road section showed that it had been resolved.
The final stage 8 was a very tidy run for us on the super special stage that we did in the morning but was now running in the opposite direction. We actually not only set the quickest time for our championship on this stage but we also won the stage in the national rally.
A celebration was in order and after a quick scrub up in the camper the rally team were ready to pay
From here we went to the next pub for what we thought was going to be a night cap. Little did we know!!! On our return walk to the car we came a cross a crowd of people migrating from the pub down a little lane. We asked the question and were informed that it lead to the only place in
As per usual Brian (closely followed by Darren) led the way on the dance floor. As the manager had been so accommodating and let us in even after the doors were closed, when approached with some raffle tickets we thought it best to buy some. Especially as a bottle of scotch was a prize. And who’d have thunk it, we won and had no worries accepting the scotch, although I got the impression some of the locals would have rather as new comers to their club that we put it back. Unfortunately they stood very little chance and to make it worse for them they had to see three quarters of the bottle disappear before we left! The best bit of the evening was still to come; we were gingerly approached by a local who asked if we were a bowling team! To which we obviously replied yes, yes we are. We will be having words with Jason about the championship shirts in the near future.
As we headed for home the local constabulary introduced itself as it pulled us over to see what we had been up to. Peering into the passenger seat seeing a very drowsy Mr Jarman clutching the remains of a bottle of
A very Good weekend.
Cambrian Rally Report
Being the last round of the Subaru Challenge and potentially our last event of the year we were keen to do well yet anxious to finish and continue our excellent start to finish ratio.
With the addition of bonus points for the last two rounds it was possible for us still too win the championship providing we finished 1st or 2nd and Gary (air guitar) Cooper didn’t finish.
Damien made his own way to north Wales from Leeds where he met the lads and an honery member of service crew who had returned to help on spanners for the weekend, Nathan, Glyn’s brother-in-law.
Scrutineering was held at Rhyl College where the students put the event stickers and advertising on. Badly! Damien and Darren ever the perfectionists managed to sort most of them out, the stickers that is not the students.
We were fortunate enough to find room to park the motor home in the hotel car park where our good friends Duncan, Ian and his service crew were staying in. Unfortunately their room was not facing the car park so our efforts to hook up to their electricity was hampered, although amongst the doggy doo’s we were lucky enough to find a water source, namely a tap.
After a quick freshen up we made an executive decision that there was time for a pint before dinner. It was then we realised that coverage from the last round of the championship was on telly, after finding a bar willing to turn corrie off we were disappointed to find out they had not upgraded their sky package for a while and didn’t have the channel we needed.
We returned to the camper for our rally stew, which was very well received by all. After the stew we had been invited for a beer with some fellow Subaru challenge competitors, unlike us we had to turn down the invitation as the travelling and the stew got the better of us. So a dvd saw us all tucked up in bed by 11.
North Wales (as it usually seems to be when we are in the vicinity) was damp to say the least. It had rained 3 days solid prior to the event so it was pleasing to see the sun shinning over pier in the morning.
This illusion was short lived as no sooner had we got in the cue for the start on the promenade than we saw our first rain drop (unfortunately the first of many). We had a long treck out to the first stage over 30 miles at an average speed of under 30mph and all the while the stages for the rest of the day were getting wetter and wetter. The start official informed us they may not even run stage 3 as it runs very near a river which was close to bursting its banks.
The first stage proved just how much the rain had affected the surface in the forest. At points we were struggling for traction even in a 4x4! This was highlighted by a large number of cars that had found the conditions too testing and were off at the side of the stage.
There was a long hold up at the start of stage 2 with three cars in concession having accidents one of which needed rescuing before it ended up in the river! During the hold up Damien was able to get some times from challenge competitors further down the field, showing Glyn had done better than he first realised we were a good 30seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. After one stage, not bad going. However this advantage was soon to be lost when coming over a crest we were met with the Subaru that started a minute in front of us length ways across the narrow track with both members of its crew pushing. After coming to a halt and waiting for the car to be moved leaving us enough room to pass we continued to the end of the stage to collect our time which as could be expected was well off the pace and cost us a lot of time.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that we were only 2 seconds slower than Garry and Jonh in their 02 impreza.
