The next round of the Peugeot 205 Challenge (1.4 class) was to be The Mid Wales Stages, centred around Newtown and utilising all the famous stage names, Hafren, Sweet Lamb etc.

This was Chris’s first ever gravel/forest event and talk about being chucked in at the deep end! Before the event Chris had to get the car MOT’d, taxed and insured for the link sections. Also everything underneath had to be checked thoroughly and the petrol lines run inside the car. There was not time to do the brake lines so they were shrouded in heavy-duty rubber piping.

The lower suspension arms had to be replaced, together with new bushes all round. The organisers had eventually agreed that competitors could fit strengthening plates to the top of the struts, so these were ordered and duly welded in place. Finally the big problem that had been affecting all the 1.4 cars, that of jumping out of second gear when in a slow/hairpin corner, was addressed with the addition of an uprated rear engine mount.

With the car all packed, we set off on Saturday morning for the 5½ hour slog to mid Wales. Arriving at 4pm it was straight to signing on for Chris and Holly, before sound check and scrutineering. After sorting out gravel tyres and speaking to the tyre suppliers (Matador) we gave the car a final once over and applied all the obligatory stickers. We had to almost start from scratch on this as Chris had destroyed most of them during his roll on the previous round. Whilst checking everything we discovered a slow puncture in one of the tyres so a swap around was necessary. We eventually retired to our B & B about 15 miles away at 9pm for a meal and well earned sleep.

The next morning we indulged ourselves with a good cooked breakfast before setting off for Rally HQ and the start. The idea was that we would “chase” Chris around and service on the link sections at designated spots. It seemed we would only be able to spectate at one or possibly two points on the whole rally so we made our way to a mid point in Hafren Forest where we hoped to watch the second stage.

Having gained a good vantage point at a long straight followed by a hairpin, we waited for the later runners to come through (Chris was No. 89). We saw 83 to 88 come through and then there was a gap. Still no car after 15 minutes and news started to filter through that a white 205 had gone off in a big way, with serious injuries to the crew. You can perhaps imagine the awful feeling I had in hearing this news. Chris’s brother Richard and his girlfriend Jess rushed off down the stage to see if they could find out anything whilst I went up the side of the hill to see if I could catch a glimpse of the carnage. I could not see properly and my worst fears were realised when in about 20 minutes cars 90 through to 93 came through in convoy! The car was probably about a mile away from me directly downhill and it would appear that he had come down a very fast downhill right hander (70 mph) and gone straight off the edge into a 6ft ditch which in turn had thrown the car into the air and badly damaged the co-driver’s side, ending up well below the track.

By this time ambulances had arrived and I made my way back to the car. In a little while Richard and Jess appeared and confirmed it was not, in fact, Chris who had been involved but an earlier car. The reason for Chris not appearing was that upon arrival at the scene he and his co-driver, Holly, had immediately parked the car and gone to the assistance of the other crew. The driver was bruised and shaken, but the co-driver was badly injured with a suspected broken pelvis and leg where the door and seat had come in and crushed him. Chris and Holly spent the next 40 minutes administering basic first aid and talking to the co-driver who was lapsing in and out of consciousness. Eventually the emergency services had arrived, but blocked the stage, so Chris could not continue! (For their actions they were awarded the Spirit of the Rally cup and were warmly applauded by all competitors).

The rest of the day was a game of catch up trying to arrive at each stage before it closed. At stage five (Sweet Lamb) we arrived to the news that car no 89 had just had a big roll and the co-driver was injured. The car had been written off! Dashing up the stage we discovered it was car 88 not 89 and whilst helping to recover it Chris came past in a cloud of dust, right on the limit.

After service, where we discovered a few loose bolts, the rest of the afternoon was spent rushing through the narrow Welsh lanes trying to meet up with Chris and Holly. We eventually got back to the Rally HQ at 5.30 pm instead of the time we were supposed to be there of 4.29pm only to find that Chris had been classified as “retired “ after stage 2. You can imagine my language. However, this was more tactfully resolved by Holly and the organisers, whilst I held Chris back!

The prize giving was a fabulous affair on the stage of a large theatre with a WRC Hyundai next to the cups and prizes. Chris and Holly were awarded not only third in class, but the Spirit of the Rally cup as well.

The car had been great yet again and Chris had exhibited very mature driving, considering this was his first ever gravel/forest event (see his own thoughts)

After packing everything up we started the long trek back to North Kent, eventually arriving home at 1.30 am on Monday morning. A long, but very satisfying weekend.

P.S. We later found out that following an airlift to hospital the injuries to the co-driver were not as bad as at first thought and his pelvis was not broken, but very badly bruised. We wish him a speedy recovery.

After testing at Sweet Lamb a couple of weeks prior to the rally I had a good idea of what the surface would be like and was not so concerned about this. However my main anxiety was driving using route notes, being in the style of pace notes. These were a lot different from the navigation on the single venues I had previously competed on.

On the first stage of the day we got off to a good steady start but half way through the stage Holly got lost in the notes and I found myself having to drive the route as I saw it which was very hard, as the corners in the forest are very deceptive with big log piles looming on the out side! Don’t ask me how because I would never have been able to do it myself, but Holly managed to find her place in the very complicated notes again and we were ok. Throughout the day Holly was amazing with the notes, never calling a wrong one and giving me the trust in her so that I could push on hard. The learning curve is very steep on gravel compared to tarmac because any mistake is magnified greatly, so being tidy was very important. I learned that the most important thing on gravel is to stay in the ruts and on the line that the previous cars had cleared away. This was easy to keep in mind, as a couple of times when I came off of the clean line I had big moments and almost lost the back end!

Holly being a rally instructor at Brands Hatch was very helpful in explaining some things to me. For instance, half way through the day it started to rain gently then stopped just as I was about to start a stage. I was starting to worry thinking it would be really slippery but Holly explained that with a bit of water there is more grip because the dusty gravel sticks together. I found this to be true and this therefore helped with my confidence. Throughout the day I seemed to be going past a lot of cars that had crashed on stage and this kept me very focussed and my feet firmly on the ground. I knew I could not afford to crash because repairing my car would be way out of my very small budget and put me out of rallying for the rest of the season.

On the midday service halt I was greeted at the time control by the co-driver of car 88 who had a bandage on his arm and told us they had a big roll on the previous Sweet Lamb stage. After pulling up in service I got a chance to see the car and it was in a bit of a state, well written off. The last 3 stages were done in the rain and I decided to back off, as it was really slippery. This was a wise decision as on stage 8 the green 1400 behind us went off and out of the rally, then on arriving at the last stage 9, ourselves and another car were told that there had been a crash on the stage and we had to wait 20 minutes for the stage to be cleared as the car was dangerously positioned. We finally started the stage and half way in saw the 205 1.6 of the crew waiting with us at the start, who waved us on. We only realised on the passage check on the link section back to the finish that we were the last car left in the rally. I was so glad to finish, as I wanted to get experience on the loose under my belt and wasn’t too bothered about being competitive. Therefore when I found out we had taken 3^rd in the 1400 Challenge class I was really happy.

I would also just like to say a big thank you to my brother and dad for taking time off and coming all the way to Wales with me. Also to my new, budding mechanic, Jess and also Holly for keeping me on the track and telling me to take it easy when needed.

When’s the next one??