opposite lock 09

Date: 18th July 2009

Event: Opposite Lock Rally
Location: Manby Motorplex (An old airfield near Louth in Lincolnshire)
Number of entries: 23 in Class C (2 litre 2wd cars) and 74 in total
Seeded: 22nd Overall and 8th in Class C
Result: 18th Overall and 7th in Class

Written by Pete
A very large entry of 23 cars in our class, including some very high spec tarmac cars were always going to make this a challenging day. But depite our problems throughout the day (which included cruising in on the last stage) we still managed a good finish, high enough to keep us in the lead of the East Midlands Championship.
We lost time on SS1 after hitting the chicane before the split quite hard with the rear of the car, the descriptive map not very descriptive at this point ! Not the best start to our day.
SS3 included over half the stage length on grass ! Forest tyres were fitted with a hope of getting more grip (ha ha!) we sped off from the start to a square left but couldn't brake in time and went straight on through the tyres, after rejoining it was onto the long grass section, it wasn't grass it was mud and very slippy mud. We struggled through it sliding onto banks and passing cars stuck in the mud, Liam and Ralph were pushing cars out of the mud on this section ! Then onto the grass in the centre of the circuit, this was better, sliding around an open hairpin we were still sideways for 200 yards up the straight ! The stage was eventually cancelled before all the cars had started, but we kept our time which was a lot better than the time awarded to the other cars.
After that it was back to tarmac for the next three stages. John was pushing the car to improve our place, we were outbraking and passing cars into corners and pushing subaru's to go faster, we also had a few spins and off's over the tyres, out of character for a normally precise driver who can use the Escort's rear wheel drive power at its best.
The final stage included some "rough" surface sections again, these were not grass but hardcore. The section near the gate was very bumpy which we took flat out, we then landed back on the tarmac and John said " I cant steer" thinking it maybe a puncture ( we later found it to be broken steering ) we continued but found the car wouldn't turn at speed so had to cruise around the remaining section to the finish. This lost us around a minute, dropping our overall position from 14th to 18th, but we had enough of a lead over the following class car to keep us at 7th in class.
Liam was taking video of the event for the next Dukeries club night, but found himself pushing cars through the mud on SS3, he came back looking like a mud monster, but we know how much of a help a push from spectators can be, without them we have been stuck in the snow of the Wyedean Rally until it thawed in March !
All in all a good day, great fun