The rest of the days competing went smoothly without any major dramas and we were second to Gary on every stage. Nearly catching him on two. On reflection we think we may have made better times had we swapped to the narrower tyre to cut through the sludge, but we decided to stay with what we had for our last event. Similar to the start we had a long jaunt to the finish at the promenade where we were given our awards and had the photos taken.
A special thank you must be made to our service crew; Darren, Brian and Nath who did a sterling job as usual at service and also their commitment to arriving on time, fully equipped to every management service.
After loading the car back up and parking it in parc fremme for the night we payed Duncan and Ian a visit in their hotel. Whilst Darren and Brian were busy ordering phantom pizzas to Duncan’s room service we took it in turn to make use of their facilities to get showered and ready for night out with the boys and girls from the championship.
It all began fairly civilised with a few beers at local club "the boulevard" where the rally awards were given out. This was where amongst the other competitors we met up with Nadene and James from Silverstone Tyres and Jason and Lucy from Lakeland Motorsport. Unfortunately Darren developed a gas leak (ill leave it to your imagination) which lead to us moving venue for the rest of the evening.
‘The Washington’ a smaller but livelier club saw us arrive on the scene of a locals 30th birthday party. Thankfully we were able to say our happy birthdays and weren’t bothered by them again. What a relief Brian!
As the beer dried up we progressed to shorts and in our usual fashion lead the way to the dance floor with air guitar Cooper and Mark (aka Duncan) in hot pursuit. Damien, Darren, Brian, Nathan and Jessica even found their way to the dance podium at the front of the dance floor. Thankfully for everybody else there were no poles! This time! The entertainer for the evening had to be James for his well know way with the female species and his much envied ability to speak to (and impress, he assures us) every female in the club after 200 smirnoff ices. Had the walls not confined him who knows how many more women may have succumbed to his charms and boyish good looks.
Mean while the ever so slightly elder members of the group kept the bar running and certainly didn’t look out of place on the dance floor! No it wasn’t 70s night! Particular mention for their moves as a team must go to Glyn and Duncan.
At kicking out time we all returned to the hotel for a night cap. Well nearly all of us! Hey Brian! Brian misplaced himself in the confusion of everybody leaving the club at the same time and took completely the wrong direction only to turn up at the hotel nearly 2 hours later. After being in continual phone contact with Darren trying to direct him back to the digs. Darren was offered with such useful hints of Brian’s whereabouts with instruction such as;
"near a blue car registration number…….."Ye thanks Brian, handy theres only one car in North Wales, lead us right too him!
"6pieces of chicken 2 portions of chips and a litre bottle of coke only 10 pounds" This was his response to Darren asking him to read a road sign name! Which turned out to be a bus shelter advert for kfc, a big help!
Thankfully no one lost their wallet!
Quote of the rally had to go to Mr Jarman yet again. Whilst discussing coming second to Gary Coopers 4year newer impreza with Damien and the Motoring News editor he came up with;
"Yes, I think it would be quite nice if I could have one of those really"
Offers on a postcard. ……..please?
Plains 2006
Our return to Welshpool
The Plains rally, an event the team look forward to not only for the rally but also the social side. This is where Gary Cooper and his now legendary air guitar make their first appearance and we are looking to their repeat performance! (Sadly, when the ‘quo’ came on
Scruteneering at Mad Mick Jones Timber Yard on Friday was met by three tired members of tnarallyteam, as we were forced to leave in the early hours or Friday morning rather than our usual Thursday afternoon. This was because we were called in to play security at Jarman towers in Bury St Edmunds after an attempt to steal his trailer by some “do as they likes” (pikies) the night before. While Damien, Darren, and Brian bravely protected his property in the motor home in the garden, Glyn resided to the safety of his home and a cuddle with Mrs Jarman, Despite Brian’s repeated offers to swap roles.
