We came to Longcross to test out the new engine that had been built for us over the winter by Mark Shillaber, from Cornwall. He has a reputation for wringing out that extra bit of power from the ‘Pinto’ engine. Hopefully this will enable us to get closer to the cars which have gone away from this traditional type of engine, which is synonymous with the Mk 1 Escort and nowadays tend to be replaced with either Cosworth engines or Vauxhall ones. Ours still runs on conventional twin carbs, whereas the others tend to run with electronic engine management systems. We try to keep things simple – just like the crew!

Last time out, we had problems with the electrics and lost power when the rotor arm in the distributor chopped through the wiring. Luckily we had a spare, but lost so much time with this that we did not finish that event. So this time we needed to finish to retain our self esteem!

Also entered under the 7oaks banner was Nigel Mummery in his 4WD Cosworth Escort seeded at 10, Iain & Andrew Gibson in their Integra Type R starting at 28, Chris Wise & Sam Collins (the unfortunate ones) at 42 in their Peugeot 205, we were at 45, just one ahead of Vince & Matt Wheeler in the 1400 Metro GTI. Jason Mortlock & Will Smith were running at 52 in their 1600cc crossflow Mark 2 Escort.

On the first stage we took things easy, just seeing how the engine performed. It was awesome! We were not trying at all, merely finding the power band of the engine and its characteristics. As a result we were 24^th fastest; not bad at all, 19 seconds ahead of Wise/Collins and 29 seconds ahead of the Gibsons who were troubled by a faulty cut off switch. Nigel Mummery had his day of fun end here when he broke a driveshaft.

So we set off for stage 2 (a re-run of stage1) and were flying when we heard a crunching noise from the back axle so we backed off and limped through the finish. Back at service we found the halfshaft oil seal and bearing had been eaten up, so a fast change of halfshaft was needed. Our ‘spanner’ man had cried off overnight due to an injured leg, so Tom set about the mechanical side of things whilst I checked the rest of the car ably assisted by Barbara, my wife. We dropped 14 seconds to Iain & Andrew here whilst the Wheelers were only 2 seconds behind us and Wise/Collins a further 12 seconds down.

We got to the start of Stage 3 just in time and set off on a very gentle run to check that all was well. So gently that we were 30 seconds down on the Gibsons. The Wheelers were 1 second up on us with Chris 4 and Jason 6 seconds back.

Stage 4 (stage 3 repeated) saw us with our confidence back and we were flying for most of the stage, only to see steam coming from under the bonnet as we were about a mile from the finish, so we eased off once again. This time it was the water pump which had shed most of its bolts. This was the second time this has happened & it must be something to do with the pulley being out of true – mental note – buy a new pump! Lots of volunteers offered help including Simon May who is always there when needed. We took a maximum on this stage at 15 minutes and effectively lost out here. The Gibsons were on 7:36, with the Wheelers on 7:57 and Jason 17 seconds behind them. This Stage saw the demise of Wise/Collins who had a spectacular off after hitting a lorry tyre marker in one of the many chicanes. Their car was very badly damaged – new shell needed? Pride certainly dented!

Stage 5 was another eventful one. We got to stage arrival by the skin of our teeth and then the engine died on us – in fact everything died on us – no electrics at all. After 2 or 3 minutes we found the problem was the battery earth had come loose. A quick ‘technical adjustment’ with the heavy end of the screwdriver fixed that problem and away we went again – fingers and everything else crossed. Yet another careful run was the order of the day which tied on time with Jason & Will. 50 seconds ahead of us were the Gibsons and the Wheelers were 25 seconds down on them.

Stages 6 & 7 went uneventfully, but by now we had decided that we would just try to finish with no heroics. 6 was stage 5 repeated. Several cars had succumbed to the Longcross scenery – or lorry tyres. Why don’t they put them 2 high so we can’t just run up on 2 wheels and roll or go off in all directions? Others had suffered from mechanical failure due to the mechanical strains one gets at his tough venue. Stage times were:

Stage 6 Stage 7

Gibson/Gibson 7:22 7:07

Wheeler/Wheeler 7:46 7:24

Mortlock/Smith 8:06 7:45

Athow/Athow 8:01 9:02

The clutch had started to slip at higher revs on Stage 7, so we short-shifted for the rest of the event just to enable us to crawl home in next to last (41^st). That was better than some of the 67 competitors that had started. At least our repair bill is restricted to a new water pump and clutch plate. Some will need new wings or even shells – this rallying business is not cheap if you get things wrong at Longcross. But still it’s one of the best venues in the South East and we can’t wait to get back there again. Most events here are at least 50 miles long, this one was just over 65 miles and so entry fees at around £175 mean good value of smiles per mile -£2.65 per mile in this case. It’s much cheaper than sprinting!

Stage 8 Stage 9 Stage 10

Gibson/Gibson 7:05 6:16 6:12

Wheeler/Wheeler 7:30 6:31 6:31

Mortlock/Smith 7:41 6:45 6:42

Athow/Athow 7:56 6:46 6:57

1^st Dennis Marshall/Mark James Metro 1997cc 1:04:59

2^nd Paul King/Paul Holingham Escort RS2000 1:05:33

3^rd Stephen Price/Paul Cook Metro 6R4 2500 1:05:45

18^th Iain Gibson/Andrew Gibson Honda Integra Type-R 1:12:17 5^th class C

26^th Vince Wheeler/Matt Wheeler Rover Metro GTI 1360 1:15:10 3^rd class A

35^th Jason Mortlock/William Smith Escort Mk2 1598 1:18:01 9^th class B

41^st Dick Athow/Tom Athow Escort Mk1 2000 1:25:26 11^th class C