Last modified: 14/07/2002

	No 57 Crew Service Crew	Peugeot 309 GTi 16v George Cooke Alan West Lawrence Fowler, Andrew Sharpe & Neale Mulsgrove
	No 62 Crew Service Crew	Vauxhall Astra GTE 16v Aron Brown Andrew Mitchel Lawrence Fowler, Andrew Sharpe & Neale Mulsgrove

It seems like a long time ago that we last rallied here. Due to some delays getting the cars ready and finding out that Caerwent, the original venue for Arons first Astra outing had some large curbs, we decided that the Quinton D'Isis Stages at the Motor Industry Research Association near Nuneaton, may be a more suitable venue, with wide flowing corners and lots of tarmac.

It was originally intended that just Aron would compete with Andy navigating, while George and Lawrence serviced and showed the 'ropes' to two new budding volunteers who are keen to come and service / assist / muck in / go away to exotic (and windy) sites / party / etc. However, Advanced Automotive Technologies (http://www.advancedautosport.com +44 (0)1543 683051) the Co-sponsors of the Heart Of England Rally Championship, of which the D'Isis is the second round, approached Tomsport to ask if we would give their Managing Director a ride to experience the excitement and thrills of special stage rallying. Tomsport, always happy to help out, obliged and therefore Alan West was the guest navigator for Tomsports' 309 16valve.

This left Lawrence in charge of servicing, with the added duties of showing Sharpie (Andrew Sharp) and Neale Musgrove how to get their overalls on and where to get the burgers and coffee from.

The day started very early for Sharpie and Neale, as they had to be at Andy's for 05:45. Shortly after we were on our way; Aron and Andy were in the 406 estate, Lawrence and Sharpie in the Transit Van with the Astra on the trailer and George and Neale were in the 309 GTi. Neale was wearing the biggest grin to be seen for a long time. Once at the venue the new boys headed for the burger bar with the others' orders.

As this was Aron's first rally in his "own" car he was now starting to realise what George had often told him that noise and scrutineermg was more nerve racking than the actual rally itself! Aron was telling everyone in the team that he was very worried about the Astra passing noise "Do you think it is loud?" was the question posed. Words of support came from the team, but Aron was still concerned.

We duly joined the queue for noise along with George & Alan in the Peugeot, all Aron's worrying was for nothing as the Astra flew through noise with a reading of 96db - nothing to worry about! Scrutineering and signing on was a fairly relaxed affair and we duly returned to the service area arid awaited our start time.

Our due time for SS1 soon arrived, and before we knew it we were being counted down for the start of the rally. SS1 was taken cautiously so that Aron & Andy could "get back in to the swing of things". During the service that followed Aron & Andy discussed ideas of how we could get the Astra round the tight hairpins. The Astra is fitted with a short steering rack and with the handbrake not working efficiently on tarmac it was proving a real problem

During SS2&3 various methods were put into practice, using left foot braking to unbalance the car into the corner, trying the handbrake, almost coming to a stop and slowly driving around the corner. In the end no one particular method really worked so we ended up either making a 3 point turn or taking a very wide line and smashing in to the tyre bails - still it kept the marshals busy! Sorry guys!

Once the first couple of stages were completed, Arons Astra started to develop an intermittent electrical problem - it would not start. The battery was swapped with that from the Transit, but still no joy. Fortunately, there was within the group the knowledge to hot wire the car.

The rest of the rally was very enjoyable. Only a few problems were highlighted with the car, such as a fuel or electrical problem which meant the car was slightly "missing", and some of the suspension in need of replacement. The weather was superb, both Tomsport cars finished, and 28th overall & 14th in class was a pleasing result for the first time out in the new car. With an estimated loss of 10 seconds per stage due to the tight hairpins, we hope to improve on this in the future.

Andy playing up during Arons 1st interviem

In the service area, a number of fellow service crews passed comment on the way we had laid out our pitch. We always (when ever possible) set out a large ground sheet to park the rally car on. This is useful in the muddy forests, but this service area was tarmac and the weather was far from wet. The ground sheet serves a number of purposes; nuts and bolts are easy to find if you drop them, its easier to slide around on your back under the car and it is easier to spot if fluid is leaking from the car. Well, the Peugeot had developed a minor leak, requiring the monitoring and topping up of the power stearing fluid all afternoon.

George reported that the Peugeot felt very good, even though using Colway tarmac tyres, but suspension was wrong through using front forest and rear tarmac suspension, as George was a little nervous of how smooth venue was going to be.

Later in the day, the Peugeot 309 started to develop an electrical fault - it would not start. This minor tantrum was caused by a faulty ignition switch. The wires were removed from the back of the switch and all connected together. This meant that the ignition was either on or off, all determined by the position of the Autolec (battery isolation switch) - not ideal but it got around the problem

George experienced a large moment on the penultimate stage, resulting in the car spinning out of control but luckily avoiding the scenery. Andy and Aron commented on dramatic skid marks as they passed by the same point a few cars later.

Guest navigator for day, Alan West, admitted half way through rally of having never done a special stage rally before, but thought it was 'very entertaining'. At the end of the day we managed to do 55 tarmac stage miles without the return of the mystery gearbox oil leak that has plagued us since the Manx Internatioanl. Thanks to the work done by Julian at Grove Rally Sport who can be found at www.groverallysport.co.uk

Thanks to Lawrence, Neil and Sharpie "The Chocolate Crew" and hope they will come back on future outings

Our picture even made it into the press