Our new exhaust proved its worth by coming in at a very “un noisey” 98db compared to our previous attempts with the old one reading a throaty 112db (now for sale on barrybois.net!) After settling in our new grounds for the weekend at a campsite 8miles from the start we considered it only fair to sample the local ale again before an early night. Returning to some familiar haunts in Welshpool, an over excited Brian had to be contained, with the promise that he could go dancing on Saturday after the rally.
To everyone’s surprise it was a scantily clad Jarman that was first to wake on Saturday. What’s more surprising this was the second time on two consecutive events that this incident had occurred! His new early ritual was completed with some stretching and grunting outside the motor home, some what to the shock of other campsite residents.
The 1st stage saw an hours hold up which set the pattern for the rest of the day. A very good clean run on ss1 the woodyard spectator stage saw tnarallyteam off to a good start. Unlike some of the 205’s who turned it into a bit of a graveyard! SS2 Was fairly uneventful, a small amount of time was lost with Damien making a late call just before the flying finish causing a few seconds to be lost as Glyn got to grips with the hairpin that crept up on him. It was a shame the marshals couldn’t get out of bed to man SS3 which resulted in the stage being cancelled and all the cars simply driving through at 30mph. SS4 was good fun except junction 4 a 4L dc which we cut and did a cars length on 2 wheels, we latter found out that many crews also did the same thing with some coming off a lot worse!(mike and shaun/Phil)
A few more hold ups on stages 5, 6, and 7 but otherwise uneventful and pretty good fun. Stage 8 was back at the timber yard as the light began to fade, a clean safe run just 2 seconds slower than the morning run through.
A special mention and thank you must go to Darren, Brian and new team member, some of you may have herd of Dorian/Doreen/Bradley Rees. Unfortunately, Bradley was unable to join us for a pineapple juice in town but we are not excepting any excuses next time! Making up for lost time after polishing off our rally stew we met up with the three crews from the
Malcolm Wilson - 2007
An event we had all been looking forward to since our last trip to
Glyn and Damien left
After a catch up with Eth and Paul it was time for the now infamous Gilcrux mixed grill. Needless to say a few pints of bitter and house whiskeys were consumed before we moved the motorhome to Peter and Helen’s who offered to have us on their driveway again. (many thanks).
Despite a planned lie in for Friday morning, Mr Cansdale had rally ants in his pants again and awoke the team at 8. After a quick cuppa we headed off for a familiarisation visit of Cockermouth where we had breakfast and Brian introduced Glyn to the wonders of Wilkinsons.
After a quick check over of the car Glyn and Damien attended scrutinering at local legends Malcolm Wilson’s place at Dovenby. This left the boys the painfull job of standing outside Eth and Paul’s until 6pm when the pub opened! In the mean time whilst fighting with the new championship stickers it was nice for Glyn and Damien to meet up the Roger the official for the Subaru Challenge who was in fine form.
During the day it was decided that for the weekend the team should all try and be nice to each other as insults such as “big nose”- Darren “fat, shrek”- Glyn “gay” –Damien were occurring very regularly on rally weekends and were unkind and uncalled for. Ps…. Notice there’s nothing nasty about Brian been said……..which would suggest most of the taunting came from Brian himself! But as he will be all to keen to tell you “he’s not one to stir”! So when ever there was cause for an insult we reminded each other we were being nice to each other and that instead of insults we should be nice to one another and “think of the flowers”. However, as you can imagine as soon any insults made were followed with the phrase “think of the followers” which in some team members minds seemed to cancel out the insult!
On the Night before the event Owen Le-roy and his crew (mark and Dan) joined us for some dinner and a beer, the newcomers to our local public house had bitten off more than they could chew with the size of Eth’s steaks and ended up requesting dogy bags! Glyn, Damien and Owen were very kindly lent the use of the pubs lodgings to watch the pacenotes dvd which seemed to prove invaluable the following day.
