28-11-2004:
The last two selectifs were at the Caerwent
Military Base. One was 10 miles and the second 7 miles. Both selectifs
had junctions every 50 to 100 yards and there were 99 route instructions
for the 10 miler!
At one muddy corner we got stuck with many others and the spectators had to push
us out. At another narrow corner a Ford Puma got stuck in a fence but we just
managed to squeeze by.
We got to the final time control at 10.03pm and we were both very
pleased to finish after some very tough rallying.
There was just 40 miles left to do to the finish ramp in Cheltenham where
we received our finishers medals and posed for photograhs.
We had finished 39th which we were reasonably pleased with because there were
so many very good drivers; we were not expecting to be in the top 50.
John and Richard in car 6 finished very well at 12th and Dave Johnson and Keith
Hounslow, our World Cup Rally allies, were 5th.
Back at the hotel the bar was full until 2.00am and beyond.
At the breakfast dinner and prizegiving we got a surprise "True Grit" award,
mainly I think for being the heaviest crew!
Dave and I were very pleased to see a good friend of ours, Pete Joy, win the
rally and together with the driver Mat Fowle they won trophies that were almost
as tall (or short) as they were.
It was nice to see so many familiar faces from recent World Cup Rallies and from
years gone by, and we look forward to seeing everyone again on our next event...
watch this space. |
 
 
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27-11-2004:
We have just finished selectif 12 which was the last one on the
Epynt Military Rages.
We have been through torrential rain and fog on the last three selectifs and
we are pleased to be finished. We now just have one long selectif left before
we get to the finish. |
| 27-11-2004:
We finished selectif 6 ok. Sweet Lamb which
was the longest forest selecif so far at 7 miles which had everything:
watersplashes, hairpins and fog! |
 |
27-11-2004:
We are now at the morning resthalt having done 4 selectifs in the
Welsh forests.
We had some good times and some bad times as some selectifs were uphill and some
downhill.
We are just checking the car over quickly before leaving for the next 2 selectifs.
The exhaust is blowing a little but we don't have time to fix it because we have
to take the sumpguard off.
Picture right: John and Richard in car 6 are still
going well. Here they are leaving the rest halt. |
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| 27-11-2004:
We have now finished today's first three
selectifs without incident. Dave is worrying about cars catching
us as usual... |
 |
27-11-2004:
The start of the last day. We just found
a bulge in a front tyre but managed to get the two fronts changed
before the start. We got our 8 minute penalty back and so we are
now 44th.
Hello to Martyn and our friends at Almedica, we have just come through you neck
of the woods on the way to the first selectif. |
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26-11-2004:
We made it to the overnight resthalt in Chester ar 9.30pm having
completed all of the days selectifs without incident.
As you can maybe see from the picture we had to check over the car before we
could relax and eventually got to bed at 11.45pm.
Having got back our 4 minute penalty we are now up to 50th overall. We are still
working on getting back our 8 minute penalty and if we are sucessful that will
move us up about another 10 places.
The final day tomorrow and all my maps, road books and time cards are ready. |
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| 26-11-2004:
We are just leaving the lunch halt at 3.10pm having completed 9
selectifs.
We got stuck on a hairpin on one selectifs and the spectators pushed
us out.
Other than that we have done ok apart from the odd co-driving error that cost
us a few seconds. |
 |
| 26-11-2004:
Picture 1 + 2: Waiting to start selectif
2 and 3 which is the same selectif which we do twice. Picture
3: Queuing up for selectif 4 we saw our friend Paul White from
the World Cup Rallies, and Pete Joy our friend from the TR7 and
Rover V8 days just passed us on the way out of the selectif. He
was in 4th place this morning. |
 
 |
26-11-2004:
At the end of the first day we were 55th
overall but if the 4 minute penalty that we think we shouldn't
have is removed we should move up 5 or 6 places.
Good to see no
rain yet today. Picture left: we are just about to leave parc ferme
and on up to the first selectif. Picture right: in the queue to
start the first selectif of the day through another forest. |
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| 25-11-2004:
We made it to the overnight rest halt at last around 11.00pm.
We got through all the forests ok but had a problem with the route
in the last one as did many other crews. The organisers have cancelled
most of the penalties so we hope to have not lost too many places.
A more civilised start tomorrow at 09:01am. |
| 25-11-2004:
We have just finished three selectifs in
the Catterick Military Ranges which were tricky in the dark, but
we came out ok.
One more short selectif before the hard stuff in Hamsterly and Kielder forests. |
| 25-11-2004:
Left picture: here we are at the start of
selectif 7. Right picture: here
we are waiting to start the selectif at Croft Circuit. We finished
without any problems, having only just glanzed a couple of straw
bales which cleaned some of the mud off the side of the car! |
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| 25-11-2004:
We completed selectif 8 without any problems which around Lightwater
Valley theme park.
John and Richard in car 6 (in the picture) had wheel come off after the second
selectif but managed to retrieve it and bolt it back on using nuts off the other
wheels and haviing dug a whole with Richard's snow shovel because they couldn't
get the jack under the car. |
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25-11-2004:
Here we are waiting to start the first stage.
All went ok on the first and second selectifs (tests) but on the
third selectif we missed a corner and to get back on route we almost
took a marshall's lunch with us!
Everythig is ok after the first three selectifs but we are now in
a traffic jam on the way to Scarborough.
We made it to the time control in Scarborough ok and then on to
Olivers Mount motor racing circuit where we completed the selectif
ok. It wasn't the same as 1987 when we were in the Rover with 360bhp! |
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| 25-11-2004:
Half an hour to the start but we still manage
to get a hearty breakfast. We are the fifth car away at 07:35am. |
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| 24-11-2004:
Here we are in the queue for scrutineering
at 10:00am. First we go through noise check and then on to the
technical inspection. 11:00am: We have passed scrutineering ok,
and we are now returning to the hotel to plot the final few parts
of the route. |
 
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23-11-2004: The
car is ready and we are now on our way on the M1 motorway to
Rally HQ in York.
Already it has started raining! |
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| 22-11-2004: Ken
and Dave work on the route which includes the forests of North
Yorkshire, Killer Kielder forest as it is known in Northumberland,
treacherous forest tracks in the Lake District, finishing in
the famous Welsh forests and on the military ranges. |
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| 22-11-2004: Final preparation of the car continues at GalRal
in Eaton Bray |
  |
The
Revival Rally 