I had always wanted to compete on this event after spectating on it in the late '70s, and reading about the tales of the BMC Works Minis. This year also had special significance as it would be 50 years since a Works Mini won the event, the only time that a Mini won the R.A.C as the rally was then known.
To get a Mini through the stages would be a difficult as we would be running after the WRC cars had been through. I had concerns that we could get beached on the floor in their ruts, and a lot of people suggested we were mad to try.
Mini Sport had offered to help with service van and spares and would send two guys to help look after us. They also wanted to check the car over prior to us starting. With this in mind I took the car to them two weeks before the start and I have to say, I was impressed with their facilities, with a lot of their parts designed and manufactured on site.
Every part was checked leading up to the event with paint applied to nuts and bolts to see if any had come undone during the event. New dampers and mountings were also fitted and Mike - their mechanic - made sure that he knew how everything had been fitted in case they needed to be removed on the event.
The event would run over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. With scrutineering and documentation on Thursday. The Mini Sport guys Rob and Mike were bringing the car direct from Mini Sport, and we would meet them there, with Anton Craig and Bruce coming with me. Sue had agreed to do the catering for us and had arranged to have time off from marshalling duties to help us.
The day before we were due to set off, Bruce rang to say he had to go into work on Thursday, so he came to my house Wednesday night and we loaded all of my spares into his car, and agreed that he would follow after work and meet us at Deeside.
I was amazed at the number of spectators who were crowding around the car throughout the day. They all seemed to be taking photographs of our Mini. We even had works mechanics from Hyundai, Ford and Citroen come and have a look at our car, some taking photographs. I wonder if they were trying to find our demon tweaks so that they can use them on their cars?
We went through all the checks of the car with scrutineering and, as it was dark, decided to head for our accommodation.
Mini Sport guys went to the service area early to ensure the car was ready for us when we arrived, and we set off for three days of hard rallying.
The stages on the first day had a 2hr 40 min run out to the first stage and we would be running after the WRC had been through only once. All went well on the road section with people standing and waving at the side of the road. We stopped to take petrol at a garage and was mobbed by a group of foreign spectators taking photographs of the car, inside and out.
The first stage was Hafren and immediately there was a delay. With the WRC coming behind for their second run through, the organisers decided to cancel this stage, and we drove through in convoy to the second stage Sweet Lamb.
We crossed the road to Myherin our last stage of the day and started almost immediately.
I was gutted there was a hole in the bottom of the gearbox due to something coming from inside. As we assessed the predicament I came up with a plan. I sent Rob and Mike to fetch the trailer from Deeside. With Craig and Bruce having to fetch a gearbox from home. The problem was the only available gearbox was fitted to Bernard ( my Grey Mini ), also Rob and Mike had been watching on Myherin so had over a 5 hr run to get back to us.
We got towed to the start of the stage after every one had gone through and the trailer arrived at about 8pm. We loaded up and set off. Rob had been pulling favours and managed to borrow a garage with an engine hoist from a fellow Mini driver that was about 40 minutes from Deeside service area.
I rang Craig and Bruce, they were just about to get the engine out of the car so told them to meet us at the garage.
We finally finished at 3.30am and went back to the hotel to try and catch some sleep, only to find I could not get to sleep - I was wide awake, but finally dropped off at about 5am.
Rob and Mike were at the service area at 6am to finish off some of the jobs, we arrived at 8.30 to find not only had they done all the jobs left from last night, they had checked the car over, even cleaning it.
Everyone was pleased to see we were still in the rally and could not believe that we had manage to change the 'box overnight.
Saturday was our biggest day running from 9.30am into the evening.
The run to the first stage was nerve-wracking as we had only run the car the night before for a few seconds, I was waiting for a cloud of steam or oil pipe to come off but all seemed fine.
The stage was Kirk Castle - a spectator stage and we had a clean run with no problems.
The next few stages were rough, as the World Rally cars had passed through twice, the ruts were 12inches deep, and as it had been raining heavy, these had filled with water, so it was difficult to see where the rut was, in a sea of muddy water.
We all know that water and Minis do not mix, but the car never missed a beat, whatever Mini Sport had done had worked.
One of the stages we had to cross a river to access to it, the amount of water that was flowing, following the rain gave me concern, not only how the car could drive through 15 inches of water depth, but that the current would wash the car away. A marshal was on standby with a radio in case anyone got washed downstream.
We continued with no rest all day, and into the darkness. We had fitted the spotlights before we set off in the morning as we knew we would have no time for any service. These lights were good to start off but within a couple of miles mist came down which made the lights redundant.
At least it had stopped raining. I found out that we had had 11 inches of rain during the day, no wonder the roads were flooded.
It was amazing to find spectators and marshals had been out all day, then drove back to the service area just to see the Mini and to congratulate us on surviving the day.
Sunday arrived and again the guys had been there early cleaning the car, even washed the wheels, the tyres were still OK from the previous two days and we decided not even to change them front to back.
The first stage was again very rough and with a lot of water about. Guess what, it was raining, but instead of coming down vertical it was coming horizontal.
The next stage was the Great Orme, this was the first time that I had made it to this famous peace of road, and it didn’t disappoint.
Only the road section back to Chester and the finish ramp, we arrived at our allotted time to an enormous welcome to find we had won our Class and finished 51st overall.
Can I say a big thank you to all of my sponsors, I could not had done the event without their help. Also a big thankyou to Sue for feeding us, Rob, Mike, Craig and Bruce for looking after the real star of the rally - the Mini!
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