An early night was met with an early morning as our rally day preparation and checks were carried out. Fortunately the weather was fine which is certainly not what we have come accustomed to during up trips to the North of the Country. We planned to tackle the first stage in Greystoke with caution as we had been warned numerous times of the banks that had been built up on the inside of many of the corners which could easily catch teams out. This was proved to be the case as we saw a number of cars in various states of brokenness! We were pleased with 21 over all after this stage as it was a good platform to start the rest of the rally from. Stages 2 and 3 in Grizedale we were looking forward to as we had tackled the same forest with success in December all be it the stages running the opposite direction! Again no dramas and two solid stage times both just outside the top 10.
Stage 4 was back in Greystoke but run in the opposite direction having built some confidence over the previous stages we were able to push a little harder through the big banked corners, and put in an 18 th quickest stage time.
The final three stages Hobcarton, Comb and Wythop were relatively short stages, we decided that a lot of time could be lost if we were to push to hard and go off but not a lot of time could be made up over short millage. Three very neat confident runs ensured we didn’t fall below the top 25 all day. A very encouraging start to the season. 14th Overall and 7th in Class.
Tempest Rally
Only our 3rd gravel rally of the year and one of our favourites from last year, we were looking to achieve a result similar to last years 8th overall. A big ask considering Glyn and Damien’s last event together was back in March.
Glyn, Damien and Darren managed to sneak off work Friday afternoon and undertook the arduous journey around London’s biggest car park the M25 eventually arriving in Hampshire in the dark with an hour left in which to scrutineer. At which there were no dramas and we took the opportunity to have the turbo resealed.
The boys, Brian and Charlie arrived in time for dinner despite Brian’s directions, which was something of an achievement in its self. After a brief argument about who’s nose was bigger Darren and Charlie got the beers in and we had a good catch up with the Isle of White rally team.
Saturday saw an early start and a lot of rain. Rain was forecast for most of the day which in many respects suited us as we had hoped to use up our old wet cut tyres up. The first two stages went very well with Glyn managing the car superbly well in slippy conditions enabling us to attack from the outset. With two competitive stage times in the bag we were keen to check we were beating our mates Wax and Mug after narrowly beating them by a handful of seconds on the last stage of this rally last year, and with it earning a crate of beer from the bet we placed with them.
The third stage before service was the mile and a half spectator stage, somewhere it wasn’t possible to make up a lot of time but a lot could easily be lost with some quite technical bits and a stage split. Indeed we had a near perfect run at it and were only a few seconds behind some of the wrc cars on this stage. At first Service we were 10th Overall.
The rain held off for nearly a whole hour, during which we undertook our only stage of the day without rain. Due to the heavy rainfall in the morning and a slight change in surface we found stage 4 and 5 particularly slippy and indeed at times it was more of a battle to keep it on the island and out of the trees than anything else. We were able to push a bit harder on the second run through of the morning stages taking considerable chunks of time out of our morning times. Going into stage 7 we were a pleasing 8th overall.
Stage 7 was to be our last of the ten stage event. Having enjoyed the long stage we pulled up to the finish control where Damien began sorting his times and roadbook while Glyn was waving and singing autographs only to look up and see flames bellowing from the side of the bonnet! The kill switch was flicked as was the plumbed in extinguisher which soaked both driver and co driver and dribbled on the fire raging under the bonnet of the Subaru. Careful to avoid back draft Glyn opened the bonnet cautiously and just enough for Damien to tackle the fire with his hand held extinguisher.
The source of the fire was soon diagnosed as a worn hole in a braided hose coming from the power steering reservoir, which, when the engine had been running was emitting a fine mist of fluid onto the hot exhaust.
Despite our service crew best desperate efforts at management service to repair the pipe, (including such ingenuity from Charlie as a biro, and the aerial from his truck) the pressure being put through the pipe was too much and we were unable to continue the rally.
A long tow back to rally HQ ended our day in the dark and heavy rainfall, not quite the finish we were hoping for, however it was reassuring that despite the low number of events this year our times were still competitive with the best of them.