The rally was over three days, starting on Thursday evening continuing on Friday morning, through all day, into the evening and finishing on Saturday afternoon.
The event scored points for the HRCR championship at halfway and at the end. As the last round had been cancelled and the previous rally I had been on holiday, it had been a long time since I had competed in the Mini Cooper S.
We arrived early evening found our hotel, and prepared for the reccy. This was due to take place all day Wednesday - this allows us to ride over the stages to check the route notes for accuracy.
The following day we dropped the car at the TT grandstand and were checking the notes from 8am until about 4.30pm. We then started again as soon as it got dark to check the notes for the first evening stages.
Thursday we had the car checked and put the rally plates on, but I had decided that for us to reccy any more would only confuse us.
There were 12 classic Minis and two BMW Minis competing which was the most the event has ever had!
The rally started on the seafront at Douglas and by the time we were due to start we were in complete darkness. We were called to the start, with cars starting side-by-side we went the heaven’s opened and the stage was covered in water within seconds. It was very slippy but we had a clean run and set the fastest time of the Minis.
On to the second stage; this started with a fast main road section which was quick then went into a narrow and very bumpy lane network, with a very rough section in the middle. As we started the wipers stopped working, this made it extremely difficult to see out of the windscreen but when we got into the narrow sections this helped as I could pick my way through the banks each side.
On one of the lanes the car jumped into the grass and we hit a rock. The car jumped into the air and I thought that would be the end of our rally as the impact was huge, I waited for the suspension to cry enough and the tyre to go down, but to my surprise they seemed OK.
We finished the stage and immediately headed to the next one. I wanted to stop on the road to change the fuse for the wipers, but we were short of time.
Straight to the start of the next stage, and as soon as we started the wipers stopped again. I pushed on and got to the finish - the spotlights were working brilliantly. At the finish I tried the wipers again and they started working, and continued to work for the rest of the rally.
The last stage of the evening ran without any problems and we returned to the grandstand for a quick service at about 1.00 am. The rain was coming down so heavy that as I went to fetch the car to go back to the hotel I got soaked. I decided that any work that needed to be done could wait until the morning.
Day 2
The next day the sun was shining, after a quick check of the car all that was needed was a drop of oil. I made sure that the wiper fuse was OK, as I did not want any more problems, and removal of the spotlights as these would not be needed until the following evening. I then looked at the wheel that we had hit something during the evening stages, the magnesium minilight had a great chunk missing out of the side, but the tyre had remained blown up.
The stages during the day were very fast with some sections where I was pulling 7000 RPM in top gear for several minutes, being careful not to over rev the car.
At the end of the day we were a surprising second in Class, beaten by Adrian Kermode (a local and not registered for our championship), so we picked up maximum points.
The only thing to do was check the oil and put the lights back on.
We started the second evening with two stages around Castle Town in complete darkness. These went without problems, we then moved on to the next stage.
As the start lights changed to green, I dipped the clutch only for the pedal to go light, no clutch for the rest of the stage.
We pushed the car off the finish line, and I bled the hydraulics for the clutch but they were still no better.
After trying everything I could think of in the heat of the moment, we tried to get the car back to the grandstand, having to start it on the key in gear several times on the journey back. By doing this we missed two stages but if we could repair it we could start the next day.
We made it back and after going over to the service van I decided to change the master cylinder.
A local offered to open his garage to help, so we towed the car to his garage where we changed the cylinder. This did not fix the problem, it was clear it was something inside the clutch.
By this time it was 2am and I called it a night. Anton and I retired to the hotel bar to drowned our sorrows.
We got the car home and I needed to try and see what the problem was. As I started to take the clutch cover off again it pinged in to place - I had not seated it correctly. Having checked everything I put it all back together and hey-presto it all worked fine.
Last event of the championship the Cambrian Rally 17th October I have an entry and just need a finish, wish me luck.
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