This year I was ably assisted by James Wheildon while the other crews for the Daihatsu team included Sophie Robinson in a 1 litre car and David Winstanley in a sister car to mine, being a 1.3 Sirion. This car is a brand new model and has the same power unit as the Yaris VVTI and boasts some pretty quick 0-60 figures. The deal entailed me having the car prepared with a cheap buy back option at the end of the rally. We had to make some sensible modifications within the rules, which included strengthening the suspension front and rear, fitting a half cage, an indestructible catalytic converter and considerable under body protection.
The event started at Blenheim Palace with two special tests followed by three further tests before we headed for Dover. The competition proper did not start until we reached Austria after a long concentration run, but it was clear from the start that the Daihatsu was to be competitive. Its major downfall was its willingness to understeer at every opportunity and with the tyres we had selected, which had reinforced sidewalls, this made matters even more interesting. Tyres were to be the big factor in the event. A minimum of 6 had to be carried at all times and you could only purchase four other tyres on route if one or more of your original tyres was damaged beyond repair. On what was probably the best rally I have ever been on, the tyre situation was the only spoiling part and was unfortunately open to abuse. The regulations stated that road tyres were to be used and you could not use tyres marked ‘for rally use only’. The more clever amongst us (myself not included) found Yokohama Advan tyres which are marked ‘for rally use’, without the ‘only’. Thus, several crews were able to dodge the rules in this way. I am assured that this will be tightened up next year. Anyway, onto the event. In Austria we were sent up the Grobming Hill Climb, which is a tarmac climb stretching approximately 14km, a little bit like a very narrow Col de Turini. This is a famous hill climb and 6km from the top there is a sharp left-hander with a car park on the right. I was warned about this, as it is a very common mistake for people to end up in the car park but yes, you guessed it, we went in. To make matters worse I had the in-car camera on board at the time and I guess we lost around 20 seconds. The following morning they took us up the same hill again but this time it was snowing at the top. We had the sense to take a trip meter reading of the offending corner on the way down the hill the first time so we were substantially quicker on the second attempt. If only I could have got more grip down on the road we would have been very quick. However the under steer, coupled with the light front end made things difficult. Not to worry, we were still in contention with the leaders.
These tests were put in to give us something to do on our way to the rally proper starting in Slovenia, which is where we headed next. After driving a good deal of the day we arrived after lunch with 2 extra fast road sections, which were mainly on gravel forest roads and went on for what seemed like forever. The end of the leg was to take us out the other end of Slovenia and into Croatia, some 500km in total. The day started sorting out the running order properly but unfortunately there were several accidents, including one where a Ford Escort went off the road and landed on another competitor’s car that had crashed earlier and still had the occupants inside. The Escort on top was to finish the rally, although looking somewhat like a banana in both shape and colour. The Skoda Fabia underneath was to take no further part. Another problem came when a very fast Ford Ka from New Zealand, which was car No. 1 in the rally, hit head on with car No. 4, a VW Polo, on a short piece of road which was labelled in the route book as two way traffic. The road sections were so tight that we lost four minutes on the first and seven minutes on the second and we thought we must have gone way down the leader board. As it turned out this was one of the best times and put us firmly into 3rd place. Finally we spend the night at Rijeka.
The next day we headed off for Dubrovnik, a long drawn out day with one long test. Unfortunately for us, a special stage was cancelled on which we had done particularly well and overtaken the MGZR of Mike Darcy when he punctured. We were obviously not very happy that this stage was cancelled, as we would have been 2nd overall at this point.
Having got to Dubrovnik, the following day was a holiday and we were only allowed three hours to work on the car in parc ferme. We changed the front brake pads and rear shock absorbers, really to give us something to do. We did however, have one major problem, which was to plague us later in the rally. The brantz had packed up - apparently due to the sensor, which was located inside the rear brake drum, getting too hot. We were never to cure this so we had to convert every tulip from kilometres into miles and zero the car’s speedo trip at every junction for 173 pages of tulips. What a hero James was doing this. As for me, I had to keep poking my hand through the steering wheel onto the mileometer button at every junction.
From Dubrovnik we headed off to Tirana with our main aim to keep ahead of David Johnson’s Proton. There were only two tests on the day but the biggest challenge was driving across the main A roads, which in fact were mile after mile of mud and pot holes, making the road sections reasonably tight. After some 50km we came across the Yugoslavian-Montenegro border and then on to the first special. This was not to be the best day for me, as this stage was held on a recognised hill climb at Kotor and the dreaded under steer took over at the second right hand corner, where I managed to side swipe a bridge after hitting a damp patch. This cost me dearly, losing 50 seconds to the Proton behind me following a further excursion into the undergrowth some 6km further on.
