Last modified: 14/07/2002

No 44 Crew Service Crew

Vauxhall Astra GTE 16v Aron Brown Eric West Andrew Mitchell, George Cooke, Lawrence Fowler, Jamie Cook & Cal McElhinney

The rally started in earnest for Aron, Cal & Jamie shortly after lunch on the Friday afternoon, when the Astra's throttle body seized whilst reversing out of the garage.  Lots of WD40 was called upon to free the offending article, which seemed to work.  The car was then loaded on to the trailer and the boys set off for Wales and headed to the hotel for an evening of Beer, Pool & Darts.

Saturday dawned early and cold (damn cold). A heavy frost the night before meant that the first few stages would be covered with ice.  Andy, Lawrence, George & Erik had already arrived in the service area and had  the Gazebo erected (very professional!) Cal & Jamie then took the car up to Noise & Scrutineering.   The Astra passed Noise - just!  Aron & Erik then signed on and duly awaited their start time.  Whilst waiting, discussions were centred around the fact that the last time Aron & Erik went rallying together, they had won their first rally, but the second ended with them wiping out a deer on the front of Aron's Black Vauxhall Cavalier.  It was a bit ominous that they were again in a Black Vauxhall.

SS1 soon arrived, our tactic for the first few stages was to "take it easy" because although the sun was now clear of the hills, ice could still be seen in places.  Our initial nerves were soon replaced with adrenaline and smiles as the first stage was a nice fast flowing stage, which seemed to suit the Astra. SS2 was a bit rough in places, but the crew seemed to be working well, Erik up to his usual map reading skills.

No problems for the boys at 1st service, just a spanner check was needed, and Aron & Erik set of for SS2 & 3 which was a repeat of SS1 & 2, - on which we set a time 14 seconds quicker on SS3 than that of SS1.

Back at service, Aron had noticed that the front suspension seemed to be making an odd noise. It was found to be the top-mount rubbers squeaking!!

SS5 & 6 were excellent fast flowing stages, Aron & Erik seemed to be increasingly "on the pace".  Aron's confidence was growing stage by stage and  the times seemed to reflect this, as they caught and passed car 43 on SS6.

At next service the boys adjusted the Handbrake, and gave the car a thorough spanner & fluids check.

As the end of the rally neared, the team debated the question of when the spotlights would be needed. Erik felt we wouldn't need them, Aron wasn't so sure. It was agreed that they would be fitted at last service. Last service arrived and the boys fitted the lights which were then tested.  PANIC!! the lights didn't work. The problem was traced to a fault in the power lead to the relay.  The boys' excellent idea was to by-pass the autolec and take a feed direct from the battery.  

Aron & Erik duly calmed down and set of for the final 2 stages. The spotlights were needed, as the last stage was run in darkness where Aron & Erik had their only "moment" of the rally which ended up with the Astra in a ditch; Aron kept his foot down which pulled the Astra out the other side ("got away with that one!").

We eventually finished 22nd overall and 5th in class, the Astra's best result to date. Excellent servicing from the boys made the rally, and an entertaining day was had by all,  apart from the journey back when the engine in Aron's 406 road car decided it had had enough and blew up on the M6 motorwar!

Our next rally is yet to be decided, because of the outbreak of Foot & Mouth Diseases in the UK, it maybe a while before we are back in the Forests.