There were 2 good things for me to take from the Owen Development Stages at Down Ampney:~
(A) my race suit is really, really comfortable, light and generally excellent. The time card pocket on the leg worked perfectly ~ I don't think I'll ever be able to rally without one again!
(B) Despite being a gravel car and running in full forest trim at the weekend the Escort was competitive until the clutch broke followed by yet more driveshaft issues.
Until we retired the Roofing Rally Team Escort had been performing well despite its high ride height and soft suspension. The brakes even coped well despite being a bit smaller than is ideal for tarmac.
We had a slow start in the morning and dropped to the tail off the top 10 but once we'd changed tyres and had a lunchtime break Adrian got the car performing as it should and we set about trying to capture 3rd overall. Looking at the times on the event website we weren't far off achieving that, that was until our mechanical gremlins reduced us to frustrated spectating.
We now have a few items to focus on before our next event:~ (1) sort the driveshaft issues (2) find me a helmet (3) get some testing on proper gravel forestry roads.
