This venue has the reputation of being made up of broken concrete, with some large holes that test the transmission of the best cars.
I set off at 4.15am with the love:mini sponsored Mini to arrive at scrutineering for 7.30, where I met Anton my co-driver who had made his own way to the venue. This went without any problems and set ourselves up next to the support van for servicing.
We queued for the first stage where all the Minis had been put at the back of the field. This had me a little worried as we were seeded the first of the Minis and potentially would catch cars in front.
When our turn came to start the stage, the lights changed to green and I set off at maximum attack. The tyres were working great but the surface was covered in dust and mud from the farming activities, which made grip levels inconsistent, and difficult to predict.
Towards the end we caught and managed to overtake several cars, this made us drop a few seconds, but of more concern was that the temperature was running high on the engine.
Back into service and Craig King and Paul Fowkes checked the car over. I decided to fit new tyres to the front to try and obtain better grip with the dirty surface.
As we let the car cool to check the water level we discovered that we had been quickest of the Minis but only by 2 seconds. Adrian Kermode and Andrew O'Hanlon were not far behind.
The second stage was a repeat of the first. Once again I attacked, and once again we managed to catch several cars, which held us up until we could overtake.
I was not happy with being held up by the cars we caught. Other than the obvious time loss, it provides another problem; as I caught them, stones would fly from their wheels all over the front of the car, risking damage to the screen and paint work.
Again the temperature of the engine was very high, running at 110 deg plus at the finish of the stage. We were again surprised that we had managed to extend our lead, but at what cost?
When we went to top up water it had used over 2 litres in just over 6 miles. I was concerned that the engine would cry 'enough'.
The next few stages went OK for us, but the car was using lots of water and had been running at 120 deg. How it continued to perform I don`t know.
We were still being held up by catching cars. On one stage we came behind a Subaru that spun directly infront of us, we then had to wait for him to get going again, completing a three point turn, and could not get past as he was blocking the road. This made us drop quite a large chunk of time, and we were 15 seconds slower than Adrian.
The venue was taking its toll on the cars, with two of the Minis having a coming together, when one braked and the other didn't.
Two of the Minis had blown their engines. Another Mini broke its gearbox. Bruce Mills had worked wonders on his car after rolling over Eypynt on the last round, repairing the car, only for the fan to go through the rad.
After loosing the time with the Subaru this had caused us to drop to 3rd. With one stage to go, there was less than 10 seconds between 1st and 3rd, it was that close.
The engine was still using a lot of water and running very hot. It was fingers crossed that it would hold together.
The last stage we drove a quickly as I could, but we only could move up to 2nd Mini, still 5 seconds behind Adrian who was first, and 2 seconds in front of Andrew, that was close at the finish.
Only 10 Minis managed to finish and with only two weeks until the next round all of us would have our work cut out to make the start.
We had won our class and finished 21st over all,l but had lost out to Adrian in the battle of the minis.
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