As some of you may know I usually navigate for Peter Thornton in his STi6 group N rally car. Unfortunately, Peter has been laid up for 6 months following major surgery so the rallying has been stopped until he's better.

Totally out of the blue, he said to me "Get the car down to your place and prep it". I was rather stunned as he'd only just started driving again and I told him he wasn't fit enough for rallying. "No, not for me. For you and your dad. He can take your seat and well, you take mine"! After a stunned silence we chatted and agreed that a single venue rally was the best way to go for my first attempt at driving (less to hit!;)).

So this Saturday, 31st March, Roger and I will tackle the Charterhall Stages event, a round of the Scottish Borders rally championship. The event is held, as the name suggests, on Charterhall airfield. This is the venue used for service on the famous Jim Clark rally.
The surface is described as broken tarmac, but having been there previously, looked at videos and pictures, there seems to be more gravel on it than clean tarmac. This means part worn forest tyres will be used to overcome the loose sections.
We tested the car over the weekend to make sure the driving position was right and for me to get a feel for the car on the loose. We are both raring to go now!
Anyway, we will be starting at car 61 (out of 80) which is a little higher than I thought we may have been.

I would like to thank Camskill, Haven Tyres, First Image graphics and Hallbrow Services for sponsoring us and also a big thank you to Peter for entrusting me with his car. Roll on Saturday (not literally, I hope!)

good luck to you , you are so lucky .stay relaxed you will be fine .:luxhello: :thumb:

Roll on Saturday (not literally, I hope!)

Lol :D Good luck Mark, I'm sure you'll do well :thumb:

Have a great time. :)

Wow that's fantastic. Good luck, enjoy yourself and let us all know how you got on.

Charterhall is bloody rough mate so you're right to go with something a bit more durable. Best of luck, keep it going smoothly to the finish!!!

good luck

Nice 1 mate sounds like i's going to be fun.....:thumb:

Best of luck to you and your dad Mark. Have a great time :D



Neil.

Well my first attempt in the drivers seat ended on stage 2 (Car 61). Stage 1 went extremely well as I took my time to get a feel for driving on loose. 20th o/a was a very nice surprise for dad and I!
However, on stage 2 coming into the chicane at the crossover of the runways, the back of the car stepped out under braking and we clipped a large bank of stone on the left. Result: Bust radiator, sump guard and possibly engine Oh well as they say, that's rallying.

That`s a shame for your day to end like that Mark, your Stage 1 time must give you convidence for your next event.
Go on, you know you want to. Well done anyway.



Neil :)

Couple of pre start pics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/markwrx/DSCF2934.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/markwrx/DSCF2933.jpg

Mark,

That sounds worse than it looks in writing.
any photos ?
must of hit it hard to say "possible engine"

Alex.

I haven't taken any pictures of it Alex as i'm a bit p'd off at the minute. It hit on the nearside front corner and has busted the sump guard bolts. The damage has been done by the bumper being pushed back throught the radiator and onto the cambelt covers. I did initially try to restart it until some speccys pointed out the water draining a from it. Later we tried to start it to put it onto the trailer but Peter reckons there's no compression or the belt has jumped teeth. We'll see later as it's the perfect time to finish prepping the new shell and transfer everything over.

:o

http://www.rally-photo.com/events/2007/charterhall07/main/2-158.jpg

http://www.rally-photo.com/events/2007/charterhall07/main/2-168.jpg

Ouch.

Looks painful.

These things happen.

Sorry matey to hear that.
:(

Blimey Mark! :eek: I hope it hasn't put you off giving it another go :(