The second test of the day was on a go-kart track and we had merely to drive two laps in pouring rain. I decided that even if I poodled around I would not lose any substantial amount of time and at least I wouldn’t hit any further barriers. At the end of the day I was 3 minutes 2 seconds in front of the Proton and a further 1 minute 12 seconds ahead of the second Daihatsu. We headed into the main town of Tirana looking for a peaceful nights sleep but unfortunately this was the night it was decided to hold the largest pop concert the country had ever seen, filling the whole of the Skanderberg Square - directly outside my hotel room window.
The next day we headed for Greece, to Ioannina. With two special tests this was to be a good day for us. The first was held in torrential rain but on an extremely grippy surface. Visibility was virtually non existent in this 15km stage but the Daihatsu flew up, one of the fastest times overall, taking 30 seconds off the lead MG and 20 seconds off the Proton following. This test really suited the car but the road section following was a little more difficult, taking us through village after village in atrocious weather conditions. Only nine cars cleared the road section, us being one of them. It was during this time that we lost the second works Daihatsu of David Winstanley after an accident, which pushed Sophie Robinson into 7th overall in her small Cuore.
The second test
was mainly gravel and just before hand we had passed a German U-boat pen,
still looking as it would have done during the Second World War, minus
the subs! After the final test we headed towards the Greek border and I
must say that although I was pleased to get into Greece and back into civilisation,
the welcome we had received from the locals in Albania, Yugoslavia, Croatia
and Slovenia, together with the amazing support from the local police forces,
was a delight that as time goes on will probably never be repeated.
Next was the Ioannina loop. The crews welcomed this, as this with a day off on Sunday meant we were to stay in the same hotel for three nights - sheer luxury. There were to be four tests during the day, originally five were set but the last one of the day was cancelled. All the tests were on gravel and the first one had many of us guessing, as a tulip given was in the wrong location and sent several cars up the driveway of a local’s house, much to their annoyance. This caught out four of the first seven cars. Roads were extremely wet with localised flooding and the mud mixed with the gravel did not suit us. The Proton was trying to fight back and overtook us, ending up 59 seconds in front of us at the end of the day. The third test was a particularly long one, taking us just over 22 minutes to complete and was really heart in the mouth stuff, charging around unguarded precipices in the mud. It was rough as well and Paul Merryweather’s spare wheel fell out of his Peugeot half way around.
The cancelled test at he end of the day was changed to a road test, as it was felt it was too dangerous in the conditions. However, even as a road section it was too fast and only six cars cleaned it, these being the leading Peugeot, MG and Proton, ourselves in the Daihatsu, a further Proton and Sophie Robinson’s Daihatsu. That night in the hotel the rain poured down even more and this continued on and on into the following day, when we were all allowed a further 3 hours servicing on the car. By now I had one completely bald tyre, caused by a faulty shock absorber, and several split tyres.
After our day of rest we started out on Leg 7, which was to take us to Delphi. The weather had been so bad, serious flooding had cancelled chunks of the route and what should have been five tests became three. Barring mechanical problems, our fourth place seemed secure and the first and second tests, which were identical except for going in opposite directions, seemed well suited, with us being 4th quickest on the first test and 8th quickest on the second.
Then came Test 22, an enormous stage with re-routes, missed plots, etc. The length was to be over 30km and many of the crews got this test wrong, some of the first only being able to find their way around with locals pointing the way. Part of the stage was on busy roads and in one particular area there were rally cars charging around in all directions trying to find the route. We never did find the end of this stage, along with 27 others. Of those that did get to the end several were very close to the bogey time, such was the mayhem. Cars got back to the hotel so late they couldn’t do the results so we went to bed wondering where we had ended up. Sixth was the answer, as we found out in the morning, having been overhauled by Merryweather’s Peugeot and Roger Steven’s Seat Ibiza, which was now some 2 minutes 30 seconds in front of us with one day to go.
We left Delphi on Tuesday 15th October and headed for Athens with four tests left. We were fighting to get back to at least 5th and we nearly made it, taking 24 seconds from the Seat on the first stage and 1 minute 13 seconds on the second, then losing 25 seconds to him on the third and, finally, taking 24 seconds from him on the fourth. So near and yet so far. He was still 15 seconds in front of us at the finish. These final tests were held on the Acropolis Rally stages and for my money, were the best of the event - fast, flowing and on gravel. Finally we all pitched up in Athens and got totally drunk for two days.
In my opinion, this rally was more fun and much more organised than the previous World Cup and I cannot wait to have a go at the next one. A deal has already been done with Daihatsu to run again in the future. This will give us time to try and dial out the understeer and sort out the tyre situation. Next year I’ll try and give you a better result.